Gurungs, Goorkhalis, Gurkhas: Speculations on a Nepalese ethno-history

Contributions to nepalese studies cnas tribhuvan university, 1990. - 24 p.The Gurungs are a Tibeto-Burman people who have for centuries inhabited the southern slopes of the Himalaya in Central Nepal. Outside Nepal they have gained recognition-along with Magar, Limbu and Rai peoples-as tough soldiers in Gurkha regiments of the Indian and British armies.1 Their homeland is a contact zone between Indian Hinduism and Tibetan Buddhism, and both these have overlaid an ancient shamanistjc religion, to become part of Gurung culture. The Gurung economy is diverse. Military service and sedentary agriculture (including wet rice cultivation and various dry crops such as maize and millet) have become the main pillars of their economy, replacing once exclusive reliance on highland herding, hunting and swidden agriculture. Long distance trade has always played a major part in the Gurung economy. Though their role as middle men in Nepal's Tibet trade is no longer prominent, new avenues have opened through military service outside Nepal.