MA 2nd Year (English) “The Caste System in Nepal” - Dor Bahadur Bista LECTURE – 7 Fatalism MA 2nd Year (English) “The Caste System in Nepal” - Dor Bahadur Bista Min Pun, Ph.D. Associate Professor of English Tribhuvan University, PN Campus

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.

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.

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.

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 inclusion-exclusion 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

THE CASTE SYSTEM IN MANUSMRITI

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

DIAGRAM 1: Classical Model of Hindu Caste Hierarchy (Different views of caste in Kathmandu) BRAHMAN KHASTRIYA VAISHYA SHUDRA UNTOUCHABLE SYMBOLS Impassable barrier Permeable barrier

DIAGRAM 2: Nepali Model of Caste Hierarchy (Viewed by Bahun-Chhetri) (Different views of caste in Kathmandu) BRAHMAN THAKURI KHAS TAGADHARI CHHETRI NEWAR SHRESTHA MATWALI PANINACHALNE Other Ethnic Peoples Water unacceptable untouchable

DIAGRAM 3: Nepali Model of Caste Hierarchy (Viewed by the Majority) (Different views of caste in Kathmandu) CHOKHO JAAT PANI NACHALNE JAAT (Clean Caste) (Water Unacceptable) SYMBOLS Impassable barrier Permeable barrier

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 barrier

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.

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.

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.

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.

Dr. Min Pun Associate Professor, Department of English Tribhuvan University, PN Campus, Pokhara minpun@gmail.com minpun@pncampus.edu.np www.minpun.com.np www.pncampus.edu.np