Being Nepali: the Construction of a National Identity in South Asia

8/10/2019 Being Nepali: the Construction of a National Identity in South Asia

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BEING NEPALI: THE CONSTRUCTION OF A NATIONAL IDENTITY IN SOUTH ASIA

John Whelpton

Words with a fine, generous ring about them are generally difficult to capture with a neat definition. Whilst not quite in

the same league as `love' or `freedom', the concept of `nation' certainly suffers from this problem. The word itself has

a long history. The root meaning of the original Latin natio is birth', but it came to be used to mean `a people' in the

ethnic not the class sense!, and, at least in the writings of "icero #st.cent.$.".!, had the same implication of

primitiveness as the %nglish `tribe'.#&n %nglish, as in other %uropean languages the word was sometimes used simply to

mean the natives of a particular area, without any political implication, but the earliest citation in the Oxford English

Dictionary, from a #th.century (orthumbrian poem, already has the implication of solidarity) `*f &ngland the nacion

es &nglisman thar in commun.' The use of the word today normally implies that the group in question is large in si+e,

has a sense of collective identity, is or was! associated with a particular territory, is mared off from other groups by

common cultural characteristics, and either functioning as a political unit or regarded by themselves and others as

capable of so doing. These criteria allow us to count as possible `nations' the many `peoples' for whom -nthony mith

sets up the category of ethnie, while he restricts `nation' to groups with the additional features of common citi+enship

and a high degree of economic integration./0etaining the broader definition not only reflects normal usage but also

avoids pre1udging the question of 1ust how different the modern form of the nation is from its predecessors.

(ationalist ideology very often taes territory and culture as fundamental, and as sufficient to establish a group as a`natural' unit and thus tends to see the sense of political identity as recognition of an ob1ective reality. -rguably

`natural nations' can indeed be found, but only at a very early stage of human development. "onsider a tribe with

religion and language lacing internal sect or dialect variation and totally distinct from those of its neighbours, with

whom it has little contact. 2nder this situation, the group's ob1ective characteristics could be seen as uniquely

determining the sense of identity. 3owever, today, as throughout most of recorded history, migration, conquest and

cultural borrowing means that most human beings are caught in a web of potential group identities. &n attempting to

discover natural' national groupings we would obtain different results depending on which criteria were considered

most relevant) erbs and "roats, for e4ample, spea the same language erbo5"roat! but are divided by religion

67ree *rthodo4y and 0oman "atholicism! and their separate histories as sub1ects respectively of the *ttoman and

3apsburg empires. %ven applying a single criterion will not necessarily yield an unambiguous result because we have

to decide on the degree of similarity required) spoen "antonese and 8andarin are aabout as different from one

another as 9rench from &talian, but the former two are regarded as `dialects' of "hinese and the latter as independent

languages, basically because the political unity of the "hinese empire has been preserved down the centuries, whilst

that of the 0oman empire has not. #

3omogeneity can thus be determined by the nation rather than the other way round, and this process can involve not

only defining which feature of the population are politically significant but also the active reduction of internal

#Lewis : hort,Latin Dictionary, s.v. natio./-nthony ;. mith, Theories of Nationalism, London) 3arper : 0ow, #


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differences. While language is arguably not quite so central to national identity as sometimes thought, it provides the

clearest e4amples. -t the time of the 9rench revolution standard 9rench was spoen by only about #/> of the 9rench

population ,?but its use was subsequently e4panded by the twin engines of mass education and military conscription. -

"antonese5speaing schoolboy in 7uang+hou today is required to study at school in 8andarin, the dialect adopted as

"hina's national language. The ironing out of diversity within the national unit goes together with the development of

myths and symbols which encourage a sense of corporate identity. The nation states and would5be nation states as we

find them now are thus the product of a process of construction, the ideal, but in practice unrealisable culmination of

which would be the recovery of tribal solidarity) to adapt the phrase of $enedict -nderson, modern nations can perhaps

be best seen as imagined tribes'./

0ecent scholarship on nationalism has tended to see this integrating and homogenising process as very much a recent

phenomenon) `nationalism,' according to @edourie's famous formulation, `is a doctrine invented in %urope at the

beginning of the #


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was before the world 0ome has turned into one city'


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0eformation, as Erotestantism spread initially only in the Lowlands. 3ighland society was to retain its separate identity

until well after the end of cottish independence, but the government in %dinburgh saw in that separateness a barrier to

its own authority and at the beginning of the si4teenth century was already legislating against `the &rish language' as

cottish 7aelic was termed.##

The cottish e4ample thus clearly shows the emergence well before the 9rench 0evolution of the main features of the

%uropean nation state) identification with a territorial unit rather than simply with the universalist order of medieval

"hristendom, and a trend towards unity among the disparate human population of that territory both by unifying myth

and by cultural assimilation. This ind of development was particularly characteristic of %urope, but some similar

trends can be found in outh -sia. -n e4amination of the history of the ingdom of (epal provides parallels with the

process of nation5building in pre59rench 0evolution %urope, 1ust as more recent developments in (epal mirror the self5

conscious nationalism of #


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constantly shifting mosaic of smaller unitsI alliances and rivalries springing up among the latter without respect for

boundaries. There does e4ist an ideal order but it is a universal one, transcending individual states. &n the 8uslim

tradition it is visualised as the undivided milat-i-islampeople of &slam! and in classical 3indu thought as the

establishment of 'arnashramathe proper observance of caste and of the progression from student through householder

to ascetic! under a cha*ra'artinworld5emperor!. There is a clear parallel with the medieval concept of

"hristendom, contrasted with the order of territorial states which later prevailed.

The motivation behind Erithvi (arayan and his successors' e4pansionary drive certainly fits this `3indu universalist'

model rather than the fulfilment of a pro1ect of national union. The 7orha conquerors were concerned with economic

gain, through increasing land revenue and also through the control of trade through the 3imalayas. "onquest could

also be seen as an end in itself, enabling the warrior to fulfill his natural function. &n the #D?Fs, some years after the

e4pansionary phase had ended and the 7orha empire was hemmed in by $ritish &ndia, the ra(grof @ing urendra

$iram hah sought the permission of the $ritish 0esident to attac iim. When ased why the ing wanted to do

so, thegrsimply replied) `3e is a *shatriya. &s he never to draw his sword'#&f ideological concerns had any part,

they also were universalist) in theDi!ya /padesh, Erithvi (arayan's political testament, he described his ingdom as an

asilreal! hindstan, that is a land where 3indus ruled without the indignity of 8uslim supremacy.#AKet despite all,

this there did e4ist from early times in the hills some degree of common feeling which could serve as the basis for

developing a sense of solidarity. -lthough Erithvi (arayan and other high5caste 3indus claimed immigrants from &ndia

as their ancestors, they were at the same time well aware of their separation from the &ndian plains. -n account of

Erithvi's life, probably written by a (epalese $rahman in the second quarter of the nineteenth century, records how,

long before his conquest of the @athmandu Galley, the ing went on a pilgrimage to $enares and en route met a partyfrom Earbat, a neighbouring hill ingdom. When he ased if he could travel with

them, the official in charge replied) `Whilst we were in the hills it was 7orha, Earbat, Ealpa or Eyuthan, but when

we're in the plains madhes! hillmen pahari! are one. 3ow could we go to $enares without you'#B

Whilst allpahari, whatever their ethnicity, might feel a common sense of separation from the plains, the Earbatiyas,

who were and are the ey group within the state, were also united by a number of cultural factors. The Earbatiya

language was the most obvious, but also important was their caste system, which, although it divided them from one

another, also mared them out as a group from other 3indu communities. The caste around which Earbatiya identity

was anchored was the @has nowadays generally styled `"hetris', i.e. *shatriyas!. Their ancestors were probably a

branch of the -ryan migration into the &ndian subcontinent distinct from the Gedic -ryans but subsequently

3induised.#=The two castes above them in the Earbatiya hierarchy both claimed plains origins) the $rahmans, who

143odgson to 7ovt.of &ndia, AC#FC?=, 9or. ec /FC#FC#D?=, no.D


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traced their ancestry to 3arsha's old capital of @anyaub1a modern @annau1! on the 7anges, and the Thauris, Erithvi

(arayan's own caste, claiming descent from 0a1put refugees who fled into the hills from the 8uslim invaders. #DB

&n (epal proper the line between aboriginal and immigrant was, however, much less well5defined than his simple

schema suggests. 8any Thauri and $rahmans were really of @has e4traction, whilst those who retained the @has

name had for the most part been granted the right to wear the sacred thread of the twice5born 3indu. - @has family

which gained prominence invariably claimed 0a1put origin, even though its pretensions were often not accepted by

others.#


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position than Thauris and "hetris.

=========== =

Whilst the high5caste Earbatiyas can thus readily be seen as a `proto5nation', can the other ethnic groups brought under

their rule be seen as in any way belonging to it &n a recent study of the unification of (epal, @umar Eradhan has

argued strongly that they cannot)

= MThe (epalese stateN did not unite the segregated groups brought under it, on the contrary it divided them. This

was because their relationship was now based on usurpation and e4ploitation and not on a sense of equality 5 a

sine qua non in the process of nation5building.'/

The non5Earbatiyas, and also, of course, the untouchable, occupational castes amongst the Earbatiyas were indeed

subordinated to the upper Earbatiya castes Eradhan's approach is nevertheless open to question on two counts. -t a

theoretical level, his e4clusive focus on a paradigm of nationalism provided by %urope in the wae of the 9rench

revolution leads him to ignore the fact that inequality is not incompatible with some degree of solidarity. ubordinate

groups may regard their position as part of the natural order, or, even if they resent it as un1ust, they may still feel a

sense of solidarity with their overlords in certain situations because group identity is generally relational) in other

words, a 8agar or Limbu could feel himself strongly s such when facing a $rahman or "hetri landlord or government

official, but as a hillman or 7orha when confronting a plainsman.

econdly, though showing some awareness of the comple4ities of the situation, Eradhan does not give sufficient weight

to the differing degrees of integration with the Earbatiya social and political order e4hibited by the different non5Earbatiya groups. This integration was high for the 8agars, and, to a lesser degree, the 7urungs of the central hills,

who had long been losely associated with the Thauri rulers of the hill statelets, but much less for the 0ai and Limbu of

eastern (epal, the area with which Eradhan is particular ly concerned. -lthough nominally sub1ect to the en dynasty,

who also claimed 0a1put ancestry, the Limbu chiefs were in a ind of partnership with the ens which left their own

tribal institutions, and in particular their *ipat system of communal land tenure intact./A7orha rule was thus more

liely to be perceived as alien in the east and must have seemed less so in the heartland of the 7andai basin and even

in the @athmandu Galley itself, where Earbatiya and non5Earbatiya had long lived closely together/B.Erithvi (arayan

himself seems to have recognised this distinction when he advised his predecessors not to trust `the @has and $rahmans

of the west and east' Di!ya /padesh op4cit, pg.#BF!

Tal of integration' in the conte4t of a caste5system may seem parado4ical, but in outh -sia caste has indeed

performed an integrative function, albeit in a highly circumscribed manner. 9rom Gedic times down through &ndian

history tribal groups were successively brought into a single social order as castes and in (epal this process is more

/@umar Eradhan, The )or*ha Con+ests op4cit., p.#B/.

259rancis $uchanan 3amilton,%n %ccont of the 5ingdom of Nepal, (ew ;elhi) -sian %ducational ervice, #


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recent and thus more susceptible to investigation. -lthough the (epali words"atiand"atcan be used now to convey

the distinction between tribe'C`ethnic group' and `caste' respectively, in colloquial speech they are used

interchangeably. The #DA Legal code, which systematised the caste hierarchy, uses"atfor both categories and in his

discussion of this document, 0ichard $urghart tries to convey the breadth of reference of"atby translating it as

`species.'/=

. The process of incorporation did not always involve putting a new `species' into the bottom of the hierarchy) new

members could sometimes be admitted to an e4isting caste or a whole group raised in status. uch action did, of course,

violate the essential brahmanical conception of closed descent groups in unchanging relationship with each other, and

there would generally be an attenpt to conceal what had actually happened) whereas in modern industrial society

official propaganda is normally concerned to e4aggerate the e4tent of social mobility, caste ideology dictated that the

ruling elite try to understate it. There was, however, widespread awareness that changes in caste status could occur and

that it was royal authority that was able to effect them.

The changes nown to have occurred in (epal in the years before and immediately after unification are revealing. -s

has already been seen, members of the @has tribe were allowed to assume the sacred5cord and converted into *sha-

triyas"hetris!. &n pre5unification (epal the same facility was allowed to prominent members of the 8agar tribe. The

author of the first full5length western account of (epal, "apt. @irpatric, who visited @athmandu in #=


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The relative fluidity in the #Dth. century of what were later to become much firmer divisions has recently led ;or

$ahadur $ista, (epal's best5nown anthropologist, to claim that Erithvi (arayan regarded the different categories of his

sub1ects as equals and saw $rahmans `as being an ethnic social group without recognising their association with caste.'

;or $ahadur $ista,6atalism and De'elopment, 3yderabad) *rient Longman, #


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core of the proto5nation' those 8agar and 7urung most closely associated with the hah dynasty's new state.

-side from this Earbatiya identity anchored around the @has, a second important factor was the political elite's concept

of the state which Erithvi (arayan had created as an entity to be protected and preserved independently of allegiance to

an individual. When taling of the ingdom in this sense, the (epali word used was not ra(yabut dhnga, literally

meaning stone'. 8ahesh 0egmi has argued that the use of this word, common from Erithvi's time onwards, signifies a

contrast with the pre5unification system in which the concept of the state, as opposed to the personal bond between ing

and follower, had not yet emerged.??Jean $erlie has pointed out the parallel between this concept and the Thai notion

of lat mang`spirit of the land'!, which was normally represented by a stone. There could conceivably have been a

case of cultural transmission given the south5east -sian origins of some of (epal's ethnic groups.?&t may also be

relevant that amongst the (ewars of the @athmandu Galley, groups of stones are used to represent the lineage deity, and

thus, in a sense, the continuity of the family.?AWhatever the origins of the concept, dhngawas certainly employed in

official (epali discourse very much in the modern sense of `state'. This is well brought in @ing

0ana $ahadur hah's use of the e4pression 1ust before his assassination by his half5brother, her $ahadur, in #DFB.

-ccusing her of having plotted against him, he told him that although he had forgiven him for his offence against his

own person, he still had to answer to the !haradarspresent for his crimes against the dhnga4?B

9urther recognition that his individual interests and those of the ingdom could diverge was provided in the role

traditionally played by the !haradari, the political elite including those currently in and out of office. This body

originally consisted of families which had an hereditary attachment to the hah dynasty in pre5unification 7orha but

they were subsequently reinforced by a number of families from the former !aisiand cha!isiingdoms.

?=

#F*nhis #=


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-ll the factors so far discussed still did not mae (epal a nation in the full sense of the word, since the sense of

identification with the new state was limited to a small minority among those within its 1urisdiction. They did, however,

provide a foundation which was slowly e4panded during the #


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tension but the 0ana family shogunate #DB5#


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many soldiers being stood5down and there was thus a substantial reserve of trained manpowerI the ma4imum number

of trained soldiers which could be mobilised in an emergency was estimated by $ritish officials in @athmandu as

around AF,FFF in the early #D?Fs and up to =F,FFF in the #D=Fs, figures to be set against the (epal government's #D?!

Twice5born) $0-38-( #> 0-JE2T ! F.?>

@usbaha ! #.F>

@ayastha ! @shatriya! F.?>

8usahar ! F.=>

$hat ! F./>

$aniya Gaisha! F.A>

*ther pure

castes) K-;-GC-hir herdsmen! >

@urmi cultivators! F.

8allah fishermen! F.A> /?

@ewat fishermen! F.A>

@umhar potters! F.?>

3alwai confectioners! F./>

&mpure, but

touchable) @alwar brewersC

merchants! F.

;hobi washermen! F.>


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Teli oil5presser! F.>

2ntouchable) "hamar leather5worer! #>

;ushad baset5maer! F.A>

@hatawe navies! F.?>

b!%thnic groups D.D>!)

&nner tarai) @umal F.> 8a1hi F.?> ;anuwar F.?> ;arai F.#>

Tarai proper) T3-02 B.A> ;hanua F.=> 0a1bamshi F. 7angai F.#>

c! 8uslims ?.?>!

55555555555555555555555555555555555

TABLE *: 8OTHER,TONGUE SPEA9ERS OF 8AIN LANGUAGES 03AGE OF TOTAL POPULATION4:

Lan%ua%e &'*;< &'=& &'>& &'2& &''&

(epali D.= AF.# A/.A AD. A?./

Ta$ai 0Indo,A$)an4:

8aithili ##./ #/.F ##.A ##.# ##.D

$ho1puri F./ B.# =.F =.B B.B

-badhi (.-. .D /.= #.B

Tharu . .? .? ?.B .D

Hi 0Ti/eto,Bu$-an4:

Tamang B.F A.B .D ?.A .=

(ewari .= .F ?.< ?.F ?.A

8agar ?.? /.= /.A #. /./

0aiC@irati /.< /.A /.F #.A #.


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7urung /.F #.= #.A #./ #.#

Limbu #.D #.A #.A F.< (.-.

ource) #


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border dispute with Tibet.=


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minorities, the 8ongol (ational *rganisation and the (epal 0astriya Jana1ati `(ational %thnic "ommunities'! Earty

were refused recognition and the Limbuana Liberation 9ront announced a boycott of the elections in protest against the

restrictions, but the (epal 0astriya Janamuti Earty, campaigning basically for ethnic quotas within the political and

administrative system, was allowed to participate. (one of these groups have a large following, and the largest share of

the vote gained by the Janamuti Earty in any of the AF constituencies where it stood was only #F>D/&ts share of the

(epal5wide vote was F.=>, well under the ?> hurdle it needed to pass to be recognised as a national party at the ne4t

lections. %ven if the ?> barrier were removed for the ne4t general election, the demographic situation together with

the first5past5the5post electoral system would mae it unliely that parties with an appeal only to minorities could gain

a significant number of parliamentary seats.

&n this situation, the natural method for putting forward hill ethnic demands is a combination of lobbying by non5party

presure groups and mobilisation of ethnic votes through parties which also appeal to the Earbatiyas. &n the two5party

system which has emerged in (epal, the opposition "ommunist Earty of (epal 2nified 8ar4ist5Leninist! is, lie the

governing (epali "ongress, led mainly by Earbatiya $rahmans, but it has made the stronger effort to appeal to the

minorities and gathered more of their vote at the election. This, of course parallels the situation in many other multi5

party democracies) in the 2.@. and in the 2..-. it is the Labour Earty and the ;emocrats, rather than their more right5

wing rivals who can rely on the votes of disadvantaged ethnic groups. This pattern is liely to persist in (epal, though

the comple4ities of politics at the local level may result in "ongress also developing lins with ethnic activismI there

were recent reports of a "ongress party official being lined with the distribution of a pamphlet calling for $rahman

and "hettris to `go bac to $enares'.D?.

/=

-nother possible channel for ethnic discontent would be the more radical Left5wing groups. The most e4treme of the

communist groups in parliament, the 2nited Eeople's 9ront, has voiced vocal support for ethnic demands, and in

summer #


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in theory lead to federalism, and @hagendra Jang 7urung, leader of the (epal 0astriya Jana1ati Earty, advocates the

division of the country into a do+en ethnic regions.DB 7iven the present distribution of the population it would be

impossible to create even appro4imately homogenous ethnic states without resorting to `ethnic cleansing' on a massive

scale and a more practical approach would be some ind of cantonal arrangement. - Tamang activist has proposed

reorganisation of local government to allow a decentralisation of power to ethnic community levelI at present the

`Giillage ;evelopment "ommittees' formerly Gillage Eanchayats! do not correspond to physical villages and include

settlements of many different communities. 9or the central level, he has proposed turning the 2pper 3ouse

0astriyaabha!, which is at present largely elected by the members of the lower house Eratinidhi abha!, into a

`3ouse of (ationalities', with representation for all ethnic groups in proportion to their numbers.D= The idea of

guaranteed representation for minorities in the 0astriya abha was accepted in both the 2nified 8ar4ist5Leninists

28L! and 2nited Eeople's 9ront election manifestos, whilst the 0astriya Jan 8uti Earty advocated proportional

representation at all levels below the very top in both the administration and political parties.DD/Dince there is 28L

support, a formula for 2pper 3ouse representation is a distinct possibility but anything more radical would run up

against the twin hurdles of acceptability to mainstream political parties and deciding 1ust how many of the myriad

`ethnic' divisions in (epal are to be regarded as politically relevant.

Two cultural issues, both with possible ramifications in the power structure, have also been eenly debated) religion

and language. 0eligious controversy in the wae of the #


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national identity partly in terms of 3induism.

*n the language issue, the constitution declared (epali `the language of the nation' and `official language' but made

concessions to pluralism by declaring that all languages spoen as mother tongues in (epal were `national languages'

and that any community had the right to operate primary schools in their own language. This falls well short of activist

demands for complete equality between languages and for the government itself to provide mother5tongueeducation.

-mong the national political parties, the 2nited Eeople's 9ront has again gone furthest to meeting this demand,

promising the use of mother5tongue at all levels in the education system and in the courts and administration.


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ideological factors at wor, but elites and would5be elites seeing a smaller pool in which to be bigger fish are an

important part of the e4planation.

&t is where 1ob opportunities are directly at stae that there is probably the greatest resonance between the activist

demands and the current aspirations of most of the hill minority population. The ey issue is that of increasingthe

proportion of minority5members in public5sector employment. 9ollowing the long5standing &ndian e4ample, ethnic

pressure groups demand a quota system `reservations' in the standard outh -sian terminology! to

redress the present imbalance in favour of the higher castes. *n this question there is a very clear LeftC0ight divide

between the mainstream parties, with the 28L and other communist groups endorsing the proposal and "ongress

firmly opposed. The introduction of reservations at a time of increasing economic pressure on all sections of the

population is indeed liely to be highly divisive, as in &ndia. The hill $rahmans, the group who would feel most

threatened by such a system, would acquire more of the characteristics of an assertive ethnic minority themselves.


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&ndian border and the constant movement of people and goods across this, which is not under control and is probably in

fact uncontrollable without disproportionate effort by the (epalese authorities. - direct consequence of this is the use

of 3indi as a lin language between the different tarai communities. The second factor is a tradition ofregionally5

based political organisation, starting with $hadraali 8ishra's Tarai "ongress in the #


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remared that very many (epalese citi+ens wear the dhoti.

-cceptance that citi+ens of (epal do not have to mae an all5or5nothing choice between a (epali or &ndian cultural

identity will probably prove the only way to resolve the tarai problem. - similar spirit would help in ;ar1eelinghere

the (epali5speaing community has the problem of minority status within West $engal, and in $hutan where the

Lepcha hillmen view the ethnic (epalese in the south of their country much as manypahari(epalese view people of

&ndian origin in the tarai. The situation in $hutan has already degenerated into violence and it will require tatesmanship

both in @athmandu and in the tarai to prevent a similar outcome.

Con#u!ion

The slow process of creating a national identity in (epal has now been complicated by an incipient movement to turn

ethnic minorities within (epal into nations within the nation. There are continuities between the processes both in the

#Dth. and #


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7ellner, %rnest, Nations and Nationalism, #


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(epali, "hittaran1an, $hri ,anch 2ana #ahadr $hah, @athmandu) hrimati 8eri 0a1bhandari, /F/F G..#


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2preti, Erem 0., Eolitical -waening in (epal The earch for a (ew &dentity! (ew ;elhi, "ommonwealth

Eublishers, M#

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Being Nepali: the Construction of a National Identity in South Asia

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