Kusunda
From Free net encyclopedia
The Kusunda or Ban Raja (people of the forest) are a tribe of people ethnically related to the Chepang, but unlike the Chepang who dwell in mud houses, the few hundred Kusundas dwell in the forest. Their language is believed to have recently gone extinct or be on the verge of extinction.
Kusunda is sometimes classified as belonging to the Tibeto-Burman family, but several researchers consider it to be a language isolate and a remnant of languages spoken in the area prior to the influx of Tibeto-Burman speaking peoples.
To many Nepalis, the Kusundas are sometimes stereotyped as barbaric cannibals, perhaps due to the Chepang's assumption that when a Kusunda come across a Chepang, the former had the intention of killing the latter. This caused the Chepang to avoid the Kusunda.
The Kusundas are followers of Animism, though Hindu overtones may be seen in their religious rituals.