Total population | |
---|---|
(27,230 (Nepal 2001)) | |
Regions with significant populations | |
Languages | |
Ladakhi, Sherpa, Standard Tibetan and other Tibetic languages, also Nepali and Hindi | |
Religion | |
Hinduism, Buddhism, Bon | |
Related ethnic groups | |
Bhutia, Tibetan, Uttarakhand Bhotiya, Ngalop |
Bhotiya or Bot (Nepali: भोटिया, Bhotiyā) are groups of ethno-linguistically related Tibetan people living in the Transhimalayan region of the SAARC countries. The word Bhotiya comes from the classical Tibetan name for Tibet, Bod. The Bhotiya speak Ladakhi, a Tibetic language.
The Bhotiya identify as Raghuvanshi Rajput and prefer to be referred as Thakur or Rajvanshi. The Bhotiya may be the original immigrants to north Oudh in the period of Nawab Asaf-Ud-Dowlah (1775 to 1797).
The Bhotiya people are closely related to several other groups and ethnic boundaries are porous. One group is the Bhutia, the main ethnolinguistic group of the northern part of the Indian state of Sikkim. A second is the Uttarakhand Bhotiya of the upper Himalayan valleys of the Kumaon and the Garhwal divisions of Uttarakhand. These include the Shauka tribe of Kumaon, the Tolchhas and the Marchhas of Garhwal. A third related group are the Dzongkha speaking Ngalop people, the main ethnolinguistic group of Bhutan. The Bhotiya are also related to several dispersed groups in Nepal and the adjacent areas of India including the Tibetans and Sherpas.