Caste

Caste and Ethnicity Nepal Table of Contents

CASTE SYSTEM BINDS NEPALESE PROSTITUTES By Amy Waldman April 11, 2004 – (NYT) With its simple mud homes, low roofs and string cots, this tiny settlement near the Indian border looks like any other in this part of western Nepal. Only the women suggest something different, garishly painted as they are even in the early morning hours. They loiter on a slope or around the tea stall, waiting for men, who come, banter, negotiate, then slyly walk one of the women to one of the village houses. The women's children play nearby and watch. Caste has become destiny for many communities, defining their profession through generations. But few people have inherited so vexed a destiny as the Badis of Nepal. Their profession is prostitution, passed down from one generation to the next. While many Badi women have left the sex trade, others keep falling into it, driven by hunger, a lack of alternatives and the stigma of being a Badi. The Badis, who number tens of thousands across western Nepal, are one of 36 castes who make up Nepal's untouchables, said Suk Lal Nepali, a Badi who runs Social Awareness for Education, or SAFE, a nonprofit organization that works with the Badis. But, he added, "we are untouchable among the untouchables." Sunni Nepali, now 22, began working as a prostitute four or five years ago. Her body supports 11 relatives, including her parents and two younger brothers. Each encounter — she has up to five a day — earns her anywhere from 70 cents to $2.15. She loathes the work, she said, but sees no choice. She has no education.

Besides, she asked: "Who's going to marry me? I'm already involved in this." The Badis did not start out as prostitutes when they migrated to Nepal from India some three centuries ago. They made drums and musical instruments, fished and danced and sang. They would go to the homes of landlords, or zamindars, to entertain at social ceremonies, in return for food. In time, the zamindars claimed some of the girls as concubines. They would use them, then abandon them when they had children, said Ramesh Nepali, a Badi. Many Badis have taken the surname Nepali to avoid the disgrace of being a Badi. In this patriarchal society, fatherless children have few rights. It can be difficult to register their births, and thus get them citizenship, school admission, even the right to vote. Already nonentities in society's eyes, daughters dutifully followed their mothers into prostitution, often encouraged by parents no longer willing or able to work themselves. Badi men lived off the women's work. Social welfare organizations have tried to coax the women into other jobs with some success, said Suk Lal Nepali, although he noted that even his own sister slipped into prostitution three years ago. He says only 150 women remain in prostitution, down from 587 a decade ago. Still, the whole population remains stigmatized. About half of the 50 families that lived in this settlement have migrated to India in search of work as maids or guards, leaving perhaps 250 Badis in Muda. In part, that is a result of pressure from Maoists waging an insurgency against Nepal's constitutional monarchy. They are also against prostitution and have ordered the Badis to stop their work. There is pressure, too, from the government, carried out by the army and the police. "We can no longer be prostitutes," said Kokali Nepali, 30, a mother of four. "Before, it was accepted, it was open. Now there is pressure from all sides — society and government. We cannot do it openly." In this part of Nepal, however, there is little other work to be found. Even many of the women who have abandoned the sex trade, like Kokali Nepali,

live off it, working as educators for SAFE and other groups. All of the women insist they practice protected sex, and say they have educated many of their customers to do the same. Sunni Nepali even lamented that because she used condoms so reliably, it would be difficult for her to conceive a child to raise on her own, which she wanted. There have been about 236 total H.I.V. cases identified in the middle and western parts of Nepal, said Dr. G. Raj Shakya, the president of the Nepal S.T.D. and AIDS Research Center in Nepalgunj. He said he had not identified H.I.V. cases among Badis, but that he was almost sure there were some. Many of the women refused to be tested, he said, for fear that a positive result would further stigmatize them and their community. The women say the danger is from those who migrate to India, and then come back. Using the AIDS threat as leverage, the Badis have been seeking government help to move into other lines of work, but without success. "We are in a position to leave prostitution if the government is ready to announce we are not prostitutes and provide alternatives," Suk Lal Nepali said. His organization has opened hostels for Badi girls, hoping that a different environment will keep them from following their mothers into the sex trade. But some girls remain. Kokali Nepali's 7-year-old daughter was around as the women did business. So was Gomati Nepali's 12-year-old, Rabina, who said she wanted to be a nurse. Gomati Nepali got into prostitution at 15, when her parents were sick, the family poor. She works out of her mother's house. "In an environment like this," Gomati said of Rabina, "I'm afraid she will go into this."

From: http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/11/international/asia/11MUDA.html What is the caste system of Nepal? The cast system of Nepal is banned by Nepalese Law but it still exists in many parts of Nepal. One is considered untouchable based upon the cast of which they are born. Someone claims to be superior claiming others inferior. For example, those who make the best knives in the world, the Kamis are considered untouchables in rural parts of Nepal!!! Influence of cast system is in marriage too, that is a person falling in a particular cast group marries someone in the same cast group. Bahun or Brahmin cast marries someone Brahmin or a cast near to it. Nepal is developing everyday and in cities the cast system is almost negligible these days. In rural areas of Nepal, cast system still prevails due to lack of education and awareness. An example of a cast system would be that you are cast A, either higher or lower, holding a higher or lower power in the community being affected by various casts B C D E and so on. It is possible to sue someone if he/she has discriminated you, the Nepalese law provides that. In Nepal, the cast system is being slowly eradicated by education and empowerment.

Ethnic Groups Nepalese society was ethnically diverse and complex in the early 1990s, ranging in phenotype (physical characteristics) and culture from the Indian to the Tibetan. Except for the sizable population of those of Indian birth or ancestry concentrated in the Tarai bordering India, the varied ethnic groups had evolved into distinct patterns over time. Political scientists Joshi and Rose broadly classify the Nepalese population into three major ethnic groups in terms of their origin: Indo-Nepalese, TibetoNepalese, and indigenous Nepalese. In the case of the first two groups, the direction if their migration and Nepal's landscapes appeared to have led to their vertical distribution; most ethnic groups were found at particular altitudes. The first group, comprising those of Indo- Nepalese origin, inhabited the more fertile lower hills, river valleys, and Tarai plains. The second major group consisted of communities of Tibeto-Mongol origin occupying the higher hills from the west to the east. The third and much smaller group comprised a number of tribal communities, such as the Tharus and the Dhimals of the Tarai; they may be remnants of indigenous communities whose habitation predates the advent of Indo-Nepalese and

Tibeto-Mongol elements. Even though Indo-Nepalese migrants were latecomers to Nepal relative to the migrants from the north, they have come to dominate the country not only numerically, but also socially, politically, and economically. They managed to achieve early dominance over the native and northern migrant populations, largely because of the superior formal educational and technological systems they brought with them. Consequently, their overall domination has had tremendous significance in terms of ethnic power structure. Within the Indo-Nepalese group, at least two distinct categories can be discerned. The first category includes those who fled India and moved to the safe sanctuaries of the Nepal hills several hundred years ago, in the wake of the Muslim invasions of northern India. The hill group of Indian origin primarily was composed of descendants of high-caste Hindu families. According to Joshi and Rose, "These families, mostly of Brahman and Kshatriya status, have spread through the whole of Nepal with the exception of the areas immediately adjacent to the northern border. They usually constitute a significant portion of the local elites and are frequently the largest landowners in an area." This segment of the Indo-Nepalese population, at the apex of which stands the nation's royal family, has played the most dominant role in the country. Other ethnic groups, including those of Indian origin that settled in the Tarai, have been peripheral to the political power structure. The second group of Indo-Nepalese migrants includes the inhabitants of the Tarai. Many of them are relatively recent migrants, who were encouraged by the government of Nepal or its agents to move into the Tarai for settlement during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In the early 1990s, this group mostly consisted of landless tenants and peasants from northern India's border states of Bihar and Bengal. Some of these Indian migrants later became large landowners. The north Indian antecedents of a number of caste groups in the hills (that is, the first group of Indo-Nepalese migrants), which, in the early 1990s, made up more than 50 percent of the total population, are evident in their language, religion, social organization, and physical appearance. All of these features, however, have been modified in the Nepalese environment. These groups-several castes of Brahmans, the high-ranking Thakuri and Chhetri (the Nepalese derivative of the Kshatriya) castes, and an untouchable category-generally are classified as Pahari, or Parbate. However, in most parts of Nepal (except in the Tarai), the term pahari has only a limited use in that the Paharis

generally are known by their individual caste names. Nepali, the native tongue of the Paharis and the national language of Nepal, is closely related to, but by no means identical with, Hindi. Both are rooted in Sanskrit. The Hinduism of the Pahari has been influenced by Buddhism and indigenous folk belief. The Paharis' caste system was neither as elaborately graded nor as all embracing in its sanctions as that of the Indians; physically, many of the Paharis showed the results of racial intermixture with the various Mongoloid groups of the region. Similarly, the Bhote or Bhotia groups inhabiting the foothills of the Himalayas--among whom the Sherpas have attracted the most attention in the mountaineering world--have developed regional distinctions among themselves, although clearly related physically as well as culturally to the Tibetans. The term Bhote literally means inhabitant of Bhot, a Sanskrit term for the trans-Himalayan region of Nepal, or the Tibetan region. However, Bhote is also a generic term, often applied to people of Tibetan culture or Mongoloid phenotype. As used by the Paharis and the Newars, it often had a pejorative connotation and could be applied to any nonHindu of Mongoloid appearance. An extraordinarily complex terrain also affected the geographic distribution and interaction among various ethnic groups. Within the general latitudinal sorting of Indo-Nepalese (lower hills) and Tibeto-Nepalese (higher hills and mountains) groups, there was a lateral (longitudinal) pattern, in which various ethnic populations were concentrated in specific geographic pockets. The deeply cut valleys and high ridges tended to divide ethnic groups into many small, relatively isolated, and more or less self- contained communities. This pattern was especially prominent among the Tibeto-Nepalese population. For example, the Bhote group was found in the far north, trans-Himalayan section of the Mountain Region, close to the Tibetan border. The Sherpas, a subgroup within the Bhote, were concentrated in the northeast, around the Mount Everest area. To the south of their areas were other Tibeto- Nepalese ethnic groups--the Gurung in the west-central hills and the Tamang and Rai in the east-central hills--particularly close to and east of the Kathmandu Valley. The Magar group, found largely in the central hills, was much more widely distributed than the Gurung, Tamang, and Rai. In the areas occupied by the Limbu and Rai peoples, the Limbu domain was located farther east in the hills, just beyond the Rai zone. The Tharu group was found in the Tarai, and the Paharis were scattered throughout Nepal. Newars largely were concentrated in the Kathmandu Valley. However, because of their past migration as traders and merchants, they also were found in virtually all the

market centers, especially in the hills, and as far away as Lhasa in Tibet. This geographically concentrated ethnic distribution pattern generally remained in effect in the early 1990s, despite a trend toward increasing spatial mobility and relocating ethnic populations. For example, a large number of Bhotes (also called Mananges from the Manang District) in the central section of the Mountain Region, Tamangs, and Sherpas have moved to the Kathmandu Valley. Similarly, Thakalis from the Mustang District adjacent to Manang have moved to Pokhara, a major urban center in the hills about 160 kilometers west of Kathmandu, and to Butawal and Siddhartha Nagar, two important urban areas in the central part of the Tarai, directly south of Pokhara. Gurungs, Magars, and Rais also have become increasingly dispersed. Most of the Indo-Nepalese peoples--both Paharis and Tarai dwellers (commonly known among the Paharis as madhesis, meaning midlanders)-were primarily agriculturalists, although a majority of them also relied on other activities to produce supplementary income. They generally raised some farm animals, particularly water buffalo, cows, goats, and sheep, for domestic purposes. The Paharis traditionally have occupied the vast majority of civil service positions. As a result, they have managed to dominate and to control Nepal's bureaucracy to their advantage. It was not until the 1980s that a prime minister came from the non- Pahari segment of the population. Despite some loosening of the total Pahari domination of the bureaucracy in recent years, a 1991 newspaper report, summarized in the Nepal Press Digest, revealed that 80 percent of the posts in the civil service, the army, and the police still were held by the Brahmans and Chhetris of the hills, who comprised less than 50 percent of the population; 13 percent were held by Kathmandu Valley Newars, whose share of the total population was merely 3 percent. The report added that even in 1991, the eleven-member Council of Ministers in 1991 had six Brahmans and three Newars. Furthermore, six of the nine-member Constitution Recommendation Commission, which drafted the new constitution in 1990, were hill Brahmans. In spite of the increasing number of Newars holding government jobs, they traditionally were recognized as a commercial merchant and handicraft class. It was no exaggeration that they historically have been the prime agents of Nepalese culture and art. A significant number of them also were engaged in farming. In that sense, they can be described as agro-commercialists. Most of the Tibeto-Nepalese groups traditionally could be considered agropastoralists. Because their physical environment offered only limited land and

agricultural possibilities, the Tibeto-Nepalese groups who occupied the high mountainous areas, such as the Bhote and particularly the Sherpa, were almost forced to rely more on herding and pastoral activities than on crop farming. They also participated in seasonal trading activity to supplement their income and food supply. However, those peoples inhabiting the medium and low hills south of the high mountains-- particularly the Gurung, Magar, Tamang, Rai, and Limbu groups-- depended on farming and herding in relatively equal amounts because their environment was relatively more suitable for agriculture. Among these groups, the Gurung, Magar, and Rai historically have supplied the bulk of the famous Gurkha contingents to the British and Indian armies, although their ranks have been augmented from the Thakuri and Chhetri castes of the Indo-Nepalese Paharis. The term Gurkha was derived from the name of the former principality of Gorkha, about seventy kilometers west of Kathmandu, and was not an ethnic designation. The Caste System One integral aspect of Nepalese society is the existence of the Hindu caste system, modeled after the ancient and orthodox Brahmanic system of the Indian plains. The caste system did not exist prior to the arrival of IndoAryans. Its establishment became the basis of the emergence of the feudalistic economic structure of Nepal: the high-caste Hindus began to appropriate lands-- particularly lowlands that were more easily accessible, more cultivatable, and more productive--including those belonging to the existing tribal people, and introduced the system of individual ownership. Even though the cultural and religious rigidity of the caste system slowly has been eroding, its introduction into Nepal was one of the most significant influences stemming from the migration of the Indo-Aryan people into the hills. The migrants from the north later were incorporated into the Hindu caste system, as defined by Indo-Aryan migrants, who quickly controlled the positions of power and authority. Tibetan migrants did not practice private ownership; their system was based on communal ownership. No single, widely acceptable definition can be advanced for the caste system. Bishop and others, however, view caste as a multifaceted status hierarchy composed of all members of society, with each individual ranked within the broad, fourfold Hindu class (varna, or color) divisions, or within the fifth class of untouchables--outcastes and the socially polluted. The fourfold caste divisions are Brahman (priests and scholars), Kshatriya or Chhetri (rulers and warriors), Vaisya (or Vaisaya, merchants and traders), and Sudra (farmers, artisans, and laborers). These Pahari caste divisions based on the Hindu

system are not strictly upheld by the Newars. They have their own caste hierarchy, which, they claim, is parallel in caste divisions to the Pahari Hindu system. In each system, each caste (jati) is ideally an endogamous group in which membership is both hereditary and permanent. The only way to change caste status is to undergo Sanskritization. Sanskritization can be achieved by migrating to a new area and by changing one's caste status and/or marrying across the caste line, which can lead to the upgrading or downgrading of caste, depending on the spouse's caste. However, given the rigidity of the caste system, intercaste marriage carries a social stigma, especially when it takes place between two castes at the extreme ends of the social spectrum. As Bishop further asserts, at the core of the caste structure is a rank order of values bound up in concepts of ritual status, purity, and pollution. Furthermore, caste determines an individual's behavior, obligations, and expectations. All the social, economic, religious, legal, and political activities of a caste society are prescribed by sanctions that determine and limit access to land, position of political power, and command of human labor. Within such a constrictive system, wealth, political power, high rank, and privilege converge; hereditary occupational specialization is a common feature. Nevertheless, caste is functionally significant only when viewed in a regional or local context and at a particular time. The assumed correlation between the caste hierarchy and the socioeconomic class hierarchy does not always hold. Because of numerous institutional changes over the years and increased dilution (or expansion) of the caste hierarchy stemming from intercaste marriages, many poor high-caste and rich low-caste households could be found in the society in 1991. Although Paharis, especially those in rural areas, were generally quite conscious of their caste status, the question of caste did not usually arise for Tibeto-Nepalese communities unless they were aware of the Hindu caste status arbitrarily assigned to them. Insofar as they accepted caste-based notions of social rank, the Tibeto-Nepalese tended not only to see themselves at a higher level than did the Hindu Pahari and Newar, but also differed as to ranking among themselves. Thus, it was doubtful that the reported Rai caste's assumption of rank superiority over the Magar and Gurung castes was accepted by the two latter groups. Moreover, the status of a particular group was apt to vary from place to place, depending on its relative demographic size, wealth, and local power. Language

Even though Nepali (written in Devanagari script, the same as Sanskrit and Hindi) was the national language and was mentioned as the mother tongue by approximately 58 percent of the population, there were several other languages and dialects. Other languages included Maithili, Bhojpuri, Tharu, Tamang, Newari, and Abadhi. Non-Nepali languages and dialects rarely were spoken outside their ethnic enclaves. In order to estimate the numerical distribution of different ethnic groups, the census data indicating various mother tongues spoken in the country must be used. In terms of linguistic roots, Nepali, Maithili, and Bhojpuri belonged to the Indo-European family; the mother tongues of the Tibeto-Nepalese groups, including Newari, belonged predominantly to the Tibeto-Burman family. The Pahari, whose mother tongue was Nepali, was the largest ethnic group. If the Maithili- and Bhojpuri-speaking populations of the Tarai were included, more than 75 percent of the population belonged to the Indo-Nepalese ethnic group. Only three other ethnic groups--the Tamang, the Tharu, and the Newar-approached or slightly exceeded the one-half million population mark. Most of those non-Nepali linguistic and ethnic population groups were closely knit by bonds of nationalism and cultural harmony, and they were concentrated in certain areas. More about the Population of Nepal. The caste system in Nepal is the cause of widespread prejudice and exploitation – despite being outlawed. For women in the low caste badi community, the system has meant an inescapable destiny: prostitution. But, thanks to one woman, who herself broke free from such a life, there is now hope for hundreds of others. Uma Devi Badi, 40, is head of the local organisation 'Community Support Group'. Herself a badi ex-prostitute, Uma has first hand experience of the treatment of badi women in Nepal. "It was hard at first," she admits. "No one would listen to me. They did not feel it was possible that we could be equal because we are scorned for our livelihoods." But, with the help and support of ActionAid, Uma was able to establish a hostel for 25 badi boys and girls in small, rented premises in Tikapur, western Nepal. Set back from a small road leading to a paddy field, the brick building with a corrugated roof encapsulates the dreams of a whole community. Inside, books are strewn over the bunk beds and drawings pasted on the walls. Here

the children are provided with accommodation throughout the week and are sent to the local school. The hostel also offers after-school literacy and numeracy programmes so that the children get extra support with their education. One young girl, Reshmi Nepali, 17, has just completed her School Leaving Certificate and enthuses about her experience. "I am happy to be here, I have the opportunity to study and to attend class, otherwise I would have to enter the profession," she says. "In the future, I would like to be a social activist, raising awareness among the poor." The hostel has been such a success that the badi women have been able to secure funding for a larger building, which is in the process of being built. This new hostel will be owned by the badi community and it is hoped will accommodate up to 100 children when finished. Thanks to Uma, subsequent generations of badi women are breaking free from the cycle of poverty and prostitution that has plagued them for decades. However, she acknowledges that there is still more work to be done. "As a group we are strong, we face the same struggles and have united in order to overcome them. But there is a long journey before we achieve equal rights. Our children need citizenship papers so that they can receive an education, and we are pressing the government for change." Taken from a story originally written for 'Common Cause' by Yvonne Singh. photo : ©Jenny Matthews/ ActionAid UK Related information •Our work in Nepal

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Dalits The life of the lower castes in the western part of Nepal. by Berit Madsen

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“In this hamlet we are all low caste people. The upper caste who live further up the village cannot touch us. If they do so they get polluted”, says Sunga Kami. She is an elder Dalit woman from Ratoli, a small village in Doti district in the far western part of Nepal. “But sometimes a woman from one of the higher castes comes to our house. Her name is Raju Bohara. She likes to sit in our yard. But when she returns home she has to purify herself by sprinkling gold-treated water over her body. That is the custom up here”. Today Raju Bohara, who belongs to the Chhetri caste, visits Sunga Kami’s household. Her hamlet is only a few minutes away by foot. Raju sits down in the yard. It is a sunny afternoon and all the women in Sunga Kami’s household are busy drying lentils and rice grains on straw mats. A young woman begins to grind the already dried lentils in a stone grinding mill. She is dressed in pink and has a yellow marigold flower behind her ear. Goats and hens are walking around in the yard. It is the children’s job to keep them away from the straw mats with rice and lentils.

Sunga Kami and her household There are twelve family members in Sunga Kami’s household. Four of her sons live in India. One of them has just returned to Ratoli to pay his mother a visit. Two daughters are married and they both stay with their husband’s families in neighbouring villages. Sungi Kami’s household belongs to the Kami caste which is one of the many lower castes in Nepal. A common denominator for the lower castes is Dalit. The term originally means people living in the swamps (daldal) or oppressed people, but today it refers to all low caste people in Nepal. The Dalits is the group of people who are considered untouchable by the higher castes. It is believed that the Dalits can pollute higher castes and therefore any kind of close physical contact must be avoided. As Sunga Kami explained above, Raju Bohara has to clean herself ritually after a visit to Sunga Kami’s household. She has namely exposed herself to pollution just by entering a Dalit household. The untouchability of the Dalits has an immense influence on their daily life. In most parts of Nepal the Dalits are not allowed into Hindu temples; they cannot use the wells, taps or other water sources that are reserved for the higher castes; they cannot enter restaurants and tea-shops, but have to sit outside and eat or drink from plates and cups especially reserved for Dalits; at the grocer’s shop they have to keep a distance while the goods are delivered to them; they cannot enter the homes of upper castes nor settle

nearby the upper castes’ hamlets. In many ways these restrictions imply that Dalits live on the margins of the Nepalese society. The Doti district We are in the Doti district in the far western part of Nepal. It is a beautiful mountainous area covered with pine trees and small terraces cut into the steep mountain sides. The white, impressive Himalayas follow the northern horizon and to the South one gets a picturesque view down the valleys. The turquoise blue Seti river winds through the deep gorges from the mountains to the low lands. At this time of the year the fields in the valleys are covered with young, green wheat sprout. On the hill sides the fields are still barren and grey. Only a few kitchen gardens light up the landscape. Most of these gardens belong to upper caste people, as do most of the fields surrounding the villages. Only a few households from the lower castes own a piece of land or a kitchen garden.

Dalit hamlet in the Doti district The Dalits in the Doti district belong to three separate low caste groups – the Kami, the Sarki, and the Damai. Traditionally each group is linked to a specific occupation. The Kami caste works as blacksmiths, the Sarki as shoemakers, and the Damai as tailors – occupations which in Nepal all are considered “dirty” and therefore only should be

carried out by Dalits. The three groups are further divided into different subgroups, each with a separate occupation, such as Sunar (goldsmiths), Bhul (leather workers), Lohar (metal workers), Parki (bamboo handicraft workers), and Tamata (copper workers). The upper castes in Doti consist of Brahmins and Chhetris. Traditionally the Brahmins are priests or scholars. The Chhetris are the warrior caste. Today Brahmins still carry out their traditional occupation, but most Chhetris make a living as farmers, landowners, or businessmen. The Dalits in the Doti district all live in separate hamlets apart from the higher castes. Most Dalit hamlets are densely built-up areas of small houses with mud walls. Some hamlets are placed on hill tops and one wonders when the next strong wind will pull them off the ridge. Round haystacks are kept on wooden pillars in the yards. In the glaring winter sun the hay shines with a warm yellow colour. A few households have livestock such as buffaloes and goats. They keep them in small stables next to the house. From a few Damai households the sound of an old iron Laxmi sewing machine crystallises in the air. One or two Kamis spend the winter repairing ploughs and other farming tools. But today most Dalits in the Doti district do not practice their traditional caste occupation. In lack of skills and modern technologies their products cannot any longer compete with high quality products made in the cities. Instead the majority of Dalits make a living as day labourers on the higher castes’ land or by taking on different manual work such as cutting stones, selling firewood from the mountain sides, or working on road construction. The higher castes rarely pay in cash for the different kinds of work the Dalits perform for them. Instead they pay with lentils and rice grains around harvest time – a system known as Bali Ghare Pratha. The younger generation is not particularly interested in continuing their parents’ professions as these jobs are considered “dirty” and are looked down upon from

the rest of the society. Winter time is low season for day labour work. Men, therefore, hang around, waiting for spring to come where the seasonal agricultural work begins. Women are, on the other hand, always busy with the daily house work, such as cooking rice (dhal), lentils (bhat), and flat, barley bread (chapati), fetching firewood and water, feeding the buffalo or goats, etc. Winter time is, however, a good time for weddings according to the Nepalese calendar. If a couple is married in January or February their life together will be endowed with prosperity and fortune. One morning a Kami visits the local Brahmin astrologer. He wants the astrologer to find the most suitable date for his daughter’s wedding. The Kami brings a steel plate with uncooked rice, an orange flower, and a five rupees-note as payment for the astrologer’s prediction. While the astrologer figure out the time for the marriage to take place, the Kami has to sit outside in the courtyard and wait for the answer. If he here by mistake touches the earth - since he is a Dalit - it has to be ritually purified with cow dunk. “It is our custom and we have to protect out culture”, the astrologer explains, while the Kami is leaving with the most suitable date for his daughter’s marriage: the 30th of January at 5.00 am. “This is how we have done it for generations. And how can we, the higher castes, change caste behaviour when the Dalits also differentiate among themselves? A Kami thinks that he is superior to a Damai and treats him accordingly. Also, if I meet a Dalit person on the path he will automatically step aside in order not to touch me. So he is just as well keeping up the tradition, isn’t he?”.

The Brahmin astrologer looking for the most suitable date for the Kami's daughters wedding. The Nepalese caste system Nepal is the only Hindu kingdom in the world. The caste system is closely related to Hinduism. The Vedas - the 2500 years old sacred Sanskrit texts which Hinduism is based upon - separate the population into four groups: Brahman, Kshetriya, Vaishya, and Sudra. The four groups are hierarchically ordered with the Brahmins in the top and the Sudras in the bottom. According to the Veda’s creation myth, God created Brahman from his mouth, Kshetriya from his arm, Vaishya from his thigh, and Sudra from his feet. The Dalits or untouchables belong to the Sudra, those created from the feet and thereby the lowest of these categories. 20 % of Nepal’s population (22.6 millions in 1997 figures) are Dalits. More than 4 million people in Nepal are therefore considered untouchable. In 1990 the practice of caste based discrimination and untouchability was declared illegal and punishable by law in Nepal. A person who is found guilty in caste discrimination can now be sentenced up to one year in prison or be fined to pay 3000 rupees (1 US $ is 74 Nepalese rupees). The law is, however, seldom taken into practice and numerous cases of discrimination against the Dalits are still taking place. As such the caste system still forms an essential part of the cultural landscape in Nepal.

Many Dalits explain their low status and untouchability as determined by the Gods. As Mohan Baral Kami, a Dalit goldsmith says, “God created the caste system and we have to accept our low caste status if not to make the Gods angry with us”. However, many high caste people also consider the Dalits to be impure because “they are dirty”, “they don’t keep their houses clean”, “they eat animals dead from accident or disease” – an explanation to the “impurity” which also are heard among Dalit themselves.

Doti landscape and the blue Seti river in the winter time From a socio-economic perspective poverty is an important marker of the untouchables. Dalits are not only culturally inferior but also economically deprived. Since most Dalits in the hill regions own no land and only receive a small amount of grain as payment for their work, they are forced to take loans from higher caste people to buy food and other daily necessities. They hereby become a kind of “bounded labourers”, as they are obliged to work on the upper castes’ land to pay off the interest without much chance of ever being able to repay the loan. Most adult Dalits in the hills are illiterate, especially the women. Today some Dalits attend school, but rarely beyond second class for the girls and forth or fifth grade for the boys; quite a large number of Dalit girls do not attend school at all. Migration and new strategies

Today almost every Dalit household have one or two male family members who work in India, either seasonally or for a longer period such as 5-10 years at a time. In India they find jobs as watchmen in hotels, dish washers, drivers, and other kind of casual work. Hill-Dalits have also begun to migrate to the Terai, the low land in the southernmost part of Nepal. In the Terai they hope to buy a piece of land or find new kinds of job opportunities. The migration to the Terai also provide the Dalit families with new strategies to improve their social status. It is quite common among hill-Dalits to change their surname or leave out the caste indicator in the name – e.g. Kami, Damai, and Sarki – when they move to the low lands. By doing this they hope to get different and better possibilities within the caste system which they hope especially will be profitable for their children. Recently it has become popular among Dalits to convert to Christianity as a way of avoiding the caste system. Up till now about 10 % of the Dalits have taken on this new religious belief. The caste system and its many manifestations has a strong impact on the every day life of Dalits in Nepal. But the caste system seen as a social system also opens up for individual strategies or multiple ways of choosing to navigate in this cultural landscape. As the local Chhetri healer, the Dhami Jhankri, in Doti tells: “Up here in my village I will never accept food from a Dalit’s hand. But if I travel to the capital Kathmandu I will eat food from everywhere, since in Kathmandu I don’t know the people so how am I to know who have cooked it?”. The Caste System

Dalit (untouchable) children often have limited opportunities in the caste system. Most Americans believe in social mobility. Typical American children think that they can grow up to become anyone they want — a fire fighter, a brain surgeon, the president of the United States. Even kids from poor families have a chance of getting rich. Under the ancient caste system in South Asia, though, the idea of social mobility made no sense. People were born into strict social positions called castes, and their children belonged to the same social class. In fact, under the caste system, parents knew the jobs their kids would hold even before the kids were born.

The Hindu caste system is ordered hierarchically, with Brahmins at the top and Sudras at the bottom. Untouchables, also known as Harijans or Dalits, fall outside of the caste system all together.

Caste Parties According to the Hindu religion, society should be divided into four broad classes called VARNAS. A person had the same varna that his or her parents had. And he or she had it from birth to death — there was no way to change it. Hindus did not question the varna system. It was simply considered a part of the way the universe works. Hindus rank the four varnas from highest to lowest. In descending order of importance and prestige, they are the BRAHMIN, the KSHATRIYA, the VAISYA, and the SUDRA.

Each varna must observe certain rules of purity. The Brahmins are considered so pure that they may never eat food prepared by anyone but another Brahmin. This means that Brahmins cannot go to a restaurant where the staff are not also Brahmins. Also, marriage outside one's one varna is usually forbidden.

The caste system is structured so that people marry within their own caste, but it isn't unheard of to marry outside of it. In fact, having a woman marry a man of a higher varna is a way for a family to achieve social mobility.

The Untouchables There is a fifth major class in Hinduism, but it is considered so low that it doesn't even qualify as a varna. Most people call it the "UNTOUCHABLE" class because its members are forbidden to touch anyone who belongs to one of the four

varnas. If a Brahmin priest touches an untouchable, he or she must go through a ritual in which the pollution is washed away.

The caste system is not described in the Hindu scripture. The system was originally devised to create an understandable division of labor and identify different groups of people. Untouchables do all the most unpleasant work in South Asia. They are forced to live on the outskirts of towns and villages, and they must take water downstream from and not share wells with varna Hindus. Many Hindus in the past believed that untouchables deserved this treatment — a treatment that is in many ways even harsher than that inflicted on African Americans before the Civil Rights Movement. Hindus think that a person is born to this class because of bad karma he or she earned in a pervious life.

Creating a better life for Nepal’s lowest caste Graduate student Bishnu Pariyar is changing a 2,000-year-old caste system one woman at a time By Colleen Mullaney Photo by Rob Carlin

Bishnu Maya Pariyar, a graduate student in Clark’s International Development, Community and Environment Program, stands approximately five feet tall. To the Dalit people, the lowest caste in Nepal, she is a giant. Pariyar has defied a more than 2,000-year-old caste system by becoming an educated Dalit woman. She is going even further, breaking down the rigid Hindu caste system of Nepal by empowering other Dalit women through education and micro-finance groups. Pariyar’s story begins in the remote village of Taklung located in the Gorkha Province of Western Nepal. One of 11 children of subsistence farmers, her family lives under a caste system, a strict hereditary social class system in Hinduism that restricts people’s occupations as well as their association with people from other castes. Pariyar and her family are members of the Dalit and the sub-caste, Damai. They are in charge of sewing and repairing clothing for approximately 90 to 120 upper-caste families, or bistas, with compensation of one basket of corn per year. They are also bound to perform traditional music at any ceremonies their bistas may have. This can occur several times per week, with no compensation and relentless abuse and criticism. Dreaming of a better life By age 10, Pariyar had already witnessed caste discrimination by seeing her father humiliated in front of his children and listening to her neighbor being beaten by her husband. Pariyar knew that she herself could be that woman in a few years. Even worse was the widespread acceptance of this as God’s will unto them, “the untouchables.” But for Pariyar, it was unacceptable. “I would always hear the crisis next door and say to myself, ‘Why doesn’t she stand up for herself and her children? Why does she not say anything?’” Pariyar recalls. “Then I realized that if she had independence she could take care of her children and herself. If there were laws against this, she could go to the police, but there are none. There isn’t even any solidarity between the women because they are not allowed to talk to each other. I always wanted to do something about it but it was only my dream.” She collected stray rice and millet grains left after the harvest to save money for the education her father could not provide. Pariyar earned enough to attend a secondary school two hours away by foot, over the mountainside of Western Nepal. Tormented by students and teachers, unable to drink from the same vessel as

her high-caste classmates and unwilling to experience the further humiliation of purifying a vessel touched by her sub-human lips, she spent her days thirsty, tired and abused, but not defeated. Still required to help tend to the chores, Pariyar studied while she took animals to pasture. She was the first girl in her community, of any caste, to graduate from high school. Pariyar attended Tribuvan University in Katmandu on a scholarship from the Himalayan Foundation and earned a degree in social work. The dream becomes reality Pariyar then worked for the Self Help Development Program, a nonprofit organization created to assist women and children through business and loan programs. After two years of fighting with her director to lend to Dalits, she conceded that this program would never do so. She quit her position, but did not give up. “They were not helping the poorest-of-the-poor people,” Pariyar says. “I could not help crying every day and this opened my eyes. I said ‘Why don’t I establish my own program to help these people?’” Pariyar decided to bring her business plan to three American women who, in turn, gave her the seed money to start a micro-financing group for Dalit women. She taught women literacy and basic math skills, then gave them loans to start businesses of their own. She started two more groups, leaving the newly empowered women in charge of their new business ventures. They grew into fully self-reliant, women-led financial organizations with the purpose of educating other Dalit women and men while building their common fund. They inspired many others to become a part of this organization, which was quickly spreading a sense of pride and commitment. So began the Association of Dalit Women of Nepal, now called Empower Dalit Women of Nepal (EDWON). Impressed by the changes that EDWON brought to Pariyar’s village in Ghorka, an American, Eva Kasell, offered Pariyar sponsorship to attend college in the United States. Pariyar earned a bachelor’s degree in political science at Pine Manor College in Chestnut Hill, Mass. She is currently earning her master’s degree in international development and social change at Clark. Returning to Nepal Pariyar remains committed to the now 1,500 women she has helped in Nepal. More than 700 children have been awarded scholarships to secondary school. One village was able to purchase its own water tap and build a temple where people of all castes worship together. They now drink from the same vessels—regardless of caste—and they

openly confide in one another. Domestic violence has dramatically decreased in villages where these groups have been formed. After graduating from Clark, Pariyar plans to go back to Nepal. Pariyar feels that she will be most useful working hand-in-hand with her compatriots at the grassroots level—not just talking about change, but teaching others how to implement it. She hopes to apply what she’s learned at Clark to the problems in Nepal. “I have learned so much from other students and teachers, all of whom have been to other third-world countries,” Pariyar says. She feels that she has been able to educate her classmates and professors at Clark about the caste system and the plight of the Dalit people, and says she is grateful for the accepting and socially conscious learning environment Clark provides. She knows that she could live a comfortable life in the United States, but her conscience is her guide. She knows it will lead her back to Nepal. For more information about EDWON, visit the Web site www.EDWON.org. Folk Music in the Caste System of Nepal Felix Hoerburger Yearbook of the International Folk Music Council, Vol. 2, 1970 (1970), pp. 142-147 doi:10.2307/767432 This article consists of 6 page(s).