Religion, Secularism, and Ethnicity in Contemporary Nepal

Description

The socio-political landscape of Nepal has been rocked by dramatic and far-reaching changes in the past thirty years. Following a ten-year Maoist revolution and civil war, the country has transitioned from a monarchy to a republic. The former Hindu kingdom has declared its commitment to secularism, without coming to any agreement on what secularism means or should mean in the Nepalese context. What happens to religion under conditions of such rapid social and political change? How do the changes in public festivals reflect and/or create new group identities? Is the gap between the urban and the rural narrowing? How is the state dealing with Nepal’s multicultural and multi-religious society? How are Nepalis understanding, resisting, and adapting ideas of secularism?
In order to answer these important questions, this volume brings together eleven case studies by an international team of anthropologists and ethno-Indologists of Nepal on such diverse topics as secularism, individualism, shamanism, animal sacrifice, the role of state functionaries in festivals, clashes and synergies between Maoism and Buddhism, and conversion to Christianity. In an Afterword renowned political theorist Rajeev Bhargava presents a comparative analysis of Nepal’s experiences and asks whether the country is finding its own solution to the conundrum of secularism.

About the Editors

David N. Gellner is Professor of Social Anthropology and Fellow of All Souls College, University of Oxford, UK.
Sondra L. Hausner is Associate Professor in the Study of Religion and Fellow of St Peter’s College, University of Oxford, UK.
Chiara Letizia is Professor of South Asian Religions, Department of Religious Studies, Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM), Canada.

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Table of contents

List of Tables and Figures
Preface
Chapter One: Introduction: Religion and Identities in Post-Panchayat Nepal
David N. Gellner and Chiara Letizia
Part I: Contrasting Urban and Rural Views: Secularism, Individualism, and Blood Sacrifice
Chapter Two: Ideas of Secularism in Contemporary Nepal
Chiara Letizia
Chapter Three: ‘When Gods Return to Their Homeland in the Himalayas’: Maoism, Religion, and Change in the Model Village of Thabang, Mid-Western Nepal
Ina Zharkevich
Chapter Four: Neither Statues nor Ritual: An Analysis of New Religious Movements and Therapists in Nepal
Gérard Toffin
Chapter Five: ‘Living Goddesses Everywhere?’ On the Possession of Women by the Goddess Bhagavati in Some Mountain Villages of Eastern Nepal
Pustak Ghimire
Chapter Six: Blood Sacrifice in Nepal: Transformation and Criticism
Alex Michaels
Chapter Seven: Ancestor Worship and Sacrifice: Debates over Bahun–Chhetri Clan Rituals (Kul Puja) in Nepal
Krishna P. Adhikari and David N. Gellner
Part II: Ethnic Traditions Confront a Changing State and Society
Chapter Eight: State Rituals in a Secular State? Replacing the Nepalese King in the Pacali Bhairava Sword Procession and Other Rituals
Astrid Zotter
Chapter Nine: Tamang Lhochhar and the New Nepal
David Holmberg
Chapter Ten: Redefining Kiranti Religion in Contemporary Nepal
Martin Gaenszle
Chapter Eleven: Confrontations between Maoists and Buddhists in Nepal: Historical Continuities, Flux, and Transformations in Collective Myth and Practice
Brigitte Steinmann
Chapter Twelve: Tamang Christians and the Resituating of Religious Difference
Ben Campbell
Afterword: Nepalese Secularism in Comparative Perspective
Rajeev Bhargava

Glossary
Notes on Editors and Contributors
Index