A minority indigenous nationality, Rautes are a tribe rare in the whole of Asia itself. It is a hunter-gatherer tribe and a nomandic band. Rautes roam in the edges of the mountainous jungles of Salyan, Pyuthan, Dang, Jajarkot, Surkhet, Dailekh, Achcham, Jumla, Doti, Darchula and Baitadi districts. They erect temporary huts to settle there, gather root food and fruit available in the vicinity, hunt wild animals, make wooden goods and exchange them for food grain and move to other places as and when the sources of food are exhausted. The word ‘Raute' is derived from the term ‘Rautee', which means ‘one who lives in huts/sheds' (Shahi, BS2057).

In the opinion of Anthropologist Reinhard (1974), the words Rajee, Rawat, Raute and Rautiya are used to denote ‘master' or ‘prince' (king). Raute, in this context, should be understood to denote 'lords of the forest'. Some Raute families have settled permanently in Dadeldhura and Darchula. They identify themselves by the word ‘Rajwar'. Rest of the Rautes are nomadic. Nomadic Rautes do not want to disclose their population. The census of 2001, nevertheless, records the population of Rautes at 658.

Rautes have a language of their own called ‘Khamchi', which belongs to the Tibeto-Burman family of languages. They have no practice of naming a newborn. They believe that their future depends on the type of prey they get on the day of childbirth. They can get married within their own clan and need not abstain from marrying blood relatives except the ones who are very close (Shahi, ibid). Although they identify themselves, like Thakuris, as Raskote, Shahi, Samal, Mulla, Rautes, they have, in fact, no clan as such and they have no situation to form clan except the situation to be divided into main band and secondary band (Reinhard, ibid). Their society appears to be an egalitarian and egocentric one which for the outward society, works as a cohesive and closed group (ibid). They have their own leaders and deputy leaders who play prominent roles in running their groups and deal with the society outside. They bury their dead ones along with his/her belongings and leave the place for good. They do not observe mourning (Shahi, ibid). They are basically devotees of Masto. Dade Masto and Dudhe Masto are prominent among their several gods and goddesses (Luitel, BS2055:056). They offer pujas and sacrifice in accordance with the directions of dhamis and jhankris.

Rautes are dependent for their subsistence on hunting in the forest, gathering root fruits, and wooden items to exchange them for food grain in the countryside. They like to kill guna monkey. They do not do agriculture work. They distribute the meat bought from hunting equally. They have a policy not to individually collect goods other than those for personal use or goods to be counted as wealth, to remain affluent by balancing means and ends, to have richer social life, to work in a cooperative and social manner, to link hunting and collecting work with rituals, socialization and artistic expression. The characteristic features of treating every individual equally, as is found in every hunter-gatherer society, are found among Rautes, too (Gowdy, 1999).