SOAS Research Online

Abstract

This thesis examines some economic and political concomitants of a system of land tenure - called kipat - associated with the Bimbus, one of the peoples indigenous to East Nepal, It considers some of the ways in which this system affects social relationships both among the Limbus and between them and members of other groups, especially Brahmins. Particular attention is paid to the changes which have followed from alterations in the tenure system. The analysis is based on data collected in a cluster of settlements, inhabited mainly by Limbus, in the district of Ilam. Chapter I describes the environmental and historical background of the area, as well as certain cultural features associated with the principal groups inhabiting the settlements. Chapter II considers the nature of Limbu descent groups and their relations to land. The following chapter indicates how Government policy affected the availability of kipat land, and led to the emergence of the household - dealt with in Chapter IV - as the group with the greatest interests in this land. Two subsequent chapters dealt with economic ties resulting from heavy mortgaging of kipat land and the growth of commercial sources of income outside the agricultural economy. Chapter VII then considers the political configuration in the settlements with particular emphasis on leadership and the settlement of disputes. Factions, and their implications for Limbus are also dealt with Finally, Chapter VIII analyzes the structural cleavages between Limbus and Brahmins based primarily on the confrontation over land, and views its effects on relationships both within and outside the settlements.