The Thakali : A Central Himalayan Tribe : Torbo Ethnography : No.1

Abstract

The Thakali are a Mongoloid group living in the territory of Thakola in the valley between the Annapurna and Dhaulagiri ranges in the Nepal Himalaya. Although they are well-known in Nepal as a trading tribe, foreigners have little knowledge of them due to their small population and the remoteness of their habitat. This is preliminary report No.1 of the Japanese Scientific Expedition to Northwestern Nepal in 1958, in which the present author participated. The report deals with the history, commerce, stock raising, agriculture, recreation, religion, education, and political organization, etc. of the Thakali. About their native religion Dhom or Jhankri, the author provides an example of rites similar to that of the Munda in Central India, suggesting that there may have existed some cultural relations between this Himalayan tribe and the Austroasiatics. He also points to the "progressiveness" of the Thakali people who live in such a remote mountain area, and tries to explain this from their cultural structure. The Thakali adhere to the native animistic Dhom religion as a so-called "small tradition, " and at the same time to Hinduism and Lamaism as "great traditions". Due to the syncretism, the author believes, the activities and behavior of the Thakali have not been stereotyped by "traditions", but have acquired energetic plasticity. In conclusion the author advances the concept of a "transitional zone". So far as culture traits are concerned, the Nepalese culture makes a zone of contact and blends between the two big cultures of Hinduism and Lamaism. Through his research on the Thakali, the author finds that the culture of the "transitional zone" has sometimes a unique type of its own, and suggests the importance of the function played by the "transitional zone" so often neglected.