Who are the Tharu?
Travel anywhere along the Tarai from Jhapa to Kanchanpur and you will pass Tharu villages. With nearly 1.8 million people in the 2021 census — about 6% of Nepal's population — the Tharu are the largest indigenous people of the plains.
Living with the forest
For centuries the Tarai and inner-Tarai valleys were covered in dense forest and swamp, and malaria made them deadly for outsiders. The Tharu lived there, farming clearings, fishing and gathering. Studies have suggested some inherited resistance to malaria, and their knowledge of forest life allowed them to thrive where hill people and plains settlers could not.
Many Tharu
'Tharu' covers many groups with their own dialects, dress and customs: the Kochila Tharu of the east, the Chitwaniya of Chitwan and Nawalpur, the Dangaura of Dang, Banke, Bardiya and Kailali, the Rana Tharu of Kailali and Kanchanpur, the Kathariya, and others. Rana Tharu women, for example, are known for richly embroidered skirts and blouses, while Dangaura women wear white with heavy silver jewellery.
Home and food
Traditional longhouses are built of timber, reeds and mud plaster, often decorated with painted or relief designs, and divided inside by large clay grain bins. Tharu cooking draws on rivers and fields: fish, crabs, snails (ghonghi), dhikri (steamed rice-flour rolls), bagiya, rice beer and wild greens.
Festivals
Maghi, the New Year on Magh 1, is the greatest festival. Ashtimki (Krishna's birthday) is marked with painted wall images; Guraiya in Shrawan with dolls and songs; and during Dashain the Sakhiya dance fills the nights. In Chitwan the stick dance has become famous with visitors.
Loss and recovery
After malaria was controlled in the 1950s and 60s, settlers poured into the Tarai. Many Tharu lost their land, sometimes through unfamiliar paperwork, and in the western districts many fell into the Kamaiya system of bonded labour, abolished only in 2000. Since then Tharu organisations, schools, radio stations, museums and homestays have worked to protect language and culture and to rebuild livelihoods.
Visiting respectfully
Community homestays in Chitwan, Nawalpur, Bardiya, Dang and Kailali let you stay with Tharu families. Ask before photographing people and homes, and buy crafts directly from makers.