Changing Marital Status of Tribe in Darjeeling Hills: A Study of Sherpa Tribe under Upper Sonada Gram Panchayat, West Bengal, India

Abstract

The Sherpa (originally Sharwa) are one of the numerous ethnic group of the multiethnic district of Darjeeling, West Bengal,India. The word "Shar-wa", Shar means "east" wa means "person" in Sherpa and Tibetan language thus sherpa means the people of the east. The Sherpa tribal community has its own particular rituals, customs and tradition regarding marriage ceremony. No tribal society is static, everything is changing, so the changes in the marital status of the Sherpa tribe can also be also observed in Darjeeling hills, inter-caste marriages are taking place, the widow remarriage are socially recognised phenomenon in the tribal society. The distinct tribal identity of the Sherpa is slowly losing ground with rapid decline of language and changing social custom and rituals in this juncture.