Chepang
A Trans-Himalayan language spoken in Nepal​

Oral Literature, variations on a theme

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Two Mango's pits

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This story relates one of the first episodes of the Rāmāyana, a Sanskrit epic poem written between the 7th and 4th centuries BCE, where Dasharatha, the king of Ayodhya, despite having three wives, didn't have children. With the help of a yogi, he gave his wives some boiled rice and milk (khir) and his wish was raised: he got four sons, Rām, Lakshman (Lachuman), Bharat and Satrughna (Satrughan). In the present version, narrated by Kishna Bahadur Kurangi Chepang, it is instead the consumption of mango's pits which fulfills the promise of the yogi. This setting is found in the Padma Purana, a sanskrit manuscript written between the 3rd and 15th century CE depicting the society and religious beliefs of ancient India. In the Uttara-Khanda section of the Padma Purana, a brahnmin called Atmadeva and his wife Dhundhunli lived unhappily without children. Atmadeva went in the jungle and a yogi gave him a mango or alternatively the pit of a fruit that he had to give to his wife in order for her to become pregnant. Atmadeva gave the fruit to Dhundhunli who instead of eating it gave it to their cow which later gave birth to a son, Gorkana (which means having the ears of a cow). Later in the Rāmāyana, Rām Sitā and Lakshman (Lachuman) were sent to live in the jungle. Some Chepangs believe that they are their descendants. 

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The marriage of Ram and sita

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This story is about the marriage of Rām and Sitā, an episode found in the Rāmāyana, a Sanskrit epic poem written between the 7th and 4th centuries BCE. The present version, narrated by Kishna Bahadur Kurangi Chepang, is as well the result of oral retelling and Chepang's social and cultural beliefs. Some of the settings in this version correlate to others found in another major epic poem of ancient India, the Mahābhārata. --- For instance, the encounter of Rām and Sitā takes place on the bank of a river in the forest, on a ghāṭ (set of steps leading down to a river or lake), after Rām and Lakshman (Lachuman) hunted, roasted and ate a deer. Eating a roasted deer made them very thirsty and they decided to go look for some water to drink. This particular setting recalls an episode of the Mahābhārata where Yudhishthira, the son of king Pandu and queen Kunti, became exhausted and thirsty after the chase of a deer. He sent his brothers to fetch for water in a nearby pond where Yaksha (a nature spirit) would give them water in exchange of answering a question. Like Yaksha, Sitā would accept to give Rām and Lakshman (Lachuman) some water in exchange of something, marrying her. In addition, the deer that Rām and Lakshman (Lachuman) killed was in fact a doe in gestation, and killing a doe in gestation is not considered very moral. Indeed, in an episode found as well in the Mahābhārata, the king Pandu got cursed after having hunted a doe in gestation.