1.KHASAS
-The Khasas are considered to be Kshatriyas who spoke a language closely akin to Sanskrit
-The ancient ‘Khasdesh’ was their homeland, situated between the north westem provinces and Nepal.
– In ‘Brihat samhita’ of Varahmihira, the khasas were mentioned with kuluta, tanganas and kashniras.
-Today they are distributed in Shimla, Sirmaur, parts of Kullu and Kinnaur
– In Kinnaur they call themselves khashiyas. Khasas got supremacy over Dasas and kinner
-They gave the name to khaşgar and Kashmir
DRESS
-Woman use Gachi (waist string) and Chhuba (long coat), as well as Dohru (warm sari) Thipuh (headscarf) is used by woman and men wear achkan with fold inside.
-Their special dishes are Poltu and Siddu.
–Marriage: Khasa have three types of marriage system.
–Biyah: marital relations are settled by parents.
–Prano -love marriage
–Gadar, bride goes to the house of the bridegroom and the wedding ceremony is observed there.
-The script of the community in the past was ‘Tankri‘ but they use devnagari script now.
THODA-MARTIAL BOW AND ARROW GAME
–Khasas have khoond -warrior groups-
Mainly two types of khoond of the community form the basis of subgroups these are
Shatha” -means sixty and considered as kaurva group
Pasha” – means five and considered as pandava group
-Thoda Martial bow and arrow game is their common Interest and they arrange sport in open courtyard or ground from time to time. your
DIVISION OF PROPERTY–
-Ancestral property is divided among all the sons. But eldest, and in some cases the youngest son gets the additional share.
-This is called “Jethong” for the eldest brother and “Kani-Shiong” for the youngest brother
MAVI /MAVANA To JANPADAS
-The Khasas, organized themselves into families and villages and elected Mavi or Mavana meaning a strong person among themselves to head their group.
-The stronger Mavana subdued the weaker one and used to annex his territory.
-Thus, in this process the whole region was split into small units called the Mavanas and later on these areas developed into tribal Republics known Janapadas in the Sanskrit literature.
2) PISHACHAS:
-Pishachas are consumer of raw flesh, Inhabited the north frontier and adjoining -Tribe similar to them are Rakshasa along with Nagas, Kiratas and Yakshas.
3) YAKSHAS:
In Mahabharata, there is a reference to the encounter between Yudhishthra and his bothers with a Yaksha.
–They were also known as the tree gods endowed with mysterious super human powe