Tharu

The Tharu are the largest and long-established ethnic group of the Terai region of southern Nepal, living in villages near the jungles of Chitwan, Bardia and Koshi Tappu.

The Tharu are believed to have an innate resistance to malaria, and until the 1950s they were the only residents of the formerly malaria-infested jungles, allowing them to develop a unique culture independent from the rest of Nepal. The eradication of malaria in the Terai by the Nepalese government opened the fertile land to settlers from elsewhere in Nepal and India, occasionally causing tension between the indigenous population and immigrants.

Traditionally, the Tharu lived in communal thatched longhouses decorated with animal figures, with rooms separated by storage jars, although in recent times the Tharu have adopted more modern construction materials and styles. The Tharus are predominantly Hindu, but their religion also incorporates elements of Islamic, Buddhist and Animist beliefs, with each village and household having their own protective deity.