The Chhetri are largest ethnic group of Nepal making up approximately 15% of the country's population and they are also present in the north eastern part of and India including Sikkim, Darjeeling and Kalimpong. They are predominantly Hindus and are of eastern Indo-Aryan stock. The word "Chhetri" is actually a corruption of the Sanskrit word "Kshatriya", meaning hereditary warriors and rulers who are below the priestly Brahman caste but above the merchant and farmer / craftsman castes that altogether make up Hinduism's four "clean" or touchable castes. The royal family belongs to the Thakuri - sub caste of Chhetris. The Nepalese history even though has experienced the rulers of different castes except than that of the chhetris but the present royal regime of the shah's also belongs to the chhetri caste. However, this notion has fundamental flaws and lacks historical as well as ethnographical evidence, thus it is severely disputable among the scholars of the Nepalese history.