Mesocosm: Hinduism and the Organization of a Traditional Newar City in Nepal PDF
Preview Mesocosm: Hinduism and the Organization of a Traditional Newar City in Nepal
Mesocosm Mesocosm Page ii Seto Bhairava dancing Page iii Mesocosm Hinduism and the Organization of a Traditional Newar City in Nepal Robert I. Levy with the collaboration of Kedar Raj Rajopadhyaya UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS Berkeley Los Angeles Oxford Page iv Disclaimer: This book contains characters with diacritics. When the characters can be represented using the ISO 88591 character set (http://www.w3.org/TR/images/latin1.gif), netLibrary will represent them as they appear in the original text, and most computers will be able to show the full characters correctly. In order to keep the text searchable and readable on most computers, characters with diacritics that are not part of the ISO 88591 list will be represented without their diacritical marks. Endpaper map adapted from socété et Religion chez les Néwar du Népal by Gérard Toffin. Paris: Élitions du Sentre National de la Recherche Scien tifique, 1984. University of California Press Berkeley and Los Angeles. California University of California Press Oxford, England Copyright © 1990 by The Regents of the University of California Library of Congress CataloginginPublication Data Levy, Robert I. (Robert Isaac), 1924 Mesocosm: Hinduism and the organization of a traditional Newar city in Nepal / Robert I. Levy with the collaboration of Kedar Raj Rajopadhyaya. p. cm. ISBN 0520069110 1. Sociology, Hindu. 2. Sociology, Urban—Nepal—Bhadgaon. 3. Bhadgaon (Nepal)—Religious life and customs. 4. Hinduism— Nepal—Bhadgaon. 5. Newar (Nepalese people). I. Rajopadhyaya, Kedar Raj. II. Title. BL 1215.S64L48 1990 306.6'45'095496—dc20 9036857 CIP Printed in the United States of America 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 The paper used m this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.481984. Page v For Upendra Raj Radjopadhyaya and Nerys Page vi And my husband says the same, only I don't believe it, replied the Princess Myagky. If our husbands were not so fond of talking, we should see things as they are. —Tolstoy, Anna Karenina Death: Did you enjoy your reprieve? Knight: Yes, I did. Death: I'm happy to hear that. Now I'll be leaving you. When we meet again your and your companions' time will be up. Knight: And you will divulge your secrets? Death: I have no secrets. —Ingmar Bergman, The Seventh Seal Page vii CONTENTS Maps xviii Figures xix Preface and Acknowledgments xxi 1. Introduction 1 The Background of This Study 1 How the Study Was Done 5 Part 1. Orientations and Contexts 2. Orientations 13 Bhaktapur and the Newars 13 Ways of Looking at the Organization of Bhaktapur 16 Ballet 16 Typological Conceits: The Archaic City 18 Historical Conceits: The Ancient IndoEuropean City and the Axial 19 Age Typological Conceits: Kinds of Minds—a Continent in the Great Divide 23 Organizational Conceits: The Civic Function of Symbolism in Bhaktapur 25 and, Presumably, in Other Such Archaic Cities Page viii Organizational Conceits: Embedded and Marked Symbolism 26 Typological Conceits: Hinduism as an Archaic Kind of Symbol System 27 and Bhaktapur as a Hindu Climax Community Psychological Conceits: What Is a Newar that He or She May Know 28 Bhaktapur? 3. Nepal, the Kathmandu Valley, and Some History 33 Introduction 33 Nepal 33 The Kathmandu Valley 34 Notes on Early Newar History 35 Bhaktapur's Beginnings 39 Jayasthiti Malla and the Ordering of Bhaktapur 42 From Jayasthiti Malla to the Fall of the Newar Polity 45 The Gorkhali State, and the Submerging of the Newars in Greater Nepal 47 The 1950 Revolution against the Rana Regime 51 4. Bhaktapur's Other Order 53 Introduction 53 The Physical City 55 Some Demographic Notes 56 Population Density 58 Bhaktapur's Demography: Newars and Hindu Newars 59 The Hinterland 59 Relation to the Central Government 60 The Agricultural Economy 62 The Nonagricultural Economy 66 A Summary Note 68 5. The Distribution of Roles: The Macrostatus System 69 Introduction: Thar and Macrostatus Levels 69 The Thar 71 An Excursion. Caste, Class, and Varna * 73 Who in Bhaktapur Is a Newar? 75 Page ix The Macrostatus Levels: Newar Hindus, the Core System 77 The Macrostatus System: Buddhist Thars and Some Notes on Newar 85 Buddhism NonNewars: Brahmans 87 NonNewars: Matha * priests 87 NonNewars: Others 88 Thar, Macrostatus, and the Organization of Occupational and Ritual Roles 89 Thar and Macrostatus Demography 96 Entailments and Markers of the Macrostatus Levels 99 Status Ranking of and by Outsiders 105 Envoi 107 6. Inside the Thars 109 Introduction: The Internal Structure of the Thar 109 Household and Household Size 110 Household Roles 112 Wives and Households 114 Household Hierarchy, Authority, and Purity and the Cipa System 117 The Comparative Freedom of the Newar Woman in the Northern Hindu 120 Context Newar Menstrual Disabilities in Comparison with the IndoNepalese 122 A Wife's Natal Household's Relation to Her Children: The Mother's 125 Brother Marriage 126 Remarriage and Multiple Marriage 134 The Lack of Hypergamic Implications of Marriage 136 Adoption and Marriage 137 Major Kin Groupings: (I) Kul, Phuki, and Their Women 138 Major Kin Groupings: (II) Feminal Kin, Tha:thiti 140 Phuki and Thar 141 Ritual Friendship and Fictive Kinship 142 Kinship Terminology 142 Guthis, Organizations for Special Purposes 144 The Inside of the Thars in Relation to the City's Mesocosm 145
The list of books you might like
