"Tharu".
Tharu are indigenious people living in the Terai plains of South Nepal and India. According to Nepal’s 2001 census, there are 1,533,879 ethnic Tharu (6.75% of Nepal's total population) of which 1,331,546 speak one of the seven Tharu dialects as a mother tongue.
Tharu living in Nepal are concentrated in the jungles of the southern Terai lowlands of Nepal in Bardia, Kailali, Kanchanpur, Morang, Saptari and Jhapa districts, as well as in the inner Terai valleys of Chitwan, Dang, Deukhuri Surkhet and Udaipur. Tharu living in India live near the Nepali border, mainly in Naini Tal in Uttaranchal, Kheri and Gonda Districts of Uttar Pradesh State and Champaran district of Bihar State. The Tharu population in Nepal is estimated to be at 1.2 million.
Anthropologists suggest that the Tharu are of Tibetan and Indo-European origin, based on their physical features, but this debated by many.
According to Doctor Fuhrer and his followers , who discovered the Lumbini in 1896, Tharus are believed to be the descandants of the Ancient Sakya and Koliya Tribes to whom the Lord Buddha belong, but this was dismissed by other anthropologists as a myth.
Traditional Tharu worship various gods in the form of animals such as dogs, crow, ox and cows. Such gods are seen in Hinduism. Every village has their own deity, commonly known as Bhuinyar. Tharu in East Nepal call their deity Gor-raja.
Most Tharu households own a statue of a traditional god. Family members often offer animal's blood sacrifices to appease the god. Animals such as pigeons and chickens are used for sacrificial purposes. Milk and silk cloth are also used. Many Tharu would also use the blood of one of the male members in the family for such rituals. Such rituals are conducted through ceromonies, and superficial cuts are made forehead, arms, throat, legs, and/or chest.
The gods are believed to have the ability to heal diseases and sickness. According to traditional legend, gods are given a bhakal, a promise of something, on condition that the sickness is cured, in any events of misfortunes, plagues and horror dreams. A relative's death is an event of great significance among Tharu, and rituals conducted varies in accordance to regions.
Tharu would approach shamans as doctors, known as Guruba. Such shamans use Buddhist medicines to cure illness. Shamans will also try to appease gods through incantations, beating drums and offering sacrifices. The Tharu believe sickness comes when the gods are displeased, and the demons are at work.
Buddhist converts among the Tharu are found in Saptari, Siraha and Udaypur. Currently it is believed that there are more than one dozen of Buddhist monks and novices among the Tharus. Such practice was possibly based on the fact that they were inspired by the discovery of Lord Buddha as a member of the Tharu tribe.
Followers of Theravada Buddhism among Tharu claim to be descandants of Maha Rana Pratap of Rajasthan, India, but such claims were dismissed.
Subsistence agriculture is the main traditional occupation and the Tharu maintain a close relationship with the forests and rivers of their native Terai. The Tharu traditionally love and excel at fishing and hunting as other ethic and caste groups do. In fact they are peasant but certainly not huter and gathereres since they have great written historical evidence that they were the landlords of the whole Terai before the unification of modern Nepal and before the malarian eradication. In fact the Malaria was the shield to protect them, since they had evolved resistance and other ethnic groups suffered high mortality in these lands.
Tharu women are generally not submissive and may play a strong role in household decision-making, especially among the Rana Thakur who traditionally maintain a female dominant society. Tharu women in some clans traditionally enjoy aesthetic self-beautification practices such as tattooing and/or wearing distinctive brightly colored skirt tartans, large silver earrings, nose rings, bangles, and anklets.
Until recent legislation banning the practice, many Tharu in the western part of the country suffered as indentured servants, or kamaiya. Debts were charged exorbitant interest and debtors were forced to work in the fields or as household servants for years and even generations. The kamaiya system has been discontinued but the problems of landlessness and unemployment remain acute. The Maoist Nepalese People's War has drawn militant participation from Nepal’s disenfranchised ethnic minorities, including the Tharu. Christian outreach groups have been involved in projects to help former kaimayas obtain land and the resources to farm it.
Ethnic groups in Nepal | Uttaranchal
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It uses material from the "Tharu".
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