Social Structure of
Nepalese Society
-Khadga K.C, Bishwa Kalyan Parajuli and Dhruba K.C
Social structure of Nepalese society is very complex, which has been highlighted by
various foreign and Nepalese scholars in their writing. Nepal is a multi ethnic, multi
religious, and multi linguistic country. Unity in diversity is the major characteristic of
Nepalese National culture. To explain its diversity Prof. Toni Hagen has rightly said that
Nepal is the ethnic turntable of Asia. To understand the structure of the Nepalese society
one can observe I from various dimensions. Some of them are: i) Ethnic dimension; ii)
Class dimension; iii) Caste dimension If we look at the Nepalese social structure from the
ethnic dimension there are more than seven dozen ethnic/caste groups. Out of which, the
Ministry of Local Development identified 61ethnic groups in the Nepalese society in 2056.
They include the indigenous Nepalese group, Tibeto-Nepalese group and Indo-Nepalese group
by their origin. The Tharus, Magars, Tamangs, Newars, Rais, Limbus, Gurung are some of the
majority groups and Chepangs, Danuwar, Raute, Jirel, Mugali, Bankaria, Baramo, Majhi etc
are the minority groups of Nepalese society. In this regard, Nepalese society has been
regarded as a colorful garden of ethnos & ethnicity. But it is also here that the
majority group dominates some of the ethnic groups and their cultures: some of the
minorities are oppressed and exploited by the majorities who make up the ruling class.
Thus some of the ethnic groups, minorities, tribal and indigenous peoples can be
encompassed into the disadvantaged group. This paper does not aim to talk about their
problems, however. In the same way, if we look at the Nepalese social structure from the
class dimension a number of classes can be devised in our society along economic lines. If
a social status and role of an individual is determined by his/her act, not by his birth,
that status is considered to be a class. Karl Marx was the architect of the concept. He
talks about two classes in every society-bourgeois and proletariat. On the basis of
possession of natural resources, means of production, and power of the state, we can
divide our people into three main classes. They are: i. Upper class; ii. Middle class;
iii. Lower class The upper class is in minority, but it holds almost all the power of
government and possesses huge amounts of property and natural resources. They have the
control over the society. The landlords, feudal lords, broker
big businessmen and bureaucrats makeup this class. By their nature, they are against
social change, always wanting to maintain the status quo in the society. It is the middle
class that plays the supportive role to maintain the status quo. The people of the middle
class are larger in number and because of their opportunist nature they do not confront
the upper class as long as it benefits them. The peasants, the small businessmen, petty
traders, employees’ etc. embody the middle class. Poorer peasants, agriculture
laborer, land less and homeless workers, etc. are the constituents of the lower class in
our society. They are the majority, but because of continuous exploitation of upper and
middle classes the life of the lower class is very difficult due to the stagnation created
by the upper and the middle classes. In short, the economically depressed, exploited and
oppressed strata of the people are the real disadvantaged group from the class
perspective. The paper does not intend to focus on ethnic and economic disadvantaged
groups. If we look at the Nepalese social structure from the caste dimension, two broad
divisions are seen. They are: People of caste origin and People of non-caste origin. The
majority of the Nepalese are of the caste origin. This group of people is Hindu; practices
Hinduism in various forms and possesses some of the above mentioned characteristics of a
caste society. Non-caste groups include various ethnic groups of Nepal that do not
strictly follow the caste system.
The Nepalese caste group is divided into two broad sub-groups-Tagadhari and Matwali. There
is a big cleavage between these two sub-groups. Among the Matwali there also exist social
differentiation. Some of the Matwalis are considered clean or touchable and some of the
others are considered unclean, polluted and untouchable. These untouchable groups of
people are also graded as Dalit. Untouchability is a form of inhumane discrimination
existing in our society pushing more than 12% people into the Dalit and Oppressed
category. The untouchable people are underprivileged forming the major disadvantaged group
of our social system. Jayasthiti Malla introduced and systematized the caste system on the
basis of Hindu religion in the 14 century. Prithivi Narayan Shah changed the
status of clean and unclean castes. Later on, the Rana rulers tried to elaborate the caste
system throughout the kingdom by introducing a civil code in 1854. Until the democratic
revolution of 1950-51, the occupation, civil activities and government judgement were also
based upon the caste system/ Rigveda, the first and the original Hindu text envisages four
Vargas in the society that is Brahmin, Keshtriya, Vaisya and Sudra each of them conferred
particular duties without any privileges to anyone. It is from these fourfold divisions of
the Vedic society the various caste originated, each belonging to any of the four-broad
categories. It was assumed that all were born to serve the society. Brahmin with their
knowledge, Kehstriya with their power to rule and protect, Vaisya with commercial
abilities and Sudra with bodily labor. To abide by one’s Varna was to regard the law
of heredity. This suggests that originally castes had some specific functional importance
for the mobility of the entire society. The further division into innumerable castes was
an unwarranted liberty taken with the doctrine.
However, caste ultimately emerged as an endogamous concept determining the whole gamut of
Hindu social order based on the purity of birth and heredity. Likewise, several taboos
related to commonality like food and water taking, clothing, use of ornaments, physical
contact and so forth were also added to insulate one caste from the other.
The caste system, a legitimization of Hindu religion, is a mass phenomenon in the Indian
subcontinent and in Nepal. As aforesaid, Hinduism is a Dharma, religion, and caste is
Karma, function, which is considered inseparable and in the case of violation the law of
retribution applies. Therefore, Hindu society has always remained blended with the caste
fabric. The caste system is believed to have originated in this region since time
immemorial. In the course of time, caste divisions embodied occupational, racial, tribal,
territorial, and religious elements. The conquest over a new territory and people by a
Hindu ruler also determined the caste status of the conquered people. The number of castes
thus continued to grow all over this region including Nepal. Caste, which denotes a
close-ranged group leading its own particular way of life, considers endogamy and status
as an integral part and determinants of hierarchical organization. It represents a close
clustering of the members of family-kin-caste lines, especially with reference to birth,
marriage, death and financial obligation. Hence, it would not be exaggeration to say that
it is possible to change one’s religion but not caste. Since the individual belongs
to certain specific caste, his behavior is accordingly regulated in terms of the accepted
norms. While he merely follows a religion which is an abstract concept. How far this sort
of rigid categorization and compartmentalization of caste and caste-behavior under
Hinduism is conducive to the regulation of modern society is yet a matter of controversy.
The vertical social stratification that is Brahmin and Keshtriya in the upper echelon and
Sudra at the bottom, gradually paved the upper caste to perform a superior role in the
society or polity and left the Sudra virtually in a state of destitution under perpetual
serfdom. This resulted in an extreme form of caste differentiation and discrimination
against the people of low caste. They were considered as ‘unclean’ people and
association with them meant contamination. Such a unique concept of social pollution gave
birth to untouchability among the Hindus. A wide range of Sudra caste groups, despite
their belonging to Hinduism, were rendered outcaste from the mainstream and hence
untouchable simply because they carried on such menial occupations like leather tanning,
iron and metal
works, tailoring, washing, removing garbage and dead animals etc.
The problem of the so-called untouchable, who are scattered all over the country, are
different in form and substance from those of the tribal and ethnic groups. Tribes and
ethnic groups have no castes within their social structure and most of them follow
Buddhism, which does not accept casteism. While educational and economic backwardness is
common to all, untouchability and disabilities exist only in the Sudra. Despite the same
religion, territory and language, Sudra are sterilely prohibited and excluded from
entering houses, temples and mix-up at public feasts and festivals of upper caste people.
This sort of differentiation and humiliation is generally understood by the low caste
people throughout the country and learnt by their children too. Hence, the lower castes
live together under fringes or in the outskirts of the village or city or in some cases at
a distance so that they can have intensive relations within
themselves.
Text courtesy from "Institutionalization of Democratic Polity in Nepal", a book
published by Department of Political Science, P.N.Campus, Pokhara, Nepal-Chief editor.
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