Dominant Nepali Cultural ConceptsCaste

Bahun or BrahminChhetriNewar

Status

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.

Bahun (Brahmin)

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.

Bidhua

Sherpas and Bhotias

Newars

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.

Rais and LimbusThe 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.

GurungsLive mainly in the central midlands.Gurungs have made up large number so of

Gurkha regiments.Gurung women wear nose rings (phuli) and

coral necklaces.

TharusThought 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.

Nepal’s PopulationChhetri 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%