Key person of Kusunda Tribe 2 ( Dhan Bahadur Kusunda)

Dhan Bahadur Kusunda

                                                                          

                                                     Date of birth: 2022/05/22 BS                                                      

Place of birth: Ghorahi -6, Supalakhutti, Dang

Father: Bhim Bahadur Kusunda

Mother: Tulasi Kusunda

Dhan Bahadur Kusunda is the founding chairperson of Kusunda Bikash Samaj. He established Kusunda Bikash Samaj on February 5, 2009. It is located at Ghorai, Dang. He has four daughters and married with Magar woman. He stayed and worked more than 10 years in Kathmandu and different parts of India for the fulfillment of his economic needs. Now he is a member of Ghorahi municipality representing indigenous people.

He is very active in the establishment of the rights of indigenous people, especially Kusunda. He introduced the Kusunda people of Nepal at the national and local levels. According to him,  “We Kusundas are known as kings of the jungle. Not only are we dependent on forest products like roots and bulbs but we also live in it. Hunting is a mainstay of our traditional economy. We hunt down wild animals, mostly pheasants, and other birds. We ensnare pheasants alive and exchange them with money and food grains. As the kings of the jungle, we still live in and depend on the forest. But Nepal's forest was our actual kingdom. Our ancestors were the kings and the nomad Rautes were our subjects. Legend has it that some outside force once finished off our king, forcing us to flee the jungle. When the royal Kusundas fled, their subjects, the Rautes, came along. After being attacked and forced out of the jungle, our ancestors living a reclusive life. They would avoid contact with the outside world, and they would hide in case any outsider passed by them. Later the name Kusunda became synonymous with reclusiveness. After we fled the jungle, we faced threats to our culture. We gradually started assimilating ourselves into other communities. Depletion in forest products also drove us out of the jungle”.

He further added that “Our culture is similar to those of Nepal's other indigenous communities. We worship goddesses in the jungle and we celebrate Mangsire Purnima. While men worship cocks, women worship hens. We do not touch cow dung. We do not drink milk and curd. All family members and relatives gather to celebrate our festivals. But with the passage of time, our culture came under the influence of other cultures. We started celebrating Dashain festival as the Nepali state gave importance to it.  Our language also faced threats. Only two persons of Kusunda, can speak our Kusunda language. Our mother tongue is on the verge of extinction”.  

The Kusunda language has less than a handful of speakers. According to the Nepal Kusunda Bikash Samaj, an umbrella body of the Kusunda ethnic group, Kamala Khatri of Rolpa and Prem Bahadur Kusunda of Dang are the only competent speakers of the language in the entire country. Dhan Bahadur Kusunda, chairman of Nepal Kusunda Bikash Samaj, said the government’s apathy is primarily to blame for the imminent extinction of the Kusunda language. “We could not preserve our language because the state excluded us from mainstream development. This forced us to be subservient to other powerful communities and assimilate their culture and language while forgetting our own,” lamented Dhan Bahadur, who can only decipher a few words of his mother tongue.  The National Population Census of 2011 shows there are just 273 Kusunda in the country, though the community has questioned the authenticity of the data.  “The census has failed to include Kusundas residing in Surkhet, Gorkha, Arghakhanchi, Pyuthan, and Rolpa, while it shows the presence of 10 Kusundas in Kathmandu. We don’t believe this,” said Dhan Bahadur Kusunda. He has various plans for the upliftment of Kusundas of Nepal (Kusunda 2015). He actively participated in the national level of indigenous seminars, workshops, and meetings to the protection of their rights. 



Dhan Bahadur Kusunda and his wife with traditional dress

He has been organizing various activities for the preservation of Kusunda culture and their mother language. In his leadership, Kusunda Bikash Sammitte recognized as the national level ethnic organization in Nepal as well as out of Nepal.