The People of Nepal

1
The People of Nepal
2
Dominant Nepali Cultural Concepts

• Caste
• Bahun or Brahmin
• Chhetri
• Newar
• Status

3

• Nepal is the meeting place of the Indo-Arayn
  people of India and the Mongolian people of the
  Himalaya.
• 141 indigenous groups.
• 24-100 different languages and dialects.
• Nepali is the unifying language although it is
  the first language for less than half of the
  population.
• Devanagari is the script.

4
(No Transcript)
5
Bahun (Brahmin)
6
(No Transcript)
7
Punya (Merit)

• Sixth year is the most holy for Brahmin girls to
  marry.
• Hindu scripture charges the parents with the duty
  to marry their daughters.
• Doing ones duty earns merit toward reaching
  swarga (heaven) when they die.

8
(No Transcript)
9
(No Transcript)
10

11
(No Transcript)
12
(No Transcript)
13
(No Transcript)
14
(No Transcript)
15
(No Transcript)
16
Bidhua
17
Sherpas and Bhotias
18
(No Transcript)
19
Newars
20

• The Newari language while greatly influenced by
  Sanskrit, is still distinctly Tibeto-Burman.
• Beginning of the Newar civilization is estimated
  to be about 6th century BC.
• Uray and Shrestha are traditionally business
  people and farmers.
• Within the Shrestha community there are three
  hierarchically ranked groups, chha-thare,
  panch-thare and char-thare.

21
Rais and Limbus

• The Rais and Limbus ruled the Kathmandu Valley
  from the 7th century BC until around AD 300.
• They then moved to the east from the Arun Valley
  to the Sikkim boarder.
• They are of Tibeto-Burmese descent and their
  traditional religion is distinct from Buddhism
  and Hinduism.

22
Gurungs

• Live mainly in the central midlands.
• Gurungs have made up large number so of Gurkha
  regiments.
• Gurung women wear nose rings (phuli) and coral
  necklaces.

23
(No Transcript)
24
Tharus

• Thought to be early inhabitants of the Terai.
• May be the descendents of the Rajputs from
  Rajasthan.
• Their beliefs are largely animistic.
• Many harve been exploited by the zamindars, and
  fallen into debt so became bounded laborers,
  kamaiyas.

25
Nepals Population

• Chhetri 15.5
• Braham-Hill 12.5
• Magar 7
• Tharu 6.6
• Tamang 5.5
• Newar 5.4
• Muslim 4.2
• Kami 3.9
• Yadav 3.9
• Other 32.7