Raute
Encyclopedia
Raute are a nomad
ic ethnic group officially recognized by the Government of Nepal
. They are known especially for their hunting of langur and macaque
monkeys for subsistence. They also gather wild forest tuber
s, fruits, and greens on a regular basis. They normally do no gardening, farming, or work for others as tenants or wage laborers. To obtain grain, iron, cloth, and jewelry, they trade handmade wooden bowls and boxes to local farmers. They do not sell other forest products, bushmeat
, or forest medicinal plants.
Their population is estimated at about 650 persons living in small settlements in the Karnali
and Makahali
(Kali) watershed regions of western Nepal, but there are probably less than 200 of the still nomadic hunting Raute. This latter were located in 1969 in western Nepal by the American anthropologist Johan Reinhard, who conducted ethnographic research among them and the Raji, a related ethnic group of largely settled agriculturalists. The Raute language is currently classified as Tibeto-Burman
. It is called "Raute" in most studies and sometimes "Khamci," meaning "our talk" in a few other studies. The Raute use this name for their autonym, their own name for themselves, as well as their exonym, the name used by outsiders to refer to them. It is closely related to the language spoken by two related ethnic groups, the Ban Raji ("Little Rulers of the Forest") and Raji ("Little Rulers") of the same region (Fortier and Rastogi 2004). The closest well-documented language to Raute known at the present time is Chepang
, spoken by an ethnic group of west-central Nepal who also have been hunter-gatherer
s until the current generation.
Rautes emphasize that they wish to remain full-time foragers and not assimilate into the surrounding farming population.
Nomad
Nomadic people , commonly known as itinerants in modern-day contexts, are communities of people who move from one place to another, rather than settling permanently in one location. There are an estimated 30-40 million nomads in the world. Many cultures have traditionally been nomadic, but...
ic ethnic group officially recognized by the Government of 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...
. They are known especially for their hunting of langur and macaque
Macaque
The macaques constitute a genus of Old World monkeys of the subfamily Cercopithecinae. - Description :Aside from humans , the macaques are the most widespread primate genus, ranging from Japan to Afghanistan and, in the case of the barbary macaque, to North Africa...
monkeys for subsistence. They also gather wild forest tuber
Tuber
Tubers are various types of modified plant structures that are enlarged to store nutrients. They are used by plants to survive the winter or dry months and provide energy and nutrients for regrowth during the next growing season and they are a means of asexual reproduction...
s, fruits, and greens on a regular basis. They normally do no gardening, farming, or work for others as tenants or wage laborers. To obtain grain, iron, cloth, and jewelry, they trade handmade wooden bowls and boxes to local farmers. They do not sell other forest products, bushmeat
Bushmeat
Bushmeat initially referred to the hunting of wild animals in West and Central Africa and is a calque from the French viande de brousse. Today the term is commonly used for meat of terrestrial wild animals, killed for subsistence or commercial purposes throughout the humid tropics of the Americas,...
, or forest medicinal plants.
Their population is estimated at about 650 persons living in small settlements in the Karnali
Karnali Zone
Karnali Zone in the Mid-Western Development Region of Nepal. The headquarters is Jumla.Karnali Zone is one of the poorest and most remote regions of Nepal, not very accessible by road yet. There are airfields in all districts except Kalikot which is connected by seasonal roadways to Jumla...
and Makahali
Mahakali Zone
Mahakali|Kali River]] or Mahakali River, which originates from Kalapani.Mahakali's headquarter is Mahendranagar in Kanchanpur District. The zone covers the Himalayan range including Api Peak in the North, Hill valleys, Inner Terai valleys such as Patan in Baitadi District in the center and the...
(Kali) watershed regions of western Nepal, but there are probably less than 200 of the still nomadic hunting Raute. This latter were located in 1969 in western Nepal by the American anthropologist Johan Reinhard, who conducted ethnographic research among them and the Raji, a related ethnic group of largely settled agriculturalists. The Raute language is currently classified as Tibeto-Burman
Tibeto-Burman languages
The Tibeto-Burman languages are the non-Chinese members of the Sino-Tibetan language family, over 400 of which are spoken thoughout the highlands of southeast Asia, as well as lowland areas in Burma ....
. It is called "Raute" in most studies and sometimes "Khamci," meaning "our talk" in a few other studies. The Raute use this name for their autonym, their own name for themselves, as well as their exonym, the name used by outsiders to refer to them. It is closely related to the language spoken by two related ethnic groups, the Ban Raji ("Little Rulers of the Forest") and Raji ("Little Rulers") of the same region (Fortier and Rastogi 2004). The closest well-documented language to Raute known at the present time is Chepang
Chepang
Chepang is the commonly used name given to an indigenous ethnic group living in central and southern Nepal.The language is also known as Chepang but is called Chyo-bang by the people themselves. Some Bahun Chettri castes call these people the "Praja" meaning "political subjects"...
, spoken by an ethnic group of west-central Nepal who also have been hunter-gatherer
Hunter-gatherer
A hunter-gatherer or forage society is one in which most or all food is obtained from wild plants and animals, in contrast to agricultural societies which rely mainly on domesticated species. Hunting and gathering was the ancestral subsistence mode of Homo, and all modern humans were...
s until the current generation.
Rautes emphasize that they wish to remain full-time foragers and not assimilate into the surrounding farming population.
Sources
- Bista, Dor Bahadur 1978 Encounter with the Raute: Last Hunting Nomads of Nepal. Kailash 4(4):317-327.;
- Caughley, R. 1976 Chepang Whistled Talk. In Speech Surrogates: Drum and Whistle System. T. Sebeok and D. Umiker, eds. Pp. 966-992. NY: Mouton;
- Fortier, Jana 2009 Kings of the Forest: The Cultural Resilience of Himalayan Hunter-Gatherers. Honolulu: Univ. of Hawai'i Press;
- ___ 2003 Reflections on Raute Identity. Studies in Nepalese History and Society 8(2):317-48.;
- Fortier, Jana, and Kavita Rastogi 2004 Sister Languages? Comparative Phonology of Two Himalayan Languages. Nepalese Linguistics 21:42-52.;
- Manandhar, N. P., and Sanjay Manandhar 2002 Plants and People of Nepal. Portland, OR: Timber Press.;
- Rai, Nanda K. 1985 People of the Stones, the Chepangs of Central Nepal. Kathmandu: Centre for Nepal and Asian Studies, Tribhuvan University;
- Rastogi, Kavita, and Jana Fortier 2005 Daa, Nii, Sum/Khung: Comparative Vocabulary of the West-Central Himalayan Languages Rawati (Raji) and Khamci (Raute). Indian Linguistics 66:105-115.;
- Reinhard, Johan 1974 The Raute: Notes on a Nomadic Hunting and Gathering Tribe of Nepal. Kailash, A Journal of Himalayan Studies 2(4): 233-271, Kathmandu.
- Singh, Nanda Bahadur 1997 The Endangered Raute Tribe: Ethnobiology and Biodiversity. Kathmandu: Global Research Carrel for Ethnobiology --