Iman Singh Chemjong
Encyclopedia
Iman Xin Chemjong
or Iman Singh Chemjong was a Limbu
historian
, writer
, linguist, lexicographer, folklorist and philosopher from Nepal
. Although some say that his middle name Xin was spelled as Singh due to mainstream Nepalese or Indian influence, others say Singh is correct because in his book Kiratakalina Vijayapurako Sankshipta Itihasa, Chemjong writes his name in Nepali
as Iman Singh Chemjong. Chemjong devoted his entire life to studying and documenting various facets of Kirati tradition
and culture
at a time when such activities were frowned upon and even punished by the Nepalese ruling elite as being subversive and "anti-national". Chemjong's research into, and publication of, a Kiranti history
and culture challenged perceptions of the Nepalese official doctrine
that sought to present Nepal as a Hindu
cultural monolith devoid of alternative narratives.
Born in Renkebung village of Darjeeling district
, West Bengal
, India
, Chemjong received his education at St. Xavier's College, Calcutta. In 1928, he completed his certificate level and was about to enroll for a Bachelor degree, when his father, Megbar Singh Chemjong, died. Chemjong junior had to put his academic aspirations on hold.
observed a religion
called Mundhum
centred around animistic ritual
s and practices. However, due to assimilation of Limbus into the Hindu
mainstream, many Limbus adopted Hindu names and started to participate in Hindu worship
s and festival
s.
Limbus
never really severed their ties to their rich religion and culture that stretched back to ancient times. Alongside Hindu goddesses Durga
and Laxmi, Limbus continued to worship their own supreme god Ningmaphuma. One such devoted Limbu worshipper was Chemjong's own mother, Devapu Hangma. Limbu Mundum religion is a rich cornucopia of oral traditions encompassing Kirati theology
, mythology
, history, genealogy
, culture and traditions, and having a devout mother gave Chemjong a distinct advantage to learn all these.
A turning point in Chemjong's life came in 1924, when the legendary Limbu
activist Lalshore Sendang visited Kalimpong in Darjeeling district and met Limbu elders and activists. Chemjong was one of the many Limbu youths who learned the Limbu Sirijonga script from Sendang and attended his talks on Limbu religion and culture.
(then an independent Himalayan kingdom
) and also in Assam
. In his own lifetime, he published the following works:
, King Tribhuvan invited Chemjong to join Nepal's Tribhuvan University
in the capacity of "Limbu expert" in 1961. For years until his death, Chemjong headed a one-man Limbu research team at the then Nepal's only university. Chemjong appears to have held a "Kirant Bhasha Tatha Sanskriti Bishesagya (Specialist in Kiranti Language and Culture)" position at the Tribhuwan University, Kirtipur, Kathmandu as evidenced by his title in his book Kiratakalina Vijayapurako Sankshipta Itihasa published in 1975 and not as "Limbu expert".
Today, the Limbu community spread across mid- and eastern Nepal, West Bengal, Assam, Sikkim and Bhutan
revere Chemjong as a hero for almost single-handedly researching and documenting various aspects of Limbu and Kirati life at a time when such activities were neither encouraged nor fashionable. Various functions are held each year to commemorate Chemjong's contributions.
Chemjong is survived by his wife, Amiran Chemjong, two daughters, three sons and nine grandchildren.
Chemjong
Chemjong is a Limbu surname. Origin and History of the Name Chemjong comes from the era of Lasahang Dynasty of Limbuwan.. It is most common in Limbuwan, East Nepal and Sikkim.-People with the surname :* Iman Xin Chemjong, Limbu Historian...
or Iman Singh Chemjong was a Limbu
Limbu people
The Yakthung or Limbu tribes and clans belong to the Kirati nation or to the Kirat confederation.They are indigenous to the hill and mountainous regions of east Nepal between the Arun and Mechi rivers to as far as Southern Tibet, Bhutan and Sikkim....
historian
Historian
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is...
, writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
, linguist, lexicographer, folklorist and philosopher from Nepal
Nepal
Nepal , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked sovereign state located in South Asia. It is located in the Himalayas and bordered to the north by the People's Republic of China, and to the south, east, and west by the Republic of India...
. Although some say that his middle name Xin was spelled as Singh due to mainstream Nepalese or Indian influence, others say Singh is correct because in his book Kiratakalina Vijayapurako Sankshipta Itihasa, Chemjong writes his name in Nepali
Nepali language
Nepali or Nepalese is a language in the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European language family.It is the official language and de facto lingua franca of Nepal and is also spoken in Bhutan, parts of India and parts of Myanmar...
as Iman Singh Chemjong. Chemjong devoted his entire life to studying and documenting various facets of Kirati tradition
Tradition
A tradition is a ritual, belief or object passed down within a society, still maintained in the present, with origins in the past. Common examples include holidays or impractical but socially meaningful clothes , but the idea has also been applied to social norms such as greetings...
and culture
Culture
Culture is a term that has many different inter-related meanings. For example, in 1952, Alfred Kroeber and Clyde Kluckhohn compiled a list of 164 definitions of "culture" in Culture: A Critical Review of Concepts and Definitions...
at a time when such activities were frowned upon and even punished by the Nepalese ruling elite as being subversive and "anti-national". Chemjong's research into, and publication of, a Kiranti history
History
History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...
and culture challenged perceptions of the Nepalese official doctrine
Doctrine
Doctrine is a codification of beliefs or a body of teachings or instructions, taught principles or positions, as the body of teachings in a branch of knowledge or belief system...
that sought to present Nepal as a Hindu
Hindu
Hindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...
cultural monolith devoid of alternative narratives.
Born in Renkebung village of Darjeeling district
Darjeeling district
Darjeeling District is the northernmost district of the state of West Bengal in eastern India in the foothills of the Himalayas. The district is famous for its beautiful hill stations and Darjeeling tea. Darjeeling is the district headquarters...
, West Bengal
West Bengal
West Bengal is a state in the eastern region of India and is the nation's fourth-most populous. It is also the seventh-most populous sub-national entity in the world, with over 91 million inhabitants. A major agricultural producer, West Bengal is the sixth-largest contributor to India's GDP...
, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, Chemjong received his education at St. Xavier's College, Calcutta. In 1928, he completed his certificate level and was about to enroll for a Bachelor degree, when his father, Megbar Singh Chemjong, died. Chemjong junior had to put his academic aspirations on hold.
Early influences
Traditionally, LimbusLimbu people
The Yakthung or Limbu tribes and clans belong to the Kirati nation or to the Kirat confederation.They are indigenous to the hill and mountainous regions of east Nepal between the Arun and Mechi rivers to as far as Southern Tibet, Bhutan and Sikkim....
observed a religion
Religion
Religion is a collection of cultural systems, belief systems, and worldviews that establishes symbols that relate humanity to spirituality and, sometimes, to moral values. Many religions have narratives, symbols, traditions and sacred histories that are intended to give meaning to life or to...
called Mundhum
Mundhum
Mundhum is the ancient religious scripture and folk literature of the Kirat people of Nepal, central to Kirat Mundhum, the ancient, indigenous religion of Nepal. Mundhum means "the power of great strength" in the Kiranti languages...
centred around animistic ritual
Ritual
A ritual is a set of actions, performed mainly for their symbolic value. It may be prescribed by a religion or by the traditions of a community. The term usually excludes actions which are arbitrarily chosen by the performers....
s and practices. However, due to assimilation of Limbus into the Hindu
Hindu
Hindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...
mainstream, many Limbus adopted Hindu names and started to participate in Hindu worship
Worship
Worship is an act of religious devotion usually directed towards a deity. The word is derived from the Old English worthscipe, meaning worthiness or worth-ship — to give, at its simplest, worth to something, for example, Christian worship.Evelyn Underhill defines worship thus: "The absolute...
s and festival
Festival
A festival or gala is an event, usually and ordinarily staged by a local community, which centers on and celebrates some unique aspect of that community and the Festival....
s.
Limbus
Limbu people
The Yakthung or Limbu tribes and clans belong to the Kirati nation or to the Kirat confederation.They are indigenous to the hill and mountainous regions of east Nepal between the Arun and Mechi rivers to as far as Southern Tibet, Bhutan and Sikkim....
never really severed their ties to their rich religion and culture that stretched back to ancient times. Alongside Hindu goddesses Durga
Durga
For the 1985 Hindi Film of Rajesh Khanna see DurgaaIn Hinduism, Durga ; ; meaning "the inaccessible" or "the invincible"; , durga) or Maa Durga "one who can redeem in situations of utmost distress" is a form of Devi, the supremely radiant goddess, depicted as having eighteen arms, riding a lion...
and Laxmi, Limbus continued to worship their own supreme god Ningmaphuma. One such devoted Limbu worshipper was Chemjong's own mother, Devapu Hangma. Limbu Mundum religion is a rich cornucopia of oral traditions encompassing Kirati theology
Theology
Theology is the systematic and rational study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truths, or the learned profession acquired by completing specialized training in religious studies, usually at a university or school of divinity or seminary.-Definition:Augustine of Hippo...
, mythology
Mythology
The term mythology can refer either to the study of myths, or to a body or collection of myths. As examples, comparative mythology is the study of connections between myths from different cultures, whereas Greek mythology is the body of myths from ancient Greece...
, history, genealogy
Genealogy
Genealogy is the study of families and the tracing of their lineages and history. Genealogists use oral traditions, historical records, genetic analysis, and other records to obtain information about a family and to demonstrate kinship and pedigrees of its members...
, culture and traditions, and having a devout mother gave Chemjong a distinct advantage to learn all these.
A turning point in Chemjong's life came in 1924, when the legendary Limbu
Limbu people
The Yakthung or Limbu tribes and clans belong to the Kirati nation or to the Kirat confederation.They are indigenous to the hill and mountainous regions of east Nepal between the Arun and Mechi rivers to as far as Southern Tibet, Bhutan and Sikkim....
activist Lalshore Sendang visited Kalimpong in Darjeeling district and met Limbu elders and activists. Chemjong was one of the many Limbu youths who learned the Limbu Sirijonga script from Sendang and attended his talks on Limbu religion and culture.
Works
Chemjong researched Limbu language and culture in Limbuwan, i.e. East Nepal, the neighbouring hill areas of Darjeeling and SikkimSikkim
Sikkim is a landlocked Indian state nestled in the Himalayan mountains...
(then an independent Himalayan kingdom
Monarchy
A monarchy is a form of government in which the office of head of state is usually held until death or abdication and is often hereditary and includes a royal house. In some cases, the monarch is elected...
) and also in Assam
Assam
Assam , also, rarely, Assam Valley and formerly the Assam Province , is a northeastern state of India and is one of the most culturally and geographically distinct regions of the country...
. In his own lifetime, he published the following works:
- Kirat Itihas 1948
- Kirat Sahityako Itihas 1955
- Kirat Folklore 1961
- Kirat Mundhum 1961
- Limboo-Nepali-English Dictionary 1961
- Kirat Mundhum Khahun 1965
- Kirat History and Culture 1967
- Kirat Darshanko Saransh 1969
- LepchaLepcha languageLepcha language, or Róng language , is a Himalayish language spoken by the Lepcha people in Sikkim and parts of West Bengal, Nepal and Bhutan.-Population:...
-Nepali-English Dictionary 1969 - Bijayapurko Itihas 1974
Recognition
In a gesture that went against the grain of prevailing state ideologyIdeology
An ideology is a set of ideas that constitutes one's goals, expectations, and actions. An ideology can be thought of as a comprehensive vision, as a way of looking at things , as in common sense and several philosophical tendencies , or a set of ideas proposed by the dominant class of a society to...
, King Tribhuvan invited Chemjong to join Nepal's Tribhuvan University
Tribhuvan University
Tribhuvan University [त्रिभुवन विश्वविध्यालय] is a public university located in Kirtipur, Kathmandu, Nepal. Established in 1959, TU is the oldest of the five universities in Nepal...
in the capacity of "Limbu expert" in 1961. For years until his death, Chemjong headed a one-man Limbu research team at the then Nepal's only university. Chemjong appears to have held a "Kirant Bhasha Tatha Sanskriti Bishesagya (Specialist in Kiranti Language and Culture)" position at the Tribhuwan University, Kirtipur, Kathmandu as evidenced by his title in his book Kiratakalina Vijayapurako Sankshipta Itihasa published in 1975 and not as "Limbu expert".
Today, the Limbu community spread across mid- and eastern Nepal, West Bengal, Assam, Sikkim and Bhutan
Bhutan
Bhutan , officially the Kingdom of Bhutan, is a landlocked state in South Asia, located at the eastern end of the Himalayas and bordered to the south, east and west by the Republic of India and to the north by the People's Republic of China...
revere Chemjong as a hero for almost single-handedly researching and documenting various aspects of Limbu and Kirati life at a time when such activities were neither encouraged nor fashionable. Various functions are held each year to commemorate Chemjong's contributions.
Chemjong is survived by his wife, Amiran Chemjong, two daughters, three sons and nine grandchildren.