Hinduism in Nepal

by

Jessica Vantine Birkenholtz

• LAST MODIFIED: 20 March 2025
• DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780195399318-0297

Introduction

Nepal held the unique status of being the world’s only Hindu kingdom until the collapse of its centuries-old Hindu monarchy in 2006. The idea of Nepal as the asal Hindustan, or “pure land of Hindus” (Stiller 1989, cited under Hindu Monarchy, Polity, and Collapse), was promoted by the political unifier of modern Nepal, Prithvi Narayan Shah, in the eighteenth century but the seeds for this were planted much earlier. Such claims, which persisted well into the modern period, were grounded in the fact that Nepal was geographically and politically isolated, the latter being reinforced by its rulers’ strict policy of isolationism. Nepal thus avoided both Muslim and British rule, which transformed much of the rest of the Indian subcontinent. In contrast, in the oft-quoted words of the French Indologist Sylvain Lévi, Nepal was “India in the making” (Lévi 1905–1908, p. 28, cited under General Overviews). That is, Nepal preserved ancient features of Hindu, Buddhist, and tantric religion that were lost or otherwise transformed elsewhere on the Indian subcontinent. These included animal sacrifice, tantric rituals that abound in the Kathmandu Valley, and the unique syncretism between Hinduism and Buddhism, all of which remain in ample evidence in Nepal today. Historically, Nepal referred only to the Kathmandu Valley and its surrounding environs. This was the domain of the Newars, the indigenous inhabitants of the Valley’s medieval Three Kingdoms (Kathmandu, Lalitpur/Patan, and Bhaktapur). Newars are urban dwellers with their own dual caste system that recognizes a hierarchy for both Newar Hindus and Buddhists, who are not readily categorizable as such because many Newars worship both Hindu and Buddhist deities and participate in a variety of rituals. Newar religion is also strongly influenced by Tantrism and tantric Hindu Śākta (Goddess) elements and practices permeate the Kathmandu Valley, where numerous fierce goddesses figure prominently. In contrast to Newar Hinduism and these tantric influences, there is another form of Hinduism practiced in Nepal known as Parbatiyā Hinduism. Parbatiyā (also known today as Khas-Arya) refers to the Dalit and high-caste Hindus (Brahmins and Kshatriyas, locally known in Nepal as Bahuns and Chetris) who hail from the hills outside of the Kathmandu Valley, often referred to in English nowadays as Hill Hindus. With Gorkha king Prithvi Narayan Shah’s defeat of the Valley in the eighteenth century, Parbatiyā Hindus introduced a more Brahmanical form of Hinduism into Nepal that is derived from and parallels Brahmanical Hindu formations in India. Parbatiyā and Newar forms of Hinduism are neither identical nor entirely distinct. Parbatiyā Hindus and Parbatiyā Hinduism—namely, the ruling elite and their religion, which has been fundamental to legitimating their rule—have hegemonic status in modern Nepal. The declaration of Nepal as a secular republic in 2006 after the collapse of the Hindu monarchy in the aftermath of the Maoist insurgency (1996–2006) affords a new opportunity and lens through which to examine Hinduism in Nepal and its role in Nepali society, culture, and politics moving forward.

Foundational Texts and Notable Edited Volumes

The following resources recur periodically throughout this annotated bibliography and are foundational resources for a broad understanding of Hindu religious culture and practice in Nepal but through specific lenses. They include both monographs and edited volumes. Bennett 2002 and Cameron 1998 use the interrelated lenses of women and caste to examine high-caste and Dalit Hindu formations, respectively. Intersections of religion, secularism, and ethnicity are shared themes in Gellner, et al. 2008 and Gellner, et al. 2016. Mocko 2015 addresses the shift from Hindu kingdom to secular state but also includes detailed accounts of key festivals in which the figure of the king is integrated. This offers a contemporary update to select festivals described in Anderson 1988. In addition to Anderson 1988, Gutschow and Michaels 1987 and Slusser 1982 examine the cultural heritage of the Kathmandu Valley, evidenced through different historical and contemporary practices and the physical landscape itself, respectively. Toffin 2007 more specifically focuses on the contributions and culture of the Kathmandu Valley’s Newar communities and Levy 1990 even more particularly focuses on the Newar community in Bhaktapur.

• Anderson, Mary. Festivals of Nepal. Calcutta: Rupa, 1988.

  A reliable, if dated, source on Nepal’s festivals. Over thirty-six chapters, through the lenses of different festivals come into focus many other important cultural aspects of Hindu religion in Nepal, including popular (folk or mythological) narratives, ritual details, and comparative discussions. Contains three sets of festival photographs (in color).

• Bennett, Lynn. Dangerous Wives and Sacred Sisters: Social and Symbolic Roles of High-Caste Women in Nepal. Kathmandu: Mandala Book Point, 2002.

  A book-length ethnographic study of a Bahun-Chetri community that presents a broad but detailed view of women’s lives (also see the works cited under Women and Gender). Includes rich ethnographic details, especially around Hindu Life-Cycle Rituals and Stages of Life. Also includes an analysis of two locally read texts, the Chandi Path and Svasthānī Vrata Kathā. First published 1983.

• Cameron, Mary. On the Edge of the Auspicious: Gender and Caste in Nepal. Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1998.

  Presents an intersectional ethnography of gender and caste in village life that privileges the often-neglected perspective of lower-caste women in far western Nepal. Important for understanding the tension between the local empowerment of women and broader systems of marginalization and the ways in which customary vertical social hierarchies—with “pure,” “high-caste” Hindus at the top and “polluted,” low-caste Dalits at the bottom—are disrupted by low-caste perceptions of themselves as “different” rather than “less pure.”

• Gellner, David N., Sondra L. Hausner, and Chiara Letizia. Religion, Secularism, and Ethnicity in Contemporary Nepal. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2016.

  A rich collection of essays that assess the meaning of secularism in post-Maoist insurgency, post-monarchy Nepal. Sixteen case studies in varied cultural and regional contexts demonstrate the continuing centrality of religion in negotiating daily life and upheaval for individuals and communities. Excellent contextualizing introduction, followed by two overarching sections that focus on, first, contrasting rural and urban views on secularism and, second, responses from ethnic communities.

• Gellner, David, Joanna Pfaff-Czarnecka, and John Whelpton, eds. Nationalism and Ethnicity in a Hindu Kingdom: The Politics of Culture in Contemporary Nepal. Kathmandu: Vajra Books, 2008.

  Originally published in 1997. A critical volume of essays on the contested intersections of nationalism, ethnicity, resistance, and change in Nepal. The updated introduction establishes definitions and categories and expands the scope up to 2008 to include the Maoist “People’s War” (1996–2006) and its aftermath. Twelve ethnographic and historical chapters follow that focus on Nepal’s major ethnic groups and regions. Concluding chapters reflect on nation building, ethnic diversity and cultural change, and the role of the Hindu state.

• Gutschow, Niels, and Axel Michaels, eds. Heritage of the Kathmandu Valley. Sankt Augustin, Germany: VGH Wissenschaftsverlag, 1987.

  A collection of twenty-one essays on art, architecture and conservation, ritual, agriculture and environment, social change, history, and musicology by many leading scholars in the field of Nepal studies. Recurring themes include the Newars, religion, caste, and different communities and sacred places or practices in the Kathmandu Valley.

• Levy, Robert. Mesocosm: Hinduism and the Organization of a Traditional Newar City in Nepal. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1990.

  A seminal study of Hinduism through a detailed examination of the sacred Hindu city of Bhaktapur and its predominantly Newar residents. Telescopes from the microcosm of the individual to the macrocosm of their Hindu-derived and -oriented universe. Attends to Bhaktapur’s human and divine populations, as well as the robust ritual and festival calendar. Serves as a comprehensive introduction to both Hindu formations in Nepal and Newar culture (see Newar Hinduism).

• Mocko, Anne. Demoting Vishnu: Ritual, Politics, and the Unraveling of Nepal’s Hindu Monarchy. New York: Oxford University Press, 2015.

  A rigorous account of the collapse of Nepal’s 240-year-old Hindu monarchy and shift to secular democracy through the lens of religious studies to understand the ritualization of kingship. Includes important historical context and details from the critical post-Maoist period, as well as discussion of key royal rituals associated with Bhoṭo Jātrā, Indra Jātrā and the blessing of the Kumārī, and Dasain.

• Slusser, Mary Shepherd. Nepal Mandala: A Cultural Study of the Kathmandu Valley. 2 vols. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1982.

  A comprehensive, foundational account of the Kathmandu Valley’s cultural history from its earliest recorded history up to the modern period. Attends to both divine and human populations (Hindu, Buddhist, or otherwise) and the various institutions and practices they introduced and propagated. Illustrated by an accompanying set of 599 black-and-white plates in Volume 2 of people, places, and architecture discussed in Volume 1. Both the depth and breadth of this work make it an indispensable resource for nearly any topic related to the Kathmandu Valley.

• Toffin, Gérard. Newar Society: City, Village and Periphery. Kathmandu: Himal Books, 2007.

  A collection of articles originally written in French that makes thirteen of Gérard Toffin’s numerous articles readily available to an English audience. Spans over three decades of ethnographic research (since 1970) on both rural and urban Newars and Newars from high castes and artisan castes, paradigmatic castes, and castes on the social and geographical periphery.