The traditions of oral ritual speech in the Himalayas have a lively existence alongside the written "great" traditions that predominate. However, as Martin Gaenszle shows, the oral traditions are still little known and even less understood. This collection of oral texts from Nepal, Bhutan, and northeast India, rich with translation and interpretation, serves two purposes. First, it presents the texts themselves, not just as fragments, but as coherent performances of ritual speech, varied in their linguistic form. Second, it displays various possible methods of presenting oral ritual texts in written form; no single standard form is yet agreed upon. In Ritual Speech in the Himalayas, each contributor showcases a unique style of transforming the spoken language and its translation or comments into an editorial format to fit the respective genres and scholarly interests, such as interlinear or sectional translation, morphological glossing, or musical scores.

The more than two dozen Rai languages in eastern Nepal, which make up the larger part of the Kiranti language family, are linguistically highly varied. Due to this, intergroup solidarity has been relatively weak, and Rai ethnicity must be seen as constructed in recent history. However, it is striking how the mythological narratives of these different Rai subtribes oral stories about the origins of culture and the deeds of the ancestors form a strong and coherent tradition in which the different variants of episodes possess an obvious family resemblance. This mythological tradition is clearly distinct from those of the neighboring Limbu, the other major Kiranti group.

This volume, which includes introductory chapters to Rai mythology and Rai grammar, for the first time brings together different variants of myths from various Rai languages, presenting them with linguistic glossings in interlinear translations. This makes it possible not only to study the myths and their cultural meanings as oral texts but also to compare narrative structures across different grammars. The book is of special interest for linguists, anthropologists, and folklorists with a focus on the Himalayas.