KIRATA or Kiranti. This martial aboriginal race is spoken of by ancient Sanskrit writers, and classed by Menu and by the Mahabharata as one of the non-Hindu military peoples, along with the Khasa, China, Dravida, and other recognised non-Aryan races. They occupy at this day the exact position assigned to them by the Vishnu Purana, viz, the eastern border of Bharata Varsha. The Kirata are known in classical geography as the Cirrhadm or the Cirrodes. They occupied the country to the east of the Bharata, and are still numerous in Dinajpur, which was part of the ancient Matsyades, all the inhabitants of which were considered as foreigners and borderers. They are part of the races styled as Limbu, an important segment of the population of Sikkim, and are the' Kiranti of Nepal ; but the people prefer the names Khwombo or Khombo, and Kirawa. Dr. Campbell says that the correct denomination of the people is Ekthumba • but that the term Limbu is generally used to indicate the whole population of the country between the Dud Kusi and the Mechi, thus including the Kirata, the Eaka (Hodgson's Yakha), and Rais, and that in appearance and habits they are all very much alike, and they intermarry, which is the great test of national connection.
The Kiranti are divided into Wallo Kirant or Hither .Kirant, Manjh or Middle Kirant, and Pall° or Further Kirant. The Wallo include the Limbu and Yakha.
The Limbu and Kiranti have to buy their wives ; those who are too poor to pay in cash, serve like Jacob in the father's house till they have given an equivalent in labour.
Those bordering between Sikkim and Nepal are partly Buddhists, partly Brahmanical.
The Kiranti, like the Munda and Kasia, burn their dead, selecting the summits of mountains for the purpose, and afterwards collect and bury the ashes, over which they raise a square tomb of stone about four feet high, placing an upright stone on it.—Dr. }V. W. Hunter; Dalton, Ethnol. of Bengal.