Jirel is a Southern Tibetic language of

Nepal Nepal, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mainly situated in the Himalayas, but also includes parts of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China Ch ...

. It is spoken in Jiri, in Tshetrapa village, Jungu village, and Cheppu village of

Dolakha District Dolakha, often known as Dolkha or Dholkha (Nepal Bhasa:दोलखा जिल्ला)), a part of Bagmati Province, is one of the List of districts of Nepal, seventy-seven districts of Nepal. The district, with Charikot as its district headqu ...

and Sindhupalchok and different parts of Nepal. It has long been in discussion that the Jirels are the bonpos as other tribes from Tibetan origin people. But after several observations Jirels are seen close to Tibetic Bodish origin rather than Himalayish of Tibeto Burman branch. Very weak literature without evidence is presented by some authors until now claiming that they are the Kirats. They have claimed that they are animists practicing worship of nature, ancestral Spirits and deities close to ancient bonpoism. They have adopted minor cultural and religious practice from Sunuwars and Sherpas when they began to live and share with them. The language they use is the most powerful evidence that they come from a Tibetan ethnic tribe. Their physical appearance, height, make and family name are also supporting evidence for Tibetan origin. Previously they were animists and until now they practice animism in different ritual performances.They mainly practice

Buddhism Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

. Lamas are their priests. They also have Shamans who are called Phonbo, which is derived from the word, Bon, the Tibetan Tantric philosophy. Jirel Uchen, which is also called Sambhota Script, is their script or calligraphy. This can be found at religious monuments like Ngasas (Chautara), chortens, and monasteries. Jirel Lamas use this script. The script is shown below: ཀ ka áཁ kha ʰáག ga �à/kʰːàང nga �àཅ ca ɕáཆ cha ɕʰáཇ ja ʑà/tɕʰːàཉ nya �àཏ ta áཐ tha ʰáད da à/tʰːàན na àཔ pa áཕ pha ʰáབ ba à/pʰːàམ ma àཙ tsa sáཚ tsha sʰáཛ dza zà/tsʰːàཝ wa àཞ zha �àཟ za àའ 'a �àཡ ya àར ra àལ la àཤ sha �áས sa áཧ ha áཨ a �á Sambhota Uchen

The similarity of Jirel language that with the language used in Buddhist holy books is another powerful evidence to claim and believe that they are of Tibetan origin. It is believed that more than 80 percent of Jirel diction goes with Tibetan language where only 35–40 percent of diction is found to be close to other Tibetan origin tribes.Their language is similar to Dolpos, people in Mugu, Hyalmus, Sherpas, Syubas, Lhomis.

Phonology

Consonants

Vowels

References

Further reading