Newars, new and old
French scholar Gerard Toffins work on Newars is finally available in English
FROM ISSUE #349 (18
MAY 2007 - 24 MAY 2007) |
Newars are supposed to be Nepal's
early settlers, according to one theory even lending their name to the country.
They form not a caste, but a complex community--in 1854, the Muluki Ain divided
Newars into the equivalent of the four castes, from Brahmins (Rajopadhyaya and
Vajracarya), to dalits (Pode and Cyama khalak).
There were only scattered references
to Newars in the classic accounts of Nepal (Kirkpatrick in 1811, Hamilton in
1819, Hodegson and Oldfield both in 1880). The first comprehensive piece of research
on Newars appeared in 1923, in KP Chattopadhyaya's An Essay on the History of
Newar Culture followed, 25 years later by Dilli Raman Regmi's The Antiquity of
the Newars of Kathmandu. Western scholars started to focus on Newar communities
after Gopal Singh Nepali's full-length book in 1965. One of them was Gerard
Toffin.
In the last 30 years, Toffin, now a
director of research at France's mammoth National Centre for Scientific
Research (CNRS), has written a number of papers exploring different aspects of
Newar culture. Most of Toffin's work is in French (bar a two-page preface to
the 1993 Nepal: Past and Present, which he edited), and non-speakers have long
felt the need for translations. Himal Books' new volume of selected papers by
Toffin is good news for academics and laypeople.
The 13 research papers in Newar
Society: City, Village and Periphery are based on extensive fieldwork and
personal observation and constitute a significant contribution to the social
study of Nepal.
Toffin begins with the Citrakars,
Rajopadhyayas, and Maharjans of the city. In his work on the painter Citrakars,
he focuses on their two main guthis (si guthi and desla guthi), kinship and
marriage patterns and, of course, their art, which sometimes functions as
medicine. Toffin describes how they treat Jwanakai, which is thought to be
caused by snakes, by painting two lions on the sides of the affected area. The
chapter on the Rajopadhyayas mainly deals with the history of the caste and
their role as the priests of Hindu Newars. The author argues that, despite
substantial changes in their tradition and rituals, the religious identity of
the Rajopadhyayas is still largely intact. Toffin's chapter on the social and
territorial organisation of the Maharjans of Kathmandu city-their twah or tol
system-and their vocal and instrumental music. To readers who equate Maharjans
with farmers, this new information is fascinating.
The three papers on the little known
Lalitpur Maharjan village of Pyangaon come from Toffin's long periods of
fieldwork. He makes a detailed study of Swagumi, who "adopted a Jyapu
lifestyle and became Newarised" in one, and in another provides a picture
of intercaste relationships, particularly between 'pure' and 'impure' castes,
and the position of Swagumi within the Newar caste system. Toffin's third
Pyangaon paper is about the socio-religious structures of the Maharjans, this
time as villagers. A detailed comparative study of the Maharjans in city and
village would have been welcome.
Two chapters are devoted to the little-known
Balami and Pahari communities who live on the 'periphery', defined here as
"the intermediate space located between Kathamandu Valley and the middle
hills of central Nepal and its forested areas". Toffin convincingly
identifies them with Newars, because their caste, kinship, and guthi rules are
the same, as is their language.
Three papers focus on specific
aspects of Newar society, the guthi system, the Mohani festival, and funeral
rites in relation to the Newar castes. Toffin explains how guthis "regulate
several aspects of Newar social and religious life, and even possess economic
functions in some limited cases". Similarly, he analyses how Panauti
Newars observe the Mohani festival with special devotion to Asta Matrika, Nava
Durga, Taleju, and Kumari, and how the 14 different Newar caste, from
Rajopadhyaya to Pode, of the area perform funeral rites.
The last two chapters deal primarily
with the recent changes in urban and rural Newar society. One focuses on the
role of modern ethnic associations in constructing the identity of a particular
caste or group, the other on the changing status and role of women in Newar
society, in the context of recent amendments in the Muluki Ain.
All the papers were written at
different times as independent articles. Together they sometimes lack
coherence, or can get repetitive. What pulls the volume together is Toffin's
21-page introduction, which successfully synthesises the different themes
explored and reflects an up-to-date understanding of Newar society and culture.
There are some omissions and errors.
Except in a few cases, the data on population, household, and the like are
dated. For example the 2001 census puts Citrakars and Rajopadhyaya at over
5,000 each, while Toffin's essay says there are 1,200 and 1,500 respectively.
The Jyapu Mahaguthi and Citrakar Samaj are mentioned, but not the Manandhar
Sangh which was founded in 1954. The discrete index entries for Manandhar and
Sayami, the same caste group, are confusing. History of Nepal was written by BJ
Hasrat, and not RL Hasrat. The collection would also have benefited from a
glossary of Newari terms.
These minor shortcomings do not,
however, lower the standard of the book. Toffin's work is a significant
contribution to the study of Newar society and culture, and, as the publisher's
note says, "will certainly be very useful to the Newar themselves to help
them understand their own society differently, if not better. It will also
prove extremely informative to non-Newars in understanding one of the most
ancient, complex, and fascinating social groups of Nepal."
(Tri Ratna Manandhar is professor of
history at Tribhuban University.)
Gerard
Toffin, Newar Society:City, Village and Periphery, Lalitpur: Himal Books for Social Science Baha, 2007, soft cover,
pp. xiv+443, Rs 790.
Source: http://nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=13550#.V08kH5F97IU
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