The People

Nepal has a population of over eighteen million, made up of an assortment of race and tribes living in different regions, wearing different costumes and speaking different languages and dialects. They live under quite diverse environmental conditions, from the low plains at the border of India, northward through the middle hills and valleys and up to the flanks of the great Himalayan range where there are settlements at altitudes of up to 4,800 meters.

The Himalayan settlements of Tibetan speaking peoples are found perched precariously on mountain ledges and slopes. Life here is a delicate balance of hard work and social merrymaking, tempered by a culture steeped in ancient religious traditions. The best known of the high mountain peoples are the Sherpas who inhabit the eastern mountains of Nepal.

The midlands are inhabited by various Tibeto-Burman and Indo-Aryan peoples, such as Brahman, Chhetri and Newar.

The Rai, Limbu, Tamang, Magar, Sunwar, Jirel, Gurung, Thakali and Chepang are other Tibeto-Burman speaking Mongoloid peoples living in the middle hills. They each have their own distinct social and cultural pattern.

The Dun valleys and the Terai are inhabited by the Brahman, Rajput, Tharu, Dunuwar, Majhi, Darai, Rajbansi, Satar, Dhimal and Dhangar.

Though Nepal is a veritable mosaic of dozens of ethnic groups, they are bound together by the ideas of peace, democracy and nationalism.