Kham Magar
Encyclopedia
Kham Magar and Northern Magar are descriptive terms invented by academic linguists and anthropologists for a nationality in the Middle Hills of mid-western Nepal inhabiting highlands extending through eastern Rukum
and northern Salyan
, Rolpa
and Pyuthan
Districts in Rapti
Zone as well as adjacent parts of Dhaulagiri and Bheri
Zones
. They speak a complex of Tibeto-Burman dialects called Kham
not mutually intelligible with Nepal's other Tibeto-Burman languages.
The present Kham homeland was part of the historic confederation Ather Magarat आथार मगरात (Eighteen Magar Kingdoms) extending from the Kaligandaki River west across the basin of the West Rapti
to the Bheri
. East of the Kaligandaki there was another confederation called Bahra Magarat बाह्र मगरात (Twelve Magar Kingdoms).
but to have lived in their present location for a long time.
The present Kham homeland in the Rapti highlands lies just east of valleys in the Karnali-Bheri basin
that were the original homeland of the Khas
, an Iranian-Aryan people who were mainly rice
farmers. Kham-Khas also suggests a duality of living in symbiotic proximity, perhaps zoned by elevation with Khas occupying alluvial river bottoms suitable for rice cultivation
while Kham lived above, growing crops such as barley
and tree fruit not needing intensive irrigation infrastructure
. Indeed Nepal's Chhetri caste seems to derive more from khasas and also from intermarriage between the two than from Indian Rajput
origins (as is frequently claimed by Nepal's Chhetri and Thakuri elites)
Beginning in the late Middle Ages Khas
peoples progressively settled eastward across the smaller Rapti basin into the more productive Gandaki basin, again settling in the lower valleys where rice could be grown, thus displacing the indigenous Kham from the best farmland. The Khas formed new confederations called Baise Rajya (twenty-two kingdoms) in the Karnali region and Chaubisi Rajya
(twenty-four kingdoms) in the Gandaki region that eclipsed the Kham politically.
In their turn the Baise and Chaubisi were conquered and unified into Nepal
by Chaubisi prince Prithvi Narayan Shah
of Gorkha between 1743 AD and the end of the 18th century. Kham and other Magars participated as soldiers under Prithvi Narayan, then in armies of the unified state he founded. After expansion of this state came into conflict with the British Raj
and was defeated
, part of the Sugauli Treaty
settlement gave the British the right to recruit Magars (along with other martial tribes
) as Gurkha
mercenaries.
range, forming a triple divide between the Karnali-Bheri system to the west, the Gandaki system to the east, and the smaller (West) Rapti and Babai river systems that separate the two larger systems south of this point. Since uppermost tributaries of the Karnali and Gandaki rise beyond the highest Himalaya ranges, trade routes linking India
and Tibet
developed along these rivers, whereas high ridges along the Rapti's northern watershed and then the Dhaulagiri massif beyond were rigorous obstacles. Similarly, eastward migration of Khas peoples detoured around these highlands by following the Mahabharat Range to the south or Dhorpatan
valley to the north which—by Himalayan standards—offers exceptionally easy east-west passage. The Kham highlands may also have been left as a buffer between the easternmost Baise kingdom, Salyan
and the westernmost Chaubisi kingdom Pyuthan
. For the Khas, the intervening highlands unsuited for rice cultivation were hardly worth contesting. The movement of political focus eastward to Kathmandu in the 18th century—250 kilometers and more than a week's journey—also contributed to the growing isolation of Kham lands.
and Indian
armies, or whatever other employment opportunities could be found for largely uneducated and unskilled labor. Kham also practice transhumance
by grazing cattle, sheep and goats in summer pastures in subalpine and alpine pastures to the north, working their way down to winter pastures in the Dang-Deukhuri valleys, but the carrying capacity of pastures accessible to the Kham is finite. Despite unending toil, food shortages have become a growing problem that still persists. Food deficits were historically addressed by grain imports bought dearly with distant work at low wages.
As economic development brought schools electricity, motor roads, hospitals and a wider range of consumer goods to surrounding areas, few benefits trickled up into the highlands and contrasts became even more invidious. Perversely, development introduced motor transport which diminished porterage employment. Cultivating hemp
and processing it into charas
(hashish
) lost standing as an income generator after 1976 when international pressure persuaded the national government to outlaw these recreational drugs and close government stores where those so inclined could freely purchase what was illegal in most of the world. Initiatives to replace the indigenous hallucinogen industry with cultivating fruit and produce largely failed after transport infrastructure reaching the Kham highlands proved inadequate to carry perishable goods to market.
Rukum District
Rukum District of 188,438. Musikot is the district's administrative center.Rukum district has many potential tourist attractions that remain unexplored. There is 5,849 meter Mt. Sisne , also called virgin mountain. Nobody claims to have conquered this mountain yet. Rukum is also called "the...
and northern Salyan
Salyan District
Salyan District of 213,500. The district's administrative center is named Salyan or Salyan Khalanga.The district is known for its Hindu temples including Shiva temples in Chhayachhetra and Laxmipur, and the Devi temple at Khairabang in Hiwalcha VDC, one of nine in Nepal...
, Rolpa
Rolpa District
Rolpa of 210,004. Livang is the district's administrative center.By Nepalese standards, Rolpa is an underdeveloped area plagued by low life expectancy and poverty . It was a major flashpoint in the 1996-2006 Civil War.Adjoining districts are Dang to the south, Pyuthan to the east, Salyan to the...
and Pyuthan
Pyuthan District
Pyuthan District of 212,484. Pyuthan Khalanga is the district's administrative center.-Geography:Pyuthan borders Dang Deukhuri District to the southwest along the crest of the Mahabharat Range and extends about 50 km northeast through the Middle Hills to a 3,000+ meter ridge that is both...
Districts in Rapti
Rapti Zone
Rapti Anchal in the Mid-Western Development Region of Nepal. It is named after the West Rapti River which drains Rolpa, Pyuthan and part of Dang district. The remainder of Dang and part of Salyan are drained by the Babai. The remainder of Salyan and all of Rukum are drained by the Bheri.The...
Zone as well as adjacent parts of Dhaulagiri and Bheri
Bheri Zone
Bheri Anchal in the Mid-Western Development Region of Nepal. Nepalgunj is the administrative headquarters.Cities and towns are Narayan, Jajarkot and Chhinchu in the "hills"; Nepalgunj, Gularia and Kohalpur in Terai; Birendranagar in Surkhet Valley in the Inner Terai.Bheri Zone is divided into five...
Zones
Zones of Nepal
Nepal is divided into 14 administrative zones , and 75 districts . The 14 administrative zones are grouped into five development regions...
. They speak a complex of Tibeto-Burman dialects called Kham
Kham language
Kham -- narrowly defined -- is a complex of Tibeto-Burman Magaric languages spoken natively in isolated highlands of Rolpa and Rukum districts of Rapti and the westernmost part of Baglung district in Dhaulagiri Zone by western clans of the Magar tribe, called collectively Kham Magar or Northern...
not mutually intelligible with Nepal's other Tibeto-Burman languages.
The present Kham homeland was part of the historic confederation Ather Magarat आथार मगरात (Eighteen Magar Kingdoms) extending from the Kaligandaki River west across the basin of the West Rapti
West Rapti River
Not to be confused with the East Rapti in Chitwan Valley some to the east, this Rapti drains Rapti Zone in Mid-Western Region, Nepal, then Awadh and Purvanchal regions of Uttar Pradesh state, India before joining the Ghaghara a major left bank tributary of the Ganges.The West Rapti is notable for...
to the Bheri
Bheri River
The Bheri River is a major tributary of the Karnali River draining the western Dhaulagiri range in western Nepal. It has three important upper tributaries. Sani Bheri drains southern slopes of this range while Thuli Bheri drains northern slopes. Another tributary Uttar Ganga drains Dhorpatan...
. East of the Kaligandaki there was another confederation called Bahra Magarat बाह्र मगरात (Twelve Magar Kingdoms).
History
Due to their oral mythology and distinctive shamanistic practices, Kham are thought to have originally migrated from SiberiaSiberia
Siberia is an extensive region constituting almost all of Northern Asia. Comprising the central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, it was part of the Soviet Union from its beginning, as its predecessor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, conquered it during the 16th...
but to have lived in their present location for a long time.
The present Kham homeland in the Rapti highlands lies just east of valleys in the Karnali-Bheri basin
Bheri River
The Bheri River is a major tributary of the Karnali River draining the western Dhaulagiri range in western Nepal. It has three important upper tributaries. Sani Bheri drains southern slopes of this range while Thuli Bheri drains northern slopes. Another tributary Uttar Ganga drains Dhorpatan...
that were the original homeland of the Khas
Khas
Originally the Khas / Khasas or Khasiyas are the mountain dwellers living in the southern shadow of the Himalayan range from Kashmir to Bhutan, but mostly in Nepal, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, North Bengal, Sikkim and Bhutan,...
, an Iranian-Aryan people who were mainly rice
Rice
Rice is the seed of the monocot plants Oryza sativa or Oryza glaberrima . As a cereal grain, it is the most important staple food for a large part of the world's human population, especially in East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, and the West Indies...
farmers. Kham-Khas also suggests a duality of living in symbiotic proximity, perhaps zoned by elevation with Khas occupying alluvial river bottoms suitable for rice cultivation
Paddy field
A paddy field is a flooded parcel of arable land used for growing rice and other semiaquatic crops. Paddy fields are a typical feature of rice farming in east, south and southeast Asia. Paddies can be built into steep hillsides as terraces and adjacent to depressed or steeply sloped features such...
while Kham lived above, growing crops such as barley
Barley
Barley is a major cereal grain, a member of the grass family. It serves as a major animal fodder, as a base malt for beer and certain distilled beverages, and as a component of various health foods...
and tree fruit not needing intensive irrigation infrastructure
Irrigation
Irrigation may be defined as the science of artificial application of water to the land or soil. It is used to assist in the growing of agricultural crops, maintenance of landscapes, and revegetation of disturbed soils in dry areas and during periods of inadequate rainfall...
. Indeed Nepal's Chhetri caste seems to derive more from khasas and also from intermarriage between the two than from Indian Rajput
Rajput
A Rajput is a member of one of the patrilineal clans of western, central, northern India and in some parts of Pakistan. Rajputs are descendants of one of the major ruling warrior classes in the Indian subcontinent, particularly North India...
origins (as is frequently claimed by Nepal's Chhetri and Thakuri elites)
Beginning in the late Middle Ages Khas
Khas
Originally the Khas / Khasas or Khasiyas are the mountain dwellers living in the southern shadow of the Himalayan range from Kashmir to Bhutan, but mostly in Nepal, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, North Bengal, Sikkim and Bhutan,...
peoples progressively settled eastward across the smaller Rapti basin into the more productive Gandaki basin, again settling in the lower valleys where rice could be grown, thus displacing the indigenous Kham from the best farmland. The Khas formed new confederations called Baise Rajya (twenty-two kingdoms) in the Karnali region and Chaubisi Rajya
Chaubisi rajya
Chaubisi rajya -- literally "24 principalities" -- were sovereign and intermittently allied petty kingdoms in the Gandaki River Basin, a major Himalayan tributary of the Ganges....
(twenty-four kingdoms) in the Gandaki region that eclipsed the Kham politically.
In their turn the Baise and Chaubisi were conquered and unified into Nepal
Nepal
Nepal , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked sovereign state located in South Asia. It is located in the Himalayas and bordered to the north by the People's Republic of China, and to the south, east, and west by the Republic of India...
by Chaubisi prince Prithvi Narayan Shah
Prithvi Narayan Shah
Prithvi Narayan Shah, King of Nepal was the first king of the House of Shahs to rule Nepal. He is credited for starting the campaign for a unified Nepal, which had been divided and weakened under Malla confederacy. He was the ninth generation descendant of Dravya Shah , the founder of the ruling...
of Gorkha between 1743 AD and the end of the 18th century. Kham and other Magars participated as soldiers under Prithvi Narayan, then in armies of the unified state he founded. After expansion of this state came into conflict with the British Raj
British Raj
British Raj was the British rule in the Indian subcontinent between 1858 and 1947; The term can also refer to the period of dominion...
and was defeated
Gurkha War
The Gurkha War , sometimes called the Gorkha War or the Anglo–Nepalese War, was fought between the Kingdom of Nepal and the British East India Company as a result of border tensions and ambitious expansionism...
, part of the Sugauli Treaty
Sugauli Treaty
The Sugauli Treaty was signed on December 2, 1815 and ratified by March 4, 1816, between the British East India Company and Nepal, which was a kingdom during that era. This ended the second British invasion of the Himalayan kingdom during the Anglo-Nepalese War...
settlement gave the British the right to recruit Magars (along with other martial tribes
Martial Race
Martial Race was a designation created by Army officials of British India, where they classified each ethnic group into one of two categories: 'Martial' and 'Non-Martial'. A 'martial race' was typically considered brave and well built for fighting. The 'non-martial races' were those whom the...
) as Gurkha
Gurkha
Gurkha are people from Nepal who take their name from the Gorkha District. Gurkhas are best known for their history in the Indian Army's Gorkha regiments, the British Army's Brigade of Gurkhas and the Nepalese Army. Gurkha units are closely associated with the kukri, a forward-curving Nepalese knife...
mercenaries.
Kham Isolation
Highlands inhabited by Kham are a rugged knot of ridges reaching 3,000 to 4,000 meters some 50 km south of the DhaulagiriDhaulagiri
Dhaulagiri is Earth's seventh highest mountain at ; one of fourteen over eight thousand metres. Dhaulagiri was first climbed May 13, 1960 by a Swiss/Austrian expedition....
range, forming a triple divide between the Karnali-Bheri system to the west, the Gandaki system to the east, and the smaller (West) Rapti and Babai river systems that separate the two larger systems south of this point. Since uppermost tributaries of the Karnali and Gandaki rise beyond the highest Himalaya ranges, trade routes linking India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
and Tibet
Tibet
Tibet is a plateau region in Asia, north-east of the Himalayas. It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people as well as some other ethnic groups such as Monpas, Qiang, and Lhobas, and is now also inhabited by considerable numbers of Han and Hui people...
developed along these rivers, whereas high ridges along the Rapti's northern watershed and then the Dhaulagiri massif beyond were rigorous obstacles. Similarly, eastward migration of Khas peoples detoured around these highlands by following the Mahabharat Range to the south or Dhorpatan
Dhorpatan
Dhorpatan is a village in Baglung District of Nepal, nestled in a large east-west valley south of the Dhaulagiri Himalaya. It is the headquarters of Dhorpatan Hunting Reserve...
valley to the north which—by Himalayan standards—offers exceptionally easy east-west passage. The Kham highlands may also have been left as a buffer between the easternmost Baise kingdom, Salyan
Salyan District
Salyan District of 213,500. The district's administrative center is named Salyan or Salyan Khalanga.The district is known for its Hindu temples including Shiva temples in Chhayachhetra and Laxmipur, and the Devi temple at Khairabang in Hiwalcha VDC, one of nine in Nepal...
and the westernmost Chaubisi kingdom Pyuthan
Pyuthan District
Pyuthan District of 212,484. Pyuthan Khalanga is the district's administrative center.-Geography:Pyuthan borders Dang Deukhuri District to the southwest along the crest of the Mahabharat Range and extends about 50 km northeast through the Middle Hills to a 3,000+ meter ridge that is both...
. For the Khas, the intervening highlands unsuited for rice cultivation were hardly worth contesting. The movement of political focus eastward to Kathmandu in the 18th century—250 kilometers and more than a week's journey—also contributed to the growing isolation of Kham lands.
Underdevelopment
Kham isolation, official neglect, underdevelopment and poverty essentially continued through the 19th and 20th centuries. The main export was manpower as merceneries to the BritishBritish Indian Army
The British Indian Army, officially simply the Indian Army, was the principal army of the British Raj in India before the partition of India in 1947...
and Indian
Indian Army
The Indian Army is the land based branch and the largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. With about 1,100,000 soldiers in active service and about 1,150,000 reserve troops, the Indian Army is the world's largest standing volunteer army...
armies, or whatever other employment opportunities could be found for largely uneducated and unskilled labor. Kham also practice transhumance
Transhumance
Transhumance is the seasonal movement of people with their livestock between fixed summer and winter pastures. In montane regions it implies movement between higher pastures in summer and to lower valleys in winter. Herders have a permanent home, typically in valleys. Only the herds travel, with...
by grazing cattle, sheep and goats in summer pastures in subalpine and alpine pastures to the north, working their way down to winter pastures in the Dang-Deukhuri valleys, but the carrying capacity of pastures accessible to the Kham is finite. Despite unending toil, food shortages have become a growing problem that still persists. Food deficits were historically addressed by grain imports bought dearly with distant work at low wages.
As economic development brought schools electricity, motor roads, hospitals and a wider range of consumer goods to surrounding areas, few benefits trickled up into the highlands and contrasts became even more invidious. Perversely, development introduced motor transport which diminished porterage employment. Cultivating hemp
Cannabis (drug)
Cannabis, also known as marijuana among many other names, refers to any number of preparations of the Cannabis plant intended for use as a psychoactive drug or for medicinal purposes. The English term marijuana comes from the Mexican Spanish word marihuana...
and processing it into charas
Charas
Charas is the name given to a hashish form of cannabis which is hand-made in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nepal and India. It is made from the resin of the cannabis plant...
(hashish
Hashish
Hashish is a cannabis preparation composed of compressed stalked resin glands, called trichomes, collected from the unfertilized buds of the cannabis plant. It contains the same active ingredients but in higher concentrations than unsifted buds or leaves...
) lost standing as an income generator after 1976 when international pressure persuaded the national government to outlaw these recreational drugs and close government stores where those so inclined could freely purchase what was illegal in most of the world. Initiatives to replace the indigenous hallucinogen industry with cultivating fruit and produce largely failed after transport infrastructure reaching the Kham highlands proved inadequate to carry perishable goods to market.