page_title: Khas people
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Khas people / History
caption_attribution_description: नेपाल भाषा: Mandhata Shahi- SAKE-1612 English: Copper Inscription by King of Doti, Raika Mandhata Shahi at Saka Era 1612 (शाके १६१२) (or 1747 Bikram Samvat; or 1690 Common Era) in old Khas language using Devanagari script
context_page_description: Khas people also called Khas Arya are an Indo-Aryan ethno-linguistic group native to the Indian subcontinent, what is now present-day Nepal and Indian states of Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir. The Khas people speak the Khas language. They are also known as Parbatiyas, Parbates and Paharis/Pahades or Gorkhali. The term Khas has now become obsolete, as the Khas people have adopted communal identities such as Bahun and Chhetri because of the negative stereotypes associated with the term Khas.
  Although the term Khas has gained popularity in Nepali identity politics since the 1990s, many castes currently categorized as Khas may not identify themselves as Khas. According to the Constitution of Nepal, Brahmins, Chhetris, Thakuris, and Sanyasis who are citizens of Nepal should be considered as Khas Arya for electoral puposes.
context_section_description: Khas are believed to have arrived in the western reaches of Nepal at the beginning of first-millennium B.C. or middle of first-millennium A.D. from the north-west. It is likely that they absorbed people from different ethnic groups during this immigration. They have been connected to the medieval Khasa Malla kingdom. In the initial phase, majority of Khas people became Brahmins and others became Kshatriyas.
  Traditionally, the Khas were divided into "Khas Brahmins" (also called Bahuns) and "Khas Rajputs" (also called Chhetris). In the Kumaon and Garhwal regions of Uttarakhand in India, the Khas Brahmins and Khas Rajputs had a lower social status than the other Brahmins and Rajputs. However, in present-day western Nepal, they had the same status as the other Brahmins and Rajputs, possibly as a result of their political power in the Khasa Malla kingdom.
  Until the 19th century, the Gorkhali referred to their country as Khas Desh (Khas country). As they annexed the various neighbouring countries (such as Newar of the Newar people) to the Gorkha kingdom, the terms such as Khas and Newar ceased to be used as the names of countries. The 1854 legal code (Muluki Ain), promulgated by the Nepali Prime Minister Jung Bahadur Rana, himself a Khas, no longer referred to Khas as a country, rather as a jāt (species or community) within the Gorkha kingdom.
  The Shah dynasty of the Gorkha Kingdom, as well as the succeeding Rana dynasty, spoke the Khas language (now called the Nepali language). However, they claimed to be Rajputs of western Indian origin, rather than the native Khas Kshatriyas. Since outside Nepal, the Khas social status was seen as inferior to that of the Rajputs, the rulers started describing themselves as natives of the Hill country, rather than that of the Khas country. Most people, however, considered the terms Khas and Parbatiya (Pahari/Pahadi or Hill people) as synonymous.
  Jung Bahadur also re-labeled the Khas jāt as Chhetri in present-day Nepal. Originally, the Brahmin immigrants from the plains considered the Khas as low-caste because of the latter's neglect of high-caste taboos (such as alcohol abstinence). The upper-class Khas people commissioned the Bahun (Brahmin) priests to initiate them into the high-caste Chhetri order and adopted high-caste manners. Other Khas families who could not afford to (or did not care to) pay the Bahun priests also attempted to assume the Chhetri status but were not recognized as such by others. They are now called Matwali (alcohol-drinking) Chhetris.
  Because of the adoption of the Chhetri identity, the term Khas is rapidly becoming obsolete. According to Dor Bahadur Bista (1991), "the Khas have vanished from the ethnographic map of Nepal".
caption: Copper Inscription by King of Doti, Raika Mandhata Shahi at Saka Era 1612 (शाके १६१२) (or 1747 Bikram Samvat) in old Khas language using Devanagari script
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