Kathmandu Culture: The Newars
Although only a minor ethnic group in national terms, the Newars account for three-quarters of Kathmandu's population and exert a cultural influence in Nepal far beyond their numbers. Some scholars make the Newars out to be descendants of the Kiratas, who ruled the Kathmandu Valley between the seventh century BC and the second century AD, while others say they go back even further than that. In any case, the Newar community has had to absorb successive waves of immigrants, overlords, traders and usurpers ever since, resulting in a complex cultural matrix. Centuries of domination by foreign rulers have, if anything, only accentuated the uniqueness of Newar culture. For 1500 years the Newars have sustained an almost continuous artistic flowering: under the Lichhavis they produced acclaimed stone carvings, and under the Mallas and Shahs they've excelled in wood, metal and brick. They're believed to have invented the pagoda, and it was a Newar architect, Arniko , who led a Nepali delegation in the thirteenth century to introduce the technique to the Chinese. The pagoda style of stacked, strut-supported roofs finds unique expression in Nepali (read Newar) temples, and is echoed in the overhanging eaves of Newar houses. The shape of Newar settlements goes right to the roots of Newar civilization: farming and trade. As farmers, Newars build their villages in compact, urban nuclei to conserve the fertile farmland of the valley. As traders, they construct their houses with removable wooden shutters, so that the ground floor can double as a shop. Scattered, in part, by the shortage of land in the valley, Newar traders have colonized lucrative crossroads throughout Nepal, recreating bustling bazaars wherever they go. But above all, Newars are consummate city-builders. The fundamental building block of old Newar cities is the bahal (or baha) - a set of buildings joined at right angles around a central courtyard. Kathmandu is honeycombed with bahal, many of which were originally built as Buddhist monasteries but have reverted to residential use during two centuries of state-sponsored Hinduism. ( Bahal architecture was applied to palaces as well, as a look at a map of Durbar Square will readily demonstrate.) Another uniquely Newar invention is the guthi , a benevolent community trust based on caste or kinship links that handles the upkeep of temples ( mandir) and fountains ( hiti), organizes festivals, arranges cremations and, indirectly, ensures the transmission of Newar culture from one generation to the next. Guthi have been on the decline since the 1960s, however, when land reform deprived them of much of their income from holdings around the valley, and with young Newars losing interest in traditional ways they are gradually being marginalized into social clubs. Newars are easily recognized. Traditionally they carry heavy loads in baskets suspended at either end of a shoulder pole ( nol), whereas other Nepali hill people carry things on their backs, supported by a tumpline from the forehead. As for clothing , you can usually tell a Newar woman by the fanned pleats at the front of her sari; men have mostly abandoned traditional dress, but some still wear distinctive waistcoats. Newars generally speak among themselves in Newari (known among purists as Nepal Bhasa), a Tibeto-Burman language with many borrowings from Nepali. Several Newari-language newspapers are published in Kathmandu. Once repressed by the government, Newari has undergone a strong revival since the 1990 restoration of democracy, with schools offering courses in it and Radio Nepal broadcasting Newari programming. However, Newari and other minority languages are still a source of controversy in Nepal: in 1998 the Supreme Court raised hackles when it ruled that the Kathmandu city government couldn't declare Newari an "official" language.
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