Unveiling Ancient Yakthung Rhetorical Traditions: Matrilineal Civilizations and Mundhum Practices of the Himalayas

Marohang Limbu, College of Arts and Letters
Himalayan Yakthung Cultural Studies
Ya-Phedangmas
Yakthung Cultural Leaders

Marohang Limbu’s community-engaged scholarship focuses on revitalizing and sustaining the knowledge systems, oral traditions, and cultural practices of Himalayan Indigenous communities, particularly in Nepal, India, and Bhutan. Since 2014, Limbu, a Himalayan Indigenous scholar, has worked alongside Ya-Phedangmas (Mundhum ritual performers or shamans), Tumyahangs (learned men), Suhangmas (learned women), elders, historians, scholars, and community institutions. Grounded in a decolonial framework, this university-community partnership embeds scholarship in the co-research and co-documentation of Mundhum traditions, including ritual, ecological, and cosmological practices often marginalized in Western and mainstream discourses. This collaboration addresses urgent issues such as cultural erasure, linguistic decline, and ecological displacement. Rather than extracting knowledge, the research centers community agency by co-creating ethnographic records, multilingual digital archives, and multimodal publications in Yakthung, Nepali, and English. These collaborative outputs not only preserve endangered traditions but also provide culturally relevant educational resources. They amplify Himalayan Indigenous voices in both community and global contexts, ensuring accessibility, visibility, and intellectual sovereignty. This model of engaged scholarship transforms the university into a site of reciprocal learning and cultural healing. The work affirms the value of Himalayan Indigenous oral traditions while advancing MSU's land-grant mission to democratize knowledge, foster global and inclusive excellence, and create sustainable, justice-oriented partnerships.