shauka

Shaukas, further consist of several sub-groups, residing in two different river valleys. Joharis live along the Goriganga river valley in Munsiyari Tehsil of Pithoragarh district, while the Rungs live along the Mahakali river valley in Dharchula teshil and Darchula district of Nepal.
This study on the Rang Shauka, a Bhotia group having a long trading tradition and who live in northeastern Kumaon (part of the Indian state of Uttaranchal), in the district of Pittoragarh near the Nepalese border, describes their lifestyle in a bi-cultural setting of Hindu and Buddhist traditions. Leder introduces this mountainous region (Uttarakhand), its geography, the population, the group under study, and history from the beginning. The next chapter is on the social structure of the Rang Shauka and their social environment, on family and kinship, forms of marriage and passage rites, purification, ancestor cult, political and economic communal organization, and the status of women. The description of the religion and cosmology of the Rang Shauka includes Hindu and Buddhist influence, gods, sacrifice, ritual actors, and divination of the Rang. Furthermore, their economy is briefly described, and the book is completed by a chapter of their myths - as handed down in the four valleys of their habitation (the Vyans-, Chaundas-, Darma-, and Johar Valleys).