Death of a headman or the shaman’s logic

Abstract

Standing stones, Mewa valley Standing stone in Bhote country (left); graves and standing stones in Thanku (right) Photos Philippe Sagant, 1970; sources: LESC_FPS_7.1.12 et LESC_FPS_7.1.4 The events that follow occurred in the sixties, in northeastern Nepal among the Tibeto-Burmese speaking Yakthumba, or Limbu as the Nepali call them. Two headmen, brothers, were locked in a struggle for power. The first, and eldest, had temporarily given up on local action. He was looking to a national positi...