True_Beauty_of_Nepal_JPG is appreciated by 20 000 sajhaites already.

    This is what i have to say “Learn everything you can, anytime you can, from anyone you can - there    
    will always come a time when you will be grateful you did.”

For your viewing pleasure, behold the true beauty of Nepal

Thank you to the photographer and JPEG for posting here.

This picture (girl throwing mud) reminds me a story told by a tourist guide. While driving to Nagarkot,  on the other side of the road rural people were joyfully planting paddy singing, laughing, throwing mud and so on.

One of the touring said" I wish I was one of them”. The answer of the guide was “Still you can not have the same enjoyment as they are having". Because you know lot and that has given you more worries which bar you to true enjoyments. ( ESL 101 ??

 

Sunuwar Nis beauty

    As already noted in the Vishnu Purana that the “chatur-varna” or four class social system was absent in the lands of Kiratas in the East and the Yavanas(Greek) and Kambojas(Iranian), etc. in the West. Even after the unification of Nepal the Kirat people still maintain the practice of casteless
society. After the annexation of their land with Nepal, the migration of other group into their region slowly influence their activities.
The excerpt from one of the scholars work describes how the Kirat people who has no tradition of any varna(class) was almost brought into this system by the ruling group in Nepal through several means.

"The eastern hills, which largely comprise the Kirat area, were not hierarchized because the Bahuns did not arrive in the area until much later than their apperance in the Kathmandu Valley and the regions to the west. They began to trickle through only after the reunification of the Kirat region with the rest of Nepal. Among the Kirats of the eastern hills most influenced by the caste system because of their proximity to Kathmandu are the Sunuwars of Tamakosi valley. The Limbus are the least affected by the caste system because of their geographical distance.
The persistent strategy of the Bahuns was to attach themselves to the local aristocracy whom they wooed with concocted genealogies. But an aristocracy is not a characterisctic of the social organization in the Kirati groups in the east, which were tribal egalitarian groups, so that the Bahun were less capabale to establish any kinds of footing in Kirati society.

Through the caste system does not have any official recognition at the State level, there are quite a few people at higher levels who see benefits in maintaining the structure. In an attempt to revitalize the caste system they have been trying to use the priviledge position of the King to have the caste legitimated in an indirect way. In the coronation ceremony of his Majesty, King Birendra, in 1975, pro-caste elements contrived to have the King annointed by Bahun, Chettri, Vaishya and Shudra. For this purpose a Limbu was nominated as a Shudra, and a Shrestha as a Vaishya. This gave cause for alienation to a larger section of Shrestha and Limbu population who were insulted to be placed in a low status roles. It was a political mistake, for it may have flattered the egoes of a few orthodox pundits trying to impose caste attitudes but it did not convince the majority of the Newars and the ethnic communitities of their respectable place in Nepali society.

Subsequently, some priests initiated four boys of another Kirat group, the Rais into Chettri status is in total contradiction with the earlier act of treating Limbu, another Kirat group, as Shudra. These are some typical examples of expedient behavior by the ruling class to divide the Kirat group and bringing them into caste system." ~Fatalism and Development: Nepal's struggle for modernization
By Dor Bahadur Bista

True_Beauty_of_Nepal is back with "Black Beauty"

Beauty in a sari.

JPG of Peace from Rai ni beauty

Another peace. This time from Yakkha ni beauty.

It is interesting to note that Yakkha( Yaksha) beside finding reference in ancient Vedic literature, has been mentioned in other religious doctrines as well.

The indigenous Yakkha belongs to Kirat family. It is claimed that the ethnology "Yakkha" as per the conqueror Aryan's Sanskrit grammar had been spelled in the Aryan-Hindu mythologies as "Yaksa-sh" (like Bhisu-shu for an ascetic "Bhikchu" of the Buddhist holy scripts). Although the legendary Yaksa-sh, by the corrupt name of Yakkha and Kirats are being hailed in the Hindu holy scripts Vedas and the ancient Sanskrit literature, the Yakkha is eternally firm with its own clanonym, "The Yakkha".
Yaksha (Sanskrit यक्ष, yaksa , yakkha in Pali ) is the name of a broad class of nature-spirits, usually benevolent, who are caretakers of the natural treasures hidden in the earth and tree roots. They appear in Hindu, Jain and Buddhist mythology. The feminine form of the word is yaksī or yaksini (Pali: yakkhi or yakkhini).

Yakshas in Mahabharata:
The banks of river Narmada is described as the birth place of yaksha king Kubera (Vaisravana), where his father Visravas, who was a sage, lived. It is also a territory of Gandharvas. (Mahabharata: 3,89). Gokarna, Karnataka is also mentioned as a place of yakshas and pisachas, and kinnaras and the great nagas, and siddhas and charanas and gandharvas. (3,85)

Yaksas in Buddhism:
In Buddhist countries yaksas are known under the following names: Chinese "ye cha", Japanese: "Yasha", Burmese: "ba-lu", Tibetan:"gnod sbyin". In Buddhist mythology, the yaksas are the attendants of Vaisravana, the Guardian of the Northern Quarter, a beneficent god who protects the righteous.

Yaksha and Yakshini in Jainism:
Jains mainly worship idols of Jinas, Arihants, Tirthankars, who have conquered the inner passions and attained God-consciousness status. Some section of jains believe that Yaksha and Yakshini look
after the well beings of Thirthankarars. Usually, they are found in pair around the idols of Jinas as male (yaksha) and female (yakshini) guardian deities. Yaksha is generally on the right hand side of the
Jina idol and Yakshini on the left hand side. In earlier periods, they were regarded mainly as devotees of Jina, and have supernatural powers.

Points to be taken:
Jainism(Dharmic religion) is an Indian religion that has suffered much persecution over the years because its teaching differs from Vedic religion. Jains believe that every soul is divine and has the potential to achieve enlightenment or Moksha. Any soul which has conquered its own inner enemies and achieved the state of supreme being is called jina (Conqueror or Victor). Jainism is the path to achieve this state. Jainism is often referred to as Jain Dharma or Shraman Dharma or the religion of Nirgantha or religion of "Vratyas" by ancient texts.

Some of the prominent jain yakshas(male) and yakshanis(female) are:

PADMAVATI DEVI:
She is the dedicated deity of Lord Parshvanath, the 23rd Tirthankar. 23rd Jain tirthankar Parshvanath is always represented with the hood of a snake shading his head. The Yaksha Dharanendra and the
Yakshi Padmavati are often shown flanking him.
Her color is golden and her vehicle is the snake with a cock's head. She has four arms and her two right hands hold a lotus and a rosary. The two left hands hold a fruit and a rein.

CHAKRESHWARE DEVI:
She is the dedicated attendant deity of lord Adinath (Rishabhadev). She is also called by another name i.e. Apratichakra. The color of this goddess is golden. Her Vehicle is the eagle. She has eight arms. In her four right hands she holds the blessing mudra, arrow, rope and wheel. In her four left hands she holds the rein, the bow, the protective weapon of Indra and the wheel.

KIRATINI DEVI:
She is the dedicated deity of Lord Neminath the 22nd Tirthankara. She is also called Ambai Amba and Amra Kushmandini. Her color is golden and the lion is her vehicle. She has four arms. In her two right hands she carries a mango and in the other a branch of a mango tree. In her one left hand she carries a rein and in the other she hasher two sons.

SARASWATHI DEVI:
Saraswati, the goddess of knowledge, is considered to be the source of all learning. This divine energy is the source of spiritual light, remover of all ignorance and promoter of all knowledge. She is
respected and adored by all faiths, worldly persons and saints. She has four arms, one holding a book, the other a rosary and two hands holding a musical instrument Veena. Her seat is a lotus and the peacock is her vehicle representing equanimity in prosperity. In some places it is mentioned that the swan is her vehicle.

LAKSHMI DEVI:
Goddess Lakshmi represents wealth. People worship her as the goddess of wealth, power, money etc. Just like Saraswathi, She is respected and adored by all faiths, and popular amongst worldly
persons. In the upper two hands, she is holding a lotus with an elephant, in the lower right hand a rosary and in the lower left hand a pot.

Swami Prajnananda says "Savarotsava is Durga Puja. Swami Abhedananda remarks that Durga was worshipped by Savar, Barbar Pulinda caste. She was addicted to meat and wine, etc. The Chandipuza of autumn season was therefore called Savarotsava.............Durga and Chandi were
the goddess of the Kirata caste. So Durga other name is Kiratini. ~ Kali Prasad Goswami in
Kamakhya temple pg.41

According to Coburn, it is striking that the word Candika has virtually no earlier history in Sanskrit. "There are no instances of its occurrence in the Vedic literature we have surveyed. The epics are
similarly barren: neither the Ramayana nor the Mahabharata give evidence of the epithet, although in one of the hymns inserted in the latter Canda and Candi are applied to the deity they praised." ~ Coburn, Thomas B in Devi Mahatmya pg. 95

Work reference:

Traditions in Transition: Sanskritization and Yakkhafication in East Nepal, History and Anthropology by Andrew J. Russell

Politics of Culture: A Study of Three Kirata Communities in the Eastern Himalayas by Tanka B. Subba

Kirat Yakkha Ko Itihas Ek Chhalphal, 2002 by Durga Hang Yakkha

The disguises of the demon by Gail Hinich Sutherland

Haunting the Buddha by Robert DeCaroli

Devi Mahatmya, The Crystallization of the Goddess Tradition by Coburn, Thomas B

Kamakhya temple by Kali Prasad Goswami

True Beauty

Saree beauties in sari.

Himalayans beauty

a BEAUTY

plural form of beauty=BEAUTIES

तामाङँनीहरु!!

WebCam beauties from jpg

Close up smile by Ghimire ni beauty.

Not forgetting NiteTime Sajahites.
    Naacha-Naacha-Kammar Bhancha beauty!

Namaste from Gurung ni soltini.

    The Gurung(Tamu) is an ethnic group from the Central region of Nepal. They live primarily in West Nepal’s Gandaki zone, specifically Lamjung, Kaski, Tanahu, Gorkha, Parbat and Syangja districts as well as the Manang district around the Annapurna mountain range. Some live in the Baglung, Okhaldhunga and Taplejung districts and Machhapuchhre as well. Small numbers are believed to be living in Sikkim, Bhutan and India's West Bengal. The ancient tamu(gurung) tradition known as "Pye-tan-lhu-tan" is preserved history of tamu (gurung) the 'Pye-tan-lhu-tan' stated that the Gurung originated from the western mongolia. Gurung Shamanism tradition is similar to natives in Siberia and Mongolia. Some anthropologists accepted that the Gurungs descended from central Asia(Xiongnu) refering to Mongolia.
    In 1958, Bernard Pignede, a French student of anthropology came to Nepal to study about Gurungs. He spent seven months in a Gurung village Mohoriya (Kaski, Gandaki) and traveled through many neighboring Gurung villages to do his research. He learned to speak tamu-kuwei (gurung dialect) and documented pretty much everything about the gurungs — their social structure, culture, religion, history, occupations, legends and myths. He translated pae, a ritual and religious practice that one gurung generation has passed down to another for thousands of years. Pae conveys the oral history of gurungs and is considered very sacred.  After the death of Pignede, Professor Louis Dumont published Pegnede’s work in 1966. The book was immediately recognized as a major contribution to the anthropology of the Himalayas. Later, two noted anthropologists — Sarah Harrison and Alan Macfarlane translated it in English and published the first English version in 1993. Harrison and Macfarlane did further study of gurungs and added more to Pignede's work. The English version of book is called "The Gurungs", which is probably the most acclaimed research on Gurungs so far.
Beside documents collected in the Gurung communities, Bernard Pingde also had collected other texts from various sources that tell the origin of Gurungs.

a). One of the texts which was in Nepali came from the east of Nepal where the Rais and Limbus live. It goes as follows: "The Kirati are the oldest inhabitants of Nepal. Soyenbumanu who lived in the land of Hemonta had several children, The second Thoinua, went off towards Japan. The third went towards Thailand, Burma and Cochin-China. The eldest went towards China, then Tibet, and arrived at the northern frontier of India. His name was Munainua. He had ten children: Yoktumba, founder of the Limbus, Yakakowa, founder of the race of Rais, Lunpheba, founder of the Larus, Thanpheba, Suhacepa, founder of the Sunwars (Chepangs, Thamis), Gurupa, founder of the Gurungs, Mankapa, founder of the Magars, Toklokapa, founder of the Thakalis, Tamangs and Sherpas, Thandwas, founder of the Tharus and of the Danwars. For thirty-three generations, the Kirati governed in Kathmandu".

b). C.B Ghotane, a Gurung scholar has the following interpretation of Gurung history:

"The origins of the Gurungs, Tamangs of central Nepal seem to be connected with the ancestors of the Kirats, an ancient mongolian tribal group, who occupied the northern area of the Indo-Gangetic plain and the foothills of the whole Himalayan range which extends from the Kashmir valley to Assam, Nagaland and Manipur.The earliest civilization of Kathmandu valley was founded by Kirats. They lived in the foothills and the large inner valleys of Nepal. They appear to have fled to the green mountain tops for safety after the overthrow of the Kirat ruler in the first century A.D. They were pushed further north with the invasion of Indo-Aryans, who infiltrated Nepal in great numbers during the period of Muslim attacks on India from the fifteen century.”

A collection of manuscripts from the 18th and 19th centuries, till now unpublished and unstudied by historians, have made possible regarding history of early Nepal and Kirat people. These historical sources are among those collected by Brian Houghton Hodgson – a British diplomat and self-trained Orientalist appointed to the Kathmandu court during the second quarter of the 19th century – and his principal research aide,the Newar scholar Khardar Jitmohan. This manuscripts has now been complied in the "The History of the Kirat People" (2003). The History of the Kirat People states that the origin of the Kirat viz Tibeto-Burmese viz Mongloiad people can be traced back in combination of three races. According to the Kirat Mundhum or tradition, three races are known by the names of Khambongbas(Khambos), the Tangsangthas(Mongols) and the  Munaphens(Chinese). The Khambongbas(Khambos), were the first immigrants to this Himalayan region. The Tangsangthas(Mongols) and the Munaphens(Chinese) people came in later periods and intermingled with the Khambos and constituted a big Kirata race. They spread from this Himalayan region to India, Burma, Syam, Vietnam, Malaya and Philippine islands, established their kingdoms and kept their respective records of history. The scholar H.C. Ray Chowdhary(The Political History of Ancient India) agreed. "In India, Kirat people occupied the regions from Himachal Pradesh to Assam in the north and from Manipur to Chittangong in south-east." His work is found in the kirat people history. The origin of the Gurung points to Tangsangthas(Mongolia).

    According to Suresh Singh (Some Notes On Nepali Castes and Sub-Castes-Jat and Thar), In about 6th century AD, the Mongols from central Asia, probably from east Mongolia, moved to Nepal, these were pastoralists, Iron using and cavalry men. The Mongols defeated the Kiratas and the Austrics(Dravidians) and assimilated them into their hordes; some Kiratas moved to east Nepal
where already other Kiratas were living. In 7th century, the Tibeto-Mongoliods, calling themselves
Tamu or cavalryman, came to this region and clashed with the Mongols but were defeated by them.
The Mongols had chiefs called Khan or Khagan, they practiced Shamanic form of Buddhism and
nature worship. Their numbers were augmented with the assimilation of people from Manipur and
Burma according to their oral tradition leading to the evolution of Magar community; they lived
mostly in the lower and central parts of the mountains between the Bheri and Marsyundi rivers and
the Tamu occupied a line of country parallel to that of Mongols, to the north of it, and extending to
the snows in that direction.

Gurung ni beauties before Ghatu dance.

Here's a short and and interesting excerpts from Gurung Vansawali collected by Hodgson in
his Essays on Languages of Northern Tibet. His work is now compiled in "The History of the Kirat People" (2003).
"At present the Lohorong Rai tribes residing in Sovaya Uttar district of Limbuwan or Pallo Kirat in East Nepal claimed that Muh Rong to be their first leader. Interestingly so do the Gurung who claim Muh Rong to be their first leader, which same is supposed to be the corruption of the word Maw Rong or Morong. At present the Gurung tribe pronounces the word Muhrung for Morong which means king. In their culture of Ghato dance the Gurung songsters recite their traditional song and say that from the time of king Morong they have been taught to sing and dance Ghato. They sing such song and dance at least for three days and three nights. The Sasi Mundhum of Khaling Rai tribe agrees with that of Gurung tribe. The children of these nine chiefs or Gurungs, do not follow Buddhism. They have their own tradition and culture which they call kep and he who knows such Kep are called Kepring. It is from this original word kepring, the modern word Giyabring or Ghyabring has been derived. Ghyabrings are priests of the Gurung tribe. When the Lamaism of Tibet spread in the neighbourhood of Gurung districts, they also preferred to address their priest by the name of Ghyabring Lama. In Gurung language the children of these nine chiefs or Gurongs or Gurungs are called Kugyi which means the children of nine families. When the influence of these nine chiefs spread northwards, the old Kirat king of Chan dynasty made friendship with the Gurung chiefs and mixed with them. The Gurung legend describes that in the beginning the Gurung chief Nuchni by name was unknown to the aboriginal Kirat king who was known by the name of Ghaley. Gha or Kha means face and Ley means good; which comes to the meaning of man of good face."

According to Jagman Gurung, the story is based on the life histories of the King and Queen of Gorkha, Pramasru Raja and Yamphabati Rani. Donald Messerschmidt relates it to a legend of the Ramayan epic. It is very possible that the story of the Ghatu dance varied in different areas. The
written and oral descriptions of its content differ from each other as well. However, there are some basic elements which are present in each of these descriptions. The Ghatu includes several parts which can be performed separately. Each of these parts has its own theme, such as rice planting, weddings, flowers, a hermit, hunting, and battle. The part,which features the satiy the custom according to which the Queen allows herself to be burned alive with her deceased husband, is only performed during the Baisakh Purne festival. Other parts of the story may be performed separately.

The language in which the Ghatu is sung is unknown. It is neither Nepali nor Gurung. While some written sources claim that it is old-fashioned Nepali (Gurung, 2035; Thapa, 2030; and Messerschmidt, 1976), the leader of the musical group simply calls it the "Ghatu language". The audience does not understand the meaning of the words, but they are able to follow approximately what is going on. Not even the singers understand the words exactly. However, they can explain the meaning of single sentences if asked. The forgotten language demonstrates the archaic nature of the Ghatu.

Yellow Beauty