Category Archives: Tribes in Nepal

Tharu People

Tharu are one of the indigenous ethnic people with their own, language, culture and history, who live in the Terai as well as the southeast of the mountain and west of the country. They are assumed to be the first settlers in the Terai region. They are the largest tribe in Nepal and are spread almost 24 districts of Nepal. In the past, the Terai region was full of jungles, wild animals, and also affected by malaria. Tharu people moved in the Terai region and started to settle, resisting to the malaria, and develop the region for settlement and agricultural land. So Tharu are known as the “Son of the Jungle”. Unlike other group in the Terai,  Tharu have survived throughout history because of their unique immunity to malaria. Despite their hardy immune systems, they are considered one of the lower group in Nepal’s hierarchical caste system.

Gentle and simple nature of Tharu are laborious in agricultural products and are traditional live throughout the jungles of Terai lowlands of Nepal in Bardia, Banke, Kailai, Kanchanpur, Morang, Saptari, and Jhapa districts, as well as in the Terai valleys of Chitwan, Surkhet, Dang anbd Udaypur. Tharu living in India live near the Nepali border mainly in Naini Taal in Uttaranchal, Kheri and Gonda districts of Uttar Pradesh state and Champaran districts of Bihar state. The group is made up of many groups and are divided into several groups which are distinguished by their territories, cultural, features and languages. They are recognized by dangora, Deukhuri, Rana, Chitwania, Kathariya, Mahottari, and Kochila or Koshila (Morangia) Tharu. Each group has their own district districts, ethnic identity and culture. Dangora and Deukhuri Tharu have been spread in Bardia and Banke district, Rana Tharu and Dangora Tharu are in Kailai and Kanchanpur district, Kochila Tharu have been spread throughout the Bara districts to Mechi. However some Moraniya also hesitate in Morang district along with Kochila Tharus and other non-Tharu groups.


The origin of Tharu is still not clear as there are different saying by different writers.

The origin of Tharu is not clear. Some claim them to be migrants from the Thar desert in Rajasthan, India. Others say that these are the descendants of the children who were born out of the liaisons between the Rajput women and their servants who fled the Muslman invaders. They are, however, clearly Mongoloid in their facial features.