Rana Tharu people of western Nepal connect the name to the Thar Desert and understand themselves as descendants of Rajputs who migrated to the forests in the 16th century.

[30] In 1854, Jung Bahadur Rana enforced the so-called Muluki Ain, a General Code, in which both Hindu and non-Hindu castes were classified based on their habits of food and drink.

[31] Tharu people were categorized as "Paani Chalne Masinya Matwali", i.e., touchable enslavable alcohol drinking group, together with several other ethnic minorities.

[32][33] In the late 1950s, the World Health Organization supported the Nepalese government in eradicating malaria in the forests of the central Terai.

[34] Following the malaria eradication program using DDT in the 1960s, a large and heterogeneous non-Tharu population from the Nepali hills, Bhutan, Sikkim and India settled in the region.

[35] In the western Terai, many Tharu families lost the land, which they used to cultivate, to these immigrants and were forced to work as Kamaiya.

[11] In July 2000, the Government of Nepal abolished the practice of bonded labour prevalent under the Kamaiya system and declared loan papers illegal.

[37] Bonded labour shifted to children who work in other households for food for themselves and their families, but rarely with access to school education.

[48] They developed a unique culture free from the influence of adjacent India, or from the ethnic groups in Nepal's mountains.

The most striking aspects of their environment are the decorated rice containers, colorfully painted verandahs and outer walls of their homes using only available materials like clay, mud, cow dung and grass.

Much of the rich design is rooted in devotional activities and passed on from one generation to the next, occasionally introducing contemporary elements such as a bus or an airplane.

In western Nepal and adjacent parts of India, Tharus speak variants of Hindi, Urdu and Awadhi.

The main components of the painting are Krishna, a Neolamarckia cadamba tree, a boat, fish, crabs, tortoise, monkeys and other animals, the ten-headed demon Ravana, Pandava, Draupadi, a sun and a moon.

[50] Mokha art is a typical style of painting the outer walls and verandas of homes in colourful forms in eastern Nepal.

However, since the 1990s, some Tharu groups in the Nepal Terai converted to Buddhism in the wake of ethnic movements for social inclusion and against the religious hierarchy imposed by the Hindu State.

[59] Among the Rana Tharus in Bardiya District, it is also custom to arrange marriage of a daughter in exchange for getting a bride for a son or vice versa.

[60] In the western Terai, Rana Tharu traditionally live in Badaghar called longhouses with big families of up to 31 members from four generations and between one and eight married couples.

The eldest male person in charge of Badaghar households and associated land holdings is called Mukhiya.

[61] Tharu people in Rajapur, Nepal are either landholders, cultivate land on a sharecropping basis or are landless agricultural labourers.

On this day, people of Tharu communities draw a special artwork known as Ashtimki Chitra made on the wall of the living room of the house of the village elder.

[50] In the eastern Terai, Tharu people celebrate Jur Sital on the first day of the year in the month of Vaisakha by sprinkling water on each other.

[71] Dhikri is a popular western Tharu dish which is prepared by making a dough with warm water and rice flour and is eaten with spicy chutney.

[72] Bagiya is similar to dhikri but is popular among eastern Tharus and consists of an external covering of rice flour and an inner content of sweet substances such like chaku, vegetables and other fried items.