Newar People
The natives of Kathmandu, the Newars, are mainly traders. With a purpose to trade, they are scattered across the country; with greater concentration in the Kathmandu Valley, Banepa, Dhulikhel, Bhojpur, Bandipur and Tansen . In Kathmandu valley, they make 44% of total population. Nationally, however, they make about 5.6% of total population. Despite the small percentage numerically, they contribute significantly in the history, art, architecture and business activities in the country.
They are in to the
business and government services; business being their main profession. They
have negligible representations in the army and police
services.Quite a few of them also have agriculture as their main occupation.
These agrarian population are known as "jyapus".
Newars speak their own language, ' Newari' better known as Nepal Bhasa which belongs to Tibeto - Burman family of languages. It has its own scripts and has no linguistic connection to Nepali, Hindi or Sanskrit. The Newari script, the 'Ranjana lipi' is exceptional. The Newari literature is also very rich.
There are both Buddhist and Hindu Newars. Like elsewhere in the country, religious syncretism is blended into the culture and tradition.
They celebrate numerous feasts and festivals throughout the year.
Newars have a well defined occupational caste system among themselves. Though some Newars have Mongoloid features, they rather represent a community of different elements mixed together.
Besides their rich cultural heritage, festivals, the Newars are impeccable artists and architects.
To quote Prakash A. Raj, the Kathmandu Valley with all its temples and palaces compares no less to Florence in Italy. The Newars, of course, remained pivotal in the arts and architecture found in the Valley.
Among the Newar
community, an interesting ancient tradition, known as 'Ihi or Bel Biha' ,
requires that a young girl often 7 or 8 years old, be married to a certain tree
called 'Bel tree' or to its green fruit called 'Bel'. The tree and the fruit
symbolize a deity called 'Hiranya Garbha'. Among the deities, Hiranya Garbha is
one of the immortals. Thus marriage with 'Hiranya Garbha' is considered to be
everlasting.
To put it in a nutshell, the Newars, though small in numbers, have a very strong
and dominating influence in Nepal's economy, politics and society in general.
The name of the
county Nepal itself derives from the Newars. Newars are the indigenous peoples
of the Kathmandu Valley. They are also found in the neighboring hill settlements
as well as in the towns and cities of the Terai plains. Originally Buddhists,
Newars have increasingly become synceritc, and now a days some Newars practice
both Buddhism as well as Hinduism. They are prominent in business, agriculture
and craftsmanship. Their population exceeds 1.3 million. Newars have their own
language, called Nepal Bhasha, which belongs to the Tibeto-Burman family. The
Newar language has incorporated the rich corpus of Newa literature from
historical times. Newars are considered a highlydeveloped nation state of many
communities. They have a hierarchical clan system patterned after their
respective
occupations. The written history of the Newars is 2,5000 years old during which
they developed their impeccable culture and arts into a great civilization.
Newars maintained their unique kingdom even during the various reigns of the
Gopala, Kirat, Licchavi and Malla dynasties. The Shahs finally amalgamated the
Newar nation state in their unification drives.
GAI JATRA Festival
The festival of "Gai Jatra", the procession of cows, is generally celebrated in the Nepalese month of Bhadra (August-September). The festival of cows is one of the most popular festivals of Nepal. The whole complex of Gai Jatra festival has its roots in the ancient age when people feared and worshipped Yamaraj,"the god of death". However, the ironical sessions synonymous with the Gai Jatra festival came into tradition in the medieval period of Nepal during the reign of Malla Kings. Hence, the present form of Gai Jatra is a happy blending of antiquity and medievalism.
According to the traditions since times immemorial, every family who has lost one relative during the past year must participate in a procession through the streets of Kathmandu leading a cow. If a cow is unavailable then a young boy dressed as a cow is considered a fair substitute. In Hinduism, a cow is regarded as the most venerated among all the domestic animals. It is believed that the cow, revered as a holy animal by Hindus, will help the deceased relative's journey to heaven.
In terms of historical evidences, once when King Pratap Malla lost his son, his wife, the queen remained dumbstruck. The king was very sad to see the condition of his beloved queen. The king, in spite of his several efforts, could not lessen the grief of his wife. By all means he wanted to see little smile on the lips of his sweetheart. He announced that someone who ever made the queen laugh would be rewarded adequately.
During the festival of Gai Jatra, the cow procession was brought before the griefstricken queen. Then the participants began ridiculing and befooling the important people of the society. Finally when the social injustice and other evils were highlighted and attacked mercilessly, the queen could not stop smiling. The queen laughed, and Pratap Malla, the king ensued a tradition of including jokes, satires,mockery and lampoon in the Gai Jatra days.
After the procession is over, in the afternoon, nearly everyone takes part in another age-old tradition in which the participants dress up and wear masks. The occassion is filled with songs,jokes, mockery and humour of every kind become the order of the day until late evening. Hence, Gai Jatra is a healthy festival which enables the people to accept the reality of death and to prepare oneself for the life after death. According to Hinduism,"whatever a man does in his life is a preparation to lead a good life, after death".
The Best Link for Newar People Web sites:
http://www.newah.org/newah.htm
http://www.geocities.com/newanepal/perlowdin/contents.html
2000-2003 dharanOnline