The origin of Newaa

In response to Shreena Tuladhar's article on the second edition of Janabahaa e-News, Daya Ratna Shakya of Portland, USA has sent in this comment:

"Jwajalapa to all

From my limited knowledge on the mentioned subject what I can speculate here is that Kirant ( not Kiranti) and Newah share some common features in linguistics. But culturally they are very distant in current context. The word kirat was hypothesized as compound form of /ki/ ( rice) and /raat/(Meat). Newars also prepefer to consume meat and rice. This is the only speculation we can find in resources. But linguistically Kiraat and Newah share many features.These features are still availabe in Dolakha nad Pahari dialect. But do not match with Yen, Yala, Khwapa, Pyangao, and Chitlang. These dialects share the feature with Bhot Burmesealong with Tamang. Gurung and Thakali(TGT language). For more details please see Nepal Ritu pau titled Article( jhiigu bhaaye Sarbanaamik jakan Makhulaa? ) published 15 years ago. Subhaaye

drasha"

He also sent us a diagram proving his point (see left).

This is the kind of feedback and constructive discussion we were hoping for as an impact of the newsletter. It is very gratifying to see it happen so quickly. Keep sending your suggestions, opinions and criticism. That would be food for our brains, and will keep us going.