The Power of Script: Phālgunanda’s Role in the Formation of Kiranti Ethnicity*

This chapter concerns itself with Phalgunanda, the extraordinary but hitherto little explored figure mentioned, and with the story of his pursuits. At the centre of Phalgunanda’s work is the dissemination of the so-called Kiranti script as a medium for a newly defined—a reformed—syncretic spirituality. The following sketch of Phalgunanda’s life is based largely on his biography written by two village teachers who were witnesses to the activities of his later years. At the beginning of the twentieth century, the Great Game was in full swing. One consequence of the tight economic situation was that recruitment into the British army as a Gurkha mercenary remained one of the few forms of migratory labour left. Phalgunanda’s disciples kept the tradition alive; the rituals continued to be performed at the temples, and the community of Satyahangma adherents survived, if on a more modest scale.