The Gurung (Tamu) people of Nepal live mainly on the southern flank of the Annapurna mountain massif and speak a Tibeto-Burman language of the same name. According to the 2001 census of Nepal, there are 543,571 ethnic Gurung who account for 2.39 percent of Nepal’s total population, of whom 338,925 speak the Gurung language as a mother tongue. Many Gurung are Lamaist Buddhists, while others have adopted Hinduism. They make their living in agriculture and livestock raising. Along with the Magar, Rai, and other Nepalese ethnic groups, a number of Gurung have won fame as Gurkha soldiers in the British and Indian armies. Gurungs trace their descent along paternal lines and are organized into two groups, or moieties, of patrilineal clans.