Nepali Shepherds and Their Lifestyle

According to Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, A person whose job is to take care of sheep is a Shepherd. A Shepherd is a person who tends to feeds or guards sheep, especially in flocks. Shepherding is one of the oldest professions, beginning some 6,000 years ago in Asia Minor. Sheep were kept for their milk, meat and especially for their wool. Over the next millennia sheep and shepherding spread throughout Eurasia. To maintain a large herd, however, the sheep must be able to move from pasture to pasture, this required the development of a profession separate from that of the farmer. The duty of shepherd was to keep their flock intact and protect it from wolves and other predators. The shepherd was also to supervise the migration of flock and ensured they made it to market areas in time of shearing. In ancient times,  shepherds also commonly milked their sheep, and made cheese from this milk; only some shepherds still do this today.

In many societies shepherds were an important part of the economy. Unlike farmers, shepherds were often wage earners, being paid to watch the sheep of others. Shepherds also lived apart from society, being largely nomadic. It was mainly a job of solitary males without children, and new shepherds thus needed to be recruited externally. Shepherds were most often the younger sons of farming peasants who did not inherit any land. Still in other societies, each family would have a family member to shepherd its flock, often a child, youth or an elder who couldn’t help much with harder work; these shepherds were fully integrated in society.

In modern times shepherding has changed dramatically. The abolition of common lands in Europe in the eighteenth and nineteenth century moved shepherding from independent nomads to employees of massive estates. Some families in Africa and Asia have their wealth in sheep, so a young son is sent out to guard them while the rest of the family tends to other chores. Wages are higher than was the case in the past. Keeping a shepherd in constant attendance can be costly. Also, the eradication of sheep predators in parts of the world have lessened the need for shepherds. In countries like Britian, hardly breeds of sheep are frequently left alone without a shepherd for long periods of time. More productive breeds of sheep can be left in fields and moved periodically to fresh pasture when necessary. 

Typically shepherds were responsible for the sheep during the day, while a hut-keeper watched them during the nights. The sheep were taken out to graze before sunrise by the shepherd and returned them to brush-timber yards at sunset. The hut-keeper usually slept in a movable shepherd’s watch box placed near the yard in order to deter attacks on the sheep. Dogs were also often chained close by to warn of any impending danger to the sheep or shepherd by dingoes or natives. In Nepal, especially, Khas Chhetri is related to shepherding. It is believed that a huge flock of men were come from Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan and Kashmir. They migrated on north-west mountain area of Nepal, especially, Taklakot, Sinja (Jumla) etc. In that time they feed sheep and goats. They had no harited land for cultivation. Their main occupation was shepherding. It is also believed that Khas Chhetri were migrated in Nepal very before of 11^th  century. 

The mountain area of Nepal, there is less suitable soil for cultivation. So must of the people who live in that area are shepherd. From generation to generation they are shepherding that’s why it can be said that shepherding is like as a culture to them. They depend totally on their sheep. They can exchange their sheep with needed things. They can also sell their sheep and get money. Especially, they get meat, money and wool from their goats and sheep. Sheep are also used for transportation. They carry foods and other needed things through strong sheep. Sheep are the soul of the people of this region. Every household has a dozen to hundreds of sheep which are assembled into groups and taken to grazing fields and jungle. This group has sheep from five families that were mixed in the month of Jestha and will be separated in Asoj. When the sheeps are mixed one person from one household is enough to go after them but two are required when they are separated.

 Those people who are shepherd in Jumla, their whole life depends on sheep and they learn that things where they interact with jungle, hills, planet, sheep and their senior shepherd. They use their own mathematical concepts and process. So it become a great topic of research for researchers.