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Paper short abstract

Mundhum is a divine and powerful literature passed orally through generations in the Limboo community of Sikkim. It consists of folktales, myths, stories of creation of the universe, and chanted by traditional experts. This ethnographic paper shall discuss its connection with the natural elements.

Paper long abstract

Mundhum is a form of divine and powerful literature passed orally through generations in the Limboo community of Sikkim. The Limboo is one of the earliest indigenous communities inhabiting Sikkim. Located in the strategic location with three international boundaries, Sikkim comprises of mountainous terrains, and is the eighth Northeast Indian state in the eastern Himalaya. Mundhum is considered a philosophical and cultural foundation of religion in the Limboo society. Recitation of the Mundhum is often observed during any ritual or ceremony in the Limboo households. The Limboo folk poets viz., Samba, and traditional Limboo priests such as Phedangma, Yeba, and Yema are the custodians of this sacred knowledge in the community. The Mundhum often provides narratives of prehistoric accounts, folktales, legends, creation of the universe, creatures and human beings, as well as myths and traditions passed from one generation to the next, and thus it educates people to live in harmony with the elements of nature, the spiritual and the supernatural creating a socio-natural relationship. This paper shall make a humble attempt to understand the significance of Mundhum as oral narratives in the Limboo society in Sikkim with the help of ethnographic fieldwork. It shall also draw perspectives of relationship of the Limboo society with natural elements like stone, river, agriculture etc. through the Mundhum.

Keywords: mundhum, oral tradition, ancestral knowledge, phedangma, yeba