Caste system in Nepal

Nepal is rich in diversity, be it religious, cultural, linguistic or ethnic. Caste system refers to the stratification of human on the basis of religious and cultural beliefs. It is connected to the Hindu philosophy and is found in the Hindu community mostly in Nepal and some parts of India. It is extremely prevalent in Nepal.

In Nepal, the caste system was strengthened by the then King Jayasthiti Malla during the Malla period. During the period of Jung Bahadur Rana (the first Rana Prime Minister) Muluki Ain (Country Law), 1854 incorporated all the Non-Hindus groups under the caste system.

Caste-origin Hill Parbatiya Hindu groups/Khas

Members of Khas community
The social structure of caste-origin Hill Hindu or Khas groups is simple, reflecting only three groups in hierarchy, with the distinct absence of the Vaishya and Shudra varnas. Much of the previously animist/tribal Khas population of the western Nepal region acquired the ‘Chhetri’ status in the 1850s with the proclamation by the Rana Prime Minister Jung Bahadur Rana, making Chhetris the most populous caste/tribe of Nepal. The mother tongue of these groups is Nepali and its various dialects. In 2001 the CBS recorded only nine groups in the caste-origin Hill Hindu groups.

Occupying both the top and the bottom of this system were the hill Hindus or Parbatiya who
migrated into Nepal from the western hills. They were from the Indo-European language group and
spoke a Sanskrit-based language (Khas) from which the modern Nepali language emerged. They
brought with them their traditional caste-based social structure which already allocated the highest
rank to the Bahuns (Brahmans) and the Chhetris and Thakuris (Kshatriya). Both of these were
classified as tagedhari, or ‘wearers of the sacred thread’ signifying their status as ‘twice-born’ or
those initiated into the sacred Hindu texts.

People from the ‘pure’ middle-ranking Vaishya and Sudra varnas do not seem to have come
along with these Hindus on their migration eastward through the hills, but the occupational groups,
Kami (blacksmiths), Damai (tailor/musicians) and the Sarki (cobblers) did. Falling within the
‘impure’ group, collectively called pani nachalne or ‘those from whom water cannot be accepted’,
they were ranked at the very bottom and classified as achut or ‘untouchable’.
In the Nepal hill and mountain areas the middle rank was accorded to the existing indigenous
groups, belonging to mainly the Tibeto-Burman language group. Since many of these groups
consumed homemade beer and spirits, they were called ‘liquor-drinkers’ or matwali by the Brahmans
and Chhetris whose caste status did not allow them to take alcohol which was considered polluting. In
contemporary Nepal these various ethnic groups are now referred to as the Adivasi Janajati
(indigenous nationalities).