Tarai with Blinkers

Two recent books on Nepal's Tarai over-emphasise Mithila and ignore Tharu culture.The vernacular art and architecture of this unique people in photographs and drawings so that it can take its rightful place in the realm of folk art. Few people have the desire and fewer still the opportunity to experience the Nepal Tarai the way we have since January 1993: crisscrossing the land from jhapa to Kanchanpur, putting 24,000 km on my Gypsy jeep in visiting 120 villages..In researching our subject, we found few substantive works. Ironically enough, most publications have been researched and written by non-Nepali academicians. By far the most comprehensive book was published by the French Centre National de la Recherche dentifique (CNRS) in Paris .Its author, Giselle Krauskopff, spent the better part of 10 years amongst Tharu, mostly in Dang valley. Her book Maitres et Possedes ("The Masters and Those Owned")isan excellent study of Dungora Tharu culture and customs. Unfortun¬ately, because it has only been published in French, the work is not accessible to most Nepali researchers. This is regrett¬able because, based on our first hand expe-rience, many politicians, business people and even academicians have only scant knowledge of Tharu culture and would benefit from reading Rrauskopff´s book.Why do I say this? Where is the evidence?.Two recent publications demonstrate this lack of acceptance of Tharu culture— either by design or through inadequate knowledge. The first, The Tera {Community and National Integration in Nepal by Hari Bansh Jha, and Cultural Heritage of Nepal Terai by Ram Dayal Rakesh, both writers from Janakpur in the Eastern Tarai. What makes these books so astonishing is that both these accomplished scholars choose to play loose with the culture and ethnic composition of the Tarai, in other words with apart of Nepal which is occupied by approximately onehalf of thepopulation of Nepal..Both jha and Rakesh are intrigued by the Maithili and Hindi languages and cultures. Both shortchange the other ethnic groups who live in the Tarai, particularly Tharu..To avoid misunderstandings, let me state that I think well of the Maithili culture. The disagreement stems from the authors´ obvious disregard for Tharu. This is most regrettable because the two works claim to talk about "national integration" and "cultural heritage of the Nepal Terai"..If a democratic system of government is to blossom in Nepal, all ethnic groups must be given recognition; to integrate the country, everybody must be included..As the scholar and author Prayag Raj Sharma wrote recently in another con text, too many people seem to make the "…ingenuous assumption that ethnic problems can be circumvented by simply not counting… (the minorities)"..Problem of MethodologyJha tends to deny Tharu their identity when he states, "…What purpose does the new word ´Tharu language´ serve? Perhaps one of its objectives may be to show that Tharu are different from the rest of the Madheshi community, which it is not (emphasis added).".In the light of his opening statements this is hard to understand: "…the objective is to discuss the problems of the Madheshi community in regard to the manifestation of their language, culture and identity…" But then when we look at the methodology used by Jha to ´prove´ his point, all becomes only too clear. Although he claims to have designed a scientific survey which exa¬mines the cultural cross-section of the en tire Tarai, infact heusesa´ convenience sampling´ in which the study area is redu¬ced to only five districts, namely: Jhapa, Dhanusha, Parsa, Nawalparasi and Banke..You might ask why all of the other 15 districts are excluded. Are these five districts truly representative of the entire Tarai? Hardly. Most major Tharu concentrations happen to be in Kanchan-pur, Kailali, Bardiya, Dang/Deukhuri, Chitwan, Parsa, Siraha, Saptari, Sunsari and Morang. Jha seems to have chosen a self-serving study area, excluding districts which comprise the majority of the minority peoples of the Tarai..When the question was posed to Jha as to why his "sdenafkalry" prepared survey did not cover the historic Tharu districts, he explained to me that this was not necessary because he had travelled these other districts and therefore he "just knew" that the statistics he quotes in his book for the five districts applied to the other 15 as well..Since his carelessly drawn conclusions have such shaky foundations, all of Jha´s subsequent statistics are open to question and cannot be relied upon. This is really too bad because it obscures and diminishes the impact of Jha´s other positions, such as when he dis¬cusses in forthright manner the plight of Tharu and other peo¬ples of the Tarai in the chapter entitled "Mig¬ration and Its Impact on the Terai"..This writer hopes in all sincerity that Jha´s statistics will not be used by students or politicians when addressing matters of language, ethnicity or culture of the Tarai. We do, however, need reliable information and statistics and it certainly is not too much to hope that support could be found for the Centre f or Nepal and Asian Studies (CNAS) of Tribhuvan University to do comprehensive field work that includes all Tharu groups. Without this, no meaningful conclusions can be drawn, nor policy decisions be made when addressing the future of the Tarai..Maithili TalesBecause Ram Dayal Rakesh´s book contains a good documentation of Maithili culture, society, festivals, marriage customs, folk tales and art, it should have been titled "Cultural Heritage of the Tarai Mithila". Instead, the book claims to speak for the cultural heritage of the entire Nepal Tarai. It is, of course, possible that the misleading cover is the work of a careless foreign publisher who is unaware that the region is home to many groups whose culture is quite different from that of the Maithilis of the eastern Tarai. On the other hand, the title may reflect nothing other than skewed political thinking..An expert in this field, Rakesh had included a well-written article about Tharu in his earlier book. Folk Culture of Nepal(l990). Having recognised Tharu in´ that volume, it is puzzling that he should assert in his current work that the Tarai population is homogeneous. Today, he writes: "The people of the Nepal Terai are similar in their ethnic origin, in their app-earances, attitudes and behaviour, they are not different in any special manner,… because the root are the same…"!.Three years ago, in his chapter about Tharu the same author identifies many distinguishing traits that set Tharu apart: "…the women have a very high position in the family. They enjoy full freedom and complete authority in the running of the family…"; and …"Some Tharu have inter caste marriages…"; or… "widow re¬marriage is also in vogue…"; and… "worship their own tribal gods and deities." Also… "The hallmark of the Tharu village is its cleanltness…the rooms are airy and neat and dean, with everything in its appointed place…" …"they are proud and honest people, free and frank in their behaviour…".Why this change of heart between 1990 and 1993?People who have sincerely studied the Tarai know thatn of ´all people are alike". Far from it, some, like Tharu, are quite different from the rest. In fact, in our travels we found that the Rakesh´s above-mentioned attributes are not generally found in the vUlagesof the ethnic majorities of the Tarai, butare indeed true about Tharu..Majority, MinorityIt is quite unfortunate that these two publications are likely to be used as reference material by Nepali and non-Nepali scholars. Both authors maintain a personal and political stance which lacks objectivity and misrepresents — by carelessness or design — the cultural/ ethnic mix of the Tarai.We have aright to ask for more. And indeed there is more..In 1958, S.K. Srivastava at Agra University published a book entitled The Tharus-. A Study in Cultural Dynamics. This well-documented study describes the traditional life of Tharu people in good detail. The study is applicable to Nepal´s Rana Tharu, even though it is based on Tharu who live´ in Uttar Pradesh, just west and adjacent to the district of Kanchanpur. Political borders are not cultural borders. Srivastava presents a´ remarkable statistic, for example, which confirms our own experience in Nepal: in his study area over a 10 year period, eight crimes were committed by Tharu, while during the same time span 501 crimes were committed by non-Tharu..Of some interest, but of more limited value, is the publication called The Ethno botany of the Tharus of Kheri District, Uttar Pradesh, also on Rana Tharu.Studies in Nepal have concentrated on Dang valley and Chitwan. Most noteworthy are the writings of Drone Rajaure of CNAS, such as "The Tharu Women of Sukhrwar" (which, incidentally, shows just how different Tharu women are from Maithili women). Just how distinct Tharu religious practices are from Maithili ones is clear from Rajaure´s article "Tharus of Dang: Tharu Religion" (Kailash magazine,no 11982). By the same author in Kaitosft no 2/31982: "Tharus of Dang: Rites de Passage and Festivals". In Kaiiashno 3/41989,Christian McDonaugh of Oxford addresses "The Mythology of the Tharu: Aspects of Cultural Identity in Dang". And lastly, Giselle Krauskopff in "Architecture, milieu et societe en Himalaya" has written an excellent piece comparing Dang Valley Tharu longhouse with Rana Tharu houses in the west..What a shame that the Nepali authors limit themselves to one portion of the Tarai while the entire region is so rich. Of course, it is hard work to leave the tran¬quillity and security of the campus and to travel to remote villages of the Tarai, But the wealth of cultures to be found makes it worthwhile and necessary if one wishes to write about the diverse peoples of the Tarai. In a deeper philosophical sense, however, neither Jha nor Rakesh do service to the efforts of coming to grips with the problems of "living together´ by the various ethnic groups. Ifliving together in harmonyisa goal, the existence of one group or another cannot be wished away. The two authors mislead in the way they disregard the minority Tharu culture—a tragic mistake because their work is divisive when our times demand mutual understanding..When growing up in my native Switzerland, we were constantly reminded that the very existence of a democracy depends entirely on how the majority treats the minority. And this is the lesson all Nepali scholars—from hill or Tarai — must accept..K.W. Meyer is a Los Angeles architect who is devoting 3 years to the study of Tharu folk art and culture.