Tharu people

The Tharu people are an ethnic group indigenous to the Terai in southern Nepal and northern India. They speak Tharu languages. They are recognized as an official nationality by the Government of Nepal. In the Indian Terai, they live foremost in Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. The Government of India recognizes the Tharu people as a scheduled tribe. The word थारू (thāru) is thought to be derived from sthavir meaning follower of Theravada Buddhism. The Tharu people in the central Nepali Terai see themselves as the original people of the land and descendants of Gautama Buddha. Rana Tharu people of western Nepal connect the name to the Thar Desert and understand themselves as descendants of Rajputs who migrated to the forests in the 16th century. Possible is also that the name is derived from the classical Tibetan words mtha'-ru'i brgyud, meaning the 'country at the border', which the Tibetan scholar Taranatha used in the 16th century in his book on the history of Buddhism. As of 2011, the Tharu population of Nepal was censused at 1,737,470 people, or 6.6% of the total population. The frequency of Tharu people by province was as follows: Sudurpashchim Province (17.3%) Lumbini Province (15.3%) Madhesh Province (5.3%) Koshi Province (4.1%) Gandaki Province (1.7%) Bagmati Province (1.6%) Karnali Province (0.4%) The frequency of Tharu people was higher than national average (6.6%) in the following districts: Bardiya (53.3%) Kailali (41.9%) Dang (29.7%) Kanchanpur (25.8%) Parasi (18.4%) Banke (15.8%) Kapilvastu (12.3%) Sunsari (12.1%) Nawalpur (11.8%) Saptari (11.5%) Chitwan (11.0%) Bara (10.5%) Rupandehi (9.7%) Parsa (7.6%) Udayapur (7.6%) In 2009, the majority of Tharu people were estimated to live in Nepal. There are several endogamous subgroups of Tharu that are scattered over most of the Terai: Rana Tharu in the Kailali and Kanchanpur Districts of the far western Nepali Terai; also in India, in Udham Singh Nagar district, Uttarakhand and Kheri district of Uttar Pradesh.

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Related concepts (16)

Terai

The Terai or Tarai is a lowland region in northern India and southern Nepal that lies south of the outer foothills of the Himalayas, the Sivalik Hills, and north of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. This lowland belt is characterised by tall grasslands, scrub savannah, sal forests and clay rich swamps. In North India, the Terai spreads from the Yamuna River eastward across Haryana, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal. The Terai is part of the Terai-Duar savanna and grasslands ecoregion.

Koshi Province

Koshi Province (कोशी प्रदेश) is the autonomous easternmost province adopted on 20 September 2015 by Constitution of Nepal. The province is rich in natural resources, tourist attractions, recreational activities, and natural beauty. The province covers an area of 25,905 km2, about 17.5% of the country's total area. With the industrial city of Biratnagar as its capital, the province covers other major eastern towns including Birtamod, Birat Chowk, Damak, Dharan, Itahari, Triyuga and Mechinagar and includes several mountains including the Everest, Kangchenjunga, and Ama Dablam.

Newar people

Newar (nɪˈwɑr; नेवार, endonym: Newa; नेवा, Pracalit script: ) or Nepami, are the historical inhabitants of the Kathmandu Valley and its surrounding areas in Nepal and the creators of its historic heritage and civilisation. Newars form a linguistic and cultural community of primarily Indo-Aryan and Tibeto-Burman ethnicities following Hinduism and Buddhism with Nepal Bhasa as their common language. Newars have developed a division of labour and a sophisticated urban civilisation not seen elsewhere in the Himalayan foothills.