Rainbow on the Body ▎ Romance from Sunlight Valley

Nimba Women's Attire   
Image Source: thomaslkellyphotos

ནིམ་བྷ། (Nimba)  People from the Valley of Sunlight

Photography: Thomas L. Kelly, Steve Razzetti  
Text Editor: Yang Mao

The Four Tribes of Nimba

Humla (འོམ་ལྷ།)  
Located in the Karnali Zone of northwestern Nepal,  
it is the ancient gateway to the sacred Himalayan peaks and lakes—  
Mount Kailash and Lake Manasarovar.  
The region blends Hindu and Tibetan Buddhist villages,  
situated in the southern and northern parts of Humla, respectively.

Image Source: traildino

According to historical records,  
Humla comprises:  
- Upper Humla (སྟོད།, 6 tribes),  
- Middle Humla (སྨད།, 7 tribes),  
- and Tsang (གཙང་།, 5 tribes).  

Today, we explore four Tibetan villages  
in Middle Humla, collectively called  
"The Four Tribes of Nimba"  
(ཉིན་ཡུལ་ཚོ་བཞི།, Nyin Yul-tsho bZhi):  
Drangshe (དྲང་ཤེད།),  
Töpa (སྟོད་པ།),  
Bargang (བར་གང་།),  
and Nyamachang (ཉི་མ་འཕྲང་།).

Nimba Valley  
Image Source: kimkim

Nimba (ཉིན་པ།), or in Tibetan transliteration
"Nyin Yul" (ཉིན་ཡུལ།), breaks down as:

"Nyin" (ཉིན) meaning "daytime,"
"Yul" (ཡུལ) meaning "land."

It translates to "The Land Bathed in Sunlight,"
as its geography ensures the villages bask in sunlight
from sunrise to sunset. The sun rises from Shelmo Gang (ཤེལ་མོ་གངས།,
also called "Crystal Peak"—one of Mount Kailash's 21 guardian peaks)
in eastern Humla, and lingers over these settlements all day.

Nimba Valley  
Image Source: kimkim

This was once a prosperous land,  
where people thrived on animal husbandry,  
grazing livestock on nearby grasslands in summer,  
trading salt with Tibet,  
and exchanging goods for grain with southern regions.  

Yet due to shifting border policies,  
it is now one of Nepal's poorest  
and most underdeveloped remote areas.

On the Way to Nyamachang Village  
Image Source: Flickr

The Hidden Valley of Padmasambhava

Stepping into the Four Villages of Nimba  
is like traveling back to the 18th century—  
where ancient Tibetan traditions  
and ways of life remain preserved.

Nimba Village Ritual  
Image Source: Snow Leopard Trek

The Nimba people claim their ancestors
migrated here from Tibet in the 15th century.
They have preserved their Tibetan dialect
and Buddhist faith across generations.
Traditional songs, once heard during Tibetan festivals,
still echo here today.
Losar (Tibetan New Year) is celebrated
in sync with western Tibet.

Traditional Nimba Ritual Dance  
Image Source: Firante Treks

Raling Monastery  
Image Source: colorado.edu

Bedroom in the Storage Room

The four Nimba villages vary in size—  
the largest has 58 households,  
the smallest around 27.  
Houses cluster in compact nuclei,  
built with stone and timber,  
outer walls coated in gray plaster.

Nimba Valley  
Image Source: hwwtreks

Nimba houses typically have three floors:  
The ground floor serves as a livestock shed,  
divided into separate animal pens.  
The second floor is the main living area,  
usually consisting of a kitchen-living room  
and a windowless storeroom for valuables.  
The bedroom is located inside another storage room.  
A long external staircase leads up  
to an additional storage loft with separate compartments.

Nimba Valley Architecture  
Image Source: Steve Razzetti

The main living room differs from other rooms
with its wooden floor and carved pillars,
while others have packed-earth floors
and rough-hewn pillars.
House windows are uniformly small.

Farmlands surround the villages,
each with its own temple and lama.
Temple structures stand apart from dwellings,
typically on elevated, purified ground
above the village.

Nimba Valley Dwellings Beneath Snow Peaks  
Image Source: hwwtreks

"I don't want to get married."

Nimba villages primarily practice fraternal polyandry.
Traditionally, all brothers in a family
marry one wife collectively,
minimizing conflicts between siblings.
For instance, daily life signals—
like whose shoes are placed
outside the bedroom door—
indicate which brother is with the wife.

Three Generations of a Nimba Family (Right to Left)  
Grandfather, Father, and All Sons with Their Three Wives  
Image Source: thomaslkellyphotos

For women,
polyandry functions like life insurance—
if conflict arises with one husband or he leaves,
another brother remains as her spouse.

Tsewang, a Nimba villager,
has five sons aged 23, 12, 8, 6, and 5,
who will soon marry one 15-year-old bride.

Wedding Ceremony of Tsewang's Five Sons  
Image Source: thomaslkellyphotos

In Nimba villages,
girls may marry very young,
but after the wedding ceremony,
they can return to live with their parents
until reaching adolescence—
only then joining their husbands
to fulfill marital duties.

Tarilal's Wedding Morning  
Image Source: thomaslkellyphotos

"I don’t want to get married,"
the ten-year-old confesses.
"I want to stay home with my friends—
but what can I do?
I must obey my parents."

A Ten-Year-Old Bride's Wedding  
Image Source: thomaslkellyphotos

As the first anthropologist
to conduct fieldwork in Nimba villages,
Nancy Levine noted:
"When I asked the Nimba why their society
practices polyandry,
the answer was always the same—
it’s an ancient custom passed down
by their ancestors from Tibet."

Nimba Wedding Ceremony  
Image Source: thomaslkellyphotos

To some extent,
Nimba wedding rituals recreate the 7th-century scene
when Songtsen Gampo married Princess Wencheng of Tang—
a groom's representative plays the role of royal minister,
whose wit and skills determine
the bride's hand in marriage.

Nimba Wedding Ritual  
Image Source: thomaslkellyphotos

"Rainbow Body Dakini"

Nimba attire is distinctive:
Both genders wear red robes—
men add crimson shawls,
dark red waist sashes,
and white turbans.

Nimba Men  
Image Source: thomaslkellyphotos

For important occasions like weddings
or mani masked dance rituals,
men wear a black-based robe
with multicolored patterns—
buttoned straight or diagonally.

Woven from black wool,
the robe bears hundreds of motifs
symbolizing sky, mountains, and streams,
paired with embroidered boots.
This is the sacred dance costume set.

The groom's representatives greet the bride  
through song-and-riddle dances.  
Image Source: thomaslkellyphotos

Nimba women’s attire follows a similar style:
handwoven red robes
with white or bejeweled waist sashes,
adorned with rainbow-colored stripes
across the chest, shoulders, and cuffs—
symbolizing their earthly manifestation
as Rainbow Body Dakinis.

Nimba Women in Traditional Attire  
Image Source: thomaslkellyphotos

Heirloom

The classic Perak headdress of the Holy City region
also appears in Nimba villages.
Once worn daily during fieldwork,
it’s now reserved for festivals and rituals.

Additionally,
Nimba women wear portable gau boxes
of gold/silver, amulets with mantras,
and large amber necklaces—
symbolizing wealth, fertility,
and thriving descendants.

Nimba Wedding Ceremony  
Image Source: thomaslkellyphotos

Coral and turquoise stand
as Nimba’s most common jewels.
Coral embodies heat—feminine energy
to stimulate fertility,
while turquoise channels cool,
masculine vitality.
Only when paired do they balance
and protect health.

These heirlooms pass
through generations.

Nimba Women's Adornments  
Image Source: thomaslkellyphotos

Rainbow Worn on the Body

Nimba robes—dyed with plant pigments
and adorned with tie-dyed sun symbols—
declare their wearers’ identity:
the People of Sunlight Valley.

Nimba Family: Bride (center) with Her Five Husbands and In-Laws  
Image Source: thomaslkellyphotos

These people of Sunlight Valley,
though dwelling in the Himalayas'
most remote and impoverished corner,
wear skies, mountains, flowing waters,
and rainbows on their bodies
and in their hearts—
the purest romance.

Nimba Women in Full Traditional Attire  
Source: thomaslkellyphotos

May they thrive forever
in this hidden Himalayan valley—
still untouched
by modern clamor.

Nimba Girl  
Image Source: Steve Razzetti

This article is translated from YangmaoZhaxi's blog.