Tharu languages

Tharu
(not a linguistic group)
Native to	Nepal, India
Ethnicity	Tharu (incl. Bhoksa)
Native speakers	1.53 million in Nepal (2011 census) 400,000 or more in India (1997–2007)
Language family	Indo-European Indo-Iranian Indo-Aryan various Central and Eastern Tharu
Official status
Official language in	Tharuban of Nepal
Language codes
ISO 639-3	Variously: thl – Dangaura Tharu tkt – Kathoriya Tharu thr – Rana Tharu the – Chitwania Tharu thq – Kochila Tharu tkb – Buksa Tharu soi – Sonha
Glottolog	thar1284

The Tharu (Nepali: थारु) or Tharuhat (Nepali: थरुहट) languages are any of the Indo-Aryan languages spoken by the Tharu people of the Terai region in Nepal, and neighboring regions of Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar in India.

Although their own precise classification within Indo-Aryan remains uncertain, Tharu languages have superficial similarities with neighbouring languages such as Awadhi, Maithili, and Bhojpuri. Moreover, the leixcon of certain Tharu households is indicative of an archaic, 'indigenous' substratum, potentially predating both Sino-Tibetan or Indo-Aryan settlement. Moreover, Tharu languages appear to be transitional within the context of Indo-Aryan.

Chitwania Tharu is spoken by approximately 250,000 speakers east of the Gandaki River, in and around the Chitwan Valley. Chitwania, as a whole, has superficial similarities with Awadhi. Nevertheless, certain Chitwania variants appear to have considerable lexical similarities with Manchad, a Sino-Tibetan language.

Dangaura, Rana, and Buksa refer to a triumvirate of mutually-intelligible Tharu variants spoken west of the Gandaki River, spoken by approximately 1.3 million people. Furthermore, an additional variant of Tharu, known as Sonha, is largely mutually intelligible with Dangauru.

Kochila, a diverse Tharu variant, is also spoken by approximately 250,000 people, in regions of eastern Nepal. Many ethnic Kochila have adopted Maithili.