Khas people (English /khɑs/ Nepali ) also called Khas and Arya are an Indo-Aryan ethno-linguistic group native to South Asia, what is now present-day Nepal and Indian states of Uttarakhand, West Bengal and Sikkim. The Khas people speak the Khas language. They are also known as Parbatiyas/Parbates and Paharis/Pahadis or Gorkhali. The term Khas has now become obsolete, as the Khas people have adopted communal identities such as Thakuri and Chhetri because of the negative stereotypes associated with the term Khas.

According to the Constitution of Nepal, western hill khas Bahuns, Chhetris, Thakuris, and Sanyasis who are citizens of Nepal should be considered as Khas Arya for electoral purposes.

 

Origin

 

They have been connected to the Khasas mentioned in the ancient Hindu literature. Historian Bal Krishna Sharma and Dor Bahadur Bista speculates that the Khas or Kus people were of Yuezhi Tribes from Cental Asia, Historian Baburam Acharya speculates that Khas are a sub-clan of Saka, a Central Asian clan that originated at Idavritt (modern day Kashmir) and later migrated to the hilly regions of West Nepal where they were called Paharis/Pahadis literally translating to hill-dwellers. Khas were living in the Idavaritt in the 3rd millennium BCE. and the original meaning of the term Khas was Raja (Yoddha). He further speculates that Kashmir has been named from its local residents Khas as Khasmir. In the 2nd millennium B.C.E., one group of Khas migrated towards Iran while the other group migrated east of Sutlej river settling only in the hill regions up to Bheri River. Historian Balkrishna Pokhrel contends that Khas were not the Vedic Aryans but Turanid of the latter periods like the Gurjara, Darada, Shaka, and Pallava. He further asserts that post-Vedic Aryans were akin to Vedic Aryans in terms of Indo-Aryan languages and Indian culture.

 

History

 

Khas are believed to have arrived in the western reaches of Nepal at the beginning of first-millennium B.C. or middle of first-millennium A.D. from the north-west. It is likely that they absorbed people from different ethnic groups during this immigration. They have been connected to the medieval Khasa Malla kingdom. In the Kumaon and Garhwal regions of Uttarakhand in India, the Khas Brahmins and Khas Rajputs had a lower social status than the other Vedic Brahmins and Rajputs. However, in present-day western Nepal, they had the same status as the other Brahmins, possibly as a result of their political power in the Khasa Malla kingdom.

 

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