Language Politics and State Policy in Nepal: A Newar Perspective A Dissertation Submitted to the University of Tsukuba In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in International Public Policy Suwarn VAJRACHARYA 2014 To my mother, who taught me the value in a mother tongue and my father, who shared the virtue of empathy. ii Map-1: Original Nepal (Constituted of 12 districts) and Present Nepal iii Map-2: Nepal Mandala (Original Nepal demarcated by Mandalas) iv Map-3: Gorkha Nepal Expansion (1795-1816) v Map-4: Present Nepal by Ecological Zones (Mountain, Hill and Tarai zones) vi Map-5: Nepal by Language Families vii TABLE OF CONTENTS Table of Contents viii List of Maps and Tables xiv Acknowledgements xv Acronyms and Abbreviations xix INTRODUCTION Research Objectives 1 Research Background 2 Research Questions 5 Research Methodology 5 Significance of the Study 6 Organization of Study 7 PART I NATIONALISM AND LANGUAGE POLITICS: VICTIMS OF HISTORY 10 CHAPTER ONE NEPAL: A REFLECTION OF UNITY IN DIVERSITY 1.1. Topography: A Unique Variety 11 1.2. Cultural Pluralism 13 1.3. Religiousness of People and the State 16 1.4. Linguistic Reality, ‘Official’ and ‘National’ Languages 17 CHAPTER TWO THE NEWAR: AN ACCOUNT OF AUTHORS & VICTIMS OF THEIR HISTORY 2.1. The Newar as Authors of their history 24 2.1.1. Definition of Nepal and Newar 25 2.1.2. Nepal Mandala and Nepal 27 Territory of Nepal Mandala 28 viii 2.1.3. The Newar as a Nation: Conglomeration of Diverse People 29 2.1.4. Newar Culture: A Blend of Diversity 30 2.1.5. Nepal Samvat: The State Calendar 32 2.2. The Nepal Bhasa: The Identity of the Newar 34 2.2.1. Significance of Nepal Bhasa 36 2.2.2. Nepal Lipi: Original Scripts 37 2.3. The Newar as Victims of Their History 40 2.3.1. Spatial State of the Newar and Nepal Bhasa 40 2.3.2. Gorkha Invasion: Offensive War on the Newar 44 Conquest of Nepal Mandala 45 2.3.3. Gorkha Nepal Policies: Displacement of Newar Symbols 46 2.3.4. Rana Policies: Oppression on Literacy and Language 49 2.3.5. Panchayat Policies: Advent of Single Language, Hinduism and the CHHE 50 2.4. Democratic Governance: Remarkable Policies and Subjugation to Hegemony 53 2.5. Resistance Movement: A Long Way from Language Resistance to Demand for Autonomy 55 2.6. Law Enforcement and Nepal Bhasa 57 The Government Response 58 Discretion of the Bureaucracy 59 2.7. The Incapacitation of the Speech Community 60 2.8. Summing Up 60 CHAPTER THREE SPATIAL STATE OF NEPAL BHASA IN NEPAL TODAY: REFLECTIONS ON THE LANGUAGE SURVEY 3. 1. Language Survey: An Overview 62 3.1.1. Interviews 63 3.1.2. Questionnaire Survey 65 3.1.3. Participatory Observation and Respondents 66 ix 3.1.4. The Profile of the Respondents 66 3.2. Attitudes towards the use of Nepal Bhasa 68 3.2.1. Community Attitude 68 a) Nepal Bhasa at Home 69 b) Nepal Bhasa with Friends 70 c) Nepal Bhasa Speaking Neighbors 71 d) Nepal Bhasa at Temple 72 e) Nepal Bhasa at Workplace/Office 73 f) Nepal Bhasa at School 74 3.2.2. Government Attitude towards Nepal Bhasa 77 Place of Learning Nepal Bhasa 77 3.3. Legal Consciousness of Nepal Bhasa: Role of the Speech Community 79 3.4. Space of Nepal Bhasa in State policy 84 3.5. Sustenance of Nepal Bhasa: Community Initiatives 85 3.6. Language and Territorial Identity: Nepal Bhasa and Nepal Mandala 91 3.7. Summing Up: Reflections on This Language Survey 93 CHAPTER FOUR LITERATURE REVIEW: LANGUAGE POLITICS & STATE POLICY 4.1. Literature Review 96 4.1.1. Language and Nationalism: An Anthropological Approach 97 4.1.2. Ethno-linguistic Nationalism 98 4.1.3. Nationalism of Mass-education 101 4.1.4. Print-language Nationalism 103 4.1.5. Language as Meaning to Nationalism 106 4.2. Literature on Language Politics and State Policies 108 4.2.1. English Hegemony and Indigenous Subalternity 110 4.2.3. South Asian Experience 112 4.3. Nepali Context 114 4.3.1. Language Politics and Policy in Nepal 116 4.3.2. Newar and Nepal Bhasa Movement 132 4.3.3. Summing Up 138 x PART II HEGEMONY AND RESISTANCE 140 CHAPTER FIVE THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK: LINGUISTIC HEGEMONY 5.1. Gramsci’s View on Language Politics and Policy 141 5.1.1. The Concept of Cultural Hegemony 142 5.1.2. Counter Hegemony: Pluralism 145 5.1.3. Subaltern Social Group 145 5.1.4. Common Sense in Gramsci’s View 147 5.1.5. Languages in Gramsci’s View 149 5.2. Dorsher’s Hegemony Online 152 5.3. Friedman’s Language Markets in Taiwan 153 5.4. Subaltern and Subaltern Studies 154 5.5. Linguistic Hegemony 158 5.6. Bourdieu’s View on Language Politics and Policy 160 5.6.1. Language Use: Favoritism and Subordination 161 5.6.2. Linguistic Habitus 163 5.6.3. Linguistic Capital 166 5.6.4. Linguistic Field (Market) 168 5.6.5. Symbolic Power 171 5.7. Policy and Law: Definitions and Differences 174 5.8. Legal Consciousness: Some Theoretical Aspect 176 5.9. Summing Up 178 CHAPTER SIX SINGLE LANGUAGE POLICY: IMPLICATIONS FOR NATIONAL UNITY OR HEGEMONY 6.1. State Language Policy in Nepal 179 6.1.1. Constitutional Provisions for Language Rights and their Use 180 6.1.2. Interim Constitution of 2007: Towards a New Nepal 184 xi Progressive verses Ambiguous Provisions 186 6.1.3. Language in Education: Policy Recommendations, Legislations and Implementation 193 6.1.4. Language Use in Public Service 204 6.1.5. Language in Mass Media: Towards a Change 211 6.2. Summing Up 213 CHAPTER SEVEN STATE SOCIETY RELATIONS: NEW RULERS & NATIVE NEWAR BACKGROUND ON THE RESISTANCE MOVEMENT 7. 1. State Society Relations: The Native Newar and the New Gorkhali Ruler 215 Advent of Support Base: CHHE over Newar Courtiers 216 7.1.1. Early Shah (1769-1845): The New Gorkhali Rulers 217 7.1.2. Rana Oligarchy (1846-1950): The Anarchy 219 Nepal Bhasa under Rana Oligarchy 220 7.2. Democratic Governance: Three Phases of Transition 227 7.2.1. Early Democracy (1951-1960): The Taste of Basic Rights 228 Nepal Bhasa in the Early Democracy 229 7.2.2. Panchayat Period (1961-1990): Return to Autocracy 231 Nepal Bhasa under Panchayat Rule 238 7.2.3. Multiparty Democracy (1991-2006): Advent of Hegemony 240 Nepal Bhasa During the Multiparty Democracy 242 7.2.4. Inclusive Democracy Period (2008-Present): Secularism & Federalism 247 Political Transformation 248 7.3. Summing Up 256 CHAPTER EIGHT THE NEWAR RESISTANCE AGAINST PERSISTANT STATE POLICY 8.1. Resistance and Movement: Some Theoretical Aspect 258 8.2. Resistance Movement in Nepal: Historical Perspective 260 xii 8.2.1. Resistance During the Past 240 Years 260 8.2.2. Resistance against Rana Oppression and Provocation 267 8.2.3. Advent of Political Organizations 269 8.3. Resistance Movements against Khas/Nepali Hegemony 276 8.3.1. Newar Resistance Movements: Nepal Bhasa to Autonomous State 276 8.3.2. Nepal Bhasa Renaissance: Early Stage of Newar Movement 277 8.3.3. Political Awakening of the Newar (1941-50) 291 The Newar Demands 291 8.4. Nepal Bhasa Movement - II: Demand for Language Rights (1965) 294 8.4.1. Delegation to King 296 8.4.2. Nepal Bhasa Literary Convention: A Pseudonym Resistance Movement 297 8.4.3. Achievements of the Nepal Bhasa Movement 301 8.5. Newa Swayatta Rajya (Autonomous State of Newar) 302 8.5.1. The Manifesto for ASoN 302 8.6. Summing Up 306 CONCLUSION PARADIGMS OF HEGEMONY, COUNTER HEGEMONY AND POLICY CHOICE FOR STATE SOCIETY RELATIONS IN A MULTILINGUAL NATION Linguistic Reality of Nepal 308 Fate of Nepal Bhasa 311 Paradigm of Hegemony: Manipulation of Culture, Ideology and Power 313 Paradigm of Counter Hegemony: Knowledge, Unity and Activism for Resistance 318 A Policy Choice for Viable State Society Relations 324 BIBLIOGRAPHY 328 APPENDIX-1: Tables 344 APPENDIX-2: Interview: Contribution of Nepal Bhasa to Newar Identity 352 APPENDIX-3: Use of Nepal Bhasa: A Survey Questionnaire 356 APPENDIX-4: Government Directives in News 366 xiii LIST OF MAPS AND TABLES Map-1: Original Nepal (Constituted of 12 districts) and Present Nepal iii Map-2: Nepal Mandala (Original Nepal demarcated by Mandalas) iv Map-3: Gorkha Nepal Expansionism v Map-4: Present Nepal by Ecological Zones (Mountain, Hill and Tarai zones) vi Map-5: Nepal by Language Families vii Table-1: Indigenous Nationalities of Nepal Recognized by the Government 344 Table-2: Language by Status and language lost (2011) (MOUNTAIN) 345 Table-3: Language by Status and language lost (2011) (HILL) 346 Table-4: Language by Status and language lost (201) (HILL AND TARAI) 347 Table-5: Comparison of the past constitutions with the present Interim Constitution of Nepal, 2007 185 Table-6: Comparison of important provisions between the constitutions of 1962 and 1990 244 Table-7: Ten Largest Population by Language – 2011 21 Table-8: Gazetted Civil Servants by Services and Caste/Ethnicity 42 Table-9: With whom or where do you speak Nepal Bhasa? 69 Table-10: Nepal Bhasa Speakers by home friends, neighbors, temple, work/office, and school 71 Table-11: What is your age? Where did you learn Nepal Bhasa and which Lipi (script) do you use? 78 Table-12: Are you aware that Nepal Bhasa has been reinstated as a national language in Nepal? 79 Table-13: In your opinion what needs to be done to promote Nepal Bhasa as a national standardized language? 81 Table-14: Which of the following should be the territory of future Newar state? 91 Table-15: What must be the official language of the future Newar state? 92 Table-16: Nepal Bhasa has been written in Indian Devanagari script for some time.