HIMALAYA, the Journal of the Association for Nepal and Himalayan Studies

Volume 38 Number 1 Article 32

June 2018

Review of The Newars of Sikkim: Reinventing Language, Culture and Identity in the Diaspora by Bal Gopal Shrestha

Mona Chettri

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Recommended Citation Chettri, Mona. 2018. Review of The Newars of Sikkim: Reinventing Language, Culture and Identity in the Diaspora by Bal Gopal Shrestha. HIMALAYA 38(1). Available at: https://digitalcommons.macalester.edu/himalaya/vol38/iss1/32

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License. This Review is brought to you for free and open access by the DigitalCommons@Macalester College at DigitalCommons@Macalester College. It has been accepted for inclusion in HIMALAYA, the Journal of the Association for Nepal and Himalayan Studies by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@Macalester College. For more information, please contact [email protected]. The book Newars of Sikkim: Reinventing Language, Culture and Identity in the Diaspora presents a description of the changes in the culture and rituals of the Newar ethnic group in Sikkim. Using interviews, observation, and secondary data, Bal Gopal Shrestha charts the history of the Newars in Sikkim, the establishment of the Sikkim Newar Guthi, and the new cross-border connections that have been forged between the Newars of Kathmandu and Sikkim to revive and retain Newari religion and culture in Sikkim. However, while interesting in its ethnographic content, there are several areas that require attention. The book begins with the migration in 1850 of Laksmidas Pradhan, an influential Newar who, along with This monograph presents not only an ethnographic description but also a detailed analysis of the

processes and ritual activities The through which the Newar his extended family, were able to population in the state of Sikkim

(India) (re-)constructs its socio- cultural identity in a diaspora NEWARS context. Dealing with the history and the present socio-economic establish themselves in Sikkim as position of the Newars in Sikkim, the author discusses the various transformations taking place when observing religious rituals, feasts and festivals, revenue collectors, copper miners, performing life cycle and death

rituals.

of

In this book Bal Gopal Shrestha providesk a fascinating glimpse into a small diaspora SIKKIM businessmen, and overseers of a within a diaspora. He establishes convincingly, using Robin Cohen’s criteria, that ethnic Nepalese living in Sikkim as Indian citizens do indeed constitute a diaspora population. … Newars have a deep tradition of long-distance trade throughout Nepal and up to the Tibetan plateau and they have long had a kind of diasporic consciousness, with folk songs evoking nostalgia for their heartland, the Kathmandu large number of migrants from Nepal Valley. This book, long in the making, provides important documentation of a little- known aspect of Nepalese history and society. As such, it is a signifi to the ethnography of the Himalayas. At the same time it may teach Nepalese in cant contribution (pp. 18-28). The historical details of Nepal and around the world much that they didn’t know about how Nepalese in the ‘near’ diaspora have survived and thrived. The –Professor David N. Gellner, University of Oxford, UK k Shrestha Gopal Bal their journey and their influence Dr. Bal Gopal Shrestha NEWAR PhD in anthropology at the, a UniversityResearch Fellow of Leiden at the(the University Netherlands). of Oxford An Affiliated (UK), earned Fellow a at of S the International Institute for Asian Studies (IIAS), Leiden, Shrestha has been Researcher and Assistant Professor at the University of Leiden (2006-08). Having conducted fi in Nepal, India, the UK and Belgium, Dr. Shrestha has published widely on Nepalese on Nepali migration to Sikkim religious rituals, Hinduism, Buddhism, ethnic nationalism, the Maoist movement, political SIKKIM eldwork developments in Nepal and on the Nepalese diaspora. He is the author of the monograph Sacred Town of Sankhu: Th k (Cambridge Scholars Publishinge Anthropology 2012, paperback of Newar 2013). Ritual, Religion and Society in Nepal Th e Reinventing Language, Culture, and provide an interesting glimpse into Identity in the Diaspora

www.vajrabooks.com.np Vajra Books the socio-economic relationships Kathmandu, Nepal Bal Gopal Shrestha VAJRA between different ethnic groups in nineteenth century Sikkim. Against this background of the socio- The Newars of Sikkim: Reinventing economic life of the early settlers, Language, Culture and Identity the book examines the contemporary in the Diaspora. status of Newars in Sikkim. Shrestha uses data from surveys conducted in Bal Gopal Shrestha. Kathmandu: 1981, 1989 and 1994 (pp. 30-1, 142) to Vajra Books, 2015. 161 pages. establish the present socio-economic ISBN 9789937623339. status of the Newars. Considering that numerous other surveys have Reviewed by Mona Chettri been conducted over the last three

HIMALAYA Volume 38, Number 1 | 217 …the ethnographic and secondary details presented in The Newars of Sikkim will be a useful and interesting starting point for those interested in Newari culture and tradition in Sikkim.

Mona Chettri onThe Newars of Sikkim: Reinventing Language, Culture and Identity in the Diaspora

decades, this data is not an accurate comments. For instance, Shrestha’s Indian citizens, and call Sikkim home. representation of the current socio- “most surprising find was a family Thus, while a useful category for an economic status of Newars. The use portrait of the late Shah King earlier wave of Newari migrants who of statistical data is, presumably, to Birendra and his family inside every probably did fulfil the criteria used highlight the lower economic status Nepalese home in Sikkim” (p. 145; by the author to define a diasporic of the Newars in Sikkim but Shrestha emphasis reviewer’s own), a claim community, the continued use of contradicts this with statements which is categorically untrue. this category throughout the book such as “many believe the Newars Further, the author makes a series for all the Newars of Sikkim is highly are affluent” (p. 54), “the Newars of seemingly inflammatory claims problematic. As the book illustrates, are believed to be one of the most such as “even the people of Nepalese the Newars maintain cultural and educated communities in Sikkim,” origin migrating to Sikkim from familial contact with Newars of and “in the past, many Newars other Indian states do not feel Kathmandu but the author conflates occupied important Governmental well-treated,” “… those of Nepalese cultural contact with notions of posts, but this situation has changed stock from West Bengal (Darjeeling, belonging and home. Apart from in the recent past” (ibid.). Shrestha Kalimpong) and from across the being problematic conceptually, posits this change in the status of Nepalese border are not respected” categorizing the Newars of Sikkim the Newars on “the privileged status (ibid.), and the suggestion that as a diasporic community negates given to Bhutias and Lepchas who statements made by Kazi Lhendup any claims on Indian citizenship and have begun replacing them” (ibid.). Dorji in 1995 urging the Indian exacerbates pre-existing problems of Instead of assessing the overall government to return Sikkim to its identity, rights, and inclusion that are economic and institutional structures independent status is an illustration being experienced by Indian-Nepalis that affects people’s status, Shrestha of “how the Indian rule in Sikkim in India. While they might not be shifts responsibility on other is despised” (ibid.). These are a few able to claim an indigenous status communities for the current position examples of generalizations that are in Sikkim, the author claims that of the Newars. While no secondary neither substantiated with evidence they “reside in a foreign country and data or statistics are presented to nor elaborated further. Inter- and are still not accepted as natives of validate this claim, Shrestha also intra-ethnic relationships as well as Sikkim” (p. 6) without providing any overlooks the fact that the Bhutia Sikkim’s relationship with India is further elaboration on parameters and Lepcha communities have always far more complex than illustrated of Sikkimese citizenship or how had this “privileged status” and that in the book and deserves deeper they are not accepted as Sikkimese. the Newars nevertheless did well introspection and analysis. Newars who hold documents in securing employment and high identifying them as Sikkim subjects The book categorizes the Newars of administrative positions. are Sikkimese in an administrative Sikkim as a diasporic community and and technical sense, and this is true While interesting in its detailed uses examples of Newar migrants for all other Nepali ethnic groups description and comparison of in the late nineteenth and early living in Sikkim. Newar rituals performed in Sikkim twentieth century to justify this and Kathmandu, the influence of categorization. While this is an Given the on-going ethnic revivalism other religious traditions on Newari appropriate categorization for an in the eastern Himalaya, The Newars practices, and their assimilation earlier generation who considered of Sikkim presents interesting insight with other Hindu and Buddhist Nepal to be their homeland and into the work and motivation of practices, the book includes many place of origin, it is not true for individuals in establishing the Sikkim generalizations and cavalier those who were born in India, are Newar Guthi and their renewed

218 | HIMALAYA Spring 2018 cross-border connections with Kathmandu in an attempt to maintain ethnic exclusivity. However, political contextualization of these religious and cultural changes, one of the crucial drivers of ethnic politics in Sikkim, is presented in snippets and is not exhaustive. On many levels, the book achieves what it sets out to be its central premise: to document and describe the changes, revival, and preservation of the ritual and cultural traditions of the Newars of Sikkim. From that perspective, the ethnographic and secondary details presented in The Newars of Sikkim will be a useful and interesting starting point for those interested in Newari culture and tradition in Sikkim. However, the lack of critical analysis, broader contextualization, and engagement with other literature on the region, rigour, and over-generalization limits the audience and impact of this book. Mona Chettri is a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at Aarhus University, Denmark. She is the author of Constructing Democracy: Ethnicity and Democracy in the Eastern Himalayan Borderland (Amsterdam University Press, 2017). Her current research focuses on economic liberalisation and urbanisation in the Sikkim Himalaya.

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