History of Yamphu Rai people

2.3 Peoples

2.3.1 History of Yamphu Rai people

The Yamphu people fall under the label Kirati Rai. Kirati generally refers to the inhabitants of the hill areas of Eastern Nepal. There are three primary subgroups with the larger Kirat grouping: the Sunuwar, Limbu, and Rai. The Sunuwar live the farthest west, in Ramechhap and western Okhaldhunga districts. The Limbu people live in the easternmost parts of Ilam and Panchthar districts. In the middle, or Near Kirat area, comprising many districts between the Sunuwar and Limbu populations, are the Rai people. The overall culture of Kirati people has been the subject of a growing number of publications over the last twenty years. Due to this growing field of Kirantology, the outside world knows more than ever about the languages, myths, and various aspects of Kirati cultures Gaenzle 2000. With the evolution of a Rai identity over the last several hundred years, what does it mean to be Rai? The Yamphu in this study fall under the ethnonym name of people or ethnic group Rai, but the term has only in recent history come to be an ethnonym. Originall y, Rai was a “title conferred by Hindu rulers upon one segment of the tribal chieftains of East Nepal in recognition of their semi-autonomous status, but also with the idea of incorporating them into the state administrative system” Gaenszle 2000:3. With the evolution of Rai from a title for chieftains to an ethnic identity, the term has come to encompass a fairly heterogeneous mix of groups. Gaenszle describes a Rai group as being “generally characterized by its linguistic and, to a certain extent, by its cultural distinctiveness, its ties to a traditional area of habitation, and a tendency to endogamy” 2000:3, 18. The historical narrative of the Rai people becoming many different groups involves three brothers who journeyed up the Barahkshetra Gorge from the Terai. One brother followed the Sun Koshi river, one brother followed the Dudh Koshi, and the third brother followed the Arun Koshi. The descendents of these three brothers make up the various present- day Rai groups McDougal 1973. The Yamphu people we describe in this report are descendents of the brother who traveled up the Arun Koshi.

2.3.2 Cultural distinctives