Yakkha people

Yakkha (

Scholars have different opinions regarding the origin of the word Yakkha. One school of thought claims that the ethnonym Yakkha as per the Aryan Sanskrit grammar had been spelled in the Aryan-Hindu mythologies as Yaksa-sh (like Bhisu-shu for an ascetic Bhikchu of the Buddhist holy scripts). Although the legendary Yaksa-sh, by the corrupt name of Yakkha, is mentioned in religious Hindu texts, the Vedas and ancient Sanskrit literature, Yakkha has historically been consistent in the use of its own endonyms. Yakkhawa or Yakkhaba is used to denote the male person and Yakkhama to denote the female person.^[6]

Exonyms

The Yakkhas are also known by the exonyms Dewan, Jimi and Rai titles they accepted after the conquest of the Kirat land by the Gorkhas under Prithvi Narayan Shah. The Yakkhas were not only given ownership of the land but were also given the responsibility of collecting taxes from the lands utilised by Yakkhas as well as non-Yakkhas living in the area. In Darjeeling district, Kalimpong district and Sikkim of India, Dewan is commonly used as a synonym of Yakkha, and as Dewans they are placed in the Other Backward Class category.^[7]

Yakkha Land (Yākkhālen)

Today, the Yakkha Motherland is considered a patch among the historic Kirat region (i.e., east of the

As per the National Population and Housing Census 2021 of Nepal, the population of Yakkhas in Nepal was 17,460 (0.06% of the total population of Nepal).^[1] As per the 2011 Nepal census of Nepal, the population of Yakkhas in Nepal was 24,336 (0.1% of the total population of Nepal).^[10] As per the population census of Nepal 2001, there were 17,003 Yakkhas in Nepal. A few thousand Yakkhas live in Darjeeling and Kalimpong districts, Sikkim, North-Eastern states and other parts of India.

As per the 2021 Nepal census, the population of Yakkha people by province is as follows:^[1]

• Koshi Province: 16,451
• Madhesh Province: 90
• Bagmati Province: 682
• Gandaki Province: 39
• Lumbini Province: 182
• Karnali Province: 0
• Sudurpashchim Province: 10

As per the 2021 Nepal census, the population of Yakkha people by district is as follows:^[1]

• Taplejung: 235
• Sankhuwasabha: 5752
• Dhankuta: 4344
• Terhathum: 180
• Panchthar: 471
• Ilam: 1308
• Jhapa: 672
• Morang: 1698
• Sunsari: 1730
• Udayapur: 47

• Saptari: 12
• Bara: 77

• Nuwakot: 10
• Kathmandu: 367
• Bhaktapur: 29
• Lalitpur: 229
• Kavrepalanchok: 12
• Chitawan: 12

• Gorkha: 11
• Kaski: 11

• Nawalparasi (West): 88
• Rupandehi: 90

Notes

References

• Lewis, M. Paul, ed. (2009). Ethnologue: Languages of the World (16th ed.). Dallas, Texas: SIL International.
• Russell, Andrew (1992). The Yakha: Culture, Environment and Development in East Nepal. Wolfson College, University of Oxford. Ph.D. Thesis.
• Russell, Andrew J. (1997). "Identity Management and Cultural Change: Religion and Politics Amongst the Yakha". In Gellner, David N.; Whelpton, John; Pfaff-Czarnecka, Joanna (eds.). Nationalism and Ethnicity in a Hindu Kingdom: The Politics of Culture in Contemporary Nepal. Amsterdam: Harwood Academic Publishers. pp. 325–350.
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• Russell, Andrew J. (Summer 2000). "The Missing and the Met: Routing Clifford amongst the Yakha in Nepal and NE India". Journeys. 1 (1): 86–113.
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• Russell, Andrew J. (2004). "Traditions in Transition: Sanskritization and Yakkhafication in East Nepal". History and Anthropology. 15 (3): 251–261.
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• Russell, Andrew J. (September 2007). "Writing Traveling Cultures: Travel and Ethnography amongst the Yakkha of East Nepal". Ethnos: Journal of Anthropology. 72 (3): 361–382.
  S2CID 146473574
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• Subba, Tanka B. (1999). Politics of Culture: A Study of Three Kirata Communities in the Eastern Himalayas. Chennai: Orient Longman.
  OCLC 44510406
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• Yakkha, Durga Hang (2002). Kirat Yakkha Ko Itihas Ek Chhalphal (in Nepali). Discussion on the history of the Kirat Yakkha.

• Yakkha Documentary