Khas Women's Harvest Folk Songs: Identity and Labour in Sikkim

Abstract: This study presents a lyric-centred analysis of two Nepali harvest folk songs performed by women of the Khas community in Sikkim. Employing Functional Theory within a qualitative ethnographic framework, the research examines how formal elements—including imagery, metaphor, symbolism, repetition, and proverbial language—generate cultural meaning. Through close readings of Bhara bisā bhareyā and Mathi hai bata, the analysis demonstrates that these women’s songs articulate experiences of agrarian labour, social hierarchy, marginalisation, and the profound connections between humans and nature in Sikkim. These songs function as oral literary texts that encode gendered labour, ancestral continuity, and moral reflection, thereby transforming routine farming into expressive cultural narratives. By integrating ethnographic context with formal literary analysis, the study foregrounds Khas women’s voices as active interpreters and creators of social and ecological realities. It addresses a gap in Himalayan folk song scholarship by providing a lyric-focused analysis of women’s agrarian songs from Sikkim. Ultimately, these songs are positioned as vital cultural artefacts that preserve collective memory, identity, and community values.