THARU

people of the Tarai region of the Himalayan foothills located in southern Nepal and in the state of Uttar Pradesh in India. In the late 20th century the Tharu in Nepal numbered about 720,000, those in India about 10,000. They speak a language of the Indo-Aryan subgroup of the Indo-Iranian group of the Indo-European family, and they are largely Indian in culture. The Tharu of Uttar Pradesh practice agriculture, raise cattle, hunt, fish, and collect forest products. The five higher clans among them, which constitute about 80 percent of the population, claim to be of royal origin in Rajasthan. Although they are Hindu, the Tharu use alcoholic beverages and eat beef. Despite their patrilineal social system, women have property rights greatly exceeding those recognized in Hindu society. Each village is governed by a council and a headman.