Yakkha people
ᤕᤠᤁᤰᤂᤠ याक्खा | |
|---|---|
Yakkha women in traditional dress | |
| Total population | |
| Nepal 17,460 (2021) | |
| India | |
| Sikkim | 193 (2006) |
| Languages | |
| Yakkha language, Nepali | |
| Religion | |
| Majority: •Kiratism 81% Others: •Hinduism 11.50% | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
Yakkha or Dewan (Nepali याक्खा, Yākkhā) is an indigenous ethnic group from the Indian subcontinent, mainly in modern-day Nepal and present-day India (related to other Kirat groups, like the Limbu, Sunuwar, Rai, and more distantly all other Sino-Tibetan peoples). It is one of the descendants of Nepal's prehistoric Kirat dynasty. The Yakkha people are subsistence farmers who inhabit the lower Arun valley in eastern Nepal. They number only a few thousand and their language is nearly extinct.