Nepalese culture and religion

Nepal has diverse cultural heritage, lying as it does in between the plains of India to the south and the mountainous Tibetan plateau to the north. The intermingling of the Indo-Aryans from the south and the Mongoloid peoples of the north has resulted in a multicultural patchwork.

Within the mountainous northern Himalayan zone there are four main ethnic groups, and most of them tend to be Buddhists:

The Thakalis from the Kali Gandaki valley
The Tamangs from the hills north of Kathmandu (many of the porters come from this ethnic group).
The Tibetans, who moved moved south, often for religious grounds, following the Chinese annexation of Tibet in 1959
The Sherpas from the Solu Khumbu area. This numerically small group are world famous for their toughness, loyalty and mountaineering skills

From the intermediate zone between the high mountains in the north and the plains to the south a number of different groups live.

The Kirati from eastern Nepal
The Newars from the Kathmandu valley
The Gurungs from the central intermediate zone (Famous for the Ghurka soldiers)
The Bahuns and Chhetris account for about 30% of the population of Nepal

Finally in the southern lowland plains of the Terai

The Tharus were the largest group, however following the eradication of malaria, other ethnic groups from the intermediate zone have migrated south to join the Tharus.

Officially 90% of the population are Hindu, 6% are Buddist, and 3% are Muslim. The peoples from the mountainous areas tend to be Buddhists and those from the lowlands tend to be Hindu. However as a result of migration and mingling of the ethnic groups, there is a rich blend of the two religions. Tolerance of the two faiths has led to a blurring of many of their distinctive features resulting in a rich and multifaceted feature that permeates all aspects of life in this beautiful country.

Read more in the Lonely Planet Guide to Nepal or other guide books of the region.