Liminality is considered as an intermediate state of being "in between" in which a community is stripped from their traditional identity and constituting differences while being on the verge of socio-cultural transformation. This paper aims at demonstrating the ways in which ‘Tamang’, a scheduled tribal community living in various parts of Darjeeling Himalayas in the state of West Bengal, India, adopt the transitioning ethno-ecological, economic, religious and other socio-cultural traits being exposed to certain push and pull factors. It offers a revised understanding of the intentional culture change and creation of the liminal state that allows the community members to adapt with the dynamics of mountainous societies. After conducting long-term ethnographic fieldwork and using genealogy, participant observation, interviews, informant’s interpretation, audio-visual recording, etc. an anthropological discourse has been made to restructure the transitioning identity as ‘liminal’ phenomena, while injecting alternative modernities legitimizing the traditional values. It draws attention to the neo-evolutionary paradigm of the sequential incorporation of Manpaism, Bonboism, Tambaism to Lamaism that are shaping the present day nature of Tamang indigeneity. Recognising the particularity of the community, the study critically examines the continuous stress on transgression of asserting syncretic identity that led to the entire community in a state of ‘permanent liminality’. The study also observes the symbolic suspension of certain intra-cultural conflicts and Nepalization of socio-cultural attributes that serves to reinforce the traditional life and legitimize the Tibetan threshold of religious practices equally. Thus, the Tamang transition is found to occur as a collective revitalization of indigenous attributes resulting in the perception of being tribes as social liminars and tribalism as a state of communitas.
