Himal Books

Ref: SSB 11

Newar Society: City, Village and Periphery

by Gérard Toffin

2007, 2008 (second edition), pp xiv+454

ISBN: 978 99933 43 86 8

Price: U$ 32

The Newar of the Kathmandu Valley form a highly complex society that cannot be reduced to an over-simplified and schematic presentation. Their caste system, comprising of more than 30 main hierarchical groupings, is one of the most sophisticated in South Asia. Besides the traditional high and low castes, it also includes a variety of castes of intermediate status and a number of Vajrayana Buddhist groups.

This book is the outcome of a long commitment between Gérard Toffin and this brilliant civilisation, extending from the early 1970s up to the present day. It is based on several first-hand case studies undertaken among a number of caste groups, living not only in the cities but also in rural areas. The themes that emerge include: kinship ties and the complex association of the guthi type; the duality between centre and periphery; the salience of territorial affiliation and social boundaries; the enactment of social ties in religious performances; and the construction of ethnic identity.

Some peripheral groups, such as the Balami and the Pahari, are analysed here for the first time. The pace of changes over the last four decades or so is also dealt with, with particular emphasis on gender issues and the emergence of new caste associations.

Newar Society provides a comprehensive understanding of one of the major ethnic groups of Nepal, and should be mandatory reading for anyone interested in learning about this fascinating society that shaped the cultural landscape of the Kathmandu Valley.

Gérard Toffin is Director of Research at National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), Paris, and teaches Nepali civilisation at the National Institute for Oriental Languages and Civilisation, Paris. He is an anthropologist with over 35 years of research on Nepal. Among his publications are Société et religion chez les Néwar du Népal (Paris, 1984), Le Palais et le Temple: la fonction royale dans l’ancienne vallée du Népal (Paris, 1997), Ethnologie. La quête de l’Autre (Paris 2005), and the two edited volumes, Man and his house in the Himalayas (Delhi, 1991) and Nepal, Past and Present (Delhi, 1993). Prof Toffin delivered the Radhakrishnan Memorial Lecture in Oxford, 2000, and the Mahesh Chandra Regmi Lecture in Kathmandu, 2005.