1 I. A Nexus between Nepali Nationalism and Ethnic Mode of Expression “A nation is not some geographical entity, it is a place which is loved and liked by the people” (B.P. Koirala, Atmabrittanta, 289) The discourse of nationalism is often associated with collective identity of people. It is a tie that binds people with a nation. Nationalism is a mode of defining, expressing and recognizing oneself in relation to the state. It is constructed along with formation of nation state and incorporates several elements like people, language, culture, religion, history, social structures, and political conditions. On the other hand, ethnicity is related with particular social group that shares common cultural, lingual, religious, historical and national experiences. It is a communal identity that is based on specific value systems, rituals, customs, festivals, myths and symbols. As nationalism is not a mere political construct or pervasive integration of people in certain physical boundary, it should reflect memories, aspirations, and imaginations of the people living in particular place. Literature, like other modes of cultural production reflects the specific socio- historical dimensions of its creation. It manifests the society and culture in which it is composed. As the socio-economic materiality is the base for the articulation and production of any literary texts, literature is usually shaped by the politics or power dynamisms. In this connection, Nepali poetry can also be studied and analyzed by contextualizing it to the historical development of the nation-state or nationalism. This dissertation thus, is an attempt to study the relation between ethnicity and nationalism by foregrounding the nexus between literature and the state. Drawing on the issue of nationalism into interrogation, it tries to explore the connection between ethnic identity and Nepali nationalism. Moreover, the thrust of the study is to find out how 1 2 the ethnic and minority voices become source of creativity in mainstream Nepali literature, and ultimately call for socio-political and cultural transformations. In order to explore the dynamism of Nepali literature and nationalism, the researcher has purposefully selected the contemporary Nepali poems written by the poets Shrawan Mukarung, Bhupal Rai, Upendra Subba, Chandrabir Tumbapo, Swopnil Smriti and Heman Yatri, all of them from Kirant ethnic community. The intention behind selecting these poets from this particular socio-ethnic community is basically to analyze the relationship between mainstream Nepali literary language and expression from Kirant community. By figuring out a nexus between nationalism and ethnic expressions in mainstream literature, the study tries to examine how do poets of this ethno community relate their Kirant identities in accordance to the political changes of the contemporary time. In the light of multidimensional theoretical approaches and interdisciplinary insights, the dissertation analyzes the relation of ethnic expression and the notion of nationalism. Nationalism and ethnicity The development of the concept of nationalism is related with the development of nation-states. Nationalism plays a central role in shaping individual consciousness, beliefs, value systems and self perception. Nationalism involves myths, symbols discourses and ideologies that relate an individual to group consciousness. As a modernist idea, it spread from Europe to all over the world. Scholars have viewed nationalism in various ways. They have defined it mainly as cultural or historical product or even as an imagined community or psychological construction. Ernest Renan, a French scholar relates nationalism with nation. He considers nation as a spiritual entity or a common bond among the people. It is related 2 3 with common experiences like joy, pain, grief, national sacrifice and other historical and cultural commonalities. He views nation as consent to live together in a group: A nation is a soul, a spiritual principle. Two things, which in truth are but one, constitute this soul a spiritual principle. One lies in the past, one in the present. One is the possession in common of a rich legacy or memories; the other is present day consent, the desire to live together, the will to perpetuate the value of the heritage that one has received in an undivided form. (19) Renan considers a nation as an expression of agreement of living together by sharing memories and experience; he takes nationalism as a cultural entity. He thinks nationalism is primarily related with the feeling of the people rather than physical boundary. He argues that it is appropriate to join the idea of nationhood with race, religion and geography. He further writes, “Man is a slave neither of his race nor his language, nor of his religion, nor of the course of rivers, nor of the direction taken by mountain chains. A large aggregate of men, healthy in mind and warm in heart, creates a kind of moral conscience which we call a nation” (20). For Renan, nation and nationalism is more than a mere political category. He highlights upon emotional aspects of nation and believes nation as more than geography, race, language or any sorts of boundaries. Similarly, Ernest Gellner also hints towards emotional aspects of nation and nationality. He regards nationalism as distinctively modern terminology and that it is not strictly the result of prior ethnicity, race or culture, "…nationalism is not the awakening and assertion of these mythical, supposedly natural and given units. It, on 3 4 the contrary, is the crystallization of new units, suitable for the conditions now prevailing, though admittedly using as their raw material the cultural, historical and other inheritances from the pre-nationalist world" (49). He also says, ". a high culture pervades the whole society, defines it, and needs to be sustained by the polity. That is the secret of nationalism" (18). It means nationalism is a pervasive and related with high culture. It defines other social categories and sustains in hierarchy. Nationalism sustains because of the protection of the polity to this so-called high- culture. On the other hand, Benedict Anderson regards nation as a larger imagined community. He considers it as an imagined entity as most of the members of this community share common identity and feelings. The formation of the nation occurs in the minds of the people according to their shared history, culture, language and myths. In this regard, looking back to the history and philosophy of one’s culture is the process of forming an identity or nation. Nation is an imagined community that is commonly shared between groups of people: . It [nation] is an imagined political community [. .] It is imagined because the members of even the smallest nation will never know most of their fellow-members, meet them, or even hear of them, yet in the mind of each lives the image of their communion [. .] The nation is imagined as limited because even the largest of them, encompassing perhaps a billion living human beings, has finite, if elastic, boundaries, beyond which lie other nations [. .] It is imagined as sovereign because the concept was born in an age in which Enlightenment and Revolution were destroying the legitimacy of the divinely-ordained, 4 5 hierarchical dynastic realm [. .] Finally, it is imagined as a community, because, regardless of the actual inequality and exploitation that may prevail in each, the nation is always conceived as a deep, horizontal comradeship. (6-7) Emotional aspects of cultural identities are basic elements of the nation. Nations are created, nourished and sustained through the emotional bond of the people. People express themselves in different ways: through myths, the heroism, the unsurpassed achievements, language and literature etc. In this process nation is formed as an imaginative community or collective identity shared among the different individuals. It is a doctrine of social solidarity based on the characteristics and symbols of nationhood. It is a kind of deep and intense feeling rather than a fixed boundary or political construct. According to David Steven, nationalism encompasses various elements and is expressed through different signs and symbols. It is manifested in the different forms and symbols. Myths, history, cultural entities, rituals, and values systems are basic elements of nation. Steven remarks: The stories, symbolism and ceremony of the nation - the rituals and the myths - are of very considerable importance for they engage the deepest popular emotion and aspirations. Myths tell the story; rituals re-enact it. Thus memories and stories of historic events and parades, remembrances ceremonies, celebrations, monuments to the fallen oaths, anthems, coinage, uniforms, flags - all the aesthetics of nationalism - are the things that provide a strong community of history and destiny. They are the things that bind people together. (256) 5 6 Nationalism is a whole complex of ideas, attitudes, events, political movements, and force. Nationalism tries to give meaning to the community of interests of a given group and to define the rights of membership in the group of all who belong to it. Nationalism is a belief hold by a group of people. It functions through myths, symbols, culture and shared memories. After talking about the nationalism, it is also worthwhile to discuss about ethnicity and its relation with nationalism. Ethnicity is often attached with identity, communal feelings, collective memory, language, literature, cultures,