खस (Nepali) | |
|---|---|
 Portrait of Khas women holding hands and performingDeuda | |
| Total population | |
| c. 15.3 million[1] | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Nepal,India,Bhutan | |
| Languages | |
| Nepali | |
| Religion | |
| Hinduism | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Kumaoni,Garhwali,Pahari and otherIndo-Aryans |
Khas peoples orKhas Tribes, (English:/kɑːs/;Nepali:खस) popularly known asKhashiya[2][nb 1] are anIndo-Aryanethno-linguistic group native to theHimalayan region ofSouth Asia, in what is now the South Asian country ofNepal, as well as theIndian states ofUttarakhand,Himachal Pradesh,West Bengal,Assam andSikkim.[nb 2] Khas consists of many subtribes likeKshetri,Thakuri,Bahun andSanyasis and all spread across theHimalayas.[3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][17]
According to theConstitution of Nepal,Bahun,Kshetris,Thakuris, andSanyasis (Dashnami) who are citizens of Nepal should be considered as "Khas Arya" for electoral purposes.[13]
Historically, Khas were the speakers of an ancientKhas language from theIndo-Aryan language family[18][19] and the earliest recorded speakers of theWestern Pahari languages.[14] The large portion of the Indo-Aryan speakers throughout lower Himalayas were the Masto people.[20] Anintrusion of this tribe from theWestern and Northwestern Himalayas into Central Himalayas is substantiated by the early linguistic evidences related to theNepali language.[19] They were also known asParbatiyas/Parbates and are currently known asPaharis/Pahadis. (literally, "from the hills"). They were also referred to asYartse in Tibet and are also known as Khasan by Bhotia people. The termKhas has now become obsolete, as the Khas people have adopted communal identities because of the negative stereotypes associated with the termKhas. In Nepal the native speaker ofNepali language are known as Khas people.[21][22][23]
They have been connected to theKhasas mentioned in the ancient Hindu literature.[24] Irish linguist SirG.A. Grierson asserted that "..the great mass of theAryan speaking population of the lowerHimalaya fromKashmir toDarjeeling is inhabited by tribes descended from the ancientKhasas of Mahabharata."[20] Historian Bal Krishna Sharma andDor Bahadur Bista speculates that the Khas people were ofIndo-European origin.[25][23] HistorianBaburam Acharya speculates that Khas are a sub-clan of Aida, an "Aryas”clan that originated at Idavritt (modern dayKashmir toNepal).[26][nb 3] Khas were living in theIdavaritt in the 3rd millennium BCE. and the original meaning of the termKhas wasRaja orKshatriya (Yoddha).[26] He further speculates that Kashmir has been named from its local residents Khas asKhasmir.[26] In the 2nd millennium B.C.E., one group of Khas migrated towardsIran while the other group migrated east ofSutlej river settling only in the hill regions up toBheri River.[27] Historian Balkrishna Pokhrel contends that Khas were not theVedic Aryans butAryans of the latter periods like theGurjara,Darada,Shaka, andPallava.[28] He further asserts that post-Vedic Aryans were akin to Vedic Aryans in terms oflanguage and culture.[28] Irish linguist SirGeorge Abraham Grierson asserted that the Khasas were one of the warrior "Kshatriya tribe of Aryan origin" with linguistic connections to bothSanskrit andIranian languages, who lost claim to Vedichood due to non-observance of Vedic rules.[nb 4] Roman geographerPliny The Elder described the ancient Khasas/Khasiras (referred as 'Casiri') as one of the Indian ethnicity.[31]
HistorianRahul Sankrityayan proposes the origin of the Khasha tribe from theShaka tribe and further identifiesKhashas andShakas to have been two different waves of the same race.[32] TheShakas were in Indian subcontinent before the first century BCE while the Khashas spread over theHimalayas and extensively populated the mountainous regions of Uttarakhand[32] and the later waves of Shakas got diffused into them.[32] Historian Omchand Handa contends that the "sun worship" among Khashas is a Shaka legacy and perhaps the standingSurya images with long boots which was commonly found at the Khasha belt of Himalaya. Some examples of it are the Bara-Aditya atKatarmal andSurya images ofBaijnath,Bageshwar andDwarahat.[32]
Khasas are believed to have arrived in the western reaches of Nepal at the beginning of first-millennium B.C.[34] or middle of first-millennium A.D.[35] from the north-west. The earliest linguistic evidences related toNepali language also substantiates the linguistic intrusion of an Indo-Aryan speaking Khasa tribe from theWest or Northwest Himalayas into Central Himalayas at the present day regions of Western Nepal.[19] It is likely that they absorbed people from different ethnic groups during this immigration.[36] They had extensively populated the mountainous regions ofUttarakhand[32] and they had entirely dominated the inner Himalayan belt up to Nepal.[37] Previously, Khashas had strongly established themselves fromAfghanistan to Nepal from ancient period and as per internal evidences, they managed the village level theocratic republics like Gram-Rajya and Mandals under various local clans and identities.[32]
The rulingKatyuri dynasty (700-1065 CE) ofKumaon who were of Khas origin,[32] was one of the ruling houses ofJoshimath that claimed thesovereignty over other Gram Rajyas of the entire territory.[38] The Katyuris ruled fromJoshimath in theAlaknanda Valley and later they shifted their capital toBaijnath.[39] They have also been connected to the medievalKhasa Malla kingdom.[24] The Khasa kings of West Nepal-Uttarakhand formed the famous Malla Kingdom, which ruled Humla from the eleventh century before collapsing and splintering into local chiefdoms during the fourteenth century.[40] In the initial phase, majority of Khas people became Brahmins and others became Kshatriyas.[35]
The rulingLohara dynasty (1003-1320 CE) ofKashmir were from the Khas tribe as per the 12th century textRajatarangini written by the local Kashmiri Pandit historianKalhana.[15][41] Furthermore,Rajatarangini describes the rulers of Rajapuri (modernRajauri) as the "lord of the Khasas".[41][42] The Khasa chiefs of Rajapuri freely intermarried withKshatriya rulers ofKashmir while the Khasa chief of Lohara, Simharaja, married a daughter ofShahi Kings of Kabul.[41] The descendants of the royal family of Rajauri later becameMuslim Rajput chiefs and they retained the rulership of the territory till 19th century.[15] The inhabitants ofKarnah region in northwestern Kashmir, were Khasas and they were represented by the modernBomba (tribe)[16] who independently ruled the northwestern Kashmir till theSikh conquest of Kashmir.[16] There was also an independent Khasa lord at the castle located in the foot ofBanahal Pass in the territory of Visalata[15] and Dengapala ("Thakkura Dengapala"[43]) was a Khasa chief at the banks of Chandrabhaga (modernChenab river).[44]
Until the 19th century, theGorkhali referred to their country asKhas Desh (Khas country).[45] As they annexed the various neighboring countries (such as Nepal or Newa of theNewar people) to the Gorkha kingdom, the terms such asKhas andNewar ceased to be used as the names of countries. The 1854 legal code (Muluki Ain), promulgated by the Nepali Prime MinisterJung Bahadur Rana, himself a Khas,[46] no longer referred toKhas as a country, rather as ajāt (species or community) within the Gorkha kingdom.[47]
.jpg)
TheShah dynasty of the Gorkha Kingdom, as well as the later prime-ministerialRana dynasty, spoke theKhas language (now called the Nepali language). However, they claimed to be Rajputs of western Indian origin, rather than the native Khas Kshatriyas.[48] Since outside Nepal, the Khas social status was seen as inferior to that of the Rajputs, the rulers started describing themselves as natives of the Hill country, rather than that of the Khas country. Most people, however, considered the termsKhas andParbatiya (Pahari/Pahadi or Hill people) as synonymous.[45]
Jung Bahadur also re-labeled the Khasjāt asChhetri in present-day Nepal.[48] Originally, theBrahmin immigrants from theplains considered the Khas as low-caste because of the latter's neglect of high-caste taboos (such as alcohol abstinence).[49] The upper-class Khas people commissioned theBahun (Brahmin) priests to initiate them into the high-caste Chhetri order and adopted high-caste manners. Other Khas families who could not afford to (or did not care to) pay the Bahun priests also attempted to assume the Chhetri status but were not recognized as such by others. They are now called Matwali (alcohol-drinker Khas) Chhetris.[23] Because of the adoption of theChhetri identity, the termKhas is rapidly becoming obsolete.[21] According toDor Bahadur Bista (1991), "the Khas have vanished from the ethnographic map of Nepal".[23]
Modern-day Khas people are referred to as Hill Brahmin (Bahun), Hill Kshatriya (Thakuri/Chhetri) and Hill Dalit.[50] Further, historian Pokharel adds theGharti,Damai,Kami,Sarki, Hudka, Tamote,Gaine andBadi to the Khas communities.[28] In modern times, Khas people are popularly referred by the term "Khas Arya".[3]
InKumaon andGarhwal regions ofUttarakhand in India, too, the termKhas has become obsolete. The Khas people of Kumaon termed as Kumaoni khash jimdar, after being elevated to the Rajput status by theChand kings. During Chand rule in Kumaon, Khas and Rajput were differentiated by their sacred thread, Khas were allowed to wear only 3 thread (3 palli)sacred thread whereas Rajput used to wear 6 palli sacred thread.The term Khas is almost obsolete, and people resent being addressed as Khas because of the negative stereotypes associated with this term.[22] Furthermore, theKanets ofKangra andGarhwal, Khasa ofJaunsar-Bawar and the bulk population ofGarhwal andKumaon (referred as "Khasia") are descended from theKhasas.[14] Generally, the Khas people are referred asRajputs orKanets in theHimachal Pradesh.[51] According to E.T. Atkinson, theJaunsar-Bawar is the representative Khasiya tract and it
"..forms a very important links between the almost Hinduized Khasiyas of Kumaon and theirbrethren converts to Islam on the ethnical frontier of the mountains ofHindu Kush and apparently gives customs and practices ofKhasiya race in full force at the present day which distinguished them thousands of years ago."[14]
Historian SirMarc Aurel Stein identified the modernKhakha Rajputs ofAzad Kashmir as the descendants of Khasas mentioned in theRajatarangini.[41][15] The Khasa tribe inKarnah region in northwestern Kashmir were represented by the modernBomba (tribe).[16]
Historian Balkrishna Pokhrel writes the communities or caste in Khas group were hillBahun,Chhetri,Thakuri,[52]Gharti,Damai,Kami,Sarki, Hudka, Tamote,Gaine andSunar,badi,luhar, parki etc .[28] The tribal designationKhas refers to in some contexts only to the alcohol drinker Khas group, i.e. Thakuri and Chhetri, but in other contexts may also include the low status (occupational Khas groups such asKāmi (blacksmiths),Damāi (tailors), andSārki (shoemakers and leather workers).[53] Khas people are addressed with the termKhayan orParbatiya[28] orPartyā,Parbaté meaning hill-dweller byNewars.[53] The hill Khas tribe are in large part associated with theGorkhali warriors.[53]
Khas people of theWestern Himalayas are considered similar to the Khas people of theGarhwal,Kumaon and Nepal.[51] They are generally referred asRajputs orKanets in theHimachal Pradesh.[51] The Khasas ofJaunsar-Bawar who are represented by the JaunsariRajputs andBrahmins) practiced polyandrous marriages.[54]
Irish LinguistGeorge Abraham Grierson in hisLinguistic Survey of India stated that the Khas tribe were the earliest recorded speakers of theWestern Pahari languages.[14] He further asserted that the Khas people made the bulk population of theIndo-Aryan speakers throughout the lowerHimalaya fromKashmir toDarjeeling.[20][14]
The Khas people of Nepal originally referred to their language asKhas kurā (Khas speech), which was also known asParbatiya (the language of the hill country). The Newar people used the termKhayan Bhaya,Parbatiya[28] andGorkhali as a name for this language, Gorkhalis themselves started using this term to refer to their language at a later stage.[55] In an attempt to disassociate himself with his Khas past, the Rana prime minister Jung Bahadur decreed that the term Gorkhali be used instead ofKhas kurā to describe the language. Meanwhile, theBritish Indian administrators had started using the termNepal (after Newar) to refer to the Gorkha kingdom. In the 1930s, the Gorkha government also adopted this term to describe their country. Subsequently, the Khas language also came to be known asNepali language.[18] It has become a national language of Nepal andlingua franca among the majority of population ofNorthern region of West Bengal,Sikkim andBhutan.[28] Historian Balkrishna Pokhrel contends that theKhas language of Nepal belonged to neither theIranian language family, nor theIndian languages, but to the midIndo-Iranian languages.[28]
Deuda song and folk dance performed on the occasion of various festivals in theSudurpashchim andKarnali provinces ofNepal.[56]
The majority of Khas professHinduism; some of them also followBuddhism and some were also converted toChristianity.The Khas people also had their own sect ofShaivism known as Masto religion where 12 Masto gods were worshipped. These gods were said to be sons ofShiva. Masto worship was prevalent throughout all of theWestern Himalayan region.[full citation needed]
{{citation}}: CS1 maint: work parameter with ISBN (link){{cite book}}:ISBN / Date incompatibility (help){{citation}}:ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
| Sino-Tibetan (Trans-Himalayan) |
| ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Indo-Aryan |
| ||||||||
| Indo-Aryan of adistinct origin | |||||||||
| Other peoples (M,D,i) ofIndus-Ganga |
| ||||||||
| Other basis |
| ||||||||
| Immigrants | |||||||||
