Mythologies of the Bantawa Tribe

  

 
The Bantawa Language (also referred to as An Yüng, Bantaba, Bantawa Dum, Bantawa Yong, Bantawa Yüng, Bontawa, Kirawa Yüng), is a Kiranti language spoken in the eastern Himalayan hills of eastern Nepal by Kirati Bantawa ethnic groups. They use a syllabic alphabet system known as Kirat Rai. Among the Khambu or Rai people of Eastern Nepal, Sikkim, Darjeeling and Kalimpong in India, Bantawa is the largest language spoken. According to the 2001 National Census, at least 1.63% of the Nepal's total population speaks Bantawa. About 370,000 speak Bantawa Language mostly in eastern hilly regions of Nepal (2001). Although Bantawa is among the more widely used variety of the Bantawa language, it falls in the below-100,000 category of endangered languages. It is experiencing language shift to Nepali, especially in the northern region. Most of the Bantawa clan are now settled in Bhojpur, Dharan, Illam, and Dhankuta. Recent figures show most of them are settled in Dharan. Bantawa is spoken in the following districts of Nepal.




Among the various form of Kiranti languages the most widely spoken is the Bantawa language. It is spoken in Eastern Nepal and Sikkim and Darjeeling District in West Bengal and in south-western Bhutan. The Bantawa language is the lingua franca amongst the Rais in Eastern Nepal as well as North-eastern India (Bradley 1996). In the year 1996 Bantawa was recognized as one of the 11official state languages of Sikkim. The dialectical division formulated by Eppele (2003) is the most widely accepted division of the Bantawa language. According to him there are four main dialects of the Bantawa language based on the idea of thums ie kingdoms. They are Hatuwali, Amchoke, Dilpali, and Dhankuta. The earliest linguistic account of Bantawa language is found in Hodgson(1975). He uses the term Bantawa to connote a group of languages rather than treating it as a single linguistic unit. Thus, it was not until 1953 that the term Bantawa began to be used as a glottonym of a single linguistic unit. The term Bantawa is presently used as a glottonym as well as and an ethnonym. Glottonym is a linguistic term that refers to a single language and ethnonym designates an ethnic group or tribe. There is no definite etymology for the term “Bantawa”. However, I have tried to provide the etymology of the Bantawa word based on its folklore.The term Bantawa is presently used as a glottonym as well as and an ethnonym. Glottonym is a linguistic term that refers to a single language and ethnonym designates an ethnic group or tribe. There is no definite etymology for the term “Bantawa”. However, I have tried to provide the etymology of the Bantawa word based on its folklore.


Bantawa is a member of the Kiranti branch of Sino-Tibetan language family. It is spoken mainly in eastern Nepal, particularly in the Kosi, Mechi and Sagarmatha zones. In 2011 there were about 161,500 speakers of Bantawa in Nepal, where the language is officially recognised. In Bhutan there are about 19,200 speakers of Bantawa, and there are about 14,400 in India, mailny in Sikkim state and in Darjeeling in West Bengal state. Bantawa is also known as An Yüng, Bantaba, Bantawa Dum, Bantawa Rai, Bantawa Yong, Bantawa Yüng, Bontawa and Kirawa Yüng. Dialects include Eastern Bantawa (Dhankuta), Northern Bantawa (Dilpali), Southern Bantawa (Hatuwali) and Western Bantawa (Amchoke). Bantawa is taught in some schools in Nepal and Bhutan, and is used in the media and literature. It is written with a version of the Devanagari alphabet, and used to be written with the Kirat Rai script.


The Bantawa Language (also referred to as An Yüng, Bantaba, Bantawa Dum, Bantawa Yong, Bantawa Yüng, Bontawa, Kirawa Yüng), is a Kiranti language spoken in the eastern Himalayan hills of eastern Nepal by Kirati Bantawa ethnic groups. They use a syllabic alphabet system known as Kirat Rai. Among the Khambu or Rai people of Eastern Nepal, Sikkim, Darjeeling and Kalimpong in India, Bantawa is the largest language spoken. According to the 2001 National Census, at least 1.63% of the Nepal's total population speaks Bantawa. About 370,000 speak Bantawa Language mostly in eastern hilly regions of Nepal (2001). Although Bantawa is among the more widely used variety of the Bantawa language, it falls in the below-100,000 category of endangered languages. It is experiencing language shift to Nepali, especially in the northern region. Bantawa is spoken in subject-object-verb order, and has no noun classes or genders. Most of the Bantawa clan are now settled in Bhojpur, Dharan, Illam, and Dhankuta. Recent figures show most of them are settled in Dharan. Bantawa is spoken in the following districts of Nepal.





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