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Rana Tharu

When my boss told me that I was to go and visit the Rana-Tharu people, I decided as always to research this Nepalese society. Normally I research on the internet or in different publications to get to know the customs and cultures of my destinations, and so this is what I did...

In my research, I found that a legend existed that during the war years, the men of Rana-Tharu died in combat and so the women fled to the forests in the south of Nepal and married the slaves that accompanied them, thus forming a matriarchal relationship that has survived for four hundred years.

So I started my journey to Terai, the southern area of Nepal, with the illusion that I would find a matricarchal and romantic society. I spent hours in between the airports, buses and taxis – hours that as always I will spend observing and learning. I was amazed how a boy of not more than five years old picked up a chocolate wrapper that his father had just thrown on the ground, and then threw it in a rubbish bin providing an example to his unsociable father on how to do things correctly. I also observed how a young person was made so happy listening with such a focused attention to an ancient story being told. Later on, I smiled when I saw a man in a suit and tie sitting next to a begger sharing his lunch with him. This was not time lost, but time well taken advantage of...

I was collected at the airport by Dhani Ram Tharu, a smiling young man who spoke English. He was the man who could connect foreigners, such as myself, with the Rana-Tharu. I thought that, given the matriarchal society, a woman would be picking me up, but this was not the case. On the journey to the village, my companion explained about the ways of the Rana, and how they survived on both fish and agriculture. We passed through fields and fields of rice and passed women carrying their fishing equipment which formed the shape of wings, making them look like butterflies.

The face of Danhi Ram appeared sad when he returned to this area. With a weak voice, he said:

"The young people do not have opportunities for further education. Studying is expensive, as in one year a course costs €2000 yet the annual incomes of families here are not more than €600. I want to study medicine because we have no doctor in the town, but I have no idea how to raise this money”

I did not know what to say, but in my eyes Dhani Ram saw the sadness and held my hand to acknlowledge, that he understood my silence. You don't always need words to communicate, sometimes you can communicate with your heart, and not your tongue.

I arrived at the town with a sore back from the journey in the jeep and a soul anxious to get to know this tribe that had awakened something in me that was more than just curiosity. I was met by Rajendra Thapa, one of the men of the community who welcomed me through Dhani Ram’s translations, and who was with me during my entire stay. Rajendra Thapa said that I would stay with the family of Bhakta Bahadur Mijar and his wife, Nemni Sada, who lived in the centre of the village with their two children, Deshru y Shanta.

Bhakta and Nemni’s house was a simple structure, mainly made with straw and with no floor. Everything was in the same room – the kitchen, the dining room, the beds... Once I had settled in, I joined Nemni to help prepare typical dishes such as dhal bhat tarkari which is a lentils soup combination, with rice and curried vegetables, a potato casserole, and chapatti (bread caked), and delicious cuajadas made from buffalo milk.

It was during this cooking process that Nemni told me the true history of this village: when the Rana men left for war, they asked their wives that in the case that they did not return, that they would sacrifice themselves. After the hard battles, almost all the warriors died and only twelve remained alive. For their part, the women did sacrifice themselves when they saw that their husbands had not returned. One day when the surviving twelve warriors were returning, they saw a young woman of whom one of them had fallen in love with. She was the daughter of a priest who was engaged to the son of another priest. Both the daughter and young Rana both fled together, and were pursued by the priests, though when the priests caught up with the couple, they allowed the woman to decide who she wanted to marry and she chose the young Rana. Upon seeing that she was clearly in love, the father accepted to celebrate the wedding, with the only condition being that once she was married, she would never eat outside of the house. It is a tradition which continues to this day among the women of the Rana-Tharu.

I felt surprised, but above all I felt that had arrived at an unknown place with the preconceived idea of knowing about it in depth without even stepping foot in it or speaking to its peoples. So it seemed that in fact it was not a matriarchal society and in fact one in which the masculine figure dominated.

Upon returning to my home, I reflected on my journey and what I had learned. My traveller’s spirit felt fuller, wiser and more happy. The words of Nemni resonated in my head when she told me just before I left: "Do not think you know everything because this way you will lose many things. You have to be willing to learn, give others the opportunity to show you who they are before judging them. One must be just..."