Newars - Way of Life

CHAPTER II: THE NEWARS

The Newari Way of Life

The Newari culture is notably urban: most, except for some of the formerly “untouchable” households, live in houses of several stories, having the kitchen on the top floor, whereas the ground floors are used for storage or a shop, generally run by the family.[56] The houses are usually tightly clustered together, which gives even the smallest village an urban — and the bigger cities a rural ambience, as they are largely populated by farmers. In the cities there are many bahals (monasteries), rectangular residential compounds formed by houses surrounding a shrine. The people living there claim to be descendants of monks, who in a distant past married and became householders, although maintaining their sacred status. The architecture, especially the elaborately carved wooden windows, have been the object of much admiration, though the absence of sewage systems has been less admired. The area outside the house is regarded as an extension of the house. Thus, the streets are used to dry and husk grains, to spin, to keep chickens and ducks, to play, to bask in the winter sun, or to sit around gossiping, although the use of the street as a living space is disappearing in some parts of Kathmandu due to the increasing vehicular traffic.

The Newars have a high degree of specialization of labour. Traditionally, one’s occupation was tied to the caste to which one belonged. There were, and still are to a large extent, various specialists who inherit their professions according to caste: e.g, priests, astrologers, masons, painters, stone workers, bronze workers, copper workers, silver and gold smiths, carpenters, traders, gardeners, dyers, washermen, tailors, butchers, and sweepers. The Newar craftsmen have been noted for their skill and artistry, and much of their produce was exported to Tibet in the past. Often there is a concentration of specialists to certain localities (tole). Thus, there is a tendency for carpenters to occupy one locality, for bicycle repairmen to be in another, whereas a third will have a concentration of tradesmen or gold smiths. Traditionally, most households would also own land, even the city dwellers of Kathmandu and Patan, and one would be largely self-sufficient in grain to the extent that it was considered an embarrassment to go to buy grain in the market. Such land holdings were, and still are, generally tilled by members of the farmer (Jyapu) caste. However, recent changes in the landlord-tenant relationship, which have left more with the tiller and less with the landowner, as well as an increasing population pressure, have resulted in few non-farming families being self-sufficient in grain. Instead, a large portion of the city dwellers are dependent on cash incomes and on being able to buy most of what they require in the market.

The farmers work their fields individually, family-wise, and sometimes, particularly during periods of high labour input, in bola, a form of labour exchange wherein the fields are worked in teams. The main crops are rice, wheat, maize, and mustard. There is also increasing horticulture: cauliflowers, cabbages, tomatoes, onions, garlic, carrots, and pumpkins are grown and marketed in the cities. During the last decades it seems as if the farmers have had a good marketing situation, as the demand has increased faster than production due to the influx of people to the capital. Indeed, a large part of the food consumed in the cities Patan and Kathmandu has to be imported from India or brought from the Terai region.

Comparing the Newars to other Nepalese tribes and castes, one can establish that they are comparatively well off; the national average per capita domestic product was (in 1976-77) 1334 N.C.[57] Among the Jyapu of Lalitpur district I measured the cash per capita income, in 1982, to be 1134 N.C., and then only cash income was included. If in natura income had been included it would have been considerably higher, as the households are largely self-sufficient in grains and vegetables.[58] The Newars have also had advantages of the proximity to the central government and the national centre, which has provided them with better access to employment and education than most other groups.[59] The Newars are proud of their culture. They tend to think of themselves as the true culture bearers of Nepal , referring to their development of crafts, the cities, and the complicated net-work of kin and guthi relationships. They thus tend to regard the other people somewhat condescendingly, as intruders, as of lower rank and somewhat uncouth. One is not infrequently told by Newars, that the Parbatyas have borrowed everything they have of value from the Newars. Newari pride goes back especially to the Malla period, when the great temples and cities of the valley were built. According to Nepali the Newars refer to the “Gorkhas as Pakhe. That is to say, the Gorkhas have no material culture of their own to boast of.”(1965:19)[60] However, such attitudes are usually only revealed on impersonal levels. Many Newars frequently have close and lasting relationships with non-Newars.

Newari society can be described as ascriptive hierarchical. The traditional central hierarchical principles are based on caste, seniority and sex; one’s status in life is determined by these variables, which in turn affect one’s profession, one’s relationships to others, and one’s role in rituals. Yet another important variable in this context is socio-economic standing, which may sometimes override the ascriptive status. Lower castes may increase their status by being well-to-do. Nevertheless, the status they then assume tends to be expressed in the traditional idiom: i.e., one moves up to a higher hierarchic (ascribed) position, well-to-do Jyapus assuming the name Shrestha or migrants to Darjeeling calling themselves Pradhan.

The particulars of Newar social organization will be discussed later in this dissertation. I would like to conclude this initial, general discourse on the Newars with an in extenso quotation from Levi, whose characterization of the Newars, although too idyllic when broken out of its context, is succinct and, in my opinion, still largely valid:

Le trait dominant du charachtèr néwar, c’est le goût de la société. Le Néwar ne vit jamais isolé; il aime à loger, un peu comme le Parisien, dans des maisons à plusieurs étages et grouillantes de population, quitte à demeurer a l’étroit, aussi bien en ville qu’au village. Il sait jouir de tous les plaisirs que la nature l’ui donne; il chante, il cause, il rit, il goûte finement le paysage, se plaît aux piqueniques de gaie compagnie, dans un site ombragé, près d’un ruisseau ou d’une source, à l’abri d’un vieux sanctuaire, en face d’un spectacle aimable ou grandoise. Cultivateur adroit et soigneux, il excelle aussi a tous les art manuell, même le plus délicates; il est orfèvre et forgeron de talent, sculpteure fantaisiste, teinture et peintre de goût commercant, avisé sans rapacite, artiste né. Il a transformé les art de l’Inde, bati des temples et des palais qui ont servi de modeles aux Tibétains, aux Chinois; la pagode classique vient du Népal. La réputation des artisans népalais consacrée par les siècle est encore établie dans toute l’Asie centrale.(Levi, Vol I l905: 248-49)[61]

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[57] Statistical Pocket Book: Nepal , 1982:194. The figure given at current prices 1976-77. According to UNCTAD 1983:437 the per capita GDP was 137 US dollars in 1980, 1795 N.C in 1982’s exchange rates. These figures should be treated with caution, as they may be subject to error due to difficulties of measurement and fluctuations in the exchange rates. I have cited them here merely to point out that the Newars are relatively well-to-do.

[58] The economics of 67 households were surveyed. The produce not marketed was for methodological reasons not included in the computation of the per capita income figure. The per capita income must be considerably higher. 61% of the households said their agricultural output was sufficient to sustain them; thus, a large part of the value produced in the village is never expressed in a pecuniary value. For instance, only 11.8% of the rice, 11.5% of the maize, and 23% of the produced wheat are marketed. The results of this survey will be published elsewhere.

[59] For a discussion of the Newars’ special standing in modern Nepal , see Toffin 1975(c):38-39.

[60] The term “Gorkhas” in this context refers to mountain Hindus, particularly from the present Gorkha and Lamjung districts. The term is in itself ambiguous. It may refer to inhabitants of the region surrounding Gorkha, the ancestral principality of the Shah dynasty, including various tribal groups; to the ruling Shah dynasty; or to Nepalese soldiers in the national or in foreign armies.

[61] It is debatable if the Newars really have influenced the art of India and China to the extent that Levi argues, although there is little doubt that the valley has been known in large parts of Asia for its skilful craftsmen and beautiful temples.