Buddhism in Gandaki Province: Exploring Buddhist Culture and Literature within the Gurung Community

Abstract

This article presents a comprehensive study that begins with an examination of the province’s demographic and Buddhist cultural heritages, followed by an exploration of the Gurung community’s origins, their Buddhist customs, culture, literature, and historical ties to the land. The Gurung community is recognized as the indigenous group that has inhabited this region since early history. According to the oral history of Gurung Kerlo, they migrated southward from the frigid northern Himalayas in search of a warmer climate, ultimately settling in Kohl Sothar, located in the southern part of the Annapurna Himalayas. Here, they developed an indigenous culture rooted in ancestor worship and influenced by Bon traditions. The arrival of Buddhism in Tibet further enriched this culture through ancient Buddhist Nyingma tantra and mantras, leading to the emergence of the Buddhist Lama tradition within Gurung society. This study highlights traditional Buddhist texts such as Choka Choe, utilized in Gurung life passage rituals, as well as the death rituals of the byang-gter traditions and the contemporary hdon chog text. The methodology for transliterating ritual texts in Nepali and participation in the ritual process reveals that the primary cause of obsolescence is the limited transmission of Buddhist knowledge from lineage masters, Consequently, the new generation of Gurung Lamas is connected to the new learning center and adopting ritual practice in modernized hdon chog procedures.