The marriage system among Tharu community A case study of Bhangaha VDC Mahottari

Abstract

Tharus, who inhabit the southern Terai belt of Nepal hold a very important place among the indigenous people living in various parts of the country. Though the Tharus living here are believed to belong to the same origin, due to climatic and geographical differences, they have developed a great variation in the lifestyle among themselves. A curiosity to study these differences led me to choose this tribe as the main subject of the Thesis that is compulsory in the Central Department of Rural Development-TU for the completion of MA in the same subject as a student of Rural Development. Though this report does not include the district of Mahottari as a whole, a particular VDC ie, Bhangaha which lies at the 'South Western part is chosen to represent the whole district. I consider it my moral duty to bring into light the hidden treasure of the folk cultures and traditions practiced by indigenous people in our country. To make this report more analytical than a mere descriptive one, I havepresented and analysed the information pertaining to demographic and economic conditions statistically. The information on the socio cultural aspect of the Tharus in general and marriage practice in particular is collected by using statistical tools such as questionnaire, observation, etc. The report has been made as brief as possible by including only the information relevant to the topic. Even traditionally the marriage system of Tharu is determine by the cultural phenomenon, recent generation they come to assimilate the different types of marrriage system in which they assimilate including marriage system e.g. Child, arrange, marriage by exchange love and widow marriages system. On the basis of collecting information on sampling marriage couple, it shows that , the population having age group of 10 to 15 and 15 to 20 have not involved in any types of marriage. But the population with age group of above 15 are mostly involved in different types of marriage system.