Tamang people
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| 1,539,830 | |
| Languages | |
| Tamang | |
| Religion | |
| Hinduism, Buddhism |
The Tamang ཏ་མང (Devnagari: तामाङ; tāmāng), or Murmi, are the indigenous inhabitants of the Himalayan regions of Nepal and India, their ancestral land is called Tamsaling. They are the aborigines of Yambu, or Kathmandu Valley, who had self-rule and autonomous roughly 2 centuries before present, systematically displaced during the expansion period of Gorkha Kingdom and this continues to the present day, the Central Development Region, Nepal remains where 70% of the population reside. The traditionally Buddhist Tamang are the largest Tibeto-Burman ethnic group within Nepal, constituting 5.6% of the national population of over 1.3 million in 2001, increasing to 1,539,830 as of 2011 census, yet contested. Tamang are also a significant minority in Sikkim and Darjeeling District of West Bengal of India as permanent settlers; their languages are fifth most spoken in Nepal (note all Tamang languages are not mutually intelligible). They were one of the aborigines who were least affected by Nepalisation. Peculiar to Tamang people are complex marriage restrictions within the community.
1/3 of all deaths were among Tamang people, and roughly 2/3 of the 600,000 structures completely destroyed were in Tamang dominant areas.It is the poverty, neglect and outright discrimination against Tamangs that makes them even more vulnerable to disasters like earthquakes, landslides and floods—Anthropologist Mukta Singh Lama.
Until 1950, Tamang were neither accepted into government posts, whether administrative, judicial or political, nor allowed to accept foreign employment, serving as a labour pool for the ruling class. But nowadays, Tamangs are highly respected as Buddhist Monks (priest) as rinpoche, khempo. In many Tamang Villages, there is still a tradition of sending the second son to study Buddhism and preferably to remain in the Monastery, and serve as a Buddhist Monk throughout his life. Tamangs have also served as Gurkha soldiers (brigadier,colonel, IGP, inspector ) in British Gurkha army, Singapore police, Indian army and police and Nepalese army and police.
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