Dhimal
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
धिमाल | |
|---|---|
| Total population | |
 Nepal 25,643 (2021)[1] | |
| {{{region3}}} |  India 900[2] |
| Languages | |
| Dhimal | |
| Religion | |
| Hinduism 56.1% (2011), Kiratism 40.9% (2011)[3] | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
The Dhimal or Dhemal are ethnic group residing in the eastern Terai of Nepal and West Bengal of India. They are a Sino-Tibetan-speaking ethnic group of the eastern Terai. They mainly reside in Morang and Jhapa districts of Nepal and Darjeeling district of West Bengal, India. Dhimals consider themselves of Limbu descent. They are respected as the "First Nepalese Citizens" of Damak municipality and are also Scheduled Indian tribes in West Bengal.[4]
They are an indigenous group of Nepal and belong to Sino-Tibetan group. They are culturally close to Limbu and Koch of Terai and of the northern hills.[4][5]
Dhimals consider themselves of Limbu descent. They consider the Limbu and the Mech, and Koch people of the tarai as their brethren.
According to Hodgson the Mech, Bodo, Koch and Dhimal tribes are of the same race; however, comparison of language does not support so close a connection, he added. He stated that "… but it is difficult to suppose the Bodo and Dhimal languages other than primitive". He also stated that the Dhimals are "… nomadic cultivators of wild. For ages transcending memory or tradition, they have passed beyond the savage or hunter state, and also beyond the herdsman's state, and have advanced to the third or agricultural grade of social progress, but so as to indicate a not entirely broken connection with the precedent condition of things … They never cultivate the same field beyond the second year, or remain in the same village beyond from four to six years". He again identified the barter system for the few things which they require and do not produce themselves.[5][6]
Language
Dhimal people speak Dhimal language which is part of the Sino-Tibetan family. According to the census of 2021 there are 20,583 speakers of Dhimal language.[7] It has its own script called Dham script. There is an eastern and western dialect, which are separated by the Kankai River. It is also closely related to another aboriginal language of the Himalayas called Toto.[8]
Religion and culture
Their animistic religion is very close to the Kirant religion. They worship nature and other household gods. Hodgson identified their religion as the religion of nature, or rather, the natural religion of man have neither temple nor idol; their cultivation as shifting cultivation; and "this race assure him that they once had chiefs when they dwelt as a united people in Morang".[9][10]
The religion, as identified by Hodgson, is very different from Hinduism as they have neither temples nor idols. "Altogether, their religion belongs to the same primitive era as their habits and manners", Hodgson added.[11]
Geographic distribution
The Central Bureau of Statistics of Nepal classifies the Dhimal as a subgroup within the broader social group of Terai Janajati.[12] At the time of the 2011 Nepal census, 26,298 people (0.09% of the population of Nepal) were Dhimal. The frequency of Dhimals by province was as follows:
- Koshi Province (0.6%)
- Bagmati Province (0.0%)
- Gandaki Province (0.0%)
- Lumbini Province (0.0%)
- Madhesh Province (0.0%)
- Karnali Province (0.0%)
- Sudurpashchim Province (0.0%)
The frequency of Dhimals was higher than national average (0.09%) in the following districts:[13]
In India, they reside in 16 villages, namely Naxalbari and Hatighisha in Darjeeling district, West Bengal.
Occupation
Dhimals are cultivators, although the frequencies of labourers, including agricultural labourers or to some extent tea garden labourers, may not be overlooked. These days the Indian Dhimals are exclusively concentrated at Hatighisha and Maniram Gram Panchayat of Naxalbari Police Station under Darjeeling district of West Bengal, India. However, sporadic occurrences of Dhimal population may have seen outside the above-said areas but within Darjeeling district of West Bengal. Even this diminutive group sometimes misleads as vanishing races by some amateurs. Their counterpart of Nepal, with whom they have a marital relation and belongs to the same (biological) population, have better numerical strength, socio-economic and educational attainment of their own. The Dhimals of Nepal receive much importance in various writings of Nepali scholars. On the other hand, the Indian Dhimals have been neglected by the government and others in any field of development. Anthropological documents on the Indian Dhimal is yet to be received; some sporadic documents by amateurs and some field-based study by trained scholars in a part of Dhimal population may be available but all of them cover social-cultural-linguistics aspects only, and physical or demographic data on the entire population are literally absent.[14]
