Tansen Favorites

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Favorite thing: Unlike the Newari dominated Kathmandu Valley, the main ethnic group in Tansen and the surroundings (60%) is "Magar". Traditionally hill farmers inhabiting the lower slopes, the Magars have acquired a good reputation for their fighting abilities, so that many of them have been recruited into Gurkha regiments of the British and Indian armies. The Magars have their own language though most Magars understand Nepali.

The decline of the Magars kingdom resulted in Tansen shifting to trade, which was the speciality of the Newars. The Newars followed their trade and business and established marketplaces in strategically important areas like crossroads of trading routes or administration headquarters. Both of these applied to Tansen, where many Newari businessmen migrated, so that most of the representative buildings are in fact examples of Newari architecture.