People of Nepal

Brahman and Chhetri

Chepangs and Kusundas

Brahmans are the
members of the highest social caste.
Two different categories of Brahmans
viz. ‘ Kumai Brahmans’ and ‘ Purbiya
Brahmans’ are present. They only
differ in their derived homeland.
The ‘ Kumai Brahmans’ are supposed
to have come from the mountainous
regions of Kumaon in the northern
India west of Nepal. They are mainly
confined in the western and central
Nepal and the capital city of
Kathmandu. The ‘Purbiya’ Brahmans
derive from the eastern part of
Nepal and are found scattered across
the country with the greater
concentration in the eastern part of
Nepal and Kathmandu. Brahmans and
Chhetris form a major group in
Kathmandu and large number of them
occupy key posts in the government
services and in business.

The Brahmans are priestly caste. The
priests in all Hindu temples are
exclusively Brahmans.

The Brahmans and Chhetris are
orthodox followers of Hinduism and
its rites and rituals mentioned in
the Vedas, Purans and other
scriptures. Their marriages and
other rituals are very complex and
elaborate. Sometimes the parents
hold marriages for their 11 or 12
years old daughters. Though this is
punishable by law; one hardly gets
persecuted against such crime. Child
marriages, however, tend to slow
down among the city dwellers and
educated families. Inter-caste
marriages are looked down upon and
cross- cousins marriages are
strictly prohibited. The body of
deceased is always cremated. Women
never attend the cremation. The pyre
is lit by the son of the deceased.
It is believed that ‘doing so’ will
set the soul in eternal peace after
the death.

CHHETRIS
AND THAKURIS

In the caste hierarchy, the Chhetris
and Thakuris come second to
Brahmans. They are rulers, leaders
and warriors. The Brahmans are their
teachers and family priests. Like
Brahmans, they are orthodox Hindus.
They are believed to derive from the
northern part of India mainly from
Rajasthan . They could have migrated
to Nepal in the 12th and 13th
centuries.

In Nepal , Chhetris and Thakuris are
among the most influential and well
– to – do social classes. They are
mostly in the government services,
in high ranked positions in the army
and the police. Some of them have
remained farmers and are relatively
poor and live like any other ethnic
group.

The Thakuris resemble the Chhetris
in most of the cultural aspects and
social status. The cross- cousins
marriages are forbidden among the
Chhetris. The Thakuris , however,
commonly practise it among
themselves

These backward
ethnic communities belong to a well
defined traditional area in the
south of Dhading, the west of
Makawanpur and east of Chitwan along
the steeper slopes of Mahabharat
range of the mid- Nepal. Very few of
these hunting tribal people started
deriving subsistence from
agriculture. Otherwise, hunting,
wood collection etc. have been their
foremost living subsistence. Though
, they are economically backward,
they have a rich and unique cultural
tradition. With the increasing
encroachment of the forest ( their
main living recourse) by themselves
and other communities alike, these
people lately started working in the
development projects in the areas as
hard labors.

Physionomically Mongoloid featured
Chepangs (& Kusundas) resemble the
Kirantis ( the Rais and Limbus) but
their lineage to them is yet to be
confirmed. Their totems are dog ( ‘
Che’ is dog in their dialect) and
arrow ( ‘Pang’ is arrow). Their
dialect belong to the Tibeto –
Burman group of languages. It,
however, differs significantly to
the Tamang dialect. The Tamangs live
higher in the mountains than the
Chepangs and the Brahmins and
Chhetris live in the lower dales.

They call themselves Sunpraja and
Praja. They consider themselves as
progeny of Lava ( ‘ Lohari’ in
Chepang dialect) the son of lord
Rama in the great Hindu epic
Ramayana. According to the Legends,
the goddess Sita, the consort of
Lord Rama gave birth to a son Lava
while she was in exile in a
hermitage of sage Balmiki near
Narayani river in Nepal. One day ,
she went with her son to take a bath
in the Narayani river. The sage saw
the cradle empty and created another
living likeness of the baby out of
Kusha grass, fearing that Sita would
be shocked at not finding her son
and blame the sage for not watching
the baby properly. On her return
from bath, Sita was startled to find
another baby in the cradle. The
sage, later on , explained her the
details and advised her to raise
both of them as her own sons. The
other was brought up as Kusha.

Chepangs believe themselves as the
progeny of Lava and Kusundas as the
descendants of Kusha. ( or Kushari
in Chepang dialect). Chepangs and
Kusundas are natural enemies.
Chepangs fear that Kusundas kill
them on sight. Kusundas are still in
the primitive stage and live in the
forests and caves in the forests of
southern part of Gorkha. It is
believed that only few dozens of
Kusundas exist in the forest. Chyuri
( an indigenous fruit) is their
favorite fruit. A Chepang family not
owning a Chyuri tree is considered
poor and generally looked down
upon.Chepang form an strict
exogamous clan. Offspring from a
Chepang woman and a non- Chepang man
becomes a Chepang as they are not
accepted by other orthodox castes.

They observe all the Hindu festivals
of Dashain, Tihar and Sakrantis
besides their own tribal festival
Nwagi, which is performed on a
Tuesday during third week of Bhadra
( some day in August and September).
Chepangs do not possess other
artistic skills of any kind except
weaving of baskets and leaf
umbrellas which they use for
protection against rain. Very few
Chepangs are literate. There still
persists a tendency among the
Chepangs to avoid schooling even if
the government and other
organization are trying to uplift
their living standard

Dolpo peoples of Nepal

Gurungs of Nepal

The Dolpo- pa or
Dolpa settlements are concentrated
in the remote and fascinating region
which is confined by the Dhaulagiri
Himalaya in the south and east; the
Sisne and Kanjiroba mountain in the
west and Tibet on the north. They
generally settle at altitudes of
3660 m ( Approx. 12000 ft.) to 4070m
( 14000 ft. approx.) They are
probably the highest settlements in
the world. These mongoloid featured
people are Tibetan speaking. Most of
them are illiterate , but they are
not very poor. They derive their
subsistence from agriculture and
cattle breeding. The transactions
are still done on barter basis.

Dolpo society is divided into a
number of exogamous clans. Each of
the clans has a totem animal which
they worship. The particular totem
animal is never slaughtered by the
clan member. Marriages are very
relaxed in general. Pre- marital and
extra- marital sex union are not
prejudiced. All the brothers in a
family marry a common wife.
Marriages can be of any type; by
arrangement , capture or elopement.

Dresses & Ornaments
They wear bakhhu ( a heavy warm
outer covering to knee – high).
Dolpo women wear colorful aprons
with a pair of trousers underneath.
The ornaments include brass
headdress of rectangular shape and
other brass ornaments.

Religion
The Dolpo people are Buddhist, but
the Bon- po sect of Buddhism also
co-exists. They dispose off the dead
in different ways. Some throw the
corpse into the river while others
cut the flesh into pieces and feed
them to the vulture

In the middle hills
and valleys along the southern slope
of the Annapurna Himalaya in the
mid- western Nepal; the Gurungs
cohabit together with other ethnic
groups. Majority of them, the Magars
and their Khasa counterparts, have
formed the bulk of the famous Gorkha
regiment of British and Indian Army;
Royal Nepalese Army and the police.
These sturdy, hardworking people are
Mongoloid physionomically. They
extend their living territories from
Gorkha in the east through Lamjung
and Kaski to Syangja district.
Almost every Gurung village or a
family boasts many young men in the
Gorkha regiment; their pensions and
salaries being one of the main
recourses of their living.

Economy and trade
The economy of the Gurungs
are mainly based on agriculture,
animal husbandry and services in the
army. They grow rice, wheat, maize,
millet and potatoes. The terraced
farming is the norms. They also
derive their subsistence from sheep
breeding for meat and wool. While
sheep herding they use fierce
mastiffs (sheepdogs). Most of the
Gurung families have, however, an
important source of income; the
pensions and salaries of the family
members who are in the army. Among
them, there still exist the
legendary fighters of British Gorkha
Regiment, who were honored with
Victoria Crosses for their bravery.

Dress and Ornaments
Traditional dress of the
Gurungs includes a short blouse tied
across the front and a short skirt
of several yards of white cotton
material wrapped around the waist
and held as if a wide belt. The
Gurung women wear a cotton or
velveteen blouse tied at the front,
and a sari of printed material
usually a dark reddish color. Their
ornaments include gold and coral
necklaces, gold earrings and nose
rings and bangles.

Traditions and Culture
The Gurungs are very colorful, happy
and flirtatious people. A caste
hierarchy divides the Gurung
community into ‘ char jat’ and ‘ sor
jat’, group of four and twelve clans
respectively. They are distinctly
endogamous groups , however, are
strictly exogamous clans.
Traditionally they prefer cross-
cousins marriage. Among some Gurungs,
a small amount of compensation may
be necessary if one wishes to avoid
cross- cousins marriage. The
parallel cousins marriage is ,
however, strictly prohibited. They
also have a tradition of ‘ Rodi’ , a
club of boys and girls of similar
age group where dancing and singing
is performed. This institution gives
them ample opportunities to know,
understand each other and develop
love and affection. The environment
in the Rodi is very flirtatious. The
whole function is guided and held in
the supervision of an adult. The
Gurungs have very interesting dance
tradition. They perform Sorathi,
Ghado, Ghatu and others on one or
many occasions. The dancing season
generally starts on Shri Panchami
day ( On the fifth day of bright
lunar fortnight some day in January
or February) till the day of Chandi
purnima (some day in May or April).

Limbus of Nepal

Magars of Nepal

The Rais come from
surrounding hills in the North-
Eastern Nepal ; mainly near Dhankuta,
Terhathum , Bhojpur and Arun and
Dudh valleys. Likewise , the Limbus
come from the extreme east of Nepal;
mainly from the region of Taplejung,
Khotang and Arun Valley.

The Rais are neither purely Hindu
nor Buddhist. They have their own
tutelary deities and beliefs.
Tibetan lamaism has, however, great
influence in their rites and
rituals. The Limbus whereas follow a
mixture of Shivaism, Buddhism and
Animism.

Traditions and Culture
Among the Rais, marriages are
monogamous. The marriages are held
by arrangements, captures and
elopements. The Limbus follow the
same marriage tradition. Both the
Rais and Limbus bury the deceased
and place a tombstone on the grave,
bearing the name and date. The Rais
and Limbus altogether form 4.4% of
total population

Along the Gurung
and Khas counterparts, the magars
form an integral constituent of
British and Indian Gurkha regiments
and the Royal Army of Nepal. They
approximately make 7.2 % of total
population. They speak a dialect
derived from Tibeto-Burman group of
language. Their religion is Boudhism.
However, there are also some Hindu
Magars.

The Magars celebrate the festival
dedicated to the goddess Kali in
great pomp (a Hindu festival ).
Especially in Gorkha, they sacrifice
a lot of goats during the occasion.
Those who live in the vicinity of
Brahmans and Chhetris have their
cultural rituals similar to theirs.
Magar villages are typical with
their round and oval houses. One
comes across many of these Magar
settlements in the Annapurana round
trekking.

Manangis of Nepal

Newars of Nepal

Manangi resemble
physionomically and religiously to
the Tibetans but they take a pride
to believe themselves belonging to
the Gurungs who live in the lower
hills and valleys. These people
inhabit in the pleasant valley of
Manang in the upper reaches of the
Marsyangdi river northwards in the
central Nepal. The Manang district
encloses three distinct areas of
Neshyang, Nar and Gyasumdo; all of
them culturally interrelated. They
have agriculture as their foremost
recourse of subsistence for living.
The harsh and cold climate limits
the cultivation to buck wheat,
barley, wheat, maize, potatoes and
radishes. They also breed sheep and
other cattles. Now a days, they are
also into trading and other
professions.

They have developed considerably in
living style since they got special
consideration from the His Majesty
‘s Government of Nepal to trade in
the South East Asian countries till
1963/ 1964. They are divided into
different exogamus clans. Like the
Gurungs in the lower hills, they are
divided into Char jat and Sor jat (
group of four and sixteen clans
respectively). They practice
polyandry i.e. a tradition of two or
more brothers marrying one common
wife. This tradition , similar to
that of other northern Himalayan
people, is, however , unlikely among
the Gurungs. They arrange for feast,
singing and dancing in the wedding.

After death, they either cremate the
body; throw it in the river or cut
the flesh into pieces and feed them
to the vultures. The funeral
proceeds as the Lama directs the
rituals. Lossar , the new year’s
celebration is their main festival
in the month of February. Similary,
archery is arranged in a grand way
during the month of April- M

The natives of
Kathmandu, the Newars, are mainly
traders. With a purpose to trade,
they are scattered across the
country; with greater concentration
in the Kathmandu Valley, Banepa,
Dulikhel, Bhojpur, Bandipur and
Tansen . In Kathmandu valley ,they
make 44% of total population.
Nationally, however, they make about
5.6% of total population. Despite
the small percentage numerically,
they contribute significantly in the
history, art , architecture and
business activities in the country.

Newars speak their own language, ‘
Newari’ better known as Nepal Bhasa
which belongs to Tibeto – Burman
family of languages. It has its own
scripts and has no linguistic
connection to Nepali, Hindi or
Sanskrit. The Newari script, the ‘Ranjana
lipi’ is exceptional. The Newari
literature is also very rich.

There are both Buddhist and Hindu
Newars. Like elsewhere in the
country, religioius syncretism is
blended into the culture and
tradition.

They celebrate numerous feasts and
festivals throughout the year.

Newars have a well defined
occupational caste system among
themselves. Though some Newars have
Mongoloid features, they rather
represent a community of different
elements mixed together.

Besides their rich cultural
heritage, festivals , the Newars are
impeccable artists and architects.

To quote Prakash A. Raj, the
kathmandu valley with all its
temples and palaces compares no less
to Florence in Italy. The Newars, of
course, remained pivotal in the arts
and architecture found in the
vallley.

Among the Newar community, an
interesting ancient tradition, known
as ‘Ihi or Bel Biha’ , requires that
a young girl often 7 or 8 years old,
be married to a certain tree called
‘Bel tree’ or to its green fruit
called ‘ Bel’. The tree and the
fruit symbolizes a deity called ‘
Hiranya Garbha’. Among the deities,
Hiranya Garbha is one of the
immortals. Thus marriage with ‘
Hiranya Garbha’ is considered to be
everlasting.

To put it in a nutshell, the Newars,
though small in numbers, have a very
strong and dominating influence in
Nepal’s economy, politics and
society in general

Rais of Nepal

The Sherpas

Economy and trade
The Rais mainly derive their
subsistence from agriculture. They
cultivate paddy, millet, wheat, corn
and even cotton. They also form a
strong group in the Gorkha regiment,
Royal Army of Nepal , and police.
The Limbus whereas are mostly
farmers. An ancient strange
tradition prohibits them from
working in the fields on the full
moon and new moon days. There is no
apparent and logical reason for the
tradition.

The most famous
among the Himalayan people are the
Sherpas. Because of their impeccable
mountaineering skills , they are an
indispensable part of mountain
expeditions as leader, guide and
porter. As an individual or in
groups , they have set records many
‘ firsts’ in the mountaineering
world.
However, if there are three brothers
in a Sherpa family, the middle
brother has to serve the monastery
as a monk and for a family with four
brothers, the group of two may marry
two common wives. The polyandry
which is also found in the most of
the northern Himalayan ethnic
groups, could have a common
reasoning of the limited arable land
available to them. This may restrain
the family land being sub- divided
into smaller units. The attitude
towards is also relaxed in general.
Polygamy, i.e., marrying more than
one wife is rare.

Sherpas observe a number of
festivals during the year. the
important ones are losar and dumze.
Losar is the new year ‘s celebration
according to the Tibetan calendar.
It occurs sometimes in the end of
February. This singing, dancing,
feasting time is rejoiced by all
families. Dumze is interesting
festival observed in the village ‘
gomba’ or the monastery for seven
days, sometimes during the month of
July. The village lama conducts the
rituals by worshipping Guru Rimpoche,
Phawa Cheresi, Tsanba and other
deities. While the villagers gather
in the evenings at the gomba and
enjoy eateries and drinks. Singing,
dancing , and merry making being
always the part of the occasion.
Khumbu- hyulla, a local deity is
always worshipped on every occasion.
There is one occasion , Nungne, when
people take solemn fasting or
partial fasting for three days by
laymen and for a fortnight by the
nuns and lamas. People gather in
gomba and recite the sacred texts.
Those who can not recite the texts,
they chant; “Om Mani padme hum”.
This is marked as a kind of
penitence.

These famous highlanders of Nepal
are always on the move; sometimes to
the greener and warmer pastures
southwards; sometimes to trade and
sometimes to climb the mountain as a
guide, a leader or simply a porter.
There are many of Sherpas who have
set records in the mountaineering
world. Tenzing Norgay Sherpa with
Sir Edmund Hillary, was the first to
climb the highest mountain of the
world in 1953. Ang Rita Sherpa,
nicknamed ‘ the snow leopard’
climbed the highest mountains for
the 10 th time in 1996, an
astonishing feat for any human being
that too without oxygen mask. Even
collectively , this ethnic group has
the most climbers atop the highest
mountain.

Tamangs of Nepal

Thakali people of Nepal

The Tamangs live
mainly in the high hills in the east
, north, south and west of Kathmandu
Valley in the Central part of Nepal.
These Tibeto- Burman speaking ethnic
group derive their subsistence
mainly as porters for the traders
and trekking expeditions. While
trekking in the Helambu or Langtang
, we come across many of these
people. Despite being so close to
the capital city of Kathmandu, they
are still backward and impoverished.

Economy and trade
Most Tamangs, living in
compact traditional settlements, are
self- sufficient as far as food is
concerned. Tamangs living outside
such settlements are generally very
poor and they mainly work as
porters, coolies for the trekkers
and traders in the hill areas. They
can not sustain on the cultivation
on their marginal strip of land.
Tamangs are very skillful in making
woolen garments from sheep wool.
Some of them are also trained to
paint beautiful thankas.

Traditions and Culture
The Tamang community are divided
into several exogamous clans. A
Tamang may marry any other except
from his or her own clan. Cross-
cousin marriage is preferred.
Polyandry is not found but polygamy
is common.

The Tamangs are Buddhists. The
religious activities are based on
Jhankrism. There are several ghyangs
(Buddhist temples) in every Tamang
settlement. All their festivals and
ceremonies are performed in Buddhist
fashion. On the first day of Magh (
some day in January and February),
they celebrate Chho in these ghyangs.

Another feasting ceremony , nara is
observed on the full moon day.
Altogether , the Tamangs represent a
community greatly exploited and poor
in general.

Physionomically
Mongoloid featured ‘ Thakali’ derive
from Thak Khola , the valley of the
Kali Gandaki river in western Nepal.
These people are famed for their
neatly tended kitchens and derive
their subsistence from hotels, inns,
and restaurants income. They are
encountered mainly in the Annapurana
round trekking, one of the most
famous trekking routes in the
country.

Thak Khola lies in Mustang district
of Dhaulagiri zone of Nepal. Thak-
sat-se is the traditional area of
the Thakali community, which lies in
the salt trading zone on the south
of Tukuche mountain.
followed by Tulachan, Sherchan, and
Bhattachan. They have their
particular clan gods as animal
representative of dragon, elephant,
lion and Yak for Gauchan, Tulachan,
Sherchan and Bhattachan
respectively. The Thakali practices
cross- cousin marriage. Marriage is
usually by capture. Usually friends
and relatives of the to- be-
bridegroom, capture the girl in the
evening and retain her confined in
one of the relative’s house until
they get the approval from the
girl’s parents. Polygamy i.e.
marrying more than one wife is
occasionally found but polyandry are
not found among the Thakalis. The
religion of the Thakali is a mixture
of Buddhism, Jhankrism, Bonpo and
Hinduism, but they are close to
Jhankrism, a kind of Shamanistic
cult as their original religion.

Tharus of Nepal

The Tharus are the
indigenous ethnic group who live in
the northern part of Terai and inner
Terai with a concentrated population
in the middle and west. They
approximately form 6.4% of total
population.

Most of the Tharus have Mongoloid
features with dark and semi- dark
colors. They are aboriginal Terai
settlers. Some also believe that
Tharus came to Nepal from India
during the Muslim invasion in the
12th and 13th century.

The Tharus have their indigenous
dialect, known as ‘ Naja’. But they
speak a mixture of local dialects,
such as Prakriti, Bhojapuri, Mughali,
Nepali, Urdu and Maithili.

Traditions and Culture
The Tharus believe in Animism. They
do also celebrate Hindu festivals.
There are normally two clans;
Pradhan and Apradhan; the former is
considered superior. Each of the
Tharu family venerates its personal
tutelary deity which is represented
by a lump of earth mixed with
multicolored cotton threads, crude
sugarcane and a gold coin in the
center. Each village has its own
local gods and goddesses protecting
the people.

Marriages among the Tharus, are
monogamous. It is , however,
strictly endogamous. Polyandry and
polygamy are practiced sometimes.
Rites and rituals linked with Tharu
marriages are elaborate and complex.
Most of the Tharu cremate their
deceased. Others, however, bury
them. There is a strange custom of
keeping men face down and women face
up during the burial. There is no
apparent reason for it