Glossary

A written family genealogy. The form is a real Limbu practice and not only a high-caste one: some older families have kept copies, which makes asking at home the first step of any family-line research Limbu people C.

The first-fruits harvest festival, kept at the Mangsir full moon: the new grain is offered to Yuma Sammang before it is eaten Ninglekhu/ku heritage documentation project 2026 C.

An assembly; also the name of the principal Limbu organisation, Kirat Yakthung Chumlung Kirat Yakthung Chumlung (Nepal), and Kirat Yakthung Chumlung UK C.

The two-headed Limbu drum, slung from the shoulder and struck on both faces — the instrument of the ke:lang Dahal, Rai, Ghimire and Acharya 2025 B.

“The ten Limbuwan” — the ten thums into which the Limbu country east of the Arun is held to have been divided. The number of ten is universal in Limbu self-description and is recorded as tradition, not from any archival source Ninglekhu/ku heritage documentation project 2026 E.

The chyabrung dance Dahal, Rai, Ghimire and Acharya 2025 B.

The senior priest in the Chhathar taxonomy of ritual specialists, who divines by examining the organs of sacrificed animals Tribhuvan University e-library theses on Limbu ritual specialists and Limbu folklore B.

A river valley — the basis of most thum names and of a great many clan names, which is why the geography of a thar is usually a question about water Ninglekhu/ku heritage documentation project 2026 C.

Fermented soybean, the best-studied Limbu food: a naturally Bacillus-fermented preparation documented in the food-science literature Tamang, Jyoti Prakash, et al. 2024 B.

Lineage-held, inalienable communal land: rights ran to “the progeny of the first user and maker” of the ground. Converted to raikar in 1968, by the second amendment to the 1964 Land Act Ghimire, Ram Kumar B.

The ritual specialist called for unnatural death — Sogha, Sugut and Sasik — in the male and female forms of one office. The key rite is Sogha Seppma, performed within one to three days of the death Tribhuvan University e-library theses on Limbu ritual specialists and Limbu folklore B.

The Limbu shrine building Ninglekhu/ku heritage documentation project 2026 C.

“Alcohol-drinking” — one of the five legal tiers into which the Muluki Ain of 1854 sorted Nepali society. Höfer’s analysis of that structure is the standard one Höfer, Andras 1979 B. Limbus are conventionally placed in the second tier, non-enslavable matwali, but no direct quotation from Höfer placing them there was obtained Ninglekhu/ku heritage documentation project 2026 C. The category describes what the state decided, not what Limbus were.

The Limbu oral scripture: the body of recited narrative, genealogy, ritual instruction and moral teaching carried by ritual specialists. It is authoritative testimony about what the community holds to be true, which is a different thing from documentary evidence that an event occurred Limbu, Ramesh Kumar B.

The envy or jealousy spirit — a spirit, not a deity; online pantheon lists that name it as a god are simply wrong, and the corresponding rite, Nahen Lakma, “to leak the jealousy”, is performed by the yeba or yema Tribhuvan University e-library theses on Limbu ritual specialists and Limbu folklore B.

Sung question-and-answer poetry — courtship verse, improvised between two lines of singers Limboo, Mugip Hang 2025 B.

“Far Kirat” — Limbuwan, the country east of the Arun. The three-fold division of the eastern hills into Wallo, Majh and Pallo Kirat is itself a legacy of how the Gorkha state described them Ninglekhu/ku heritage documentation project 2026 C.

The household priest — and, loosely, an umbrella word for Limbu ritual specialists generally. Whether the umbrella use is correct is one of the points on which sources disagree Ninglekhu/ku heritage documentation project 2026 C.

State-owned, taxable, alienable land tenure — the form kipat was converted into in 1968 Ghimire, Ram Kumar B.

The Mundhum-knowing ritual specialist — the specialist in oral literature, “regarded as the authentic transmitter and sources of the Mundhum” Tribhuvan University e-library theses on Limbu ritual specialists and Limbu folklore B.

Those who share a father’s-side ancestor: the unit within which marriage is forbidden. Limbu customary law counts generations from a common ancestor rather than naming a separate lineage tier Subba, Chhawang 2023 B.

The Limbu script — and also the name of two historical figures, whose relationship to one another is contested Gaenszle, Martin 2021 B.

Violent death or suicide, and the spirit associated with it — one of the unnatural-death categories the mangba is called to, alongside Sugut and Sasik Tribhuvan University e-library theses on Limbu ritual specialists and Limbu folklore B.

A headman’s title granted by the Shah state, now widely carried as a surname. English Wikipedia puts the change plainly: “Subba was not part of the indigenous Limbu terminology, but now the two terms are almost interchangeable” Limbu people C. It is one of the two names written onto papers in place of a thar.

The spirit of a woman who died in childbirth — a spirit, not a deity, and one of a set of unnatural-death categories alongside Sogha and Sasik Tribhuvan University e-library theses on Limbu ritual specialists and Limbu folklore B.

The supreme being, glossed as the “Supreme Body of Knowledge”. The name carries the same niŋwa root — mind, memory, intent — that opens the clan name Ninglekhu/ku Limbu, Ramesh Kumar B.

Clan, and the surname that carries it. Ninglekhu/ku is a thar Ninglekhu/ku heritage documentation project 2026 C.

A historic district of Limbuwan. Which thum a family belongs to is the geographic question this site is asking Ninglekhu/ku families to answer Ninglekhu/ku heritage documentation project 2026 D.

Millet beer, drunk hot from a wooden vessel through a straw, with water added as it is drained Ninglekhu/ku heritage documentation project 2026 C.

An elder; and the customary judicial body of elders that settles disputes under Limbu customary law Limbu customary law C.

The paddy dance (Dhan Nach): a linked line of dancers, and the setting in which palam is sung Limbu, Ramesh Kumar 2011 B.

The Limbu people’s own name for themselves, also Yakthumba and Yakthungba. “Limbu” is an exonym of uncertain origin that the state adopted and that Limbus now use as well Ninglekhu/ku heritage documentation project 2026 C.

An edible lichen, gathered from trees and cooked as a dish Ninglekhu/ku heritage documentation project 2026 C.

The male and female specialist in affliction caused by envy and jealousy — the nahen complex, whose signature rite is Nahen Lakma Tribhuvan University e-library theses on Limbu ritual specialists and Limbu folklore B.

A settlement or village cluster Ninglekhu/ku heritage documentation project 2026 C.

The grandmother goddess, the central figure of Limbu household and communal worship Ninglekhu/ku heritage documentation project 2026 C.