Increasing spell of Tharu Museum in Tulsipur

Tulsipur. The attraction of the Tharu Museum built in Dangisharan Rural Municipality-3 of Dang is increasing. Today, around 1,000 visitors visit the museum every day.

“About 1,000 visitors come every day”, said Shanta Chaudhary, vice president of the museum management committee. The museum has pictures, statues, maps, costumes, and traditional materials related to Tharu culture, tradition, and art.

Pictures reflecting the traditions, dances, festivals, and social life of the Tharu community are decorated on the walls of the house. Day by day people flock to see such things.

The showpiece materials have been kept to cover and represent all the Tharu communities of the society. According to her, now the number of people coming not only from within the district but also from outside is increasing.

Old coins, jewelry, earthenware, dangaura houses, and other materials of the Tharu community are kept in the museum for visitors to see.. So far, about six million rupees have been spent on the museum and the construction of a new structure is being done with additional investment.

Local people have also got jobs in the museum which has been operating since 2075 BS. A traditional house of the Tharu local deity that gives a glimpse of the Tharu village is also kept.

Old ornaments and clothes of the Tharu community have also been collected and put on display here.  Statues and maps have been drawn to reflect how the Tharu king managed the kingdom in Dang in the past. The museum has been built to preserve the history of Tharu from all regions of Nepal.

In the museum, the culture and history of Tharu from all places including Rana, Dangaura, Deukhuri, Chitwan, and Kailali Kanchanpur Morang can be seen in one place here.

All these traditional materials have been collected and brought from places where there is majority of the Tharu population in Nepal. The museum is spread over five bighas of land. While the general entrance fee to the museum is Rs 50, Rs 30 is charged for the disabled, students, and single women. Vice President Choudhary said that the daily income from the museum is Rs 40,000.

Though the Tharu community’s social organization “Tharu Welfare Association” has attempted to set up similar Tharu museums at other places in Dang and Kanchanpur too by investing a small amount of funding, yet they remain neglected while this Tharu museum at Chakhuara in Tulsipur got much appreciation and attraction among the people from within and without in the past few years.

Perhaps one of the reasons behind it could be assumed to be the helping hands extended and the concept of this museum being contributed by the social activist and current chief minister of Lumbini province Dili Bahadur Chaudhary (founding chairperson of Backward Society Education -BASE- an NGO operative in Dang Tulsipur since a long time) who is one of the instrumental figures behind setting up this Tharu museum at a larger scale and in increasing its publicity among the stakeholders.