Download The Caste System in Nepal by Dor Bahadur Bista

LECTURE – 7 Fatalism
MA
nd
2
Year (English)
“The Caste System in Nepal”
- Dor Bahadur Bista
Min Pun, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of English
Tribhuvan University, PN Campus
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THE AUTHOR: Dor Bahadur Bista
“Missing Anthropologist” has been a periodic
headline in the Nepal news about Dor Bahadur
Bista since 1995.
Bista was born in 1926 in Jaruwarasi, a village
south of Patan, the son of an army man.
After graduating from Patan High School, he
attended Trichandra College. In 1952 he took a
government job as the first headmaster of a girl’s
high school in Patan.
Professor Bista studied anthropology at the
Univerisy of London, the University of Wisconsin
and Columbia University in the USA.
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When People of Nepal by Bista was first
published in 1967, it was the first relatively
comprehensive view of the vast array of Nepali
cultures, castes and ethnic groups, with
descriptions of some of their customs.
Bista has published popular book called Fatalism
and Development: Nepal’s Struggle for
Modernization in 1991.
Bista conducted research all across Nepal,
among numerous communities for many years
before he began writing this book.
Bista is considered to have been the pioneering
anthropologist of Nepal.
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THE BOOK: Fatalism and Development:
Nepal’s Struggle for Modernization
The book is a bold and incisive analysis of
Nepal’s society, and its attempt to develop and
respond to change, from someone who has
travelled extensively across Nepal.
The book examines aspects of cultural and
social organization of Nepali society because
they are directly related to Nepal’s
development.
Bist says that Nepali culture is the culture of
fatalism that includes values and institutions
that are inherently in conflict with development.4
According to Bista, religion has been a central
feature of Nepali life but Nepal has never seen any
conflict with each other.
Collectivism is another feature of Nepali society
that gives importance to afno manchhe (one’s own
people) that encourages problems of inclusionexclusion as it supports its own members.
The practice of favouring afno manchhe creates
other problems such as exlusionary tendencies,
factionalism, failures in cooperation, and
corruption in various forms leading to
malfunctioning of development administration and
dissatisfaction at every level.
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In Nepali society, people also believe in
dependency and fatalism which is an obstacle for
development. For example, the practice of
chakari (sychophancy) is one of them.
In the book, Bista says that ethnic conflict is not
currently a problem for Nepal, but the conflict is
a problem in terms of class and caste. So caste
system is a base of many of Nepal’s
developmental difficulties.
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THE ARTICLE: “The Caste System in
Nepal”
Nepal’s caste system was and continues to be
quite complex. While the caste system and legal
code were publicly outlawed by the 1990
constitution, the caste system continues to play a
prominent role in many Nepalis’ private lives.
Nepal’s “unifier,” Prithvi Narayan Shah, once
called Nepal “a garden of four castes and thirty six
ethnic groups (varnas),” a statement that many
upper-caste Nepali point to as evidence of the
Nepali’s multicultural plurality.
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However, Jung Bahadur Rana had traveled to
Europe and was inspired to classify and document
Nepal’s caste system according to European legal
code. By 1854, the 1,400 page Muluki Ain was
approved into law, essentially codifying the social
hierarchy and caste structure into law.
Because Nepal was ethnically diverse and
complex, it diverged from the traditional Hindu
caste structure and was stratified into several
hierarchical categories that separated impure and
pure groups of people.
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The caste system is divided into four folds
which are Brahman (priests and scholars),
Kshatriya (warriors), Vaisya (merchants and
traders), and Sudra (laborers).
In this system, the membership is both
hereditary and permanent.
In this system, inter-caste marriage is almost
impossible as it carries a social disgrace,
especially when it takes place between two
castes at the extreme ends of the society.
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HOW CASTE SHAPES SOCIETY?
Definition:
A type of social organization/hierarchy
in which a person’s occupation and
position in life is determined by the
circumstances of his birth.
Rigid, hereditary membership into birth
caste
Marriage only among member of same
caste
Occupation choices restricted
Personal contact with other castes
restricted
Acceptance of fixed place in society
HISTORY OF THE CASTE SYSTEM
Nepal had its early connections with Hinduism
through the worship of Pashupatinath (Shiva).
So the early form of Hinduism is considered as
Shaivism, which was close to Shamanism and
animalism. It had no connections with any form of
caste system.
According to Bista, the caste system first entered
Nepal in the Licchavi era (4th century), in the form
of Vaishnavism.
When it entered Nepal, it had to adapt itself to
Shamanism, Shaivism, and Buddhism.
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THE CASTE SYSTEM IN MANUSMRITI
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PRACTICES OF THE CASTE SYSTEM IN
DIFFERENT PARTS OF NEPAL
The Kathmandu Valley
Gandaki Region
Khasaan
The Northern Himalayan Region
The Terai
The Eastern Hills
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DIAGRAM 1: Classical Model of Hindu Caste
Hierarchy (Different views of caste in Kathmandu)
BRAHMAN
KHASTRIYA
VAISHYA
SHUDRA
UNTOUCHABLE
SYMBOLS
Impassable barrier
Permeable barrier16
DIAGRAM 2: Nepali Model of Caste Hierarchy
(Viewed by Bahun-Chhetri)
(Different views of caste in Kathmandu)
BRAHMAN
THAKURI
KHAS
TAGADHARI
CHHETRI
NEWAR
Other Ethnic
Peoples
SHRESTHA
MATWALI
PANINACHALNE
Water unacceptable
untouchable
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DIAGRAM 3: Nepali Model of Caste Hierarchy
(Viewed by the Majority)
(Different views of caste in Kathmandu)
CHOKHO JAAT
(Clean Caste)
PANI NACHALNE
JAAT
(Water
Unacceptable)
SYMBOLS
Impassable barrier
Permeable barrier18
DIAGRAM 4: Secular Hierarchy (Viewed by the
Majority and Practised by all)
(Different views of caste in Kathmandu)
POLITICALLY OR ECONOMICALLY POWERFUL
(Mostly Bahun, Thakuri, Chhetri, Rajput and Shrestha-Chhetri
COMMON, POOR AND BACKWARD
(Matwali and ethnic communities)
SYMBOLS
Impassable barrier
Permeable barrier19
CASTE FLEXIBILITY AND THE CASTE
PANCHAYAT
As compared to India, the caste regulations in
Nepal have never been applied strictly.
The untouchables cannot change their status as a
group.
Except untouchables, if other caste groups lose
their caste status, they will be excluded from the
group. For example, the children of irregular
marriages of Bahun will be Jaishi, but Chhetris will
retain their father’s family names.
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In Nepal, each caste including the untouchables
has a caste panchayat.
Caste panchayats are councils of elders who settle
down intra-caste disputes of those who violate the
caste regulations.
Although the caste panchayat has no formal legal
system, its functions are to make judgements of
the caste system.
Judgements about the caste violations are made
according to the local traditions. Punishments
consists of loss of caste status, ostracism, fines, or
the offender is granted forgiveness.
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CASTE AND ETHNICITY
The caste system of Nepal has always been
unique.
As the process of modernization is increasing in
Nepal, the major groups of people are defined
ethnically rather than by caste such as Magar,
Tharu, Gurung, Thakali, Tamang, Sunuwar, Thami
Rai, Limbu, etc.
More importantly, educational, economic and
political considerations tend to divide people
rather than caste distinctions.
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CONCLUSION
In sum, the caste system is a hierarchical system
that is fatalistic. Bista sees a problem for
modernizing Nepali society.
This has directly influenced development in Nepal
in all dimensions.
With a history of caste, there is always a danger
of a Hindu high caste dominated value system in
Nepal.
Bista speaks for the well being of the future
generations, not for the revival of the hierarchical
caste practice.
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Dr. Min Pun
Associate Professor, Department of English
Tribhuvan University, PN Campus, Pokhara
[email protected]
[email protected]
www.minpun.com.np
www.pncampus.edu.np
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