Land Lineage and State: A Study of Newar Society in Mediaeval Nepal

Contents: Foreword. Preface. 1. Scope and methods of study. 2. The dark age of Nepal’s early mediaeval period. 3. Some considerations on the theories of caste and the background of the Licchavi state. 4. The early mediaeval period. 5. Brahman and Buddhist society of early mediaeval Nepal: alternating decline and ascendancy. 6. Lineage structure and caste groups in Newar society. 7. State and society. 8. Newar rites of passage and festivals. 9. Land, lineage and state. Appendices. Bibliography. Index.

This study of mediaeval Nepal Kathmandu Valley attempts to show how over a period of 600 years the interplay of land, lineage and state strongly shaped Newar society, including some of its key institutions such as kinship, guthi, religion and caste as well as their settlement patterns. With a focus on the mediaeval era and using both historical and anthropological methods, the author discusses the gradual development of the Newari language and culture from the Licchavi era until the 1980s. He examines continuities and changes in different aspects of their society such as their rites and festivals, the interlinkages between land and lineage, the dynamics unleashed by Hinduism and Buddhism vying for supremacy, and the interface between state and society. Land, Lineage and State will be an important addition to the understanding of the Newar, who gave rise to arguably the most complex of Himalayan societies of the mediaeval period.