The Arts and Humanities

The Arts and Humanities

Literature. Nepal's literary tradition dates only to the nineteenth century with Bhanubhakta Acharya's adaptation of the Hindu epic, Ramayana, for a Nepali readership. The development of literature in Nepal has been hindered by heavy government control and censorship, which led Nepali authors and poets to seek publication outside of Nepal until the 1930s, when Nepal's first literary journal,

A Nepalese person carrying a wicker basket filled with fuel.

Sharada, created a more open venue for literary expression. Among Nepal's greatest writers and poets are Lakshmi Prasad Devkota, Lekhnath Paudyal, Balkrishna Sama, and Guruprasad Mainali.

Graphic Arts. Much of Nepali art is religious. Newari artisans create cast-bronze statuary of Buddhist and Hindu deities as well as intricately painted tangkas that describe Buddhist cosmology. The creation and contemplation of such art constitutes a religious act.

Performance Arts. Dramatic productions often focus on religious themes drawn from Hindu epics, although political satire and other comedic forms are also popular. There is a rich musical heritage, with a number of distinctive instruments and vocal styles, and music has become an marker of identity for the younger generation. Older people prefer folk and religious music; younger people, especially in urban areas, are attracted to romantic and experimental film music as well as fusions of Western and Asian genres.

Medicine and Health Care

Medicine and Health Care

Infant mortality is high, respiratory and intestinal diseases are endemic, and malnutrition is widespread in a country where life expectancy is fifty-seven years. Contributing to this situation are poverty, poor hygiene, and lack of health care. There are hospitals only in urban areas, and they are poorly equipped and unhygienic. Rural health clinics often lack personnel, equipment, and medicines. Western biomedical practices have social prestige, but many poor people cannot afford this type of health care. Many people consult shamans and other religious practitioners. Others look to Ayurvedic medicine, in which illness is thought to be caused by imbalances in the bodily humors. Treatment involves correcting these imbalances, principally through diet. Nepalis combine Ayurvedic, shamanic, biomedical, and other systems.

Although health conditions are poor, malaria has been eradicated. Development efforts have focused on immunization, birth control, and basic medical care. However, the success of all such projects seems to correlate with the education levels of women, which are extremely low.

Socialization

Socialization

Infant Care. Infants are carried on the mothers' back, held by a shawl tied tightly across her chest. Babies are breast-fed on demand, and sleep with their mothers until they are displaced by a new baby or are old enough to share a bed with siblings. Infants and small children often wear amulets and bracelets to protect them from supernatural forces. Parents sometimes line a baby's eyes with kohl to prevent eye infections.

Child Rearing and Education. Mothers are the primary providers of child care, but children also are cared for and socialized by older siblings, cousins, and grandparents. Often children as young as five or six mind younger children. Neighbors are entitled to cuddle, instruct, and discipline children, who are in turn expected to obey and defer to senior members of the family and community. Children address their elders by using the honorific form of Nepali, while adults speak to children using more familiar language. Because authority in households depends on seniority, the relative ages of siblings is important and children are often addressed by birth order.

Certain household rituals mark key stages in child's development, including the first taste of rice and the first haircut. When a girl reaches puberty, she goes through a period of seclusion in which she is prohibited from seeing male family members. Although she may receive special foods and is not expected to work, the experience is an acknowledgment of the pollution associated with female sexuality and reproductivity.

From an early age, children are expected to contribute labor to the household. The law entitles both girls and boys to schooling; however, if a family needs help at home or cannot spare the money for uniforms, books, and school fees, only the sons are sent to school. It is believed that education is wasted on girls, who will marry and take their wage-earning abilities to another household. Boys marry and stay at home, and their education is considered a wise investment.

Gender Roles and Statuses

Gender Roles and Statuses

Division of Labor by Gender. Only men plow, while fetching water is generally considered women's work. Women cook, care for children, wash clothes, and collect firewood and fodder. Men perform the heavier agricultural tasks and often engage in trade, portering, and other work outside the village. Both men and women perform physically demanding labor, but women tend to work longer hours, have less free time, and die younger. In urban areas, men are far more likely to work outside the home. Increasingly, educational opportunities are available to both men and women, and there are women in professional positions. Women also frequently work in family businesses as shopkeepers and seamstresses.

Children and older people are a valuable source of household labor. In rural families, young children collect firewood, mind animals, and watch younger children. Older people may serve on village councils. In urban areas and larger towns, children attend school; rural children may or may not, depending on the proximity of schools, the availability of teachers, and the work required of them at home.

The Relative Status of Women and Men. Women often describe themselves as "the lower caste" in relation to men and generally occupy a subordinate social position. However, the freedoms and opportunities available to women vary widely by ethnic group and caste. Women of the highest castes have their public mobility constrained, for their reputation is critical to family and caste honor. Women of lower castes and classes often play a larger wage-earning role, have greater mobility, and are more outspoken around men. Gender roles are slowly shifting in urban areas, where greater numbers of women are receiving an education and joining the work force.

Political Life

Political Life

Government. The Shah dynasty has ruled the country since its unification, except during the Rana period from the mid-nineteenth to the mid-twentieth century. During the Rana administration, the Shah monarchs were stripped of power and the country was ruled by a series of prime ministers from the Rana noble family. In 1950, the Shah kings were restored to the throne and a constitutional monarchy was established that eventually took the form of the panchayat system. Under this system, political parties were illegal and the country was governed by local and national assemblies controlled by the palace. In 1990, the Movement for the Restoration of Democracy (People's Movement) initiated a series of popular demonstrations for democratic reforms, eventually forcing the king to abolish the panchayat system and institute a multiparty democracy.

The country is divided administratively into fourteen zones and seventy-five districts. Local and district-level administers answer to national ministries that are guided by policies set by a bicameral legislature made up of a House of Representatives and a National Council. The majority party in the House of Representatives appoints the prime minister. The executive branch consists of the king and the Council of Ministers.

Leadership and Political Officials. The government is plagued by corruption, and officials often rely on bribes to supplement their income. It is widely believed that influence and employment in government are achieved through personal and family connections. The king is viewed with ambivalence. He and his family have been criticized for corruption and political repression, but photos of the royal family are a popular symbol of national identity and many people think of the king as the living embodiment of the nation and an avatar of the god Vishnu.

Social Problems and Control. International attention has focused on the plight of girls who have been lured or abducted from villages to work as prostitutes in Indian cities and child laborers in carpet factories. Prostitution has increased the spread of AIDS. Foreign boycotts of Nepali carpets have helped curb the use of child labor but have not addressed the larger social problems that force children to become family wage earners.

Military Activity. The military is small and poorly equipped. Its primary purpose is to reinforce the police in maintaining domestic stability. Some Royal Nepal Army personnel have served in United Nations peacekeeping forces. A number of Nepalis, particularly of the hill ethnic groups, have served in Gurkha regiments. To many villagers, service in the British Army represents a significant economic opportunity, and in some areas soldiers' remittances support the local economy.

Marriage, Family, and Kinship

Marriage, Family, and Kinship

Marriage. Nepal is overwhelmingly patrilineal and patrilocal. Arranged marriages are the norm in the mainstream culture. Because marriages forge important social bonds between families, when a child reaches marriageable age, the family elders are responsible for finding a suitable mate of the appropriate caste, education level, and social stratum.

For Buddhist monks, Nepal is significant as the birthplace of Lord Buddha.

The bride's family generally provides a substantial dowry to the groom's family, while the groom's family furnishes a much smaller gift of clothing, jewelry, and personal items to the bride. Both families are expected to host a feast during the wedding festivities, which generally last three days. The cost of a wedding, especially to the bride's family, is high and often puts families into debt.

Hindu castes do not generally approve of cross-cousin marriage, which is preferred among some Mongolian ethnic groups. Among some groups, a brideprice substitutes for a dowry. In others, clan exogamy is an important feature of marriages. Until recently, polygyny was legal and relatively common. Now it is illegal and found only in the older generation and in remote areas. Child marriages were considered especially auspicious, and while they continue to be practiced in rural areas, they are now prohibited by law. Love marriage is gaining in popularity in the cities, where romantic films and music inform popular sentiment and the economy offers younger people economic independence from the extended family.

Domestic Unit. Among landholding Hindu castes, a high value is placed on joint family arrangements in which the sons of a household, along with their parents, wives, and children, live together, sharing resources and expenses. Within the household, the old have authority over the young, and men over women. Typically, new daughters-in-law occupy the lowest position. Until a new bride has produced children, she is subject to the hardest work and often the harshest criticism in her husband's household. Older women, often wield a great deal of influence within the household.

The emphasis in joint families is on filial loyalty and agnatic solidarity over individualism. In urban areas, an increasing number of couples are opting for nuclear family arrangements.

Inheritance. Fathers are legally obligated to leave equal portions of land to each son. Daughters do not inherit paternal property unless they remain unmarried past age thirty-five. Although ideally sons manage their father's land together as part of a joint family, familial land tends to be divided, with holdings diminishing in every generation.

Kin Groups. Patrilineal kin groups form the nucleus of households, function as corporate units, and determine inheritance patterns. A man belongs permanently to the kinship group of his father, while a woman changes membership from her natal kin group to the kin group of her husband at the time of marriage. Because family connections are critical in providing access to political influence and economic opportunities, marriage alliances are planned carefully to expand kinship networks and strengthen social ties. Although women join the husband's household, they maintain emotional ties and contact with their families. If a woman is mistreated in her husband's household, she may escape to her father's house or receive support from her male kin. Consequently, women often prefer to marry men from the same villages.

Educational and Socio-Cultural Status of Nepali Women

Education is a factor for enlightening people. It is key to empower both men and women and improve their socio-cultural status and quality of life. Therefore, women should have an equal access to education and educational opportunities. But in our context, disparity in education and educational opportunities among men and women exists significantly. Women's educational status is lower than man as indicated by their lower literacy rate. Lower educational status has a number of negative consequences in Nepalese women's life.

A Land of Culture, Spirit and Beauty

A Land of Culture, Spirit and Beauty

BY ERICA WALSH

TAGS

ARTS AND CULTURE

Nepal, a landlocked nation in South Asia, lies tucked at the base of the Himalayas between China and India. Perhaps most well known for the world's highest mountain, Mount Everest, this small and diverse country offers a bevy of religious, spiritual and cultural experiences. Read on to discover the wealth of opportunities that will enrich your mind, body and spirit in beautiful Nepal.

Visit a Buddhist MonasteryIn Nepal, Hinduism and Buddhism are the 2 main religions. The 2 have coexisted throughout Nepal's tumultuous past and many Hindu temples are located on the same grounds as Buddhist shrines. The intermingling of Hindu and Buddhist beliefs is mainly due to the common worship of similar deities. However, Hinduism is the main religion of Nepal and Shiva is regarded as the country's guardian deity. The Pashupatinath Temple is the largest Shiva temple in the world, located in Deopatan, a small town just northwest of Katmandu. Note to travelers: The temple is barred to non-Hindus, but a view of the inner courtyard is available from the Shleshmantak hill on the eastern bank of the Bagmati River.

Just north of the ancient Buddhist town, Boudhanath, Kopan Hill rises out of the Katmandu Valley and is visible for miles. Once home to the astrologer of the King of Nepal, this hill is now the site of the Kopan Monastery. The monastery houses over 360 monks, mainly from Nepal and Tibet, but it is also a spiritual oasis for many visitors from around the world. Kopan Monastery offers 7- and 10-day monastic courses, and day visits can also be arranged through the reception office. While at the monastery, you are expected to follow the 5 Buddhist precepts: no killing, stealing, lying, sexual conduct and no use of drugs, alcohol or tobacco. Click here for all the visitors' information at Kopan Monastery.

Attend a Religious FestivalReligion is the core of the Nepalese culture, and most celebrations are religious festivals. By participating in a Nepalese festival, you will experience the richness of its culture and the vivacity of its people. The biggest and most popular Nepalese festivals are Dashain and Tihar.

Dashain occurs during late September and early October each year and is the longest and most auspicious festival in the Nepalese calendar. The celebration is 15 days long and commemorates a great victory of the gods over a wicked demon. The first 9 days signify the battle between the goddess Durga and the demon; the tenth day exalts the slaying of the demon; the last 5 days are a joyous celebration of Durga's victory.

The festival is marked with feasting and, be forewarned, a great slaughter. It is a time of relaxation and prosperous celebration for the people of Nepal.

The Tihar Festival is also known as the Festival of Lights, so named for the hanging of oil lamps in homes and villages. It is a 5-day festival following Dashain and celebrates the Hindu goddess of fortune and wealth, Laxmi. It is a celebration of the relationship between brothers and sisters and the closeness of the familial bond. Life and prosperity are celebrated nationwide during this festival and the dancing, food and patriotism should not be missed. Click here for a listing of all the religious festivals in Nepal.

See a Buddha StupaThe stupa is a religious monument originating from the simple mounds of mud and clay that covered the relics of Buddha. One of the most ancient religious monuments,Swayambhunath Stupa, can be seen in the Katmandu Valley. Historical records found at this now lofty and golden-spired stupa indicate that the original structure was a pilgrimage destination in the 5th century.

Worshippers at Swayambhunath include Hindus, Buddhists from northern Nepal and Tibet, and Buddhists from central and southern Nepal. Something amazing occurs each morning before dawn, when hundreds of pilgrims ascend the monument's 365 steps and begin a reverent and religious clockwise encircling of the stupa. Famous for the eyes of Buddha that seemingly observe the world from all 4 directions, this stupa can be visited daily and is located near our next landmark, Durbar Square.

Discover Durbar Square
Durbar Square is 1 of 3 durbars, or royal palaces, in the Katmandu Valley. Dating back to Licchavi times, the complex was the residence of Nepal's royal family before the construction of the Narayanhiti Palace. Housed within Durbar Square is the Hanuman Dhoka Palace complex where the coronation of the Nepalese monarch still takes place today. It also houses 2 museums, the King Tribhuvan Memorial Museum and the Mahendra Museum. A ticket to the Tribhuvan will also allow you to explore the ancient artifacts and photos at the Mahendra Museum.

At the southern end of Durbar Square, visit the Kumari Chowk -- a 3-story stone building that houses 1 of the country's more curious attractions. Inside the palace lives the Raj Kumari, a young Nepalese girl chosen as the human incarnation of the Hindu mother goddess, Durga. This young girl is worshipped during the country's many religious festivals and makes other more limited public appearances.

Explore Royal Chitwan National ParkRoyal Chitwan National Park is Nepal's first and most famous national park. Situated in the Chitwan Doon, the park was created in 1973 and made the UNESCO World Heritage list in 1984. The park consists of hills, lakes and the flood plains of the Rapti, Reu and Narayani Rivers. Perhaps the park's biggest draw is that it houses one of the last populations of single-horned Asiatic rhinos, as well as serving as a refuge for the Bengal tiger.

There is an entrance fee for entering the park, but it is waved for children under 10. The park is easily accessible from Katmandu via a national highway. Highlights at the park include participating in elephant safaris, exploring the park's museum and lectures at the Sauraha Visitor Center.

Eat a Traditional MealAs with most countries, the different flavors and cuisines in Nepal can vary depending on region, but there are certainly some constants. Daal, or lentil soup; bhat, or steamed rice; tarkari, or curried vegetables; and aachar, or pickles, can be found in most regions of Nepal. Tibetan influences increase as you go north just as Indian influences increase as you travel south. You haven't fully experienced a new culture until you've eaten at their table, so here's a short list of traditional foods that won't have you feeling like you're on Fear Factor.

Daal-Bhat: The taste of this dish can vary depending on the cook, but daal and bhat are dietary staples and are generally served in most restaurants.

Rotis: A flat pancake-like bread made of wheat or rice flour available in most restaurants. Hint: most Nepalese do not use cutlery. They eat with their right hand, and rotis can be handy in preparing bite-size tastes.

Chatamari: Chatamari is a flatbread made from rice flour served with or without toppings like meat, vegetables, eggs or sugar. This dish is a favorite among tourists who consider it akin to pizza.

Gundrook-Dheedo: A popular sugar-free dish made of wheat, maize and dried green vegetables. It is nutritious, filling and very tasty.

Lassi: Wash all your local fare down with this refreshing drink, made from yogurt and water.