Wednesday, March 29, 2006

Dev Raj Dahal

GROWTH OF NATIONAL COMMUNICATIVE SPACE

Nepal's cultural climate, nourished by a variety of sources, made it possible to evolve into a historic nation-state. Migration of Mongoloid people from the north and Indo-Aryan people from the south expanded the geographical boundaries through territorial possession, communication, market exchange, rituals and religions and formed a new identity thereby giving all the settlers space, security and mission. Geographic integration of territory provided the material basis of existence and identity of citizens. Nepal's worldview, language and philosophical tradition represent a synthesis of the South Asian and the Central Asian cultures. Vedic and Buddhist (Gautam Buddha was born in 563 BC in Nepal) discourse formed the early phase of civilization. Socialization of people involved the internalization of varnasrama dharma (social division of labor), knowledge about rajdharma (statecraft) and sanatan dharma (spirit of the age). The discourse combined three forms of knowledge-the hermeneutic knowledge of rishis and munis (sages) that sought the meaning of the universe, empirical knowledge of jogis (wanderers) and ritual knowledge of puret (pundit). Shastrarthas (discourses about knowledge), organized in public places were mediated by participation of all those affected and were independent of power. It helped the participants refashion self and link to the conception of community life. There was a dynamic connection of knowledge to public life, public policy and action. Participants in the

discourse had the capacity to see the arguments from other's perspectives and adjust personal interests. Knowledge was public, not the prerogative of the individual producer.

The early settlers in Nepal were Kirants. Thirty-two Kirant kings- Yalamber to Gasti ruled Nepal about 1,500 years before 400 AD (Shrestha and Bhattarai, 2004: xxxvii) and gave the birth to Nepal's pastoral society. The Hindu epic Mahabharata calls them as brave hill tribe. Historians guess that Kirants were the ancestors of modern Tibeto-Burman speaking Rai, Limbu, Tharu and a section of Newar ethnic groups. The public life of Nepal under the Kirants was governed by "a democratic political system" (Acharya, 1966, P.4). But, later on, under the influence of the King of Magadh they converted their regime into a monarchy and pinned their faith in divine right theory of the king. The power of monarch, however, was limited by custom, tradition and religious treatise called Kirant Mundhum Khahun. The king used to rule through the Chumlung (Council of Ministers) and evolved a well-defined social and economic policies and the punishment system.

The successor of Kirants were Lichhivi Kings who ruled the valley from the 1st century AD to the end of 8th century. Before migrating to Nepal they were governed by a confederation called "Vriji Sangh" and had adopted a republican form of governance. In Nepal, however, they accepted the local customs and traditions and chose a monarchical form of governance. Mandeva, who ruled Nepal in the 5th century, laid the basis of varnasrama dharma based on caste principles. The Hindu religious scriptures, such as Ramayan, Mahabharat, Bhagbad-Geeta, Airthshastra of Kautilya, etc became the basis of jurisprudence and the rationalization of society in favor of the principle of responsible rajdharma. Statecraft derived its legitimacy from sanatan dharma, the universal principles governing the moral and intellectual discourse and the need of the people. The protection of dharma (the Hindu-Buddhist concept of righteousness and its ultimate moral order) became the ruler's most sacred duty (Sharma, 2004:30). Historian D. R. Regmi argues, "The Lichhavis have probably migrated into the valley during the early years of Kusan rule out of fear of invasion and found easy shelter there an account of the withdrawal of the Sungas who had to give in the Kushans. But they were pushed even in the fastness of the sub-Himalayan region, and consequently, they had to surrender the valley as well. It is possible that the remaining portion of the Lichhavis in Vaishalis were wiped out or migrated elsewhere alongside" (Bajracharya, 1970: 15).

Lichhavi rulers had innovated a number of social and administrative reforms. Amshuvarma (591-616 AD) codified philosophical treaties, classified religious and secular institutions, minted coins and constructed public Pati and Pauwas (resting places). His daughter Bhrikuti married the emperor of Tibet, Srong-tsan-gampo who spread Buddhism and Nepali architecture, Pagoda, constructed monasteries, evolved Gostis (modern Guthi), temples and Chaitayas and promoted Sanskrit education in Tibet and China: Temples and monastries were the center of learning and creativity. During the reign of King Narendra Dev, famous Chinese traveler Wang Husan-tse visited Nepal in 656 AD and reported about the existence of Saivite and Buddhist cults and the commercial development of Gandaki and Karnali basin. Gunakamadev constructed Kathmandu city and fostered a number of civil institutions. The society was held together by tradition and the

choice of community consent- Panchali (Panchayat). It was a society of rich syncretic religious culture, diversity and solidarity, not individual autonomy. Hinduism and Buddhism often mandated an emancipated form of education (nirvana or Mokshchha) and public action. Several decentralized districts (Visaya) were weaved into a Nepal-Mandala by administration and code. And all the people shared the sovereignty of the state. The Lichhivi rulers had granted the local people the right to self-rule and participate in state affairs.

By 1200 AD with the advent of Arimalla, the Malla dynasty claimed its rule on the basis of divine right theory. Among Malla Kings, Sthiti Malla and his successor Jyotirmalla introduced social reforms, revised civil code to regulate the public and private life of society and compelled individuals to comply with state laws. Above the state laws was sanatan dharma. Mahendra Malla introduced a new coinage system. Bhim Malia expanded Nepal's commercial activities up to Tibet and exported Nepalese coins to Tibetans, Laxminarasimha Malla constructed Kasthamandap, the wooden temple of Gorkhanath, and Pratap Malla fostered religious tolerance and even allowed the Jesuit missionaries to settle in Kathmandu. There was some individualism in wealth-creation but wealth also obliged the people to enter into charity work for the greatest common good. The historical sociology of Nepal attests the fact that a move from the history of primordiality to Hindu-Buddhist religions is also a history of the expansion of common values, public trusts, market exchange and proliferation of specialized activities such as arts painting, metal casting, gem­cutting, wood and bronze carving, music, calligraphy, sculpture, and production of oldest literature.

Nepal's medieval history exhibits a continuous power struggle among the three power-centers-the Nepal Valley, the Khasa Kingdom of Karnali Basin and the Tirhutiya principality in the southern plain-and lost their energies in self-preservation. The Indo-Aryan cultural penetration in the Nepal valley was deliberately promoted by Malla Kings through Maithili Bahuns from Janakpur, then called Videha Kingdom. In ancient time, the palace of Rajrishi Janak of Janakpur was famous for philosophical discourse on the problem of society and universe concerning meaning, truth, rationality and action. The death of Yaksha Malla in 1842 signaled the breakdown of unified Malla kingdom in the vale of Kathmandu into micro­states- Kathmandu, Lalitpur and Bhaktapur and outside the Valley were two clusters of 22 and 24 small states contesting each other.

The last king of Mall dynasty was Jayaprakash Malla who was defeated by Gorkha King Prithvi Narayan Shaha in 1768. Shaha set the path for building a unified single political community-Nepal. "Gorkha was a small state but with the advantageous combination of Khasa and Kirant manpower and Nepal valley cultural influence." (Gurung, 1989:135). Nepali language, initially called Gorkhali or khasa language, developed over the past seven hundred years, served as a link language among different communities including people from Kumaon-­Garhwal of India in the west to Assam and Bhutan in the east. The oldest evidence of Nepali language is found in Ashok's bronze plate carved during 740 years ago. Before Bhanubhakta era, books were written in Nepali language on the bravery of the Nepalese people. In an embryonic national community, still divided by tribal barriers of every kind, Nepali language worked to overcome most of barriers and established a free flow of ideas and influences throughout the nation. Smooth communication compelled people to think in terms of national consciousness.

THE MAKING OF A MODERN NATION-STATE

Nepal's modern phase of nationalism begins with the advent of Prithvi Narayan Shaha (1743-75) who rose to supreme power and sought to create a single unitary state without undermining the Pluralist social universe of the nation as "a garden of four castes and 36 varnas." His project of building the nation and national identity was based on military, strategy, diplomacy and cultural resources. Shaha rulers were successful in converting Nepal into an Asli Hindusthan (a sacred space for Hindus) out of diverse social groups congruent with the territorial boundaries of the state. They did not dream of transforming the mode of production and ways of life of diverse people. The rationalization of sacred geography and Nepal-centric views articulated in the 14th century writings, such as Swaymbhu Purana, the Pasupati Purana and Nepal Mahatmya (Sharma, 2004,11) and later Swosthani Bratakatha, had contributed towards spiritual and national consciousness.

By arranging alliance with the neighboring states, marriage relation with the King of Palpa and expanding military power (between 1765-67) he defeated three kings-Ranjit of Bhadgaon, Tej Narasimha of Patan and Jayaprakash of Kathmandu and became a sole ruler of Kathmandu valley. "Jagir grants had motivated the Nepal army to undertake the campaign of unification" (Stiller 1989:107). By 1773, he consolidated control in eastern Nepal. He regarded the state power as the steward of public welfare and made the state economically and militarily preeminent over the private sector and social institutions. In 1777 his son Pratap Singh Shaha had already reached to Kali River, replaced all the petty kings and consolidated internal sovereignty to bind authority over the people and territory. After his death, Queen Rajendra Laxmi expanded Nepal's control over eastern hills, Tarai and Gandak region and dominated the form of political power over other identities. Territorial centralization went hand in hand with the standardization of language, communication, socialization and administration.

"The Gorkha rulers, like many of their counterparts in the Ganges basin, claimed their sovereignty by exercising proprietary authority upon their possessions (muluk), and ritual authority within their realm (desa). Included within their possessions and realms were various countries (des) in which the king's tenants or subjects were natives who claimed certain rights to their land and way of life on the basis of ancestral authority. Each of these three -possessions, realm, and country -specified a different relation among the ruler, the land and the people, and each were legitimated with respect to different kinds of authority -proprietary, ritual and ancestral" (Burghart, 1996:239). The social relations in those integrated territories were glued by a "historical process of accommodation between regional ethnic systems and the policies of a centralizing state" (Levine, 1987: 71) where the society, art, language, culture and religion had to contribute to state building. Administratively, the king perceived himself as a lord (malik) of his subjects (raitis) and governed different categories of land grants to diverse sections of people for their livelihoods, such as tributary kings of the Gorkhali kingdom (rajya), military officers (jagir), civil administrators (nankar), tenant cultivators (raikar), servants and artisans in the court (rakam, jagera, Jagir), religious associations (guthi), individual persons, such as saints, Brahmins, priests, war widows (birta) and Rais and Limbus of eastern Nepal (kipat) (Burghart, 1996: 229; Regmi, 1988: 30-44). The assignment of land grants helped to evolve three functions: restrict the rivalries among the ruling elites, deal with common enemies both internal and external and enforce each individual's willingness to cooperate with others. Establishment of property rights and the method of compliance fostered an acceptable order in society.

Stimulated by the growing commercial interest Nepalese attacked on Tibet in 1790 ending the state's self-imposed isolation. Its victory in the war resulted in the signing of a treaty which enabled Nepal to station its representative in Lhasa and entitled it to receive fifty-thousand Rupees in annual tribute. But the Chinese emperor's response to Tibet's appeal for help forced Nepal to seek a treaty with Tibet in 1792 which while retaining Nepal's privilege in Tibet obliged Nepal to send quinquennial tributary mission to Beijing. Nepal's missions to China were occasional but Tibet's mission to Nepal continued until the establishment of People's Republic of China.

P. N. Shaha used Sanskritization and Hindu-­Buddhist religion as an ideology, mobilized people in the face of emerging British imperial threat, relied on economic and cultural nationalism, fostered native entrepreneurs and traders, established postal services and formulated a defensive form of security policy, all serving as centripetal forces. After the unification reached its limits due to the resistance of British imperial power in the South and Chinese empire in the north, Nepalese elites got embroiled themselves into conspiratorial form of internal power struggle. The seeds of discord were already sown between Rajendra Laxmi and Prithvi N. Shaha's younger brother Bahadur Shaha who was acting as a regent. During 1777 to 1832 Nepal was mostly ruled by regents while during 1806 to 1837, Prime Ministers from a few elite families controlled the governance. Nepal's struggle for survival took a critical turn alter it signed commercial treaties with British India in 1791 and allowed to set up its residency in Kathmandu in 1801. The overlapping claims on the territory of Tarai caused Anglo-Nepal war of 1814-16. Nepalese claims were made on the basis of tribute, taxation and land possession system. Nepal's defeat forced it to sign the Treaty of Sugauli in 1816 and cede a large chunk of territory to British India. Since then Nepalese began to define their nationalism on the basis of territoriality than nationality. Nepalese diasporas, however, still nourish pan-Nepaliness and memorize ancient glory in songs, poems and relations.

Text courtesy: Readings on Governance and development edited by Mukti Rizal. To be continued-ed.