The MAASINYA DASTOOR Series (2015 -)
The Maasinya Dastoor Series is about how the Tharus have been both economically and politically marginalized in history to the point of erasure. It is based on manuscripts such as Hindi, Maithili, Nepali, Urdu, and some Tharu that archive the various edicts issued by the varied rulers of Nepal, also known as “Dastoors”. The structural and socio-political oppressions that the Tharu people continue to face can be traced to these documents. The Tharus were forced to pay taxes on their native land, domesticate elephants for their exploitation by kings, and subjugate their people in the name of distant rulers. Titles such as Panjikar (record keepers), Chaudhary (chiefs who collected taxes), and Mahato (mahouts) were parcelled out disregarding existing social structures of Tharu society. In the 20th century, Tharu were enslaved by different rulers by imposing manuscripted DASTOORS in different languages. The Nepali rulers were in the trade of wild animals and the different rulers facilitated hunts for the British Raj and their dignitaries to secure their own reign. Thousands of animals were killed for the entertainment, ivory, rhino horn, and tiger skin of such foreigners on Tharu lands. Later National Parks were established on Tharu lands for hunting and now Tharu people are forced to be displaced in their native land.
Yet the Tharus who were close to the jungle were systematically labeled as masinya in Nepali law, a term which means enslavable or expendable. We were animists who worshipped nature, the forest, and its animals yet our culture was never given due respect. We were forced to adopt and Hinduize by both Northern hill-based Nepalis, and our Eastern Madhesi neighbors. We were forced to adopt new customs, languages, and religions. Maybe such oppression is what led to the revolts by Tharus against the Nepali state at different times. During the civil war of 1996–2006, the Tharus had the largest number of forcefully disappeared persons in the whole country. The government even initiated an operation entitled “Kiloshera 2” to exterminate supposed Tharu Maoists in the western-Tarai areas of Nepal. Repression from the state, landlords and even the Maoists themselves forced Tharus into an armed struggle for the recognition of their rights, others had to run away to India to protect themselves. Despite an end to the civil war, in many ways, this struggle continues.
This works aims to draw upon such narratives; to show how state systems (dastoors) treat Tharus as expendable (maasinya) beings. And perhaps in this way art counteracts the erasure of the suffering of our history.
After Anglo Nepalese war in 1814-1816 Nepal was forced to sign Sugauli Treaty in which Nepal lost one third part of its geographic territory.
Whole lowland between the Rivers Kali and Rapti (now: Banke ,Bardiya, Kailali and Kanchanpur Districts) was returned in 1860. Jung Bahadur Rana helped British Raj to suppress Indian Rebellion of 1856. It was returned to Jung Bahadur Rana.
GHORUWA ( ANCESTORS/ GOD)
According to the beliefs of the Indigenous Tharu people of Nepal's Terai region, terracotta
equine sculptures - known as Ghorwa - serve to link various ancestral clans.
There are four primary Ghorwas who represent the four ancestral brothers:
Madva, Bherva, Jagannathya, and Raura. The easiest to identify is Kaura, with his open,
cylindrical mouth. Others are differentiated by markings on their chest and neck; such patterns can
also differ regionally. Each brother was said to rule over a specific Praganna, which were defined
territories within the valley of Dang in midwestern Nepal. The elder three brothers ruled over designated
Pragannis, while the youngest Raura was permitted to wander and settle anywhere he desired.
Kumhal communities throughout the Terai have preserved the tradition of sculpting such figures from
clay and pit firing them to create terracotta works. Making and keeping such sculptures is primarily a
practice among Dangaura Tharus from the valleys of Dang and Deukhuri.
As many Tharu families from Dang migrated to districts further west in the 20th century,
Ghorwas are now found throughout the western Terai belt of Nepal.
Such sculptures are at times placed in regional sites of power and also serves as protective deities
for entire villages. Once fired, the Ghonva is believed to possess animate qualities.
They are sometimes found in a broken, crumbled state inside shrines
- a result of rival spirits battling each other for power.
Late Sahadev Kumhal Tharu (03/11/1962-08/10/2020)
Baghresi (Tiger Gods and goddess) sculpted by late Jokhanram Tharu Kumhal.
Batkohi is a process of storytelling and sharing space in which the younger generation to older generation is involved. The knowledge of storytelling is shared to the new generations. History, the struggle of the Tharu community are shared in the form of tales. This sharing space is created after the harvest of crops.
Many innocent civilians were forcibly disappeared and killed at the time of such sharing, sleeping, working in the field, during the time of People's war(1996-2006).
Image Credit : Ram Bhandari, (Simpani,Bhalam, Lamjung)
Bihani Sanskritik Pariwar (Bardiya) CPN Maoist.
Forced disappearance of innocent civilian in a particular Bardiya district. 
The New constitution of Nepal has inherently discriminated the indigenous, Dalit, Muslim, Women and the minorities community.
Still resistance and struggle for equal right, identity and representation continues in different approach.
YOYI! Care, Repair, Heal, Gropius Bau 2022 (Sep 16, 2022, to Jan 15, 2023)
MAASINYA DASTOOR series
“How have we stood up against injustice? How do we maintain our claims to our traditional areas and territories that have been stolen from us in the name of development and conservation? What position will Tharu indigenous people take in an ever-changing world?”
The work Maasinya Dastoor (2015–present) is drawn in ink and pen inspired by the form and technique of the traditional Godana/Tika (tattoo) culture to heal pain in the community on Lokta paper. The scrolls form an archive that tells the unofficial history of Chaudhary's community. The word maasinya means "enslavable and expendable" and refers to a dastoors from different period, in which the Indigenous people were categorized as an "enslavable alcohol-drinking group" in the Muluki Ain (Civil Code) of 1854. The artist overlays images of Tharu life over prints of colonial resolutions from Nepalese history. This shows how his community has been oppressed. The rulers killed the animals, which the Tharu worshiped as sacred ancestral god. The resolutions were enacted and still continuing to exercise control over Indigenous peoples . Among other things, Tharu were excessively taxed, national parks were established on their native land.
Re-Drawing of History
Medium: stippling drawing on Lokta Paper( Nepali Kagaz)
Size: 31.5 x 22.5 inches
2022
Detail of Re-Drawing of History
Maasinya Dastoor series (2015 ongoing)
Medium: stippling drawing on Lokta Paper( Nepali Kagaz), Terracotta Animal which represents ancestral Tharu Gods, TV screen, and mat
Size: 60.96 cm X 298.5 cm each scroll
Details of Maasinya Dastoor series.
Details of Maasinya Dastoor series.
Details of Maasinya Dastoor series.
Details of Maasinya Dastoor series.
Details of Maasinya Dastoor series.
Bhutwa Ancestors worshiped as God (Details of Maasinya Dastoor series.)
DDT, 2019
Acrylic on canvas
Triptych, 63 x 63 cm each
Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) also popularly known as “Danger Dose to Tharu” is based on one of the silenced histories of the Tharu community. During the 50s and 60s with support from the United States of America and the WHO the Nepali Government led a campaign to eradicate malaria in the Terai region. The control of malaria in the Terai belt made a dramatic change during the rule of King Mahendra. There was a mass migration of hill people to Terai, which exacerbated large scale of deforestation. In this painting I have used a Tharu wall relief technique to paint various objects including images of humans. Each image is approximately the same size as a mosquito. Thus it was not only mosquitoes who were subjugated to eradication, but also Tharus and the ecosystem they inhabited.
Citizen From the Land of Inequality Series, 2019
Acrylic on canvas
I: 122 x 153 cm
II: 153 x 122 cm
III: 153 x 122 cm
This work is a commentary on the state of violence perpetrated on the Tharus when they rejected the New Constitution of Nepal in 2015, which the they claimed was discriminatory. During the Tikapur incident of 24 August, 2015 and its aftermath seven police officers, a minor, and more than fifty people from the area were killed. The State played a big part in terrorizing the Tharu community by performing targeted arrests, killings and the burning of houses. The Tharu community was portrayed as being “violent” by the Nepali media, while the violence the community faced at the hands of State forces was ignored.
Details of ‘Citizen From the Land of Inequality’ III
Dastoor Series, 2019
Medium: Stippling drawing on archival paper digital print
Size: 38 x 52 cm
Source: Tej Narayan Panjiyar and Ramanand Prasad Singh Archives
In the drawing I have used official documents from different time periods in Nepali history as a backdrop for portraits of day to day Tharu activities. The documents have been issued by the Sen, Shah and Rana rulers of Nepal and themselves show the fluctuation of power over the years. More importantly, they record the way different rulers issued dastoors (legal orders) to control native people in their own land by enforcing taxes. Heavy taxes were imposed upon the Tharus in the 18th and 19th centuries forcing them to migrate from one place to another within the Terai. Taxes were imposed on nearly everything, from land to water, forest to agriculture, and crops to animals.
Tamasuk Series, 2015 ongoing
Material: Pen and ink on Nepali handmade paper
Size : 21.5 x 25.5 cm each
This series is about the systematic enslavement and unfair treatment towards the indigenous Tharu community by the government through the introduction of Muluki Ain (National Code of 1854), and the Land Reformation Act (1964). Tharus were categorized as a Masinya Jaat (enslavable caste). During the regime of autocratic rulers, Tharu lands were distributed and rewarded to different royal administrators and bureaucrats, which left the Tharus landless in their own place. The kamaiya and kamalari system was introduced in which Tharu men, women, and their children could be treated as commodity. They could be owned, bought, sold, and exploited by “upper caste” landlords in the same manner as livestock. Although this was only officially abolished in 2000, the Tharu community continues fighting for their basic rights.
The Diary: Barefaced Truth of the Suppressed, 2019
Carving on wood with image transfer
30 x 23 cm each
In Collaboration with Indu Tharu, author and researcher
I have recreated the diary of Jokhan Ratgainya who was a Tharu journalist, writer and revolutionary. He was murdered on June 11, 2001 by the then Royal Nepal Army at the time of the Civil War. This series depicts the situation of that period. It is rooted in the instability and killings faced by the Tharus of Far-Western Nepal at the hands of the Government of Nepal. People were arrested, murdered, and forcefully disappeared by the government in what came to be known as the “KILOSHERA 2 Operation.”
Ostracism, 2017
Cereals, corn, brass, and wooden box
19 x 7 x 3 cm each
This series addresses the extortion of Tharu land through the use of brutal force. The cereals and grains symbolize the traditional land of the Tharus. The bullets then are placed on top of the grains to connote the systematic violence through which these lands were taken away. These episodes of violence have repeated themselves over and over. However, as the grains are decomposing, new life is generated from them; perhaps resistance functions in a similar manner, growing out of centuries of violence.
Maasinya, 2018
Medium: Terracotta Ghaila (pot) Installation
Size: variables
Various ethnic groups such as the Tharu, Tamang, Sherpa, Kumals, and Hayu were categorized as masinya in the 19th century. This made them expendable in the eyes of the State. I have carved text from different periods on to the surface of the ghailas (pots). There are statements from King Prithvi Narayan Shah to the Constitution of Nepal, 2015. I felt a need to contextualize my community's anger and frustrations. I found strength in unearthing what has remained silent, and kept silent by the Nepali media, the State, and Civil Society. Some ghailas include text from the report produced by the Lawyers’ Association for Human Rights of Nepalese Indigenous Peoples. The report highlights that the indigenous Tharu people were in peaceful protest demanding for a province on the basis of the equal rights. The Government used force and later announced a curfew in the area targeting only a particular community, which is against International Law. Unnecessary suppression was so high that people had to flee and migrate from their homes, perpetuating the marginalization of Tharus.
Once There was a Village, 2018
Medium: Video of a miniature traditional village recreated using clay, bamboo, cardboard, ceramic pots, printed maps, glass, plywood, LED tubes
Size : Variable
This work questions indigenous identity, rights, equality, and social discrimination. In the aftermath of the Tikapur incident more than 88 houses were burnt. Houses of Tharus were specifically targeted. The video begins with the barmasiya folk song in which a lover reminisces about her beloved who is far away from his family and home. Eye witness accounts of the harsh suffering faced by Tikapur locals is heard as the houses burn.
Give Me Blood And I Will Give You Freedom
Medium: Acrylic on canvas
Size: Triptych, Two Painting 50.8cm x 76.2cm , One Painting 60.96 cm x 76.2 cm (Total size : 60.96 x 228.6cm)
Date: 2017
In 2015 after new constitution was drafted, various minority communities including Tharu from southern part of Nepal protested saying the new constitution will divide the country into seven federal states, which would discriminate against them and give them autonomy. During the series of protests a brutal clash occurred in Tharu major place Tikapur. Seven police officer and a minor was killed by mob but the Tharus were made scapegoat. Different investigation were done from Government’s side to find the root cause of the incident but none of the reports were publically announced. Latter Lawyer’s Association for the Human Rights of Nepal’s Indgenous Peoples published its report, stating their needs to be investigate in free and fair manner. While locals claim they are being arrested under false cases. Their houses , shops were looted and burnt down. Thousands of Tharus escaped Tikapur in the fear of being tortured.
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