Inking identity – the stories behind Tharu tattoo motifs

A fish tattoo on the hands of Bhuti Devi Chaudhary from Sunsari

Many indigenous peoples throughout the world have inked tattoos – for aesthetic reasons and for abiding with their culture and traditions, not to mention the Tharu women living in Nepal’s southern plains who have tattooed themselves for various reasons.

Although the younger generation no longer get inked with traditional motifs, the khodaha, godna or tika as they call tattoos in their languages have many interesting stories to tell.

Tharu women in the Eastern Nepal got inked by Nats, a nomadic ethnic group 

Ghurni Chaudhary 

“I got a tattoo in return for eight mangoes,” said Ghurni Chaudhary, a woman in her early 70s from Eastern Nepal’s Saptari District. “My brother-in-law wanted to pay for the tattoo. So, he picked the mangoes from my aunt’s orchard and got me this tattoo on the lower arm.”

A group of Nats had put tarpaulin tents outside the village and they would go around the village doing petty jobs. While the men would hunt birds and small mammals, including fish, the women would tattoo women in the villages.

“While the Natin (Nat woman) was busy tattooing other women in the village, I cooked food for her family, and in return she tattooed my left arm,” reminisced Ghurni. “The Nat recommended his wife to tattoo properly, with beautiful motifs, referring me as his sister-in-law. The Nats were very good communicators and relationship builders.”

A tattoo to get accepted by in-laws and get freedom from the endless cycle of transmigration

“I got tattooed as elders told me that my in-laws won’t accept food from my hand if I didn’t get the tattoos,” added Ghurni. “Although I don’t know the meaning of floral patterns on my arms, I got inked the pokhair tattoo after a relative organised an akashdeep ceremony.”

Families light a lamp on a top of bamboo pole to worship Lord Vishnu. Hindus believe that they can avoid the suffering at the hands of messengers of death who work for Yamaraj, the god of death. During the celebration, relatives and near ones ‘cross a pond-like structure’ equivalent to crossing Vaitarani River. In Hinduism, sinful souls are supposed to cross this river after death.

The pokhair, a pond in Tharu language, tattoo consists of four corners of the pond – a floral pattern at each corner. “Near the pokhair tattoo, the khodparni (tattoo artist) inked a small boat with an oarsman (Naah and khewaiya), might be he will help me cross the Vaitarani River after my death,” giggled Ghurni. 

Interestingly, the Tharu epic Gurbabak Jalmauti talks about Gurbaba, the creator of the earth, going to a safer place with his disciples on a boat during apocalypse.  

Most of the women also get inked banh, a dam in Tharu language which resembles a band of floral patterns, to get freedom from the endless cycle of transmigration into a state of bliss.

Tattoo motifs inspired by nature

During Dashami, the biggest festival of Hindus, people paint evil eyes on their houses and doors in Nepal’s southern plains. A set of white and red floral patterns or fist patterns replace the evil eyes on the fifth day. The floral patterns are stamped with the pods of Indian mallow, Abutilon indicum. The pattern is called thopa-thopi, simply stamped rosette motifs in Tharu language.

Ahilya Devi, in her early 80s, proudly showed thopa-thopi tattoo on her left arm. “It is one of the simplest tattoos – it’s easy to make for the tattoo artist and looks great on the arm,” she said. “I refrained from having more tattoos. Now, I think, I made the right decision because soon after the Tharu elders started banning child marriages and tattooing.”

Tattoos inspired by mythology

Garbhi Dasin

While in Ramdhuni Municipality of Eastern Nepal’s Sunsari District, many women wear Ram Laxman tattoos. Ramdhuni is famous for a flame believed to have kept on burning from the days of Hindu God Ram’s 14-year exile. According to legends, during the exile, Ram spent a night at Ramdhuni and lit a fire.

Garbhi Dasin, an ascetic in her 70s, wears Ram Laxman tattoos on her calf and wheels of a chariot on her shin. Likewise, Ashia Tharuni from neighbouring village also wears a Ram Laxman tattoo on her legs. It’s interesting – the sacred tattoos find place on women’s legs, and that also on the rear side.  

Tattoos not only for beautification but also for inking a permanent jewellery

The block tattoos, either the wheels or peacocks, look beautiful on the legs. “We took tattoos to look beautiful,” said Bhuti Devi from Eastern Nepal’s Hasanpur Village. “These tattoos will accompany us when we leave this mortal world. They will go together with us.”

Tattoos that depict the Tharu lineage and their profession

Apart from other tattoos, a pair of bold peacocks looked beautiful on the legs of Bhuti Devi. The most outstanding tattoo – with several variations in the motifs – inked by Tharus, is a peacock tattoo, called mejoor in Tharu language. As claimed by some Tharu elders, they are descendants of Mauryas – the dynasty Emperor Ashoka belonged to. It was Ashoka who spread Buddhism across the Asian sub-continent.

A woman with peacock tattoos. Photo: Indu Tharu

Fish has an important relationship with the Tharus. As per Gurbabak Jalmauti that talks about the evolution of life on earth, earthworm and fish were one of the first creatures that came into being. And along with agriculture, fishing has been an important occupation of Tharus. The fish tattoos which cover whole of the forearm look fascinating and eye-catching.  

Elephants, tigers and horses – animals adored by Tharus

Tharus have been elephant handlers for the kings and landlords. The hathi or the elephant tattoo which generally has a man sitting on top of it, is another pattern that can be seen on the arms of Tharu women.

Interestingly, one woman in Sunsari district, had inked a tattoo called German ke larai or German war which is a complex tattoo design that includes armies on foot with spears, on elephants and horses fighting with each other.

Bagh or tiger is another tattoo that adorns the chest or the upper arm of women – inked on top of other motifs. Tiger is worshipped by the Tharus as Bagheshri, the Tiger Goddess. Every year, on the first day of the Vikram Samvat new year (first of Baishakha), the Tharus worship the goddess and other jungle gods, sacrificing goats and pigeons to appease them – so that they and their cattle are not attacked by wild animals and evil spirits from the jungles.

In western Nepal, Tharus get tattooed ghorwa or a horse which is a revered animal for them.

Trees in their vicinity

Kashia Chaudhary

Tharus have lived near forest and grow some useful trees in their backyard, including coconut and areca nut palms. Most of the women from eastern Nepal have Salahesh ke fulbari or the garden of Salahesh, a demigod widely adored in Nepal’s southern plains. The tattoo comprises flowers and trees including Ashoka tree, called Ashok ke gachhi in Tharu language. This tattoo is either inked on the entire upper or lower arm.

Kashia Chaudhary proudly shows tattoos of Sabudana or sago palm and gena ke phool or marigold flower, inked on the hind side of the lower arm. Another tattoo that covers the whole of upper or lower arm is a supari ke gachh or an areca nut palm.

Everyday things

The parents owe dowry to daughters getting married and in earlier days, they used to pack everything in a sanukh or a huge chest with wheels that can carry their belongings. Women used to get inked these chests on their arms as well. In western Nepal, the women get tattooed stoves called chulhwas in the Tharu language – the most needed equipment to cook food.  

Some of the tattoos that the artists inked for free were simple patterns denoting men and women called manukh or a human being in Tharu language. If somebody got inked many tattoos, the artists will ink them for free and they looked beautiful on either on fingers or on elsewhere on the arm.

The most prominent tattoo on their hands is suruj ke dali or the Sun’s rays – a round figure with lines denoting rays protruding from the circle.

Painful process

How they got tattooed is a painful process. “The khodparni (tattoo artist) would stick together seven needles, collect soot from oil lamps and start piercing the skin,” said Kashia Chaudhary. “Once done, she would apply turmeric powder and mustard oil to alleviate the pain.”

“The khodparni would chant some mantras to alleviate the pain after tattooing,” said Shakuntala Chaudhary. “They would demand more money to chant the mantras. The whole process used to be unbearable. Once I kicked off the khodparni while she was tattooing and ran away.”

With the lessening interest of the new generation in getting tattooed, the Nats no more wander around the villages. However, there are some Nat families who are still adept at tattooing. “I know a family from Baluwa Village near Kanchanpur (Saptari District of eastern Nepal) who still know how to tattoo,” said Rajia Devi Chaudhary.

Inking their identity

“Traditional tattoos are powerful symbol of our cultural identity,” says Tharu activist Indu Tharu. “For us, these are not just body art but a connection to ancestral roots, beliefs, and history, and a form of reclaiming unique cultural practices that have been marginalized and suppressed through the forces of colonialism and modernization. By proudly wearing one, it becomes a visible declaration of pride in who I am and where I come from.”

Continuing the tradition

KalaKulo, an art initiative, together with artist collective ArTree Nepal, organised Tika Chhedana Angana, a convention on Tharu tattooing in Bardiya district of western Nepal.

“Known by many names tika, leela, godana are indigenous practices that acknowledge a pedagogy merging body, art, and ecology; where to learn, one has to observe; and history is written in songs and memories encoded in movement,” writes KalaKulo. “The first weekend of March, we listened to stories, of joy, friendship, and sisterhood, filled with laughter and pain; and witnessed the rewriting of stories with ink and blood.”

“It was not only a celebration of the legacy of Tharu women who have carried a universe of images, but also a beginning for new tika chheduiniyas who continue this practice for it to thrive—in the very lands that shaped and nurtured this tradition.”

Toast to the young tika chheduiniyas, the tattoo artists, who are learning the art to keep their culture alive!

Conserving sikki arts and crafts

A beautiful sikki basket

Have you noticed the beautiful baskets carried by Tharu women on their heads during festivals and processions? The baskets made of sikki or golden grass hold a special significance – they are not only important during the festivals but also during rituals like marriage and worships. However, once a daily-use item woven in every household, the basket is getting rare these days, only to be found in some handicraft selling shops. 

I remember my granny giving me puffed rice and snacks in sikki baskets when I visited them during my minpachas, the winter school breaks in the 80s. during the summer vacation, I would see most of my neighbours weaving sikki baskets in their free time. The bunds on the rice fields would have clumps of sikki grass. The banks of ponds and riverside had abundance of sikki grass. Interestingly, we could find the sikki grass even in the low-lying fields of the Kathmandu Valley. 

However, it’s difficult to find sikki grass on the bunds, instead farmers have started growing lentils like black gram on the bunds to better use their land. The community ponds and water sources are vanishing and together with them the sikki grass. This has impacted the sikki basket weaving culture as well. Together with sikki grass, a softer variety of silver grass called gabaha in the local language in the southern plains is also getting rarer. Women have been using this grass to weave bigger baskets to store grains and agriculture produce. However, due to prevalence of plastic containers, the making and using of these baskets is dwindling. Not only these baskets but beautiful sikki hand fans and boxes to put jewellery and other valuable items are a rarity these days.  

Despite the slump in the sikki and gabaha basket weaving, some non-government organisations and cooperatives have been training and encouraging women to take up this old tradition of weaving these beautiful baskets. They collect these baskets and sell them at handicrafts shops and even export to foreign countries. 

Since sikki is considered pure, many people use these baskets while offering pooja and flowers to gods. They are also used as decorative items to decorate walls and rooms. In neighbouring India, they have been creating golden grass craft items, selling them online and exporting them. They have been making boxes of different shapes and sizes, hand fans, artistic files, dining table mats, pen stands, and gift boxes among others. 

Sikki grass products

It is the need of the moment to diversify the sikki products and come up with better and beautiful designs to find more customers. However, the first and foremost thing we need to do is to conserve the golden or sikki grass and plant more of them near water sources where they grow naturally. Once the raw material is found in abundance and the young people are trained in the art of weaving different items of sikki grass, they will continue with this tradition of making beautiful sikki baskets. And the baskets will reach a wider audience rather than just being showcased during the festivals and processions!

Republished from ECS

A multipurpose jungle vine and flowers that make you tipsy

 Text and pictures by Hari Pd. Chaudhary

Can you guess what are these? They are seeds of Phanera vahlii, a multipurpose wild vine found in abundance in the forests. Not only seeds but the whole vine is important for Tharus. Called ‘tata’ in the western Tharu and ‘malhan’ or ‘dama’ in eastern Tharu languages, its seeds, leaves and vines – all are useful.

Its seed pods are flat and long. They burst with a loud sound during the hot summer days in months of Chaitra and Baishakh (April). Don’t get scared of the sound when you’re in the jungle! 

It leaves are flat and coarse. The vine starts flowering during the months of Ashadh – Shrawan (July) and the pods are almost ready to ripe by the time the festival Dashain arrives. Tharus collect its leaves to make plates, bowls, umbrellas (chhatri), and raincoats (jhim). The plates and bowls are used in community feasts. 

Its pods burst open during the month of Chaitra (March – April). It’s also the season to pluck ‘mahua’ (Madhuca longifolia) flowers. People collect its seeds while plucking mahua flowers. Its seeds are roasted or boiled in water and eaten after removing the outer skin. 

Mahua flowers are used to make alcohol. People say no other alcohol can beat the taste of mahua! Fruits of mahua are also edible and sweet. You can get tipsy even chewing mahua flowers!

Tharus distribute mahua trees among themselves just like other ancestral properties and land. The brothers distribute mahua trees as well after deciding to stay separately. There’s, however, an understanding between all – they don’t pluck flowers from the trees in jungle belonging to others!

The post has been adapted from this Twitter thread.

Read the mahua story. 

Wild and spiny, this superfood tastes amazing

Text and pictures by Hari Pd. Chaudhary

Have you seen this strange looking vegetable? A bit round and pointed at ends, it looks like a bitter ground with hairy spines all over it. Called कन्ठेस्का (kantheskaa) in western part of Nepal’s southern plains and chatthel in the eastern part, the spiny gourd (Momordica dioica) has several health benefits. It lowers blood sugar and controls diabetes. According to sources, it also prevents hypertension, supports heart health and digestive system, treats cough, reduces excess sweating, improves eyesight, helps remove kidney stones, and also works as anti-aging agent among its many other benefits.

Mostly collected from wild during the rainy season, they are either pan fried or ground in a mortar and pestle to make finger-licking chutney. 

Here’s how you can make its chutney.

Step 1:

First, you need to roast kantheskaa on hot red burning coal or you can use hot oil to roast it. You have to roast until it becomes light brown. Slightly burn few red dries chilies over red coal.

Step 2: Grind it in mortar and pestle, called ‘silautaa’, ‘dokni’ or 'khal' locally.

Step 3: After grinding, put some turmeric powder on it.

Step 4: Now, put heated oil on the turmeric and temper it. 

Step 5: Now mix the turmeric throughout the chutney.

It’s ready now to serve.

Try it and let us know how it tastes!

The art of weaving beautiful baskets from sikki and kans grass

Parbati Chaudhary shows her creations.

Last September I met with two inspiring women – Parbati Chaudhary and Naina Chaudhary. Parbati, from Padariya Village, Saptari, lost her husband but didn't lose her hope. She now leads 100 women weaving baskets, mats, bags and other daily use items from sikki, elephant grass, silver grass, wallichia leaves, pater (a kind of reed growing in wetlands), paper reeds and corn leaves collected from wetlands, forests and fields. She sells the handcrafted items in the domestic market and has also exported them as far as the US with the support of WEAN Multipurpose Cooperative Ltd.

Some of Parbati's creations.

"The women weave handicrafts in their free time which otherwise would be spent gossiping or checking Facebook posts," said Parbati. "Now they're financially independent."

Some of Parbati's creations 

A basket made from sikki grass with beautiful floral designs, called dhakki in Nepali and daliya in the local language fetches around 120-130 USD for Parbati. But she says the pattern is very difficult for the women weavers and only some Tharu women with a high level of patience agree to weave the dhakki with intricate designs.

Naina Chaudhary weaving baskets from wool

Naina Chaudhary, from Haripur Village in Saptari, due to unavailability of sikki during all seasons, weaves the same dhakki from wool. She sells them at the local market and each one brings her about Rs. 500. “I learnt the tricks of the trade from Parbati,” she said. “However, I decided to start a business of my own.”

Some of Naina's creations

Naina makes beautiful silver grass handicrafts that fetch better prices but there's not much demand for the fancy items she can produce at local markets. Women like her need a helping hand to get these products to national and international markets.

Sikki and elephant grass used for making baskets

Not only Parbati and Naina, but many Tharu and Maithil women from the southern plains of Nepal have been weaving baskets of all shapes and sizes from the kans grass since ages and the art has been passed from one generation to another. The mothers and grandmothers have been teaching the young ones to weave baskets out of kans, considered useless, and sikki, regarded as pure.

Kharhi, the base material for weaving baskets

Let’s have a look at how they weave these beautiful baskets. The women collect the kans stems just before they bear flower (they call it gabaha in the Tharu language). Then they take out the flowery filaments and leave the stems to dry. Since the stem then becomes hollow, it can be wound into any shape and size.

A basket without its base - it is added later.

The upper and lower parts of the stem are trimmed. They can be used as the base material to wound the kans stem around. They also collect the kans grass from much earlier than their flowering stage. The stalks are usually hard then and can be used as the base material for the baskets. People also use fistfuls of kans grass from this stage of growth as a broom.

Takuwa, the needle like equipment to weave baskets

The gabaha is soaked in water so that it becomes flexible. A takuwa, needle-like equipment with a rounded end to hold on while weaving a basket, is needed, besides the grass of course, to weave the baskets. Taking a fistful of the kans grass, the gabaha is wound around it. Then it is swirled to give a round shape binding the framework with the gabaha. With the help of the takuwa, holes are made in the structure and gabaha is inserted in those holes binding the kans till it takes the shape a conical basket without a base, which is added later.

Dhakki made from sikki are in high demand.

The beautiful baskets called pauti and daliya in the local language of the Terai are woven similarly. First, sikki stems are collected and torn apart into two equal splinters. Then they are left to dry. Once dried, they are coloured.

Creativity has no bounds.

The coloured sikki splinters are soaked in water and as in the case of kans grass baskets, with the help of a takuwa the colourful sikki splinters are wound around kans grass. They create beautiful colourful patterns on the basket by further weaving sikki splinters on the basket – that requires some real skills!

Republished from ECS.

These phrases and idioms show the relationship between Tharus and their cattle

Monochrome bull in alley photo by Adam Sherez ( mr_sherez) on Unsplash

No doubt, Tharus have been tilling the earth for centuries. And their partners have been none other than the oxen. While the oxen have been treated as mere animals and have been the origin of the metaphor ‘goru’ in Nepali for morons, the Tharus have had deep respect for these animals. Have a look at few phrases and idioms in Tharu language that further establishes this fact. These idioms also showcase the Tharu way of life.

Bahaut maugi me marad upas, bahut marad me barad upas

This idiom means ‘too many cooks spoil the broth’. It says: “If you have too many women [in the house], a man has to remain hungry; if you have too many men [in the house], an ox has to remain hungry.” Although sexist, the idiom shows how the household chores including cooking was assigned to women while other outdoor activities were taken care of by men including feeding and grazing the cattle.

Mangni barad ke dant dekhe gelai kahi

I haven’t come across an English idiom equivalent to this one. This idiom means you need to have money with you if you’re willing to buy something. It says: “Why to undertake seeing the teeth of an ox, if you don’t have money [in your pockets]?” Buying and selling oxen was common between farmers and traders, and while buying oxen it was mandatory to have a look at the pair of teeth the animals had. So as to ascertain the age of the oxen!

Har ne barad dhodhai marad

This idiom is about people who brag a lot. It says: “[Some people] brag a lot though they don’t even have a plough and oxen.” Have you ever heard the Chinese proverb “Great boast, small roast”? This exactly matches in meaning with the Tharu idiom.

Jau dekhi barad maina, ta ladi yahai par se dyadi baina

This idiom means leap at the opportunity (to do something). It says: “If you see a suitable ox (for ploughing or pulling a cart), give the advance from the river bank [where you’re standing].” It shows the urgency and says “don’t even think of crossing the river to get to the seller or the ox, just hand over the advance to seal the deal.”

Looks like ginger, tastes like mango

Republished from ECS.

Amadi looks like ginger but tastes like raw mango.

If you go to the southern plains of eastern Nepal and ask for local snacks at roadside eateries, you’ll most probably be served a savory mixture of beaten and puffed rice, chickpea curry, fritters, fried chili, and a special chutney made from amadi.

Amadi looks like ginger or turmeric, but tastes like a raw mango. In eastern Nepal, a mango is called aam, and ginger is called aadi, so these two words might have been combined to derive the word ‘amadi’. In the hilly region, it is called aaphaledo, while in western Nepal, it is called aaphardi, or aamhardi—a combination of aap, or aam, for mango, and hardi for turmeric. Its English name is mango ginger or white turmeric.

Amadi chutney, tangy but delicious, is also a must-have item at community feasts in the eastern   Terai. Made by grinding amadi and chili together and adding mustard oil and salt to taste, the chutney not only adds that extra special flavor, but also helps digestion.

Grown sparsely in the Terai and mid-hills, this root is also used as a medicine. It’s been used in Ayurveda and Greek medicine as a cure for all types of itching and skin diseases and as an appetizer. Recently, researchers in Germany have discovered that it is a good medicine for obesity. Tharus in eastern Nepal believe that it even cures paralysis, and is an antidote for the effects of heat wave.

While different types of pickles can be made from amadi, the oal (elephant foot yam) and amadi pickle stands out among all. For that, you’ll need to gather mango ginger, elephant foot yam, tamarind, green chilies, and other spices. Clean and cut the mango ginger and elephant foot yam into small slices and let them dry for a day. Then, crush them into fine pieces together with tamarind, chilies, and ginger. Add turmeric powder, other spices, and salt to taste, and mix them well. Leave the mixture to dry in the sun again for a day or two and then pack it into a bottle and add mustard oil to it. The pickle can be eaten from the first day itself, but it tastes much better if consumed a few days after it’s made.

Faceless in History

Written by Tej Narayan Panjiar

Republished from the July/Aug 1993 issue of Himal magazine. Used with permission.

A charter at Chapagaon. Photo by Bikas Rauniar. Used with permission.

The Tharus could not have hid out in the jungle for aeons waiting to be discovered during the malaria eradication campaign of the 1950s. They must have a history of their own.

Henry Ambrose Oldfield, in his book Sketches from Nepal, describes the Tharu of the Nepal Tarai as “a puny, badly developed and miserable-looking race, and probably belonging to the same original stock as the natives of the adjacent Plains of India”.

Apart from the extreme cultural bias of this description, the belittling terminology was not borne out even in Old field's day, when the robust forest-dwelling Tharus were described by another contemporary book as being “chiefly employed in the difficult and dangerous task of catching wild elephants". And a population group that had defied mighty malaria itself could hardly have been "badly developed".

As for Tharu origins, rather than his perfunctory hypothesis, Oldfield might have delved into the possibility that the Tharu have Mongolian blood, but he probably was not interested.

Unfortunately, things have hardly changed since Oldfield's days, and successive British writers and historians, as well as the subsequent South Asian scholars have, by and large, shown similar weaknesses with regard to the Tharu society and its history. As one of the most disenfranchised groups of the Ganga basin, it is perhaps natural that this should happen to the Tharus.

Sympathetic Mention
What were the Tharus doing in the malarial jungles and how did they get there? No social scientist has yet felt a need to study history of the Tharus in depth. They make up an invisible community which makes an appearance only when it suits the interests of the mainstream historians. In the case of Nepal, such a time arrived when malaria eradication finally cleared the jungles and it was imperative to say something about the resilient population of this region.

Even so, the interest of modern historians of Nepal and India seems limited to brief sympathetic mention of Tharus as an exploited population group, and how they have resilience against malaria. Some bizarre theories are also propounded as to the Tharu's origin. When they finally find the time to delve into the Tharus' past, researchers will find that they have not been faceless in history, and have in fact been active participants in the happenings of the Himalayan region and adjacent plains.

For example, there exist many lalmohars (land grant documents) awarded by the kings of Palpa, Makwanpur and Nepal Valley to Tharus for their bravery, "extraordinary sense of duty", or other reasons. Such documents can be found from Morang district all the way west to Kanchanpur. There are lalmohars from the kings of Kathmandu and Palpa which grant full enjoyment of Tharus to Tarai lands (except the tithe) if they are able to control the wild animals and the spirits of the jungles.

Mahesh Chandra Regmi, the economic historian, in his book Landownership in Nepal during the Nineteenth Century seeks to prove that the Tarai lands belonged to the Thakuris, Ranas and Bahuns. While this is doubtless partly true, it must be remembered that, at best, the hill people came down for three months in mid-winter, and were gone by the end of February. They did not know what the Tharus produced in their lands, and were content to let the Tharus be the defacto landowners.

Thus, the Tharus were the masters of much of the Tarai lands, but there are numerous lalmohars to prove that they also had de jure title over vast tracts. For instance, one such lalmohar sanctions land in today’s Parsa district south of Kathmandu in favour of the family of Darpnarayan Garwar Tharu, for "gallantry" shown in a war between Makwanpur and southern marauders. There are many such lalmohars available for other parts of the Tarai as well.

The very fact of the linear habitation of Nepal through the length of Nepal's Tarai tends to prove that they spread out and inhabited this expanse over a long historical period. Unfortunately, we know little about this period. The priests and nobles of India and Nepal have always worked well together when the question at issue does not touch upon their rival claims upon one another. When it comes to the Tharus, therefore, these groups have found it mutually convenient to relegate the Tharus to a historical corner, the implication being that these are barbarians with no history.

Rajasthan, Rajasthan
An attempt to write the social history of the Tharus is problematic, and credit goes to anthropologist Dor Bahadur Bista for at least having made a start in People of Nepal (HMG Nepal, 1967). But other historians are satisfied with fanciful notions about Tharu origins that do injustice to the community.

With no evidence to support the contention, some have claimed that the Tharus are descended from those that fled from the Thar Desert in Rajasthan during the attack of Allauddin Khilji in the 12th century and Emperor Akbar in the 16th century. Baburam Acharya, a Nepali historian of stature, has accepted this thesis and stated that many Rajput soldiers were killed by Akbar's forces and that the women of those soldiers fled to the jungles of Nepal with their servants. The Tharus are supposed to be the progeny of these mistresses and their servants.

Some innocent/ crafty modern-day Tharus have taken satisfaction in this explanation, possibly because it links the community to the glorious Rajputs of Rajasthan. The reason the Tharus lost the sacred thread, it is reasoned, is because they gave up warfare and adopted agriculture. (That perhaps they were not originally Hindus is indicated from an order that was issued to enforce the Muluki Ain (1854) among Tharus who lived between Morang and Dang-Deokhuri. Among other things, the order decrees that Tharus are not to eat pork or drink liquor, and that males are not to marry maternal cousin sisters).

Rajasthan lies to the south and west of Delhi, which was the seat of the Muslim kings and emperors. Why would the bevy of doubtlessly brave Rajput ladies insist on travelling through Mughal territory to end up in the jungles of the lower Himalaya when they could have fled easily southwards to the hills of the Satpura and Vindhya ranges?

A theory propounded by Iswor Baral, presently the Vice Chancellor of the Royal Nepal Academy, seems more plausible than the 'flight from Rajasthan' myth. Baral, who grew up among the Tharus and knows the community well, is of the view that the Tharus are descended from a community that was persecuted and banished northwards during the expansion of the Vajjii Republic. According to the Buddhist scholar Ashwagosa, this was a flourishing state during the Sakyamuni’s time. From geographical history, we know that the Vajjii territory incorporated Champaran, Muzaffarpur and Darbhanga districts in present-day Bihar.

This would explain why, as Baral theorises, the Tharus call all non-Tharu population to the south by the name "Vajiya". This term has now even entered the Nepali language, "bajiya" meaning "uncouth". This theory must, of course, stand the rigours of academic reasoning, which will probably happen when more scholars take an interest in Tharu history.

Sakya of Lumbini

Octoradii from Lumbini. 

 
The Tharus certainly were not a community that hid out in the forest for eons waiting to be discovered during the malaria eradication campaign of the 1960s. Serious work on their antiquity would probably reveal interesting linkages with the main stream of South Asian history. Could it be, for example, that the Sakyamuni Buddha was a Tharu?

The first and foremost principle laid down by the Buddha has been named Theravada. But according to its Pali rendition, it is Theragatha, that is, the story of the Tharu. It is though t by some that the Sakyamuni modelled the organisation of his sangha on a community such as his own. It is significant that the Sakya seem not to have the Varna system, and they were isolated to the extent that they were self-governing and their polity was of a form not envisaged in Brahminical theory.

The fact that the Sakyamuni's birthplace in Lumbini is still in the midst of a Tharu settled area might be one indication that they are the original inhabitants of this area. A. Fuhrer, who discovered the Lumbini site, was himself of the view that Tharus are the descendants of the Sakyas, though he was unable to prove his case.

Excavations done at Tilaurakot, the site of the palace of the Sakyamuni's father King Suddhodhana, have brought up some 3rd century artifacts (contemporary to the Vajjii) that deserve further study. Some of the bricks are stamped with the octoradii circle, which is the mark of the "turning of the wheel of the law" throughout the Buddhist world of Southeast Asia, Japan, China, and also in the Ashokan inscriptions. Another stamp bears the mark of the trisul. On the walls of the thatched huts of the Tharus today, one finds frescos that carry identical marks of the octoradii circle and trisul.

As followers of the Buddha, were the Tharus persecuted by the Brahminical forces, and is this why they were forced into the forests, where the 20th century finally found them? As one scholar wrote in 1896, “The clan and the disciples of Buddha were so ruthlessly persecuted that all were either slain, exiled or made to change their faith. There is scarcely a case on record where a religious persecution was so successfully carried out as that by which Buddhism was driven out of its place of birth.”

Taking this line of thought a step further, it is probable that as the Tharus fled persecution, they not only entered the Tarai jungle but that some also fled further north to the Valley of Kathmandu. There are several unanswered questions in the history of the Valley that could perhaps be explained if the Tharu element were to be introduced.

Fish Lovers
Of Manadeva, said to be the founder of the Licchhavi dynasty (464 AD), there is no suggestion that he was a Licchhavi. It was only 126 years later that his descendant Sivadeva I laid claim to Licchhavi lineage. And it is Sivadeva who had a charter inscribed in stone to the people of Tharu Drang (Tharu Village), which is the present-day village of Chapagaon in Lalitpur District. The inscription, which is to be found in Chapagaon today, reduces the tax to the people of Tharu Drang on different kinds of fish. Tharus, it need hardly be stated, are fish lovers to this day.

Historians Dilli Raman Regmi and Dhana Bajra Bajracharya went to great lengths to try and identify the different kinds of fish that are named in the inscription, such as Kastika, Mukta, Bhukundika and Rajagraba, Despite complicated semantic analysis, they failed to identify these alien names. A Tharu would have told them that Kastika is a fish that can be bought even today in the Indra Chowk market. The standard name of this fish is Gainchi, but in colloquial usage it is sometimes known as Kastika, a term which indicates that the fish does not spoil as easily as other fish.

They were unable to identify a fish named Bhukundika, because, again a Tharu would have told them, Bhukundika is not a fish. It is instead a clam-type slug which is found abundantly in Kathmandu Valley but shunned by the local population. Today, the Tharus who live in Kathmandu savour the slugs as a delicacy, although today they know it as Doka.

And what does the similarities of the Jyapu caste of Kathmandu Valley and the Tharu say of the origins of either group? The Jyapus use the kharpan, balancing two loads on a bamboo pole, as do the Tharu, who call their implement the baihinga. No other Valley community uses it but the Jyapu. Both Tharus and Jyapus relish beaten rice (chiura lo the Valley dwellers, also to Tharus). Jyapu and Tharu women use the okhal and musalo to beat rice, but this is not the case with the neighbouring communities of the Valley or Tarai. Jyapu women tattoo their upper heels, exactly as the Tharu women do.

Who are the Tharus, where do they come from, and what light can their history shed on the past of the Himalaya and South Asia as a whole? Some historical interest in the Tharus by scholars of today will shed some light on numerous nooks and crannies of the past. We will then gain better understanding about so many issues, from the days of the Sakyamuni, to the spread of populations along the Ganga and Tarai belt of today's India and Nepal, the populating of the Kathmandu Valley, and the reasons behind the backwardness of Tharus today. And with such understanding, hopefully, there will develop a greater appreciation of Tharu culture, which in turn will finally work to eliminate the social and political discrimination that this community faces in Nepal today.   

T.N. Panjiar worked in the National Planning Commission of Nepal.

Read the original article here.

Look for traditional knowledge if you’re not sure about something

There’s something special about traditional knowledge. Through countless trial and error our ancestors were able to find out the best way to maximise the good properties and minimise the bad properties of plants found in our surrounding.

Since it’s the season of growing grass peas in the terai, I’ll tell you about its wise use – how people cook it into a delicious dish and store it for future use.

Also the mango trees have started flowering in the terai. Within a month or two there will be plenty of green mangoes around and the parents will be asking their children not to consume too much green mangoes fearing the sore eyes. I’ll be talking about a home remedy to get rid of the sore eyes caused by eating green mangoes.

Khesari
Called khesari locally, grass peas are considered largely inedible due to a toxic component in it which may cause paralysis if consumed in excessive amount.

However, it has been a staple diet for the people of southern plains in eastern Nepal. They are easy to grow and can be eaten as green leafy vegetables or can be wrapped as biriya and stored for future use or used as lentils or besan (lentil flour) to cook pakoda (fritter or tempura).

The farmers broadcast-seed the grass peas together with linseed in standing rice crops one or two weeks before the rice harvest. The grass peas and linseed then grow on their own. They neither need irrigation nor further weeding due to their tolerance to drought and capability to withstand extreme temperatures.

Khesari has a special place in the Tharu cuisine either as leaf curry or dried biriya. They cook it together with brinjal and it tastes amazing. Here’s how to cook it.

Grass peas on sale at a local market in the southern plains of Nepal. Though the Lathyrus sativus is grown as a forage in Europe, it's considered a poor man's pigeon pea (rahar ko dal) in the terai and there's a belief that its prolonged use can cause paralysis. Called #khesari, the green vegetable is delicious! Here's the recipe: Cut khesari leaves into fine pieces, cut cuboid pieces of brinjal, get your spices to start with. Heat few spoonfuls of mustard oil, fry finely cut garlic, onion, ginger and chilly pieces. As the onion turns brown, add the brinjal pieces and fry them for a while. Then slowly add the green peas and cook for a while. As you cook the curry, add the spices (turmeric, chilly, coriander and cumin powder) and water and cook in slow heat. Eat the curry with rice but I prefer eating it with puffed rice. It tastes amazing! -------- #grasspeas #lathyrussativus #legumes #lentil #terai #Nepal #foodgasm #food #picoftheday #photooftheday #recipeoftheday #instalike

A post shared by Sanjib Chaudhary (@sankuchy) on Feb 15, 2017 at 5:22pm PST

Chhakarneri

While the whole world, Ayurveda in particular, consider Eclipta prostrata as a hair growth supporter, the Tharus in the Eastern Nepal use it for a totally different purpose.

(c) Shankar Chaudhary

Shankar Chaudhary from Sunsari writes, “When we were children and ate too many green mangoes during the months of Chaitra-Baishakh (March - April), it resulted into sore eyes just like conjunctivitis.”

“The old and learned men used to suggest us eating chhakarneri (Tharu name for Eclipta prostrata),” he adds. “In fact eating this herb cured the red eyes. A thick paste of this herb, applied to hair, thickens it, say the elders.”

Biriya – the delicious dry greens from Nepal’s southern plains

Have you heard about “biriya”? In southern plains of Nepal, this dry green vegetable, eaten during the rainy season, is quite popular. During the winter, women gather the green vegetables, wither them a bit, wrap them in black gram paste and let them dry. The dried biriya is stored in a dry place and used as an alternative vegetable during the rainy season when the green vegetables are scarce.

In the West they say "make hay when there is sunshine" and here in the southern plains of Nepal, the locals say "wrap and dry vegetables when they are found in abundance". They collect mustard leaves, broad leaf mustard and grass peas, let them wither a bit and wrap them with black gram flour paste. Drying them on sun makes "biriya", as they call locally, that is stored to be cooked during the rainy season when the green vegetables are scarce. The black gram paste gives a tangy taste to biriya and also works as a preservative. Plus it's a source of high protein. If you ask me personally, I like the mustard leaves biriya the most! Want a "biriya" recipe? DM me for details. ------- #biriya #wrappedgreens #grasspeas #broadleafmustard #mustard #terai #Nepal #Tharus #storing #savingforfuture #resilience #travelgram #traveldiary #instalike #instapic #picoftheday #photooftheday #instatravel #localtaste #curry #traditionalknowledge

A post shared by Sanjib Chaudhary (@sankuchy) on Feb 16, 2017 at 5:22pm PST

Looking at how it got the name ‘biriya’, I came across an interesting response from my friend Shubhashish Panigrahi from Odisha. Responding to my above Instagram post, he said, “Black gram is Biri in Odia. I know we are related.” 

And yes, when I see the Eastern Tharu and Odia languages, there are lot many similarities between the both. At least I have found many words with same roots. There’s some relationship between natives of Odisha and the Tharus of Nepal. Watch this space for more posts on the similarities!

Valuable but neglected – some oil yielding plants from the southern plains of Nepal

Some plants are valuable but neglected. And among those valuable but neglected are some of the oil yielding plants cultivated in the southern plains of Nepal.

I’m talking about castor oil, linseed oil, wild linseed, sesame and chamomile. While the linseed is still cultivated in large quantities, its importance is unknown to the farmers. Except for its use in few Tharu cuisines like the water snail curry for the non-vegetarians and jackfruit and bamboo shoots curry for the vegetarians.

Meanwhile chamomile is being cultivated for its essential oil, largely by the Tharus in the Mid and Far Western Nepal in the lands near protected areas. Just to prevent the wild animals marauding on the crops.

Let’s talk about these plants in detail.

Castor oil plant by Flickr user Kenneth Cole Schneider. (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

Castor oil

One of the most neglected oil seeds is castor oil. These plants grow on fallow lands and garbage dumps on its own. In the past, castor oil was used to burn oil lamps in the southern plains of Nepal during Sukrati, the festival of lights called Tihar and Deepawali in other parts of the country. The oil was also used as a pain reliever. I’ve heard my grandmother telling about its benefits and applying it on her joints and back to get rid of any pain and stiffness. And my grandfather, a traditional healer, used to make concoctions using the castor oil to cure ringworm infections.

Castor seeds by Flickr user budak. (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

The oil, used widely in shampoo, soaps, cosmetics and massage oils, helps fight signs of aging, moisturises skin, reduces skin pigmentation and acne, promotes hair growth, prevents premature hair greying and conditions hair among other benefits.

So, isn’t it sad that we’ve left cultivating this useful plant?  


Linseed

Linseed oil has always been neglected. In the terai, people take it as a poor man’s replacement of mustard oil. However, this oil has plenty of benefits. And linseed has been termed as a superfood in the West.

Flax (Linum usitatissimum) or linseed by user Peter O'Connor aka anemoneprojectors. (CC BY-SA 2.0)

People in the terai, especially the Tharus in the Eastern Nepal, still use linseed powder to garnish some curries like jackfruit, bamboo shoots and ghonghi (water snails). Without the linseed powder the curry is tasteless for them!

Though considered a poor man’s dietary intake, the medical science has confirmed that the linseed oil or the flax seeds protects from osteoporosis. It is also considered as a laxative and a hormonal balancer.

The oil also relieves inflammation and pain. That’s why you can see old people still resorting to linseed oil massages.

Linseed cultivation is so easy that you just need to sprinkle the linseed in the paddy fields when the rice starts to flower. The linseed grows well from the moisture remaining in the field and just few months after the rice harvest, you can harvest the linseed crop. And it has been cultivated since ages in this way.

So, let’s continue cultivating it and start using more linseed powder and linseed oil in our diets!

Wild linseed

This wild variety of linseed is still grown in the terai, but by limited farmers.

The lesser known sibling of linseed. A native variety, it is still cultivated for its long black seeds which are a bit different from brown and smaller linseed. While the linseed flowers are purplish blue and the plants are small and frail, this variety called 'bonchikna' (a vulgar word though in Nepali) in the southern plains yield oil which is much viscous than regular mustard and linseed oil. It's still used for cooking purposes but not preferred over the former ones. More research is needed to find out its benefits. Though lesser known and less preferred, it's a joy to see fields of these beautiful flowers in the southern plains of Nepal during the month of November! --------------------- #native #linseed #terai #Nepal #beautifulflower #picoftheday #teraidiaries #travelblog #instapic #flowers #oilseeds

A photo posted by Sanjib Chaudhary (@sankuchy) on Nov 23, 2016 at 4:04pm PST

 

Sesame

Though the sesame has been tagged as a purity material – a must offering to Shani Dev and other gods in Hindu mythology, it is being cultivated less and less these days.

Sesame pods. The deicious sesame seeds --- black and white varieties --- are sourced from these ripe pods. The sesame plants are grown on bunds or the lesser fertile fields that don't need much water, fertilizer and weeding from time to time. But the sesame seeds are good for health --- the sweets from these seeds are essentially eaten in Makar Sankranti --- the auspicious occasion when the sun changes its position. The black sesame seeds are the most favoured offering to Shani, the Sun God's son. Looking at these, the sesame seeds have always been associated with the sun --- the source of energy. And these are essential source of energy during the chilly winter days. Open sesame! ----------------------- #sesame #seeds #herbs #Nepal #oilseeds #travelblog #religion #belief #makarsankranti

A photo posted by Sanjib Chaudhary (@sankuchy) on Nov 20, 2016 at 9:07am PST

 

Chamomile

Chamomile is a recent addition to the list of cash crops being grown in the terai. Currently grown only in the Mid and Far Western Nepal, farmers need to spread its cultivation even in the Eastern Nepal. 

#Chamomile flowers from the #bardianationalpark #bufferzone area. #Farmers have been planting these #medicinal plants instead of #foodcrops since the #wildanimals don't eat it. Also it fetches more income than #rice and other food #crops. Once planted, it can be harvested three times in a year and its oil fetches a really good price in the market -- more than NRs 20,000 per litre -- that comes out to be around 200 US dollars. Also written as #camomile, it has #anticancer, #anticoagulant, #antiinflammatory, #antispasmodic, and #antidiarrhoeal effects. It's proving to be a good intervention to reduce #humanwildlifeconflict and increase #income of people living near #ProtectedAreas. #conservation #terai #madhesh #Nepal #flowers #herbs #essentialoil #chamomiletea

A photo posted by Sanjib Chaudhary (@sankuchy) on Sep 7, 2016 at 5:16am PDT

Weave your own basket from kans and sikki grasses

The sikki grass (vetiver grass - Chrysopogon zizanioides), once found in abundance near water sources, has been vanishing and with it is declining the art of basket weaving from the golden splinters. And due to the easily available plastic containers, the basket weaving out of kans grass (Saccharum spontaneum) is also on the decline.

Vetiver grass (c) Forest and Kim Starr. Creative Commons Attribution 2.0

Sunset through Kaash (Kans Grass) by Flickr user Abhijit Kar Gupta. (CC BY 2.0)

Whenever I travel to my home in the southern plains of Nepal, the kans baskets (they call it dhama in the Tharu language) hanging by the roof always haunt me. All these baskets were woven by grandmother who passed away recently. Since we have been lowering our involvement in agriculture and storing the food items in sacks and drums, these beautiful baskets have been left useless. And the only thing I can do is, stare at them!

Kans baskets hanging by the roof in my house.

Tharu and Maithil women from the southern plains of Nepal have been weaving baskets of all shapes and sizes from the kans grass since ages and the art has been passed from one generation to another. The mothers and grandmothers have been teaching the young ones to weave baskets out of kans, considered useless and sikki, regarded pure.

So, how do they weave these baskets?

Once I sat with my grandmother and she showed me the basics of this craft. Let me share it with you.

First, all you need to do is collect the kans stems before they flower (they call it gabaha in the Tharu language). Take out the flowery filaments and leave the stems to dry. Since the stem is hollow now, it can be wound into any shape and size.

Kharhi, the base material for weaving basket.

Now trim the upper and lower parts of the stem. They can be used as the base material to wound the kans stem around. Also make sure to collect the kans grass from an earlier stage, before they start bearing flower inside. The stalks are usually hard at this stage and can be used as the base material for the baskets. People also use fistful of kans grass from this stage as a broom.

Soak the gabaha in water so that it becomes flexible. A rudimentary tool you’ll need besides the grass is a takuwa – a needle like equipment with a rounded end to hold on while weaving a basket.

Takuwa - a needle like equipment used to weave the basket.

Take a fistful of the kans grass and coil the gabaha around it. Then swirl it to give a round shape binding the framework with gabaha. And take the help of takuwa to make holes in the structure and put the gabaha inside the holes till it takes the shape a conical basket like the one in the below picture. Later you can add the base to this basket.

A basket without a base.

Keep on weaving and you’ll get a basket like the ones hanging by the roof in my house.

Now you must be curious how Tharus weave so beautiful baskets (called pauti and dhakiya) that are displayed during the Tharu festivals like the ones on the heads of these women from Sunsari district.

Tharu women holding sikki baskets (c) Madan Chaudhary/Tharuwan.com

It’s simple like weaving the basket from gabaha. First, you need to collect the sikki stems and tear them apart into two equal splinters and leave them to dry. Once dried, you can apply colours of your choice to them.

Now repeat the process of weaving a basket from kans grass. Soak the coloured sikki splinters in water and take a fistful of kans grass as base material. Then with the help of a takuwa wind the colourful sikki splinters around them. Slowly, your basket starts taking shape. To create the beautiful colourful patterns on the basket, you’ll need to coil the coloured sikki splinters on the basket with the help of a takuwa. But you’ll need to practice a lot to create those beautiful patterns.

Good luck with the weaving!

Read: A basket of nostalgia