Raute

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Raute are a nomadic ethnic group officially recognized by the Government of Nepal. They are known especially for their hunting of langur and macaque monkeys for subsistence. They also gather wild forest tubers, fruits, and greens on a regular basis. They normally do no gardening, farming, or work for others as tenants or wage laborers. To obtain grain, iron, cloth, and jewelry, they trade handmade wooden bowls and boxes to local farmers. They do not sell other forest products, bushmeat, or forest medicinal plants.

Their population is estimated at about 650 persons living in small settlements in the Karnali and Mahakali (Kali) watershed regions of western Nepal. Their language is currently classified as Tibeto-Burman. It is called "Raute" in most studies and sometimes "Khamci," meaning "our talk" in a few other studies. The Raute use this name for their autonym, their own name for themselves, as well as their exonym, the name used by outsiders to refer to them. It is closely related to the language spoken by two related ethnic groups, the Ban Raji ("Little Rulers of the Forest") and Raji ("Little Rulers") of the same region (Fortier and Rastogi 2004). The closest well-documented language to Raute known at the present time is Chepang, spoken by an ethnic group of west-central Nepal who also have been hunter-gatherers until the current generation.

Rautes emphasize that they wish to remain full-time foragers and not assimilate into the surrounding farming population.

[edit] References

Bista, Dor Bahadur 1978 Encounter with the Raute: Last Hunting Nomads of Nepal. Kailash 4(4):317-327.;
Caughley, R. 1976 Chepang Whistled Talk. In Speech Surrogates: Drum and Whistle System. T. Sebeok and D. Umiker, eds. Pp. 966-992. NY: Mouton;
Fortier, Jana 2000 Monkey's Thigh Is the Shaman's Meat: Ideologies of Sharing among the Raute of Western Nepal. Senri Ethnological Series 53:113-47;
___ 2003 Reflections on Raute Identity. Studies in Nepalese History and Society 8(2):317-48.;
Fortier, Jana, and Kavita Rastogi 2004 Sister Languages? Comparative Phonology of Two Himalayan Languages. Nepalese Linguistics 21:42-52.;
Manandhar, N. P., and Sanjay Manandhar 2002 Plants and People of Nepal. Portland, OR: Timber Press.;
Rai, Nanda K. 1985 People of the Stones, the Chepangs of Central Nepal. Kathmandu: Centre for Nepal and Asian Studies, Tribhuvan University;
Rastogi, Kavita 2002 Raji: Language of a Vanishing Himalayan Tribe. Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area 25(2):155-167.;
Rastogi, Kavita, and Jana Fortier 2005 Daa, Nii, Sum/Khung: Comparative Vocabulary of the West-Central Himalayan Languages Rawati (Raji) and Khamci (Raute). Indian Linguistics 66:105-115.;
Reinhard, Johan 1974 The Raute: Notes on a Nomadic Hunting and Gathering Tribe of Nepal. 2(4):233-271.;
Singh, Nanda Bahadur 1997 The Endangered Raute Tribe: Ethnobiology and Biodiversity. kathmandu: Global Research Carrel for Ethnobiology --