The Gurung Ghaleg people live in the Kaski, Syangia and Parbat districts of the Gandaki Zone in central Nepal. Perhaps only half speak their original language and the rest speak Nepali as their first language.
Over the past two hundred years the Gurung have migrated into surrounding nations. There is a community of Gurung living in the Samtsi District of southwest Bhutan, where they are commonly labelled as Nepalis. In India, Gurung communities can be found in the hilly terrain of the South, West and East districts of the state of Sikkim, throughout the Darjeeling District of West Bengal, and around the city of Dehra Dun and throughout the Pithoragarh District in Uttar Pradesh. In India, the Gurung have not been recognized as a Scheduled Tribe. Consequently, population figures are not available for them, but they probably total a few thousand.
Gurung history is clouded with uncertainty because of their lack of a written script in the past. Legends were handed down orally from one generation to the next. We do know that, during the 15th century, a Gurung king named Ghale Raja was overthrown by a Nepali king. In the 16th century the Khasa armies took over large tracts of land in Nepal and the Gurung came under their control. The Gurung were highly regarded as fighters and many of them were enlisted in the Khasa's armies. Later, after the British took control of India, many Gurung men were enlisted as Gurkha soldiers in the British army. Thousands have served in places from Hong Kong to Bosnia and the Falkland Islands.
Many of the Gurung Ghaleg are serving in military forces. Others are engaged in agriculture.
Religion plays an important role in the everyday lives of Gurung Ghaleg people. Their belief system is a mixture of Buddhism, Hinduism and shamanism. As one researcher wrote, 'Buddhism is followed by the Gurung Ghaleg today although in ancient times they practiced the animistic and shamanistic form of religion like the pre-Buddhist Bon religion of the Himalayan regions. The northern areas of the kingdom are populated with people of mongoloid stock who are mostly followers of Tibetan Buddhism, and so these Gurungs can also be included within this category, though currently Hindu Gurungs have also emerged due to their contact with the Hindu lowlanders. '
The ceremonies and rituals that the Gurung Ghaleg perform also have mixed origins. One interesting custom, called tuno bandhane, takes place three days after the birth of a baby. 'This entails wrapping the newborn baby (after it has been washed in either cow's milk or cow's urine) in a long piece of cloth. '
Less than one out of every thousand Gurung Ghaleg people are Christians today. The Western Gurung New Testament was first published in 1982, but it has fallen out of print since because there is no demand for it.
Pray for the gospel to reach Gurung Ghaleg households and villages soon.
Pray for Gurung Ghaleg family leaders to seek and find the only savior.
Pray for Gurung Ghaleg disciples to make more disciples.
Scripture Prayers for the Gurung Ghaleg in Bhutan.
Peoples of the Buddhist World, Asia Harvest, Copyrighted © Used with permission
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