Surkhet – “These days it’s hard find the tuber crops (kandamul) in the forest, so are the Guna1monkeys, water sources have started drying, mosquitoes are quite troublesome,” says Raute Chief Surya Narayan Shahi. His words shed light on the difficulties facing the Raute community, the only nomadic community of Nepal that lives in forest. Raute have changed some of their way of living but their troubles are still the same. “We are not the same as before. Leaving forest and staying close to other communities have led to more problems,” says Shahi. His statement tells a lot about Rute’s plight.
As the Raute community are accustomed to living in the forest, they have nothing to do with modern urban industries and businesses. This community, who leads a natural life, is now at the receiving end of climate change. Though Raute people know nothing about climate change, they are well aware to its effects.
Raute have three clear principles—no farming, no education and no service. The decrease in availability of food due to environmental effects, growing openness to outer society and dependency for livelihood have left Raute community—the remnant of primitive human society—now in vulnerable condition. They have started abandoning their ancient beliefs and traditions. The community members, who once thought of themselves as the kings of the forest, are now well on the way to become ‘common man’ because of the changing circumstances due to climate change.
Chief Surya Narayan Shahi said that they are facing difficulties in forest life. “Mosquitoes are found in forest, water sources are drying, tuber crops and monkeys cannot be found anymore,” he said, “Because of these problems, we are changing settlements at quick intervals. We are also becoming more susceptible to diseases now.” The Raute community, which only moves when one of the members dies, now finds it difficult to stay at one place even for a month. Raute drink water from the source only; they do not drink from the river. They are becoming more dependent on other communities as a result of declining water sources due to rising temperature and deforestation, disappearance of tuber crops and monkeys. Instead of tuber crops and monkeys, they have started eating market food and goats.
Members of Raute community are now becoming ill more often as compared to earlier days. “Earlier, we give treatment to sick people in the forest, and it worked well,” said Surya Narayan. “But now we become ill frequently, medicinal herbs found in the forest have lost their potency.” Changing food habits, and mosquito bites, among others, are the reasons behind their problems. They say mosquitoes are found in hilly forests also. “Earlier, we used to be wounded while hunting; women and children used to get headache and abdominal pain. Medicinal herbs helped to cure everything,” he said. “Juice of Ballet and bay leaf (Tejpatta) were used to cure headache. But they don’t work anymore, rather exacerbate the illness.” They do not believe in allopathic medicine. “Hospitals are not for us, we should not go to hospitals which are made for others,” said Grand Master Ain Bahadur Sahi, “Traditionally, we use medicinal herbs to cure illness. But we can’t find the herbs in the forest anymore.”
According to Raute Development Foundation’s Chairperson Satyadevi Adhikari, the changing lifestyle and climate change are the reasons for transmission of several diseases in Raute. “Their changing food habit is the main reason,” she said. “They are now becoming more prone to illness after switching from natural food to the market food.” Raute started living nearby villages after tuber crops and monkeys became extinct in the forest. This did not suit their lifestyle. Raute wear the same kind of dress throughout the year. Although Raute community don’t know much about climate change, they are the ones affected directly,” said Ms Adhikari, “This has been made clear by the change in their lifestyle and eating habits.”
Negative effect
Previously, Raute ate tuber crops, boiled hunted monkeys, and rice, grains by sprinkling salt. They prioritized vegetables like gourds, andwatercress. This community, which considered it sin to touch money, exchanged their handmade wooden utensils with rice and other food products from nearby villages. In Raute settlement, women used to grind rice using wooden mortar. However, the young generation haven’t inherited the skills of preparing traditional wooden utensils. The people who abstained from touching money not look for money everywhere. They spend all the money including income from selling wooden materials, and monthly allowance of two thousand rupees per person provided by the government on consumption of alcohol and tobacco. This is the reason behind their diminishing immunity power.
“Back in the days, Rautes used to eat food available at the forest, used to hunt monkeys for food. Their health was sound,” said health worker Uday Bahadur Thapa, who has been conducting health check-ups of Rautes for the last five years. “Now their disease resistance power has deteriorated due to excessive alcohol and tobacco.” The fact is, children and elders in the Raute settlement all consume alcohol and tobacco. After the armed conflict, the Rautes started living near human settlements, and that is how they picked up the bad habit, said Thapa.
“Earlier, they would not even come closer to other communities. After the armed conflict and with diminishing of natural stuff found in the forest, they started living close to human settlements,” said Thapa. “Then they started copying the bad things from other communities and forgot their ancestral skills and eating habits.”
Raute Community in statistics:
The number of Raute community living the nomadic life is only 149. According to journalist Bhakta Bahadur Shahi, who has been working with Raute community for last eleven years, if we bread down their number by age group, the group of up to seven years old tops the list. There are 47 Raute of up to seven years of age. There are 44 Raute between the age group of 16-40 years, 24 between the age of 8-15 years, 20 between the age of 41-60 years, and 14 people above 61 years of age. The most discriminated group among them, the single women, consists of 11 Raute.
There are three clans among Raute: Kalyal, Raskoti and Swabamshi. There are marital affairs only within all three of these clans. Their census shows that the Kalyal clan of Raute has the highest number, so the young ones are forced to stay unmarried. They cannot marry the girls within their own clan, and because the number of Raskoti and Swabamshi clans are low with the number of marriageable women even lower, they are having problems to get married. “We cannot marry anyone outside our community. We have the tradition of marrying a person from different clan within our community,” said Raskoti clan Chief Surya Narayan, “Our clan has the highest number of boys. Since Kalyal and Swabamshi clans do not have enough number of eligible women, our boys are not getting married.” Because of this, once a 40-year-old Raute of Kalyal clan was married to a 13-year-old girl.
Raute is Nepal’s ancient nomadic and the world’s endangered and disadvantagedtribe. Raute community lives in hilly forests of the districts within Rapti river of Province 5 to Mahakali river of Province 7, which include Dang, Dailekh, Jajarkot, Surkhet, Salyan, Kalikot, Achham, Jumla, Darchula, and Baitadi. They live in one single group. Raute, who live off the tuber crops and hunting, used to barter artistic wooden utensils with food grains. They do not produce agriculture products and do not even touch money out of fear of sin. They never wear stitched clothes and do not have permanent settlement, are also called the ‘Kings of Forest.’
They do not live at one place for more than two months. These people do not have tendencies to save properties, and hunt and eat the animals including monkeys, and birds. Raute community worship the snakes, Masto Bhairav and nature. The Raute, who do not drink running water and drink water only from source, consider ‘Daremashto’3 as their ancestral God (totem). Recently, there have been a marked change in their way of living. Raute have strict customs such as not eating food cooked in the kitchen other than their own. They do not want to be a modern human, but knowingly or unknowingly they are emulating modern living styles. In recent times, they are becoming more dependent on others. Only a decade ago, they would not take anything given by outsiders. Now, they openly ask for money with new people they meet in the market.
“Once they started living near to other communities, there have been more of negative than positive effects on Raute community,” said journalist Shahi, “In the past, they abstained from touching money fearing sin, but now they openly ask for money.” If they talk to someone or take a picture with them, they in turn ask for money. “No one buys the utensils that we make like they used to in the past, so there’s no point in making them,” said another Chief Mr. Bir Bahadur Shahi, “That is why we earn money to buy food and eat. It is easier for us that way.”
Permanent Identification card for Raute
Gurans Rural Municipality in Dailekh has planned to provide permanent identification card to Raute community. (The card will be distributed on July 15 this year.) The card will contain the name, last name, date of birth, address, and names of father, mother and husband/wife. After the distribution of identification card, only Gurans Rural Municipality will provide allowance, wherever the Raute community are. Government has been providing monthly allowance of two thousand rupees to each Raute, irrespective of their age.
“We are providing them the permanent identification card to bring uniformity in health, education and allowance of Raute,” said Gurans Rural Municipality Chair Khem Raj Oli. “For the time being, we have appointed two staff from the local level.” According to Chair Oli, they have appointed two staff who will be assigned to work for education and health of Raute community. Those staff will teach the children of Raute to read, and show informational videos, through projector at night.
Glossary
1Guna:a black-and white-faced monkey with long tail
2Grand Master (Mahamukhiya): A designation higher than Chief (there are three Chiefs of three clans of Raute community. Grand Master comes from Raskoti clan)
3Daremashto: Ancestral God (totem) of Raute
