https://indianpedia.org/api.php?action=feedcontributions&feedformat=atom&user=103.249.243.11 2026-07-30T14:07:51Z User contributions MediaWiki 1.45.4 https://indianpedia.org/index.php?title=Banrawats&diff=327523 2021-10-18T09:20:41Z

<p>103.249.243.11: </p> <hr /> <div>{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2017}}<br /> {{Use Indian English|date=September 2017}}<br /> {{More citations needed|date=December 2009}}<br /> The '''Banrawats''' (alt., ''Banrajis'', ''Vanrawats'', ''Vanrajis'') are a native endangered ethnic minority group, originating and living in [[Uttarakhand]], [[India]]. They are distributed in the districts of [[Pithoragarh district|Pithoragarh]], [[Champawat district|Champawat]] and [[Udham Singh Nagar district|Udham Singh Nagar]] and in a small area confined to Western [[Nepal]]. They are the smallest Himalayan tribal group related to a larger ethno-linguistic group of [[Raji people]].<br /> They are basically nomadic hunter-gatherers, but also work as agriculture and forest labourers. They are mainly dependent on forests, and also practice [[shifting cultivation]]. Their existence is threatened by developmental and wild life related projects. They were placed in forced settlements by the Government of India beginning in the 1980s.Many continue to move in semi-nomadic camps, but most are now settled into villages along the [[Mahakali River]] area straddling India.<br /> <br /> ==Deities==<br /> Van Rawats worship supernatural beings that live in the forests and sky. The Sun, known as ''Diho'', represents their major deity. They also worship a forest deity known as ''Kaiyu/Qaiyu''. She is prayed to before hunting. The deity ''Masan'' is prayed to before fishing. Masan is seen as potentially malevolent while Kaiyu is benevolent. When supernaturals live in natural objects, they may be named as well. The ''Doliya/Dolia'', for example, live in some stones.<br /> <br /> A third major set of deities are the ancestral deities, known as ''Sey-da/Seda'', a term that possibly derives from the Proto-Tibeto-Burman word for a dead person, *sǝy 'die'. They make one shake and go into an altered state of consciousness. One of the major ancestral deities is known as ''Samoji.'' There are many other ancestral deities based upon a particular clan ancestor.<br /> <br /> Practising a form of religious [[syncretism]], Ban Rawats also borrow Hindu deities and will alternatively call paternal ancestral deities by the local Hindu terms, ''Isht,'' ''Pichash,'' and the common local Hindu deity known as ''Bhaiyar'', especially when speaking in front of outsiders.<br /> <br /> A fourth set of major supernaturals are the supernatural forces (''Hawa/Ha'wa'') that live as animate forces, often of the weather. ''Latiya Bar/Ban'' (word-final sound is retroflex palatal nasal stop), for example, will cause people to become dumb (from the [[Kumaoni language|Kumaoni]] word for dumbness plus the indigenous term). Other gods of note include ''Daru/Dharu'' which comes along the wind; ''Bujergalog'', a deity mentioned by an octogenarian living in one of the settlements near [[Askot]], [[Pithoragarh]].<br /> <br /> ==See also==<br /> *[[Kumauni people]]<br /> <br /> ==References==<br /> {{reflist}}<br /> <br /> Naswa, S. Tribes of Uttar Pradesh and Uttranchal: Ethnography and Bibliography of Scheduled Tribes. Mittal Publications, 2001<br /> <br /> Fortier, J. Kings of the Forest: The cultural resilience of Himalayan hunter-gatherers. Honolulu: Univ. of Hawaii Press. 2009<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> {{Uttarakhand}}<br /> <br /> [[Category:Scheduled Tribes of India]]<br /> [[Category:Social groups of Uttarakhand]]<br /> <br /> <br /> {{India-ethno-stub}}</div>

103.249.243.11