Traditionally, Bahuns were members of Khas community together with Chhetris. 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 are referred with tribal designation of Khas in most of the context than lower occupational Khas castes like Kami, Sarki, etc.
According to the 2011 Nepal census, Bahuns appear as the second most populous group after Chhetri with 12.2% of Nepal's population. Bahun are the second largest Hindu group with a population of 3,212,704. 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, Arghakhanchi, Syangja, Chitwan, Kaski and Gulmi consist more than 25% of the district population. Kathmandu has largest Bahun population with 410,126 people. 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 and Chhetris 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 and Chhetris maintained 55% of their proportion in civil service as per Public Service Commission.
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.
