Religion

Khas religion began with shamanism and nature worship. When the Khas Prince Siddartha Gautama achieved Nirvana and started preaching Buddhism in the 5th century BCE, Khas largely converted to Buddhism. The inhabitants of Khas later largely adopted Hinduism, however they revere and worship Buddha along with Hindu deities, and continue some shamanistic practices
The religion followed by most Chhetri today is very much patterned after Hinduism. Like the Brahmin Bahuns, their caste is among the "twice-born", so called because males are symbolically reborn at age thirteen, when they begin to wear the janai. Likewise, they share the same festivals as the Bahuns; the life cycle rites of birth, initiation, marriage, and death are celebrated with Brahmanic rites. This is especially true of the aristocratic Thakuri subcaste and members of Khas subcastes whose ancestors converted to Hinduism or who claim to be of pure Kshatriya blood.
Hindu Chhetris, like the Brahmin Bahuns, wear a sacred thread called a janai, which signifies their "twice-born" status. They also abstain from alcohol. Among Chhetris, the menstruation period is considered highly polluting.

Matwali Khasa religion

Many Khasa subgroups, collectively called Matwali ("alcohol drinking") Chhetris, retain faith in their traditional shamanistic and oracular religion. Their priests are called dhami, and all adherents are permitted to drink alcohol. However the Matwali do not wear the sacred thread typical of other Chhetris.
Principal Matwali deities are referred to collectively as masto, and also have individual names, such as Babiro or Tharpo. Each masto has a geographical domain in the Khas region. Other indigenous Khasa deities include the Mali-ka goddesses, associated in Hinduism with Bhagavathi, whom the Matwali worship on certain full moon days on high ridges. Matwali and other Chhetris also have a tradition of worshiping their kul-deuta or kul-devata (ancestral deity) at annual lineage gatherings.