"When I was 12 years old, I managed a family of eight with the skills I learned watching my father, but now I am not able to farm by my ancestral profession," said 50-year-old Rajkumar Thawhi (Patharkatta), who was carving stones on the side of the road on Thursday.
The Rajkumar of Rajviraj Municipality-2 Tetriganchi also has no other skills. There is an ancient skill of stone carving. He not only supported eight families of parents, four sons and wives by carving stones, he also built a 6-room concrete house in Hanumannagar Kankalini Municipality-4 Madhuvapur. However, he is worried that his sons cannot be taught more than 4-5 classes. "Earlier, we used to earn a lot of income by selling silauto and jaantho, which are made by shaping stones and engraving them, even our sons could not study more than 4/5th grade when they started carving stones," he said, "now silato and jaantho have stopped being sold, the use of spice grinding machines and mixtures that have grown in the village has started to put our profession in crisis."
Continuing the ancestral profession, the sons have been helping the prince in the same work. "Years ago, we have rented this land and have been making silatos and jantos," he said. "Almost half of the amount is spent on buying raw stone, transporting it and selling it," he said. The prince of the endangered caste, who has been bringing stones from Letang and Kerabari to make silatos and jantos, has been making silatos and jantos by renting land on the south side of the road in Rajviraj municipality-2 Tetriganchi. Rajkumar's family includes his 45-year-old wife Savitri and sons 30-year-old Shiva, 28-year-old Ravi, 26-year-old Ravindra and 22-year-old Ranjit. Even though the Zenten family is running now as the sons are also married, he is worried that the next generation will have a problem supporting the ancestral profession. Wiping his sweat, he said, 'My life has been spent in this, now the things we made are no longer used, there are no other skills. The future of the future generation will be confused.
The government has also been giving social security allowances to the endangered caste belonging to the tribal community. "But we need special opportunities in education rather than allowances," he said, "There are only 15-17 families in Saptari, our caste." Rajkumar laments that the idea of educating children has not come and the children also grew up working together. According to him, apart from Saptari, there are scattered settlements in Jhapa, Sunsari, Dhanusha, Parsa and other districts. Israt Pravin, Acting Mayor of Rajviraj Municipality, said that since the endangered communities are getting social security allowance, no special plan has been brought. "However, we are serious about fulfilling what they need," she said, "we understand and take initiatives." According to the National Census 2078, the population of this community is only 3,182.
