Gaunkhane katha
Also गाउँ खाने कथा and जान्ने कथा, in the far west साइतर or सातर, in Jumla कचौरा, and in Bajhang राउन्या बात. The name means a story that eats villages. In English: riddles.
The riddle game. One person asks a riddle, and whoever cannot answer gives the asker a village. The asker takes the good of that village, the one who could not answer takes the bad, and only then is the answer told.
- Who plays
- Two or more: one asks, the rest answer.
- What you need
- Nothing but riddles.
- Where
- Round the hearth, or at the chautaro.
- When
- Evenings, and most of all long winter nights.
Round the hearth
In Bajhang, Bishnubahadur Kathayat records it in the evening, once the day's work in the fields is done. People gather round the hearth or at the chautaro, one tells riddles aloud, and the rest listen and think. It is played most in winter, when the nights are long. Elders put riddles to children to test their wits, young people of an age put them to each other, and herders and people going to the forest tell them most.
How it is played
Ask a riddle
A riddle is a picture of something in other words, often rhymed, and it often ends with के हो? (what is it?).
Answer it
A listener who gets it is right, and the asking goes on.
Give a village
A listener who cannot answer gives the asker a village, a village in name only, as the Nepal Academy dictionary has it. The asker takes the good of that village, its good town, its good country and its good things, and the one who could not answer takes the bad. Only then does the asker tell the answer.
Who wins
Kathayat's rule: if every riddle was answered, the asker has lost, and if not, the asker wins. Some riddles end with a taunt for whoever fails, such as यति कथा नजान्ने स्यालको ज्वाइँ, whoever cannot answer this is a jackal's son-in-law.
Riddles and their answers
From Nepali Wikipedia's list, which has more than forty, and from Kathayat's paper. Ask them in Nepali: half of them rhyme, and some only work as puns.
| Riddle | Word for word | Answer |
|---|---|---|
| हाड भित्र मासु, मासु भित्र आँसु | Meat inside bone, tears inside the meat | A coconut (नरिवल) |
| नौ तले घरको न झ्याल न ढोका | A nine-storey house with neither a window nor a door | Bamboo (बाँस) |
| तीन भाइको एउटै पगरी | Three brothers with one turban between them | The iron tripod over the hearth (ओदान) |
| हिँड्दै छ पाइला मेट्दै छ | It walks, and wipes out its footprints as it goes | A boat (डुङ्गा) |
| नाङ्लो भरि सुपारी, गन्नै नजान्ने व्यापारी | A winnowing tray full of betel nuts, and a trader who cannot count them | The moon and the stars (जून र तारा) |
| खोजी गए पाइँदैन, आई गए चाहिँदैन | Go looking and it is not found, and when it comes nobody wants it | An earthquake (भुइँचालो) |
| भित्र सुन बाहिर चाँदी | Gold inside, silver outside | An egg (अण्डा) |
| चाँदीको ठेकी, स्याउलाको बिर्को | A silver milk pot with a lid of leafy twigs | A radish (मूला) |
| सानो सानो रुख, चढ्नमा दुख | A small, small tree that hurts to climb | Nettle (सिस्नो) |
| लिखितिखी लिखितिखी, आमा भन्दा छोरी तिखी | Likhitikhi likhitikhi, the daughter hotter than the mother | A tiny chilli (जिरे खुर्सानी) |
| आफू छ काली, नाम भने राती | She is black, but her name is Red | The night (rati, red, and rat, night) (रात) |
| सेती गाई पानी खान गई, फर्केर आउँदा राती भई | A white cow went to drink and came back red | Sel roti, frying (सेल रोटी) |
| भुइँमा इऊँ इऊँ, टिपी ल्याउनेलाई सय रुपैयाँ दिऊँ | On the ground, iun iun: a hundred rupees to whoever picks it up | A shadow (छाया) |
| त भन्दा नछोइने, म भन्दा छोइने | Say ta and they do not touch, say ma and they do | The lips (ओठ) |
| दुईतिर खोल्सो, माझमा डाँडो | A gully on each side and a ridge in the middle | The nose (नाक) |
| एकमुठी खर, घुमाउने घर | A fistful of thatch, a house that turns | An umbrella (छाता) |
| मुन्टामा छ ज्वाला, पुच्छरमा छ आहारा | A flame at the head and food at the tail | An oil lamp (दियो) |
| फेद काटे मर्ने, टुप्पो काटे सर्ने | Cut the foot and it dies, cut the tip and it spreads | Sugarcane (उखु) |
Other ways to play
In southern Bhutan, where Nepali speakers call it gaukhanikatha, a right answer scores a point. MaHa's stage satire of the late 1980s, Gaun Khane Katha, played it for points as well, with the loser handing over a village. The same riddle changes its words from place to place: तीन भाइको एउटै पगरी in Nepali Wikipedia's list is तिन भाजाको एउटै पगडि in Bajhangi, with the same answer.
What is on record
- 1982Krishnaprasad Parajuli's नेपाली उखान र गाउँखाने कथा collects them, with ten riddles for the stars alone, as Kathayat cites it.
- Late 1980sMaHa stage Gaun Khane Katha, a satire built on the game.
- 2022Bishnubahadur Kathayat's paper sets out how it is played in Bajhang, and its names across Nepal.
Where the sources disagree, or say too little
Who takes the good, and who the bad?
Nepali Wikipedia's sentence can be read either way. Kathayat is plain: the good goes to the asker and the bad to the one who could not answer. This page follows Kathayat.
Villages, points or a winner?
There is no one way to keep score. A village is given in every account. Southern Bhutan and MaHa's satire count points. Kathayat names a winner at the end.
Sources
Every fact on this page comes from one of these. Where a source could not be read, or a claim has none, the text says so.
- गाउँखाने कथा, Nepali Wikipedia (in Nepali)
- लोकसाहित्य र बझाङी भाषामा गाउँखाने कथा, Bishnubahadur Kathayat, Journal of Durgalaxmi 1(1), May 2022, pages 165 to 181 (in Nepali)
- गाउँ, गाउँ खानु, गाउँखाने कथा, Nepal Academy dictionary, as copied to Nepali Wiktionary (in Nepali)
- Kill your lockdown lethargy with this evergreen satire by MaHa, Alish Rajopadhyaya, Onlinekhabar, 28 March 2020
- Gaukhanikatha of Southern Bhutan, Mandala collections, University of Virginia
Cite this page
Nepali Games (2026). How to play Gaunkhane katha, and where it comes from. https://nepali.games/traditional-games/gaunkhane-katha