John Tyman's Cultures in Context Series NEPAL PEOPLE |
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John Tyman's Cultures in Context Series NEPAL PEOPLE |
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| 040. Nepal is a small country but it has a population of 29 million, which is 6 million more than Australia and only 5 million less than Canada -- in an area little more than half the size of the United Kingdom. And only 15% of this total live in town and cities. (Kathmandu) |
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| 041. The greater bulk of the population manages to survive in rural areas in spite of the shortage of level land, but they do so with great difficulty -- as subsistence farmers operating outside the cash economy. (Planting corn at Ramja Thanti) |
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| 042. The distribution of the population is highly irregular, since it reflects wide variations in the productive capacity of the land. Less than 10% of the total live in mountainous areas. The balance is divided almost equally between the Midlands and the Terai. (Hill Country farming near Bhulbhule on the Marsyangdi River) |
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| 043. With the exception of local concentrations around the cities of Kathmandu and Pokhara, the density of population decreases from south to north: and the Manang District, bordering Tibet, is the least populated. (Manang District) |
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| 044. Nepali-speaking people represent half the population total, but there are a host of smaller groups. Very few countries, in fact, and none so small, are characterised by such racial and cultural diversity. (Young women serving as porters for tourists) |
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| 045. The inhabitants of Nepal can be divided, roughly, into two groups -- the Tibeto-Nepalese who came from the north and east, and Indo-Nepalese from the south and west. Those from the north typically have a "Mongoloid eye fold" (or epicanthus) with narrower "almond-shaped" eyes as a result. (Children near Pisang) |
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| 046.Those from the south, of Caucasian origin, generally have eyes that are wide open. But those who have been here since ancient times -- like the Newars of the Kathmandu valley -- are an amalgam of north and south. The Newari language is distinct from Tibetan, Hindi, and Nepali: and their religious beliefs are a blend of Hinduism and Buddhism. (At Phalenkangu near Dumre) |
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| 047. In addition to their physical appearance, the many sub-groups that comprise the population of Nepal differ widely in their customs, religion, clothing, house types and language. (Tharu family on the Terai) |
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| 048. Nepal is sometimes referred to as "the land of the Gurkhas" (especially by people in Britain) as if the words "Nepalese" and "Gurkha" were synonymous. However, though the original "Gurkhas" were soldiers from the ancient Kingdom of Gorkha, few of those serving in the British and Indian armies today actually come from this area -- which is part of the Indo-Nepalese culture realm. (British army medals) |
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| 049. Instead most of today's Gurkas are drawn from ancient Nepalese groups like the Gurungs, Thamangs and Mangars that settled here several thousand years ago and have more in common physically with the people of Tibet than with those from India. This Gurung village near Ramja Thanti had few men in it because they were away serving in Gurkha regiments. |
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| 050. In the First World War Gurkhas fought in France, Gallipoli, Palestine, Egypt, Mesopotamia and Baluchistan: and in the Second World War over 300,000 Gurhkas fought on every battle front in Africa and Asia, and also in Italy and Greece. Forty thousand of them were killed. Old soldiers wear their medals with pride, and their wives can afford to wear gold. (War veteran on his way into town near Phalenkangu) |
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| 051. The actual distribution of Nepal's different groups reflects both the date of their arrival and the productive capacity of the land. The Indo-Nepalese groups, that 800 years ago fled the conflicts between Muslims and Hindus in the north of India, occupied the most attractive sections of the hill country, confining older groups like the Gurungs and the Thamangs to higher ground in most cases. (Brahman and Chetri settlement at Ramja Thanti) |
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| 052. Later migrants from Tibet -- mostly Sherpas and Thakalis -- occupied high mountain valleys which had previously been uninhabited, and were typically more than 3000 metres above sea level. (Near Muktinath) |
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| 053. The invaders from the south were led by upper class Hindus -- Brahmans (priests) and Kshatriyas (warriors) -- who were those most at risk during the conflicts then in India. In this way the Indian caste system was introduced into Nepal. (High caste Brahman family harvesting wheat at Ramja Thanti) |
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| 054. The children born of the intermarriage of Brahmans and Kshatriyas with the local Khas people (who had moved here from India long before them) were granted the status of Kshatriyas and were popularly known as Chetris: so too were members of other groups who switched from animism to Hinduism. (Wedding of Chetri soldier) |
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| 055. Though some Brahmans still serve as priests, most Brahmans and Chetris are now subsistence farmers. However, they still think of themselves as a cut above those on the lower rungs of the social ladder. (Brahman priests at Chetri wedding) |
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| 056. Some Brahman and Chetri individuals, who tire of the demands of day-to-day living, will renounce their worldly lives and become sadhu mendicants. They will wear saffron robes, live off alms and charity, and spend their days in meditation and the recitation of scared texts. In so doing they have renounced their caste and neither they nor their children (for they may marry) can regain their former status, though many may be employed around temples. |
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| 057. The operation of the caste system in Nepal is not as rigid as it is in India, but it nevertheless defines all Hindus socially and ritually by the group into which they were born -- with rules governing what one may eat, who one may marry, how one may work, and what and whom one may touch. (Cobbler near Kalopani : “untouchable” because he makes shoes from cow hide etc.) |
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| 058. Though half of Nepal's Brahmans and Chetris live in the western hills, they are now the most widely distributed of Nepal's cultural groups, and they have introduced Hinduism and the caste system to some (but by no means all) of the animist groups in the Midlands and on the plains. (Hindu worshippers, and sadhu, at the shrine of a tribal god Bikram Baba) |
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| 059. There are no significant differences in the manner of dress by which they can be identified, but Brahman and Chetri men wear a sacred thread (the janai) given to them at their initiation when they are 9 or 10 years old (later for Chetris) and replaced annually. From that point onwards they assume new caste responsibilities and can also eat in the company of adults. Girls assume their caste status only when they marry. (My friend using his janai at morning prayers) |
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| 060. And even though most of them are farmers today, the literary and priestly traditions of the Brahmans have secured for them important roles in both government and education, and in the religious and ceremonial life of the nation. (Brahman teachers at private school) |
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| 061. On the other hand, the Chetris, as successors to the ancient Kshatriyas, have long been active in politics (and provided hereditary prime ministers between 1846 and 1951). Nepali, an Indo-Aryan language, is the mother tongue of the Brahman and the Chetri castes (and those who merged with them) and it was adopted as the state language, though many other groups retain their own forms of communication. (Offices of the National Gallery in Bhaktapur) |
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| 062.The Sherpas and the Thakalis migrated as a single tribe roughly 500 years ago. Their religion and culture is that of Tibetan Buddhism, and the Sherpas were nomadic herders prior to the introduction of potatoes in the 19th century. (Village in the high country north of Muktinath) |
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| 063. Though most Sherpas are subsistence farmers, they are best known today for their work as porters and mountain guides. Only those in the Everest region have prospered significantly at the hands of climbers. The men and women who carry gear for trekkers elsewhere in Nepal are drawn from a variety of different groups. (Porters carrying trekkers’ gear on the Annapurna Circuit) |
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| 064. The Thakalis are mostly traders and merchants, being positioned astride the easiest line of communication between Tibet and India, and having long enjoyed a monopoly over the trade in salt. (Trader’s preparing to leave Muktinath) |
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| 065. Today the Thakalis are best known to visitors as innkeepers, providing both shelter and cups of tea to trekkers on the Kaligandaki and Annapurna treks. Many also farm on a small scale, growing barley and some potatoes, and grazing a few yaks on high pastures. (Inn at Manang) |
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| 066. The black cylinder in the corner of the room is used to make tea in the Tibetan way. The tea leaves are boiled in water first and then poured into a wooden cylinder -- to which butter and salt are added, and the ingredients blended with a plunger. This mixture is then returned to the kettle and reheated. |
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| 067. The Terai was the home of the Tharus but with the mass migration to the plains following the eradication of malaria, the indigenous groups lost out to newcomers from the hill country. Among these internal migrants were a significant number of entrepreneurs and money lenders, and many Tharus who got into debt were forced into a form of bonded labour, cultivating for its new owners lands which were their's originally. (Transplanting rice seedlings for rich landowner) |
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| 068. The most recent additions to the cultural mosaic of Nepal are the refugees that fled Tibet following its occupation by China in the 1950s. They live mostly in Kathmandu and Pokhara, and their arrival has seen a dramatic increase in carpet making -- and in the fortunes of the Buddhist stupas at Swayambhunath and Bodhnath. (Tibetan weaver with necklace of turquoise and coral) |
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