Tharus Of West Champaran: Resilience, Exploitation, And The Quest For Social Justice

Abstract

Tharus community is located in Bihar. The community of Tharus belongs to the original inhabitants of the Terai region and has been living there for a long time. Terai is a large alluvial land located at the foothills of the Himalayan borders which is a densely populated Gangetic region of the south. The community belonging to Tharus lived in different parts of the west Champaran district of Bihar. The Tharus is contiguous to Nepal Terai of India. In west Champaran the Tharus community occupied an area near about 8000 sq. miles which is surrounded by the northeast and west borders of Nepal district and on the south it is bounded by Tribeni or Done Canal. The Tharus community is popularly known as “Tharuhat”. Tharus community belonging to Nepal and other parts of Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh mostly belongs to the scheduled tribes. The Tharus community is deprived of the facilities enjoyed by the others, they are isolated and make their tribal community. The Tharus community is mostly backward both socially and economically. The history of the Tharus community is engaged with exploitation, suppression, and oppression. The community of  Tharus has belonged to scheduled tribes since 2003. According to Al-baurni, The community belonged to the Tharu situated in the Terai region at least about the 10th century. According to the Al-Baurni Tharus people are the descendants of the Kalya and Sakya communities who lived in the ancient palace popularly called kapilavastu.