TAMANG

Tamangs belong to the Tibeto-Burmese group of races and are settled in the surrounding regions of Kathmandu Valley. They are mainly found in the districts of Rasuwa, Sundhupalchok, Kavrepalanchok, Makwanpur, Nuwakot, Dhading, Ramechhap, Dolkha, and Sindhuli. Poor people among Tamangs normally work as porters and others are in various other professions. A great majority of them engage themselves in cultivation and some kinds of handicraft work. They live in big communities with their fellowmen and act according to the instructions of their chief called Mulmi. They are traditionally Buddhists and their villages have monasteries for worshipping and other religious rites. 

The census of  2001 places their population at  5.6 % of the total national population. The Tamang language, culture, and traditions are rich. They were described as a powerful nation in historic inscriptions going as far back as the 3rd century, attesting to their ancient civilization. Based on Buddhist traditions, their script originates from Tibetan. Their language belongs to the Tibeto-Burman family. The archives of Tamang religious scriptures are also rich, varied, and vast. Their intellectual hierarchy had categorizations of royal priests, raconteurs of history, and other scholastic divisions of labor. They celebrate with equal fervor such diverse religious occasions as Lhosar, Maghe Sankranti, Baisakh Purnima, and Shravan Purnima.