The Tharu of Dang : a study of social organisation, myth and ritual in West Nepal

Thesis

The aim of the thesis is to provide a descriptive analysis of the social organisation of the Dangaura Tharu of the Dang valley, south-west Nepal. Social organisation is the focus for the study, but it was found that consideration of myth and ritual was essential for the character of the principal social groups: the household, the village, and the gotyār, an exogamaus patrilineal group.

The thesis is divided into four parts. The first part gives a general introduction to the Tharu as a whole. It reviews the available literature, summarises what is known of the history and cultural affiliations of the Tharu, and describes the geography and economy of Dang.

Part two describes the main social groups. The village appears as a tightly knit unit with its organisation centering on the headman and household heads who also hold an important position within the household. In contrast the gotyār appears as a loosely structured group but one that nevertheless has the important functions of providing the negative rules for marriage and for regulating the allocation of priests to clients.

Part three discusses kinship and marriage. While marriage is not governed by an ideology of alliance, analysis of prestations shows that affinal links are stressed towards wife-giving households and in the other direction the emphasis is on the continuing link of consanguinity with the women who have left the house on marriage, a link which corresponds at the ritual level to women’s continuing relation with their natal households’ deities.

Part four examines ritual and myth showing that it is deities which define a house as such and distinguish gotyār. Similarly the role of the priestly gotyār has to be understood in terms of the relation of their deities to the creation mythology. Finally it is shown that the village realises essential aspects of its identity as a unit in the context of village ritual.

Authors: McDonaugh, CEJS

• DOI: 10.5287/ora-vgk4mqeg9
• Type of award: DPhil
• Level of award: Doctoral
• Awarding institution: University of Oxford
• Language: English
• Keywords: rites; ceremonies; social organization; South Asian; Tharu; social life; Nepal; social organisation; organization; customs; West Nepal; ritual; myth; organisation; Dang
• Subjects: Tharu (South Asian people) -- Rites and ceremonies; Tharu (South Asian people) -- Social life and customs