The people of Nepal

The number of travellers who return from Nepal and say that, for all the breathtaking scenery, it was the people they liked the most – is astonishing. Nepali friendliness is proverbial, and hospitality is deeply embedded in the national culture. “Guest is god” is a much-used saying, and children are taught early to press their hands together in the namaste greeting. Alongside this refined courtesy culture exists a tough-minded, proud independence and a rare talent for laughing in the face of hardship.

But the fascination of Nepal’s people is about more than charm. Despite the country’s modest size, it has a continent’s share of ethnic groups, with more than fifty languages and as many cultural traditions. Much of this diversity is owed to geography. North of the Himalayan wall live the Mongoloid peoples of central and east Asia. To the south, beyond the malarial plains, are the Indo-Aryans of the subcontinent. The people of Nepal are the descendants of daring or desperate migrants.

The Newars

The Kathmandu Valley has its own indigenous group: the Newars (see p.153), whose tight-knit communities are recognizable by their distinctive architecture of warm brick and carved wood. Newars are found across Nepal, however, as their enterprising merchant class founded the bazaars around which so many hill towns grew. The Newars could be said to represent a mixture of all Nepal’s cultures: they are Hindus and Buddhists at the same time; they look by turns “Indian” and “Tibetan”. But it would be more true to say that they created the culture that is Nepal – including the culture of extraordinary religious and ethnic tolerance, which persists, admirably, today.

Sherpas, Tibetans and other mountain folk

Nepal’s most famous ethnic group, the Sherpas (see p.342), makes up less than one percent of the population. Alongside other “Bhotiya” peoples of Tibetan origin, such as the Humlis of Humla and the Lo-pa of Mustang, they live at the harshest, highest altitudes, traditionally herding yaks and growing barley, buckwheat and potatoes. All follow the Tibetan school of Buddhism (see p.401), and are in many ways indistinguishable from Tibetans – as are their communities, with their stone houses, and their chortens, prayer walls and prayer flags. Bhotiya people are noticeably less tradition-bound than Hindus, and women are better off for it. Looks aside, they’re recognizable by their clothing, especially the rainbow aprons (pangden) and wraparound dresses (chuba) worn by married women.

ipi8hfBu+Fu1Tqp6g5eaALs= The hilly heartlands

The Middle Hills, or pahad region, are occupied by an extraordinary mixture of peoples, sometimes known collectively as pahadiyas. Some areas, especially further west, are quite ethnically homogenous; further east it can be extraordinarily mixed: in one valley you might find a Chhetri (caste Hindu) village at low elevation, Rai and Gurung villages higher up, along with adjacent Dalit (untouchable) hamlets, and Tamangs or Sherpas occuping the high ground. Traditionally, however, the Middle Hills are the homelands of distinctive ethnic groups, known as janajaati or tribal peoples: the Gurungs and Magars

of the west (see p.229), the Tamangs (see p.187) of the central hills, and the Rais and Limbus of the east (see p.349). The janajaati now make up roughly a third of Nepalis and, with Maoist encouragement (combined with a long-standing hostility towards Brahmin oppression), they are increasingly assertive about their ethnic identities.

Mongoloid features and Tibeto-Burman languages are signs of ancestral origins; short stature and muscularity say more about rugged lives. The janajaati follow broadly animist traditions, overlaid by shamanism and subject to varying degrees of Hindu or Tibetan Buddhist influence. Social mores are relatively relaxed: women have more independence than their caste-Hindu sisters, for instance, and meat and alcohol are consumed enthusiastically. Print skirts, heavy gold jewellery and pote malla (strands of glass beads) are traditional dress for women; men have mostly abandoned the elfish daura suruwal (shirt and jodhpur pants) of old, but a topi on the head and a khukuri (machete) in the waistband are often seen.

Caste Hindus

The majority of Nepalis descend from Hindus who fled the Muslim conquest of northern India – or their converts. In the west, especially, they’re sometimes called Parbatiyas (“Hill-dwellers”) or caste Hindus, since nearly all were high-caste Baahuns and Chhetris who had the most to lose from the advance of Islam. High levels of education and a sense of entitlement provided the ambition necessary to subjugate the hill tribes they encountered. In the process they provided the country with much of its cultural framework, including its lingua franca, Nepali.

Baahuns Although Baahuns (Brahmans) belong to the highest, priestly caste, they’re not necessarily the wealthiest members of society, nor are they all priests. However, their historic ability to read and write has long given them a significant edge in Nepali society, and they have tended to occupy the best government and professional jobs – even half the Maoists’ leaders belong to the caste. Rural Baahuns have a reputation for aggressive moneylending that is sometimes deserved.

Baahuns are supposed to maintain their caste purity by eschewing foods such as onions, hens’ eggs and alcohol, and they are technically prohibited from eating with lower castes – including foreigners – or even permitting them to enter the house. In practice, the stricter rules are only followed by traditional families in the remote west of Nepal. Priest-work – which usually consists of reading Sanskrit prayers and officiating over rites for fixed fees – is usually a family business. Some Baahuns make a full-time living out of it, others officiate part-time alongside other work.

Chhetris The majority of Nepal’s caste Hindus are Chhetris. They are ranked in the classical caste system as Kshatriyas, the caste of warriors and kings. Like Baahuns, they rank among the “twice-born” castes, because men are symbolically “reborn” at thirteen and thereafter wear a sacred thread (janai) over one shoulder. While Baahuns usually claim pure bloodlines and exhibit classic, aquiline “Indian” features, many Chhetris have more mixed parentage. Some descend from the Khasa people of the western ipi8hfBu+Fu1Tqp6g5eaALs= hills, others are the offspring of Baahun and Khasa marriages and are known as the Khatri Chhetri, or “KC” for short. Those whose Khasa ancestors didn’t convert or intermarry are called Matwaali Chhetris – “alcohol-drinking” Chhetris – but because they follow a form of shamanism and don’t wear the sacred thread, they’re sometimes thought to be a separate ethnic group. Chhetris who claim pure Kshatriya blood – notably the aristocratic Thakuri subcaste of the far west, who are related to the former royal family – can be as twitchy about caste regulations as Baahuns. Chhetris have long been favoured for commissions in the military and, to a lesser extent, jobs in

other branches of government and industry. Significantly, the Shah dynasty was Chhetri, and their rule owed much to the old warrior-caste mentality.

Dalits – “untouchables” A significant number of Sudras – members of the “untouchable” caste – immigrated to Nepal’s hills over the centuries. The members of this caste are now known as Dalits, or “the oppressed”, and they certainly suffer severe disadvantages in Nepali society, being typically landless and lacking access to education, health facilities or representation in government. Many villages have an attached Dalit hamlet, often a cluster of smaller, meaner dwellings. Although untouchability was officially abolished in 1963, Dalits threaten orthodox Hindus with ritual pollution, and in many parts of the country they’re not allowed to enter temples, homes or even tea stalls, or they may be asked to wash up their own utensils after eating daal bhaat.

Another name for the Dalits is the occupational castes, as they fall into several occupation-based thars, such as the Sarki (leather-workers), Kami (blacksmiths), Damai (tailors/musicians) and Kumal (potters). While the importance of their labour traditionally helped offset their lowly status, nowadays they cannot compete with imported manufactured goods. Many are turning to tenant farming, portering and day-labouring to make ends meet.

People of the plains

Until recently, the Terai was sparsely populated by forest-dwelling groups like the Tharus (see p.240), Danuwars and Majhis. But the malaria-control programmes of the 1950s finally opened it up for several million gung-ho immigrants from the hills and India alike, and today the Terai is ethnically the most mixed area of Nepal – alongside the capital, of course.

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