6/30/2023 0 Comments Caste matters by suraj yengdeThere is a vibrant civil society that has been pushing for change since the 1950s. The poor in Nepal are disproportionately Dalits, Janajatis and Muslims compared to Brahmins and Newari, also known as Khas-Aryas. While it took another 110 years to revisit this constitutional code of Nepal, the King established Nepal as a “Hindu State” in 1963, suspending the short democratic rights and paving a path towards theocratic autocracy and deepening poverty for the majority. Like Manusmriti, the Muluk Ain described the roles of castes, classified those with untouchable rank, and imposed injunctions upon them. This formally acknowledged and regulated the castes into four varnas. In 1854, the caste system was strictly encoded along the lines of Manusmriti, known as Muluki Ain (Country Code of Nepal, 1854). Aahuti, one of Nepal’s leading scholars and brilliant minds, in his book Nepalma Varnabyawastha ra Barga Sangharsha, traces the presence of castes encoded in the Licchavi era (400-740 CE) stone inscription then advanced by the Malla dynasty. The introduction of untouchability was brought in around 600 AD. Credited as an extension of the Hindu republic, the function of caste was introduced around 200 AD in the Valley. Nepal’s caste system functions alongside India’s history in many ways.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |