Tharu Culture in Chitwan: Villages, Food and History

The Tharu are one of Nepal's largest indigenous peoples, about six percent of the population, living along almost the whole length of the Terai from Jhapa in the east to Kanchanpur in the west, and across the border in India. They speak several related Tharu languages, have their own gods, festivals and clan systems, and for centuries farmed, fished and hunted in the forested plains that most hill people avoided because of malaria.

There is no single Tharu culture. Communities differ from east to west in dress, house style, dialect and ritual. The Tharu of Chitwan and Nawalpur are often called Chitwania Tharu; those of Dang, Banke and Bardia, Dangaura Tharu; and those of Kailali and Kanchanpur, Rana Tharu. In Chitwan you will meet Tharu families running homestays, guiding in the park, farming rice and mustard, and keeping traditions alive through dance groups, cooking and festivals.

Until the 1950s, the Chitwan valley was thick forest and grassland, home mainly to Tharu, Bote, Darai and Kumal communities, and feared by outsiders for its malaria. The Rana rulers kept it as a royal hunting reserve. The most famous hunt came in 1911, when King George V of Britain shot dozens of tigers and rhino here in a few weeks, a scale of killing that now feels hard to imagine.

Everything changed in the mid-1950s, when a malaria control programme using DDT made the valley safe for settlers. The government resettled thousands of families from the hills, forests were cleared for farms, and many Tharu lost land they had farmed for generations but did not hold on paper. When the national park was created in 1973, more villages were moved out of the core area. Studies have suggested that many Tharu carry some inherited resistance to malaria, which may help explain how they thrived where others could not.

Further west, many Tharu families fell into bonded labour under the kamaiya system, working for landlords to pay off debts. Nepal abolished kamaiya labour in 2000, and the related kamlari system, under which young Tharu girls were sent to work as domestic servants, was formally ended by the government in 2013. These histories still shape Tharu politics and pride today.

A traditional Tharu house is built from a frame of timber and reeds, plastered with a mix of mud and cow dung, and roofed with thatch or, more often now, tiles or tin. Walls are smooth and cool, often decorated with relief patterns of animals, birds and plants, and in some homes painted in red and white. Inside, grain is stored in large clay bins, and the kitchen and family shrine are kept clean and private.

Around the house you will see fish traps woven from bamboo, ducks and pigs, buffalo and goats, and stacks of firewood and thatch. Many villages near Sauraha now mix old and new houses, concrete next to mud and reed. Walking through them with a local guide, early in the morning or late afternoon, is one of the best ways to understand how people here live beside the park.

Tharu food is built on rice, fish and whatever the river and forest provide. The dish most visitors try is dhikri: rice-flour dough shaped by hand into long, twisted or round pieces and steamed, eaten with chutney, curry or vegetables. It is made for festivals and special guests, and homestay hosts are happy to teach you.

Ghonghi, freshwater snails collected from paddy fields and ponds, are another favourite, cooked in a spicy gravy and eaten by sucking the meat from the shell. You may also be served river fish, freshwater crab, duck, wild greens and a mild home-brewed rice beer. Meals in a homestay are simple and generous, eaten on the floor or at a low table.

• Dhikri: steamed rice-flour dumplings, the classic Tharu dish
• Ghonghi: river snails in spicy gravy, seasonal
• Fish and crab: from the rivers and ponds, curried or fried
• Rice beer: brewed at home, mild and slightly sour

The most important Tharu festival is Maghi, which falls on the first day of the month of Magh, around mid-January, the same day as Maghe Sankranti for other Nepalis. For the Tharu it is the start of the new year, a time for family reunions, feasts with plenty of dhikri, pork and rice beer, ritual bathing and days of dancing. Maghe Sankranti is a public holiday, and Tharu towns and villages shut down for the celebrations.

The stick dance, performed by young men and boys who strike sticks together in fast, intricate patterns, is the dance most visitors see in Sauraha's cultural shows. It is said to have begun as a way of scaring off wild animals, and it is still danced at village festivals. Women's dances, with songs and swaying lines, are performed at weddings and festivals too.

You do not need to go far from Chitwan's lodges to meet Tharu culture, but how you do it matters. A walk with a local guide or a night in a community homestay gives a far better picture than a staged show alone.

A homestay day starts early. Before sunrise the courtyard is swept, the buffalo are milked and someone is already feeding the fire for tea, often sweet and milky. Guests are welcome to join in or to sleep on; nobody minds. After breakfast you might walk to the fields with your hosts, help with whatever the season demands, from planting rice in July to cutting mustard in February, or go with the women to collect fodder at the edge of the community forest.

The middle of the day is slow, and the afternoon is the time to cook. Shaping dhikri by hand takes practice, and the family will laugh kindly at your first attempts. In the evening neighbours drop by, children practise their English, and a youth group may perform a dance in the village yard. Dinner is rice, lentils, vegetables and perhaps fish or duck, eaten late by Nepali standards and early by yours. Lights go out soon after, and the night belongs to frogs, crickets and, sometimes, a rhino wandering through the fields.

Tharu villages are homes, not museums. Ask before photographing people, especially women and older people, and do not walk into houses, kitchens or shrines unless invited. Dress modestly, covering shoulders and knees. Shoes come off before entering most homes.

Buy crafts directly from makers when you can, and choose community homestays where income is shared fairly through a committee. If you watch a cultural show, the money usually supports a local youth or women's group. A few words of greeting go a long way, and most Tharu also speak Nepali. Above all, ask questions and listen: the best stories in Chitwan are told on a mud verandah over tea.