Rai people

Rāi
ᤖᤠᤀᤡ
राई
A Rai man holding bow and arrow
Total population

•   Nepal• India• Bhutan
Regions with significant populations
 •    Nepal:640,674(2021)[1][2]

•Koshi:506,422
•Bagmati:112,364
•Madhesh:10,210
•Gandaki:7,599
•Lumbuni:2,628
•Sudurpashchim:917
•Karnali:534


 •  India:360,819 [3][4][5][6]

•West Bengal:216,043
•Sikkim:80,879
•Assam:43,646
•Arunachal Pradesh:9,046
•Uttarakhand:3,649
•Meghalaya:3,705
•Nagaland:1,813
•Himachal Pradesh:1,593
•Mizoram:445

 •  Bhutan:37,311[7]
•Rai population mostly found Southern Bhutan
Languages
Religion
Predominantly:
65% Kiratism or Animism
Other Religions:
30% Hinduism, 5% Christianity (2011) [8]
Related ethnic groups

The Rai (Rai: ᤖᤠᤀᤡ, Rāi; Devanagari: राई) also known as Khambu and Jimee are ethnolinguistic group belonging to the Kirat family and primarily Tibeto-Burman linguistic ethnicity.[9] They mainly reside in the eastern parts of Nepal, the Indian states of Sikkim, West Bengal (predominantly Darjeeling and Kalimpong Hills) and in southwestern Bhutan.[10][11]

Rai women in Sakela Ubhauli festival Kathmandu
Rai tribal Shaman Nakso or Nakchhong performing ritual

The Rai, as a set of groups, are one of the oldest tribes of Nepal. They inhabited the area between the Dudh Koshi and Tamur River in Nepal. They claim that their country called Kiratdesh in modern times, has spread over Nepal, Sikkim and West Bengal.[12] Rai are also known as "Khambu" and in some places, they are known as "Jimee" or "Jimdar". "Jim" means "land", which meant they owned the lands and other tribes had to pay their taxes to the jimdar, they started animal farming and agricultural vegetation as their traditional occupation. They are known for worshipping nature and ancestral spirits. H.H. Risley treats the Rai and Jimdar as synonymous with the Khambus, but most of the Rai nowadays do admit Khambu and Jimdar to be synonymous terms connoting the same ethnic group. Rai are one of the dominant tribes of the Kirati group; they are a fighting tribe of Nepal. They are popularly believed to have offered a stiff resistance to the invasion of the Gorkhas.[13] Kiranti Rai are hill tribes who once possessed considerable power and territory but were reduced to submission by Prithvi Narayan Shah after his conquest of Nepal.[14] Kirati rule in the eastern hills of Nepal ended after the conquest of the Gorkha Kingdom in 1772–1773.[15]

  1. ^ "Census Nepal caste-ethnicity results".
  2. ^ Bureau of Statistics https://censusnepal.cbs.gov.np › ...PDF National Population and Housing Census 2021 "Central Bureau of StatisticsNational Population and Housing Census 2021 PDF". {{cite web}}: Check |url= value (help)
  3. ^ "Sikkim University: Ethnographic Report of the Kirat Khambu Rai Community of Sikkim".
  4. ^ "Rai(Kings)-Peoplegrouporg".
  5. ^ "An Anthropological Venture into the Rai Community of Darjeeling Hills West Bengal India". Retrieved 24 June 2020.
  6. ^ "Linguistic and Religious Minorities Under SSP Led Government" (PDF).
  7. ^ "Kirati Rai, Lhotshampa in Bhutan".www.peoplegroups
  8. ^ "Caste ethnicity and religion of Nepal Ministry of Health page 56" (PDF). Retrieved 3 May 2024.
  9. ^ "The Tibeto-Burman Languages of Nepal A General Survey" (PDF).
  10. ^ "Kirat Khambu Rais of Sikkim and Eastern Himalayas". 23 March 2005 – via Internet Archive.
  11. ^ "Rai Culture LandNepal". 12 June 2021.www.landnepal.com
  12. ^ "Census Of India Sikkim 2011 Rai" (PDF).
  13. ^ "Village survey monograph on upper Pedong" (PDF). Census of India 1961 West Bengal & Sikkim Volume XV1, Part VI (10)
  14. ^ "Gurkhas (1915) by Vansittart Eden". 6 September 2023.archive.org
  15. ^ "New Past for the Sake of a Better Future: Re-inventing the history of the Kirant in East Nepal" (PDF).himalaya.socanth.cam