THE YAKHA: CULTURE, ENVIRONMENT AND DEVELOPMENT IN ...

At the local level, the figures for the ethnic distribution by
household in Tamaphok pancayat, gleaned from the figures and categories
used in the 1989 census, demonstrate the diversity present within the
panc6yat (see Fig6 3.2), Ward 5 in Tamaphok pancayat had 141 Yakha
households (with only 5 houses of other castes, all untouchables) and
there were 64 Yakha households (out of 156) in ward 6. Along with some
Yakha houses in wards 4 and 7, there were probably about 250 Yakha
households in the pancayat as a whole, about 25% of the total (but much
exceeded in number by Chetri households which, as we can see, made up
35% of the total).",
It would be nice to give a definitive response to the question 'how
many Yakha are there?' . This was a quest ion of ten asked by outsiders
wanting to establish a few basic facts about the population we were
studying, and my normal reply was to say that there were probably
between 5,000 and 10,000, In view of the large numbers of 'heart land'
Yakha with relatives in India, and the often surprisingly widespread
distribution of the group within Nepal, if pressed I would veer towards
the higher of these two figures. However, the total could be higher
st i 1 1 since it partly depended on how one determined the ' Yakha' /'non-
Yakha' boundary, While Tamaphok appeared to be something of a heartland
of a reasonably unambiguous Yakha identity, further afield it was not
simply problems of ennumeration which made it difficult to decide how
many Yakha there were.
In Marek Katahare panchayat, Dhankuta district, for example, we
found a population claiming to be Yakha but speaking a totally different
language, which Tamaphok Yakha called Chathare. Tamaphok Yakha were
generally uncertain as to the cultural status of these Chathare