Nineteenth century Nepal

by Abhay Charan Mukerji

 

Abhay Charan Mukerji was asked to edit a biography of Sir Jung Bahadur written in the late 1800s. A tutor at the royal palace, Mukerji had good writing and editing skills. The book was printed in Allahbad in 1909 as Life of Sir Jung Bahadur and it contains an interesting editor's preface. Though the facts and opinions therein are unreliable, it narrates the lifestyle of the Kathmandu people in the nineteenth century.

 

The People: The chief races that inhabit Nepal are the Gurkhas, or the dominant race, and the Newars, who constitute the subject population. The Gurkhas, like the Dorian conquerors of ancient Sparta, devote themselves chiefly to military matters, leaving agriculture, manufacturing, and the trade to the Newars…

 

Religion: The prevailing religion is Hinduism, but slightly different in form from the religion of the Hindus in India, owing to the admixture of Buddhistic elements derived from the faith of the neighboring Tibetans. The main difference lies in the fact that the Hindus of the Highlands refuse to be bound by the shackles of Brahmanical law which their brethren of the plains have not yet been able to shake off. However, the Nepalese are essentially a pious people, as may be inferred from the existence of countless temples and shrines in the country, there being no less than 3,000 in the Valley alone. The most famous of these is the Temple of Pashupati, which is the seat of an annual festival, held early in the summer, and attended by many thousands of pilgrims from all parts of the Hindu world. It is there also that the Nepalese carry their dying to be immersed in the sacred waters of the Bagmati for the final purification. It is there again that the dead are burned, and suttees immolated.

 

Priests and Astrologers: In a country where temples so largely abound, it is natural that priests should form a high percentage of the population. These priests are generally indolent men, subsisting on the income derived from lands assigned for their living by pious bequests, or on the offerings of the people made at the temples in their charge. The State religion is controlled by a High Priest, styled the Raj Guru, who is a most influential personage, being a member of the King’s Council, and deriving a large income from religious endowments as well as from fines for offences against caste. But there is no spiritual hierarchy and no due gradation among the priests who are more or less independent on the authority of the Raj Guru, so far as the latter wields supreme power in all matters pertaining to religion. Every family of rank and consequence has a special priest attached to it and his office is hereditary. Akin to these priests is another class of men who exercise a large influence over the life of Nepalese. These are the Jyotishis, or astrologers, whose services are in constant requisition among the people, for they are consulted (as the Greek oracles were in the ancient world), in every conceivable affair of life, from the taking of a dose of physic by an individual, to the declaration of a war by the State.

 

Politics: The Government of Nepal is a pure despotism, but the King is a mere figure-head, all power being concentrated in the hands of the Prime Minister, who is styled “Maharaja,” as distinguished from “Maharaj dhiraj,” the title borne by the King. The long succession of minorities from 1775 until 1830 favored the growth of the Minister’s power, and gave rise to a succession of brilliant autocrats like Bahadur Shah, Damodar Pande, and Bhimsen Thapa. The Premier’s office has been theoretically hereditary since Jung Bahadur’s time, but in practice in has been ascended by usurpation and bloodshed. A shadow of a constitution exists in the shape of a rude Cabinet, of which the Premier is the President, and which the Premier is the President, and which consists of the senior members of the Royal Family, the High Priest of the Realm, the Generals of the Army, and a few of the principal civil and military officers of the State, the former called Kazi and latter Sardar. This Council also acts as a court of appeal in disputed cases, but in most matters the Ministers’ word is law.

 

Laws: There is, however, a well-defined body of laws in Nepal, but these were, until very recent times, as barbarous and inhuman as the Code of Draco in ancient Athens. Jung Bahadur Rana abolished the savage code with its old methods of trial by ordeal, and its forms of punishment by mutilation and torture. The current code, which is still substantially the work of Jung Bahadur, has brought the criminal law of Nepal almost to a balance with the systems prevailing in countries under the sway of the Western civilization, but with certain striking differences. Treason, whether active or smoldering, rebellion, and desertion in times of war are punished capitally. Bribery and speculation by public servants are punished by dismissal from office, and a fine with imprisonment, the latter of which may be commuted into an additional fine, practically at the option of the offender. Cow killing is in the eye of the law as grave an offence as homicide, and is punished by death; and even the maiming of cows is severely dealt with, sometimes by imprisonment for life. Offences against caste are punished by heavy fines, the sums thus realized being credited to the account of the Raj Guru. No Brahman is ever punished with death, whatever his offence might be. He has his head shaved, all sorts of unclean things put into his mouth to contaminate his caste, and he is taken to the frontiers and expelled from the country. Women also are never hanged; they are imprisoned, branded, outcasted, condemned to slavery, or banished, but never executed. Political offenders are sometimes punished by confiscation of all property and sometimes doomed to slavery, which is a common institution in Nepal to this day.

 

Slavery: The slaves are, as a rule, well treated, and sufficiently protected by the law of the land. Noble families keep regular establishments of slaves who are chiefly employed for domestic service and field labor. In many cases, slavery descends like a hereditary taint, and scarcely ever is a slave emancipated. They are bought and sold in the open market, much like cattle in other countries, and their prices range from Rs. 100 to Rs. 200 according to their age, sex, and fitness for work. They are often employed as beasts of burden for carrying loads of merchandise or human riders from one place to another. This last office of the slaves is necessitated by the ruggedness of the country where roads are few and communication between places extremely difficult. Vehicular traffic is practically unknown throughout Nepal, except in the Valley, and traveling is only possible either in palanquins or on horse back. In places where the road is a mere track worn on the hillside, even this mode of transportation is not possible, and the only mode available is the backs of slaves. And they do it well enough, with a distinctive saddle fastened to their back, and with a stoop in their gait that makes the rough journey on “slave-back” a not very uncomfortable one.

 

Marriage and Suttee: The marriage laws and customs of the Nepalese are also very interesting. Polygamy is freely allowed, as among the Hindus elsewhere. There is nothing in the law of Nepal prohibiting a woman from committing suttee, though the custom is now beginning to fall into disuse, and Jung Bahadur exerted all his influence to discourage it. An unchaste Gurkha woman is punished with imprisonment for life, though privately she is often chastised by her husband who cuts off her nose and turns her out of the house. In such cases the father retains the children, and the poor woman loses caste, rank, home, children, nose, and all. Her paramour, after his guilt has been proved in court, is cut down in public by the wronged husband. The culprit is given a few paces’ start, and allowed to run for his life. If he escapes, his life is spared, but this turns out very seldom, as the on lookers immediately overtake him, and the husband has the right to deal three blows with his khukri, the national weapon of the Nepalese.

 

The Newars, who are reckoned outside the social pale altogether, have a curious custom of “proxywedding,” the like of which is heard of nowhere else. Every girl, while still a child, is married with much ceremony to a bel fruit (held sacred among the Hindus and given in offerings to the gods), which is subsequently thrown into a sacred stream. As the fate of this bel fruit is unknown, a Newar woman is believed to be immune from widowhood all her life. When the girl attains the age of puberty, the parents select a man with whom she is to live as wife; but the woman can at any moment sever the connection by divorce, and all she has to do to effect this is to place a supari (a betel nut) under the man’s pillow and go where she likes… The subsequent history of Nepal will be found fully detailed in the pages of the present biography, and does not need any recapitulation here.

 

The Season

by Christopher Anderson

 

I must slow down and live

in this fall season;

soft and precious,

yet edged sharply

between raging color

and something mournful.

 

The maples will soon give their last.

Something big breathes a hollow chill.

Makes me strain

for the dreamy smell

of my sweetheart,

check my closet for the wools,

cock an eye for game,

make sure squash and potatoes

wait in the cellar,

taste a biting kiss of whiskey,

look for the fire in her eyes,

draw the heads of my children near,

search for memory, the words,

the sounds, sing the songs,

tell the stories,

start the dance,

name the names of friends and kin,

enjoy the laugh and the tear,

and live

in my heart.