| ashu |
Posted
on 02-Jan-01 07:09 AM
Biswo, I am happy to note that you will NOT be using extreme
examples to add substance to your general argument.
Great!
Rajendra, I have no problem using the terms "Newars" and "non-Newars" to denote specific meanings in a discussion.
Most of my best friends are Newars. In fact, I just spent this past New Year's Eve at a Newar friend's house in the heart of Bhakatapur, where a bunch of us (Newars and non-Newars) had stimulating and lively conversations about nationalism, enthnocentrism, bahun-newar-chettri inter-relations, Nepal-India relations and so on and so forth.
Did these discussions make us all angry with one another,
and insecure about our ethnic identities?
Not at all.
Instead, we ended up, like we often do, appreciating our diverse backgrounds all the more.
Communalism, I would argue, is the weapon of those in Nepal
who show little or no evidence of having understood OTHER group's cultural practices in micro, changing contexts, yet feel free -- assuming, perhaps, everyone will surely agree with them -- to show their indignation/concerns/anger in public by saying, on
a macro-level, yesto bha.ya.na, testo bha.ya.na.
Take the present anti Indian haawaa in Kathmandu, for example.
Coming to the issue at hand, sure, the tradition of Kumari needs to be reviewed. But, as I pointed out earlier, that's like saying "nepal ko bikas hoonoo parcha ". That's why, and since
ethnic discussions need to be done by Nepalis of all stripes,
I disagree with the very level from which Biswo is pushing
this discussion.
Why?
Because I think we can do better than that.
Why?
Because being worried about Kumari's future IN ISOLATION from the
values, beliefs and practices of the Baadaa community -- as it was in an earlier thread on this Web site -- smacks, to me anyway,
an example of self-righteous indignation that multicultural
Nepal can live without.
So what if ex-Kumaris are drawing pensions from the state
funds? That fact alone does not make anyone's analysis of the
Kumari tradition any sharper without first understanding the
slow but sure changes already occuring within the Baadaa societies.
And by the way, Shrestha: Let us remember that it was and is NEVER a CULTURAL practice of the Tamangs of Sindhu Palchowk to sell their daughters off to the Bombay flesh markets. In the search for counter-examples, let us not end up comparing
sayau to soon.tala
As for the Gufa Basnay rite, staying away for boys/men and away from the sunlight for 12 days sounds like a Newari practice I
will never understand, yet can have respect for without
worrying too much about probable psychological effects on a
young just started to menstrutate girl
Now, imagine the tradition of Kumari being the same: with
more complications that can only be understood if we take
the trouble to first understand the CHANGING community from
which that tradition springs. The Kumari tradition,
as I wrote earlier, is NOT entirely frozen in time
and space.
My thanks to commentators -- Biswo, Rajendra and Shrestha --
for their thoughts.
oohi
ashu
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