After the death of the 49-year-old headman Suryanarayan Shahi last Baisakh, the endangered tribal Raute community, which leads a nomadic life, has started the process of choosing a new headman. Chief Shahi died while living in Barahtal rural municipality-8 Sotkhola of Surkhet.

If someone dies in the community, the migration routes are now living in Surkhet's Lekbensi Municipality-10 Jupra River. The Raute community, which migrates to different districts of Karnali, has been living in the forests of Dailekh and Surkhet for the last few years.

is chosen as a leader in this community that operates according to its own language and rules. They are under the control of that chief. The chief does work, how to unite the community, settle disputes, take the initiative to solve problems in the community and so on. For some time now, the Raute community has been engaged in selecting a chief. Suryanarayan Shahi, the 49-year-old head of Raute last Baisakh, died in a settlement in Barahtal rural municipality-8 Sotkhola. Suryanarayan, who fell ill due to excessive alcohol, initially refused to go to the hospital. He finally said he would go the next day and died at night.

The main head of the Raute community, which has three heads, was Suryanarayan . Raskoti Shahi surnamed him at the age of 28 years and 21 years ago Mahamukhiya Mahin Bahadur Shahi made him a chief. Mahin Bahadur, who is related to Bhanja, made him a headman saying that he had a problem to support himself alone. Suryanarayan used to say that Mahin Bahadur used to hire his own to do half the work.

After the death of Mahin Bahadur in October 2080, Suryanarayan moved forward as the chief. Before Mahin Bahadur, his father Man Bahadur was the Shahi Mukhiya. Now the Raute community has moved on to electing a chief. They have also completed some meetings. Dil Bahadur Shahi, Route Mukhiya of Sowanshi, informed that it is customary to hold a meeting only once for women and only once for men when choosing a head. According to him, there has been a discussion about making his brother Sher Bahadur Shahi in place of Suryanarayan, but it is yet to be decided. He said that the selection will be completed in the coming decade. Lal Bahadur Khatri, a pair of teachers working in the settlement through the

route project, informed that the community has held a meeting of women and men for the selection of the chief. They have had 2 meetings. He said, "Only women are allowed to speak in women's meetings." Men only in men . Now it has been agreed to hold a joint meeting of men and women in October to choose the chief.'

Although there was a verbal agreement to give the responsibility of chief to Sher Bahadur Shahi from the meeting, the final decision has not been made. Suryanarayan's brother Sher Bahadur will be tested by the community during this period. If everyone is ready to accept him as the head, they will hold a meeting in October and make him the head. If his activities are not satisfied, the process of choosing another head will proceed . Only men have been the heads of the Raute community so far. Jodi teacher Khatri said that even though women are not made heads, they also make decisions.

'It's not that men only do it . Women must also agree . And there is a custom to choose the chief," he said. In the community, there is a tradition of making a person who is over 20 years old and married a head . Dil Bahadur says that as much as possible, mature men with children are made chiefs. According to him, everyone should agree to accept what the chief says.

After everyone agrees to accept what the chief says, a period of one to two months is set aside for him to think about what he will/shouldn't do . After everyone obeys the order, finally they choose the chief. If there is a conflict in the community, the headman has to settle it, go outside the community and take responsibility for the work to be done, go out and collect help in case of food crisis, go to the place called by someone, meet someone in the settlement and so on.

'Until some time ago, only the chief used to go out for work outside the settlement . Now the youths are starting to go out . "Most of the programs are attended by young people," says Khatri. The Raute community is now in the process of electing a new headman in Kalyal Thaar as well . After the age of the current chief Bir Bahadur Shahi, who is 62, is increasing, preparations are being made to make Prakash Shahi the chief . Prakash is also a relative of Bir Bahadur. There have been meetings for him too. A meeting was held for the new two chiefs. Prakash is also on trial.

In the beginning, there is only one head of the Raute community, now there are 3 heads of the community . A pair of teachers Khatri informed that one of the three people is the main head. According to him, there is no sure information about when there will be 3 heads. He said that since 2075, when the route project was running, there were different heads of different types and one main head. He narrated that Suryanarayan told him that Mahin Bahadur had made him a chief 21 years ago because it was difficult for him to work alone. Later, he used to say that he was the head of all the three tribes.