The only person who had complete knowledge of the Kusunda language was Gyanimaiya Kusunda. Many were concerned that the Kusunda language would also disappear with her. Keeping this in mind, Kusunda language teaching was started while she was alive.

While the campaign to increase the number of people who know the language was going on, Gyanimaiya, who fell ill and passed away on 11 Magh 2076 at the age of 82 at her home in Kulmohar, Lamahi Municipality-6.

After Gyanimaiya was gone, the concern about saving the language increased even more. Kamala Kusunda, a 48-year-old relative who had lived with her for a long time, took over the responsibility. Uday Ale of Lamahi, who had studied and researched the Kusunda language for a long time, was with her. He spent a long time with Gyanimaiya and prepared a dictionary of the Kusunda language.

After Gyanimaiya's death, Uday acquired more knowledge of the language with Kamala. And she conducted language classes in Dang and Pyuthan. She was joined by Hima Kusunda of Sarumarani Rural Municipality-6, Budhichaur, Pyuthan. Hima also teaches Kusunda language classes now. She initially had no knowledge of her mother tongue. Even though she was a daughter of the Kusunda community, she felt inferior because she did not know her language.

According to the 2078 census, there are only 253 people in the country, including 115 men and 138 women, who are from the Kusunda caste. Of these, only 23 people, including 11 men and 12 women, speak Kusunda fully. After learning about a Kusunda language class in Lamahi, Dang, she went to Lamahi seven years ago. She enrolled in the Kusunda language class and took 180 hours of classes. After that, she was able to speak and write Kusunda. She even wrote and sang songs in Kusunda. Her grandfather Lil Bahadur Kusunda spent 18 years as a nomad in the forest. Although he spoke a few words, he did not know the language fully. He also passed away three years ago.

Hima, who is currently studying in her third year of B.Ed with Nepali as the main subject, has set a goal to preserve the Kusunda language. ‘I participated in the language class and wrote a song as part of the plan to save the endangered language,’ she said. ‘Initially, I made the song by mixing Nepali and Kusunda. Later, I made the song only in Kusunda.’ Her song has an awareness message that the Kusunda language should be saved. Now, she plans to record the song.

Hima also taught the language to her sister Pima, who is studying in grade 11. Not only that, she is also teaching her father Setulal and mother Bimadevi the language. They have been able to understand the language of daily use. The number of people who can read and write the language like Hima is increasing.

Language preservation class

Until seven years ago, only Gyanimaiya and Kamala Kusunda were fluent in Kusunda. After starting the language classes, there are now 62 people. Kusunda classes were run with the help of Gyanimai and Kamala. 30 people were trained in the classes run in Dang, while 32 people were trained by running a class in Sarumarani Rural Municipality of Pyuthan. Some time ago, a class was run in Sarumarani Rural Municipality with 15 days of residential facilities for 20 people. In which participants came from Pyuthan and Dang as well as Gorkha, Tanahun, Kapilvastu, Surkhet and other districts.

As statistics show that both the number and language of the Kusunda people have been gradually decreasing in the last decade, language classes have started being conducted at various times in Dang and Pyuthan to preserve the language. Similarly, with the help of the British Council, Archive Nepal gave a three-month class to 12 people in Sarumarani. Trainer Uday Ale said that they can now speak and write Kusunda. Ale said that after they finished studying, books were published in Kusunda. ‘11 books have been published by collecting the works written by the students,’ he said, ‘The language has not been able to disappear, it is expanding further.’

Eight years ago, a 90-hour class was conducted in the first phase. Out of the 20 participants in the first phase, 17 were Kusunda. Three were from other communities.

Students who came to learn the language from Surkhet, Rolpa, Pyuthan and Dang were able to speak and write the basics of the Kusunda language. Teacher Uday said that in the first phase, basic things like eating, drinking, hygiene, kinship, and household behavior were taught and they were able to write and speak everything right away.

Initially, he conducted the class with the help of Gyanimai and later Kamala. Those who have completed the first phase class are given the same 90-hour class in the second phase. He said that after acquiring basic knowledge of the language in the first phase, the language related to social relations is taught in the second phase. He said that in the third phase, the curriculum is based on the curriculum and in the fourth phase, the education is based on vocabulary and grammar, and in each phase, the 360-hour class is taught for 90/90 hours. Initially, the Language Commission ran the class in collaboration with Lamahi Municipality, and recently the class was run in Ghorahi-5, Dharna.

In addition to language education, Ghorahi Mayor Narulal Chaudhary said that access to the policy-making level has been expanded by representing the Kusunda caste in the local government. Kusunda Development Society President Dhan Bahadur Kusunda was nominated as an executive member of Ghorahi Sub-metropolitan City from UML in 2074.

Now, language teacher Uday said that there is a plan to expand the language class by linking it to family and technology. ‘Now the Kusunda language has started spreading to the villages,’ he said. ‘We are now planning to teach the language by keeping the family together.’ He said that he is requesting everyone to use the Kusunda language even on social media that is being used today. ‘The language is promoted by making posts and comments on social media in the Kusunda language,’ he said. ‘We are now encouraging students to practice it.’

In addition, Uday said that he has planned to make short videos containing various vocabulary and information of the Kusunda language and send them to villages and create an environment where they can listen to them at home. ‘Now we have to be technology-friendly according to the times. We have tried to change the way of learning by focusing on the new generation,’ he said. ‘So far, classes have been conducted in the traditional way. This alone cannot spread the language. Modern communication technology should also be used.’

He said that it is now necessary to teach the students by keeping them with their families. As the language is being learned, it has become a problem to practice regularly. ‘Now, students should be taught by keeping them with their families.’ So that everyone can learn and practice regularly,’ he said, ‘We are encouraging students to go to villages and make short videos and post them on social media.’

Uday, who has preserved a 40-hour video record of the conversation between Gyanimaiya and Kamala, has translated it into Nepali and English and published several books. ‘This is a historical document,’ he said, ‘many new words have been used in it.’ It will also be easy for the new generation to learn by listening to this conversation.’

Research to save the language

Nepali and foreign researchers have studied the Kusunda language from many angles. All have mentioned Kusunda as an endangered language. It seems that the first British researcher to study the Kusunda language was Brian H. Hudson in 1818. He introduced the Kusunda language to the world for the first time in 1857 by creating 113 words and 10 sentences.

Then, Austrian anthropologist Johann Reinhard published a book called ‘A Preliminary Linguistic Analysis and Vocabulary of the Kusunda Language’ in 1968. David Waters analyzed the grammar of the Kusunda language in ‘Notes on Kusunda Grammar: A Language Isolated of Nepal’ in 2005.

Nepal's famous sociologist Dor Bahadur Bista has introduced the Kusunda caste in his book 'Sabai Jatko Phulbari' published in 2034. Linguist Dr. Chudamani Bandhu had published articles on the Kusunda language in Garima in 2066 and in Mirmire magazine in 2069. Classes are currently being run to save the Kusunda language. Due to this, the number of speakers has increased. Now, there is hope that the Kusunda language will be preserved. The number is gradually increasing, let the language survive even without us: Kamala Kusunda, Kusunda language teacher

Australian professor Mark Donohui, together with Nepali linguists, has also published a study report on the Kusunda language in 2013. BK Rana presented a working paper on the Kusunda language at Harvard University in the United States in 2002.

Dang scholar Uday Ale has published the book 'Kusunda Caste and Dictionary' in 2074. In addition, he has also published the books Gemehak (Forest King), ‘Kusundako Chitra Katha’, Sojak (Hello) and Kusunda Gipan (Kusunda language).

Kamala Kusunda says that initially there was a problem in preserving the language because there were few people who knew the language among the Kusunda caste. ‘Now that it has been taught, it has expanded. When they take classes, everyone acquires complete knowledge of the language,’ she added. ‘Now, those who have learned the language also teach other family members, and it increases.’

Kusunda used to live a nomadic life in the forest in the past. They used to walk around looking for shelter in the forest. They used to go to the village and beg for alms and then go back to the forest to eat. They had no interest in living in society, building their own homes, and earning wealth.

They had their own language, culture and traditions. The language has been disappearing since they started living in the village. Classes are currently being held to save the language. Kamala said that the number of people speaking Kusunda has increased after taking the classes. ‘Now there is hope that the language will be preserved.’ The number is gradually increasing, she said, ‘Let the language survive even without us.’

Kusunda language scholar Tikaram Udasi, director of the National Cultural Studies Center at Nepal Sanskrit University, says that regular work is necessary to preserve the Kusunda language as it is at risk. ‘After the death of Gyanimaiya, there are now only a few speakers of the Kusunda language.’ He said, ‘Since there are no bilingual speakers, the language cannot survive,’ he said, ‘It remains a challenge to save this language because it does not have its own script.’

Although various scholars have studied it based on oral conversations, Kusunda language is in danger of disappearing due to the lack of bilingual speakers and the lack of integrated settlements, said Dhan Bahadur Kusunda, president of Kusunda Bikas Samaj.

‘Students who have studied the language should be able to spread it.’ Kusunda people do not live in one place. There is no regular conversation, he said, “There is a problem in saving the language if there is no practice of speaking. The language can be saved only when all the members of the family start speaking.” Dhan Bahadur said that the language and culture are in crisis because the Kusunda people do not have their own land and house anywhere in the country. “There was no question of having a house in the village of a caste that enjoyed the forest,” he said, “Since there was no one from other castes in the neighborhood, the language started disappearing.”