Dr. Nawa Raj Subba
Mundhum is a traditional knowledge of Kirat. It is considered a spiritual power. So, Mundhum represents and guides Kirat as a religious and cultural path. So this is their philosophy of life. They believe in Kirat Mundhum, like the Vedas of Arya. The Kirat Limbu community considers Mundhum as a religious belief and holy book. Mundhum is a long-established text passed down wisdom orally through centuries. The distinctive dialects of the many Kirat clans have given Mundhum its personality. Kirat Limbu refers to Mundhum as Mundhum and Rai as Mundum or Mudum. Like Kirat Sunuwar refers to Mundhum as "Mukdum," Kirat Yakkha refers to it as "Muntum." The name was owned by locality and ethnicity on its tongue and dialects, but in essence, it is common knowledge of the Kirats evidenced in phonetic similarities with the common meaning of this word. Scholars have defined Kirat Mundhum. In the Kirat Limbu language, 'Mum' means traveling, and 'Dhum' means being strong enough to display knowledge capable of going around and down (Chemjong, 1965; 2003a, 2003b, 2003c). According to historian Imansingh Chemjong, Mundhum is 'the power of great force' and 'verbally moving knowledge.’ He has explained the Vedas of Kirat to Mundhum. However, since Mundhum or Veda both mean knowledge, Kirat Mundhum is called the Veda of Kirat. There is also a linguistic effect in the coinage Mundhum. In the Kirat Limbu language, 'Mura' or 'Mu' means mouth or oral, and 'Thum' means strong enough. It shows the text's powerful verbal nature. However, Kirat Shamans such as Phedangba/ma, Samba, and Yeba believe Mundhum is the speech of God.
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