Heritage Preservation and Rights in Nepal: The Newar Language, Culture and Rituals

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As it concerns religious, political and historical aspects of Nepalese society. Heritage Preservation and Rights in Nepal. The Newar Language, Culture and Rituals should appeal to everyone interested in South Asia, castes, ethnic nationalism, anthropology, Buddhism and Hinduism.

BAL GOPAL SHRESTHA (PhD, Leiden, 2002) authored The Sacred Town of Sankhu: The Anthropology of Newar Rituals, Religion and Society in Nepal (2012, pbk. 2013) and The Newars of Sikkim: Reinventing Language, Culture and Identity in the Diaspora (Vajra Books 2015) to mention but two English publications. He served as a Research Fellow at the University of Oxford (UK) and at the International Institute for Asian Studies (IIAS, Leiden, the Netherlands).

This is my second book Vajra Publications has seen through the press. I hereby express my gratitude to Bidur, Lokesh and Nabindra Dangol for doing so in its present shape. It includes chapters written on various occasions while working on a number of research projects. They have compiled separately to appear either in peer reviewed journals or edited books, or presented as working papers during conferences and seminars. In the course of time, they were modified and updated wherever deemed necessary.

In the process hereof many individuals and organizations in Nepal, Sikkim, the Netherlands and the U.K. supported me in various ways. The list will be too long to include them all. However, it is my duty to mention the individuals and institutions without whose support this publication could never have been accomplished. In particular, I am grateful to the International Institute for Asian Studies (IIAS) at Leiden (the Netherlands) for facilitating the compilation as well as an edition of this volume when I was associated as a research fellow here. I would also like to thank the then director Dr. Philippe Peykam and deputy director Willem J. Vogelsang, Drs. Sandra A. Dehue as well as other IIAS staff members. I am further indebted to the Institute of Social & Cultural Anthropology/School of Anthropology and Museum Ethnography (University of Oxford, U.K.) for accommodating me as a research associate up to the present day. I am grateful to Prof. Dr. David N. Gellner for not only his constant supporting my research but also for writing a Foreword to the present publication.

The culture of the Kathmandu Valley, Nepal, has long been hailed as of world-historical importance, as recognized by the UNESCO World Heritage status given to the central cores of the three formerly royal cities of Kathmandu, Patan (Lalitpur), and Bhaktapur. The only reason that many of the festival and ritual traditions maintained by the Newars, both in those cities and elsewhere, do not have UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage recognition is that the Nepalese state has so far lacked the bureaucratic capacity to make it happen.

One of the longest-standing anthropologists of these Newar traditions in the Kathmandu Valley is Bal Gopal Shrestha (PhD, Leiden, 2002). He is also the foremost indigenous anthropologist of the Newars, with a string of publications to his name. His monograph, The Sacred Town of Sankhu: The Anthropology of Newar Rituals (Cambridge Scholar Publishing, 2012), will stand as the key source on that important Newar town, probably forever. In addition to his work documenting contemporary Newar society, he has written on historical and linguistic aspects of Newar culture, as well as making various literary contributions (poetry, short stories, essays). For many years he was associated with the late Indologist, fieldworker, and lover of the Kathmandu Valley, Bert van den Hoek; together they made the award-winning film, Sacrifice of Serpents: The Festival of Indrayani, Kathmandu (Leiden, 1997).

The present publication entitled Heritage Preservation and Rights in Nepal. The Newar Language, Culture and Rituals intends to provide perspectives on rights and preserving the Heritage of Nepal including the rising phenomenon of ethnic nationalism in Nepal which stresses recognizing the identities of the diverse ethnic groups, otherwise ignored and suppressed. On the other hand, Nepal-based ruling elites have long emphasized a civic policy propagating uniformity in diversity. This study further presents detailed information on the political, socio-religious and ritual aspects of Nepalese society. The topics discussed are based on ethnographic data as well as on archival and other text-related research. I also deal with the way the Nepalese renounced the 240-year-old Shah dynastic monarchy to then move forward on a fragile path while facing various complications as to consolidating the newly founded republic.

Particularly, this study not only provides us with (a) an exclusive insight into the Newar society, established by the original inhabitants of the Kathmandu Valley who have been viciously suppressed by the state since the 1769 Gorkha conquest of Nepal, and (b) an examination into how the Newars have preserved their language, culture, religion and distinct identity against the backdrop of the adversities faced between 1769 and 2016.