Lost among the high hills of eastern Nepal, which has meant centuries of cultural isolation, the Kulunge Rai ethnic group have tenaciously maintained their religious tradition ever since their ancient origins. Bearing witness to a far-off past of hunting and nomadic life, their myths and legends form a plot and scenario that comprise a multitude of invisible entitles: the "hunter-spirits" and the "monkey spirits", the undisputed sovereigns of the forest world; Laladum, the deity who resembles a little girl, the initiator of young shamans from the villages of the area; the Nagi, or ophidiomorphic-spirits, dwelling in the waters, the totem ancestors of the Kulunge Rai group; Molu, a mythical forefather, lost in the woods and transformed into a deity.

Author: Martino Nicoletti