Aayu Publications

The Limbus inhabit in the very large area of mythical 'Limbuwan', which is widely spread over the present-day Sikkim and the North Bengal of the state West Bengal, especially in the Darjeeling district of West Bengal. They are well-known as 'Subba' to all the other communities in the Eastern Himalayas and acknowledging this, they also put this in their surname. Once they were the transhumance or pastoral community, now they are settled either on the buffer zone of National Park (as in the field site of Sikkim) or on the fringe of the forests (as in the Darjeeling district). This community has been advanced economically and educationally in the changing socio-economic condition. They have come in contact profoundly with the urban societies. But they have the treasure of indigenous knowledge, which are profound in their oral traditions, economy, cultural practices and conservation ethos, which are based on their traditional wisdom of use, collection, plantation of all kinds of non-timber forest products, including medicinal plants. In the cultural practices pertaining to indigenous knowledge system broad range of belief and ritual activity, life-cycle rites, socio-political system, art and customs and interpersonal relationships are well observed. A large number of elements of local biodiversity, are protected by the local cultural practices or norms Their tribal identities are pronounced in the performing arts of various ethnic dances. In their socio-political system their solidarity is well maintained in their traditional jati Panchayat. All these are vividly and empirically illustrated in the book.