Endangered Raute Tribe Nepal

Raute are one of the nomadic indigenous ethinic groups of Nepal sustaining their unique cultural identities for generation .The group of Raute tribe of Nepal is considered as an example of gathering and hunting in the community . In ocurrent age of diminishing cultural diversity ,Raute ,the last hunter gatherers of Nepal have survived into ths century .They mainly live in the foothills of Himalayas habitually migrating through the forests of far western Nepal. The survival of this community is becomungdifficult with the impact of deforestation and urbanization.

They say no to the permanent resudence.The Raute are spread through out different forest of Nepal specially mid and far western .Their tradition restrict them to do agriculture and animal husbandry .For them it is sin for education and agriculture .

They mostly practise :

• Linage and marriage
• Monkey Hunting
• Division of Labour

They make special monkey trapping net for monkey hunting .Mostly male community are involved in this kinds of activities .Division of work is s out on the basis of sex like female work in cooking ,cleaning purpose while male involve in hunting ,making pots and temporary house

There is no poligamy system in their community but the male widowed can remarry . Child marriage and inter caste marriage are strictly prohibited .Raute are specially endogamy They follow nuclear system of marriage and family .The religion they follow is a form of Animism .They are the worshipper of nature such as sun ,moon, river and forest .They worship Bhuyar ,the hunting god . They do not keep their god in contact of the outsider and the female are not allowed to prticipate in worship .

After the death of any member in the community ,they bury the dead body in the nearby forest and get shift from the place where they use to live very quickly .Since they move to another location ,there is always ample time for the tree to generate

The most important tradition of Raute community is carving wooden receptacles .This kinds of wooden pots are handed down from one generation to another .This kinds of pots are carved by hand which includes containers such as Koshi ,mushal ,Madhus ,okhal . They prefere not to create clash in the commuinty ad maintain unity .They do not do agriculture so they have to depend on the forest food ,hunting and have to earn food from carved pots .

They are known as the king of forest but they are worried about the loss of their identity due to their increasing exposure to the modern society . Due to rapid urbanization and deforestation their community are in the verge of extint .And their community are declining due to various natural calamities .Raute’s settlements can be used as a ‘Tourist Area ‘ by the government without distrubing them.