Bahun

Bahun (बाहुन) or Khas Brahmin(खस ब्राह्मण) or Nepali Brahman is a caste among Khas people, whose origins are from Indo-Aryans of Northern India. According to 2011 Nepal census, Brahman/Bahun stands as second most populous group after Chhetri in Nepal.

According to 1854 Muluki Ain (Nepalese Legal Code), Bahuns were regarded as caste among sacred thread bearers (Tagadhari) and twice-born Hindus.

Origin
Brahmin-Hill together with Chhetri were people of Indo-Aryan ancestry who have migrated in large scale from northern India. Traditionally, Bahuns (called "Khas Brahmins") were members of Khas community together with Chhetris (Khas Kshatriyas). Possibly due to political power of the Khasa Malla kingdom, Khas Bahun and Khas Rajput had high social status as indigenous plain Brahmins and Rajputs in the present-day western Nepal. Bahuns, regarded as upper class Khas group together with Chhetri, were associated mostly with the Gorkha Kingdom. Bahun (with Chhetri) are referred with tribal designation of Khas in most of the context than lower occupational Khas castes like Kami, Sarki, etc.

Clans and surnames
Bahuns were divided into two clans on the basis of residency. The Bahun residents east of Mahakali river were known as Purbiya Bahun and west of the river were known as Kumain Bahun. Kumain is a direct derivative of Kumaoni, meaning residents of Kumaon. Some of the surnames of Bahun are Adhikari, Dahal, Kafle, Prasai, Panta, Koirala, Oli, Acharya, Khanal, Bhattarai, Rijal, Ghimire, etc

Demography
According to the 2011 Nepal census, Bahuns (referred as Hill-Brahmin) appear as the second most populous group after Chhetri with 12.2% of Nepal's population (or 32,26,903 people). Bahun are the second largest Hindu group with a population of 3,212,704 (99.6% of Bahuns). Bahuns are the largest group in 15 districts in Nepal: Jhapa, Morang, Kathmandu, Chitwan, Nawalparasi, Rupandehi, Kaski, Syangja, Parbat, Gulmi and Arghakhanchi. Among these, Bahuns in Parbat (35.7%), Arghakhanchi (32.8%), Syangja (30.9%), Chitwan (28.6%), Kaski (27.8%) and Gulmi (25.2%) consist more than 25% of the district population. Kathmandu has largest Bahun population with 410,126 people (23.5%).

Bahuns have the highest civil service representation with 39.2% of Nepal's bureaucracy while having only 12.1% of Nepal's total population. The civil service representation to population ratio is 3.2 times for Bahuns which is fourth in Nepal. Kshetris represent 5.6 times in civil services to their percentage of population, which is the highest in Nepal. As per the Public Service Commission of Nepal, Brahmins (33.3%) and Chhetris (20.01%) were two largest caste group to obtain governmental jobs in the fiscal year 2017-18 even though 45% governmental seats are reserved for women, Madhesis, lower caste and tribes, people with disability and those from the backward regions. Similarly, in the fiscal 2018-19, Bahuns (34.87%) and Chhetris (19.63%) maintained 55% of their proportion in civil service as per Public Service Commission.

Bahunbaad/Brahmanbaad
Bahunbaad along with Bahun-Chhetri phenomenon has been dubbed as sociopolitical dominance of Khas-Pahades in Nepal. This dominance has emerged a critical condition for Bahun and Chhetri males for depriving of opportunities due to quota and Reservation for other castes. Former Prime Minister of Nepal, Baburam Bhattarai, who is also a Brahman,had argued that Khas Arya dominates the 80% institutions in Nepal and meritocratic system should not be introduced in Nepal. Opposingly, it is widely known that the Bahun-Chhetri dominance was based on formal legal system and the guilt of state capture is targeted by quota-reservation supporters. EU mission also suggested the Nepalese government to deny Khas Aryas their proportional representation election quota.

Notable people

 * Ranga Nath Poudyal
 * Krishna Prasad Koirala and Koirala family
 * Matrika Prasad Koirala
 * Tanka Prasad Acharya
 * Bishweshwar Prasad Koirala
 * Girija Prasad Koirala
 * Krishna Prasad Bhattarai
 * Man Mohan Adhikari
 * Prachanda
 * Madhav Kumar Nepal
 * Baburam Bhattarai
 * Khadga Prasad Sharma Oli