Who are Kumal?

INTRODUCTION

Who are Kumal?

Kumal is one of the nationalities of Nepal. Kumal is an ethnic group. Kumal caste is one of marginalized Group of Indigenous Nationalities in Nepal. They are one of the oldest tribes in Nepal; however, their origin is unclear yet. The name Kumal according to experts, is derived from the Sanskrit word Kumvakar and the meaning of it is Kumva or Ku means df6f] kar or mal means ef8f agfpg] further called Kumal ( s'dfn ). They have their own Religion, Language, traditions or cultural practices, customs, occupation and lifestyles. 

They mainly lives on fertile valley close to the dense forest area and river of the inner terai and hills of Nepal. There isn’t any precise proof concerning the origin of Kumal people but Palpa in the western and Sankhuwashabha in the Eastern region are believed as their Origin. In accordance with the folklore, earlier Kumal people had small kingdom located at Tanahau district.Kumal people faces have seemed to be more or less pronounced the Mongolian feature. Of course, they are honest, docile, strong and hardworking people.  

According to Census 2001 AD, kumals population is 99,389 whereas According to population census 2011 AD, 121,196 kumals live in Nepal. They speak ‘Kumal’ language as their mother tongue which is a minor Indo Aryan language. Only 12,222 Kumal people speak their Kumal language in Nepal in 2011AD.The Kumals, mainly found in the outskirts of hills and the Terai,They are found scattered in almost 70 districts of Nepal mainly in Chitwan, Nawalparasi, Palpa, Gorkha, Lamjung, Parbat, kaski. Tanahu, Syangja, Gulmi, Arghakhachi, Kapilbastu, Rupandehi, Dang, surkhet, Dhading, illam, Jhapa, Morang, Sankhuwashabha, makawanpur districts etc. In most of the cases they have settlements of clusters at one place. The main occupation of the Kumals is Pottery beside that they are also expert in fishing. They used to run their family by selling the clay pots especially for household use but due to the modernization of steel, iron, plastic utensils they are losing their occupation.  Recently, they have become dependent on agriculture and animal husbandry. Some of them are involved in other profession as business.

Many years ago Kumal were owner of the large land but they loss more than half of their land now. Kumals are not getting any chances from government as well as. So their issues are all but invisible to many people and government, and their rights are abused. Thus Kumal are being backward and difficult to survive their lives hood.Due to the lack of awareness, immigrants have exploited them. With high opinion of cultural aspects, languages, religious process and customs are only the key heritages that make differences than others. Culture actually defines the identity, dignity, pride and cosmology of a particular people. Therefore, its disintegration and disruption threaten the very existence of society. The cultural diversity and uniqueness of each ethnic nationality is the most valuable endowment of people throughout the Asian subcontinent. However they are being gradually disappearing and losing their identity. So, if timely not considered the facts, no doubt, one day our cultural identity and ethnic-diversity will be declined overtime from Nepal   

Demography of Kumal in Nepal.

According to the report of population census 2011, population of Kumal community is 121196 in total. 9211 Kumal people lived in Eastern Region, 29251 in Central Region, 65605 in Western, 15499 in Mid-western and 1630 lived in Far Western Region. Similarly 18355 Kumal people lived in urban area and remaining 102841 lived in rural area. According to National Population Census 2011, literacy rate of Nepal is 65.9% but literacy rate of Kumal is 63.1% ranked on 54th based by caste/ethnic group... so far from national average.

Population Of Kumal - District wise

S.N Name Of District Population of Kumal
1 Nawalparasi 14367
2 Chitwan 9302
3 Gulmi 8736
4 Dang 8445
5 Gorkha 8022
6 Tanahun 7955
7 Palpa 6802
8 Arghakhachi 6762
9 Dhading 4624
10 Rupandehi 3951
11 Parsa 3654
12 Pyuthan 3311
13 Bara 3134
14 Kaski 2530
15 Nuwakot 2426
16 Jhapa 2372
17 Sunsari 1881
18 Lamjung 1699
19 Baglung 1630
20 Syanja 1629
21 Banke 1589
22 Kathmandu 1461
23 Mahottari 1369
24 Morang 1302
25 Dhanusha 1185
26 Saptari 1032
27 Other Districts 10026
Total 121196
Source: National Population Census 2011