Who is Rajbansi?
Rajbansi is one of the 59 indigenous peoples recognized by government of Nepal, residing primarily in Jhapa and Morang district. The meaning of Rajbansi is the family of King. They claim to be offspring of king who ruled in the past western part of Nepal. They are also known as Koch or Koche. According to eminent Sociologist in Nepal Dor Bahadur Bista says that during 17th and 18th Century Koch state was spread from Jhapa and Morang to Asam state of India. In due course of time, Jhapa and Morang were annexed in Nepal and Asam was in India and then there was full stop the political journey of Koch rulers. Koch then started changing of their identity into Rajbansi. Rajbansi are found mainly in Jhapa, Morang, and Sunsari. Their place of origin is the settlement area of Koch in Bihar, Bengal and Asam of India and also Bangladesh. But the largest settlemtn of Koches with their name Rajbansi is in Nepal only. According to latest national Census the population of Rajbansi is 115,252. Rajbansi have their own language, customs, rituals and lifestyle and they are rich in folklore, literature, culture and language.
A brief introduction about Language:-
Rajbansi have their own mother tongue which is known as Rajbansi Language, which belongs to Indo-Aryan language family, has no script. This language is spoken as many as 250,000 peoples apart from Rajbansi, other communities living in Jhapa, and Morang such as Doom, Gangai, Musalman and so forth.
Rajbansi Language speaking Countries: Nepal, India, Bangladesh and Bhutan