My father’s ritual dance and our cultural oblivion

As I sit by my ailing father, I have an impression of him representing an era of slowly vanishing Limbu culture and tradition of Mundhum -based rites and rituals.

I still vividly remember how vehemently he performed the ritual of Tongsing Takma as a Yeba (Limbu shaman assigned for carrying out various rituals) some decades ago. In the night of the ritual performance, he would wear long white robe tightened at the waist, a headdress decorated with the feathers of different birds and garlands made from the beads of rudraksha. For the whole night, he would recite Mundhum and dance around the bamboo pole known as Yagesing fixed for the ritual in the middle of the courtyard. As a boy, I could hardly grasp the eloquence of his Mundhum recitation and message of those rich oral scriptures. For me, the event was simply an occasion of celebration and fun where I enjoyed ludicrously following and copying his dancing steps and panicked and thrilled being chased by him in the middle of the ritual performance along with others.