In India, they reside in Darjeeling, Kalimpong, Kerseong (West Bengal) and Sikkim (Shniderman, 2009, 2015).Therefore, the word Thami indicates to the people residing in the frontier territory of Nepal (Sheniderman, 2009, 2015; Turin, 1998, 2004) According to the 2011 Nepal Census, there are a total of 29,000 Thami of which some belong to the Kirat religion, and some belong to Hinduism and Buddhism.However, with due course of time Thami indigenous tribe were highly influenced by the popular religion and as a consequence they tend to identify themselves mainly as Hindu and Buddhist.One of the important causes is the exclusion of Thamis from autochthones tribe of Eastern Himalayas and lack of written documents to support the claim that they are aboriginals.They have always remained at the margin, and this forced them to depend on agriculture, hunting, carpentry, manual and unskilled works.
A Thami woman in
Ilam District
wearing Jhamke Bulaki, a typical Nepali ornament on her nose
