Ethnographic Study of Chamar (Madhesi Dalit) Community of Saptari District

Abstract

In Nepal, a large numbers of untouchable caste use to refer in term of Dalit. It is verynecessary to identify the community to which are Dalits or untouchable belong to castesystem. A large number of caste group refer to an occupationally segregated, hierarchicaland ritually discriminatory social system based on heredity of an individual or group. Theyare economically exploited, politically voiceless, socially humiliated and treated as"Untouchables". In essence, the victim of caste based discrimination and untouchables canbe considered as Dalits. The major Dalit caste groupsof the Terai are Mushahar, Chamars,Dushadh, Khatwe, Tatma, Dom, Halkhor, Batar etc Among the Terai caste/ethnic groups,Chamars are the mostly labor community of the Terai region of Nepal. The main objectives of the study are to describe the cultural practices and discussthe social value, customs, lifestyle, religious and social phenomena such as birthceremony, marriage ceremony, death rituals, dresses, language, food habits, festivals etc.,study the economic status of Chamars such as land holding, occupation, livestock practicesincome and expenditure and to find out the root causes of backwardness of Chamarcommunity of Malahaniya VDC in Saptari district. For this purpose, ward no 2 waspurposively selected. 40 households of 98 households were selected i.e. 40.8%. Chamars are the indigenous people of the Terai region of Nepal. They are generallyof the black skin. According to Hindu caste system, chamars are one of the untouchablecastes of Sudra category. Their traditional occupations were leather work, drummer,dumping the dead animals and serving as midwife. But now they have little bit changed andtheir traditional work move towards common work, which is done by other castes. They follow Hindu religion and worship Hindu Gods and Goddesses. They celebratethe Hindu festivals such as Dashain, Deepawali, Chhat, Chaurchan, Judsheetal,Rakshyabandhan, Bibahpanchami, Ekadashi, Shivratri, holli, Ghari, Jitiya, Sama during theyear.SAMDHI MILAN is the remarkable event in the marriage rituals of Chamar community. The literacy rate of Chamars in Nepal is 18.9% where male literacy rate stands at 27.9%and female literacy rate stands at 9%, which is lower than national average (CBS, 2001). Inthe Chamars community, married man wears: Dhoti, kurta gamchha, trousers, shirts,married woman wears: Saree, saya (petikot), blouse, unmarried man wears: Trousers,shirts, vests, T-shirt, pants, unmarried girls wears: frock,kurta, suruwal. They have their own kinship system and speak maithili language. Their main foodsare rice, pulses, vegetables, bread etc. Their housing pattern is very sensible. Most of thehouses are made of bamboo, straw and mud. They use hand pump as drinking watersources. 62.5% of Chamars of study area are land less and they are engaged in labourworks. Daily labour works is main occupation of Chamars in study area.