Introduction of Danuwar (दनुवार जतिको छोटी परिचय)

The term Danuwar is not derived from the mother tongue
spoken by the people of this folk group: rather it is a derivation
related to Nepali word Duna (leaves plate). Normally speaking,
people who settled on the bank of the stream and the rivers
and adopted the profession of fishing were called Danuwar.
Thus, Dune (in Nepali signifying inner terai) was appropriate
place for them. People being settled in Dune were named as
Danuwar. Etemologically, the term Danuwar was derived from
the Sanskrit Dronibar (droni signifies the plain land between
the confluence of two rivers situated in the laps of two hills)
as mentioned above, fishing is their main profession so they
settled on the confluence of the two rivers. Similarly, Dukucha
in Newar language signifies the domestic animal goat. One
day, people heard Dukukarne (the crying of goat) while they
were approaching over there right in present village. Since
then, the name of the place began to be known and recognized
as Duku deleting the suffix <arne> and the inhabitants were
called Danuwar. Historically speaking, in the fourteenth century,
the king of Simoroungarh, the ancient kingdom on the midsouthern
part of Kathmandu, constructed a grandeur palace in
the name of his beautiful daughter and she was married by the
crown prince of Lanka (now Srilanka). The queen gave birth
to five sons after marriage. Among them one was Danuwar
and the rest of the three were Newar, Sunuwar, Kirat and
Limbu. The same Danuwar immigrated and settled to the hilly
area from the inner terai. His successors’ surname remained
Danuwar. Long time ago, Machhendranath or Matsyendranath
(means the king of water) was escorted from Kamarupa, one
of the holy Indian pilgrimage, to Kathmandu. The Danuwar
had gone to bring Matsyendranath Baba and brought him
enroute to Dukuchhap. It was getting night as they arrived at
Dukku. So, they stayed and passed one auspicious night over
there and the devotees celebrated arrival of Baba hosting a
worship during the whole night. They offered him Prasad on
the plate made of leaves and a baby girl was seen on the same
plate in the next morning. Machhendranath was astonished to
see it and baptized her as Duna because she was born out of
the Duna, the plate made of the leaves. In this way, it is believed
that they are the successors of Duna girl. They claim to be
God Machhendranath as their parental relative even today. They
have now scattered all over in search of better life and opportunities
of income generating business and settled in the different parts of
the country. In search of origin of Dhimal folk group, the Danuwar
is also mentioned as the three sons: Munaingba, Thoboingba, and
Yoboingba of Swayambhu Satrupa in Prof. Diwasa’s research.
There were ten sons of Munaingba and the ancestors of Koche,
Meche and Dhimal and the youngest Thirukpa was the predecessor
of Danuwar.The folk belief, as narrated by Khil Bahadur Danuwar to
the researchers, in terms of origin of this folk group is that
they were the poorest people of the poorest village and Duku
was derived from the Nepali word Dukhi (the poorest and
destitute). These people were Dukhi that signifies the poorest
and destitute in terms of economic and social condition.
Similarly, there were a Brahmin young boy and a Chhetrini
young girl. While the girl got asleep soundly, the boy put his
germs in Duna (the plate made up of the leaves) and kept over
her womb. It leaked and spilled inside and she became pregnant.
Her parent inquired her with whom she had sexual intercourse
but she did not have answer. However, the baby was baptized
because he was born from the chromosomes put on the Duna.
Her successors were called Danuwar.
Hasta Bdr Danuwar (73) and Purnamaya (70)
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