Bahuns in the Nepali state

Brahmanism is under deep scrutiny. In Nepal, the era of multiparty democracy has brought for the many scholars,and larger numbers of politicians and activists of ethnicity, who are critical of what they maintain is the continuing hold of Brahmanism over Nepali life and polity. However, it is not immediately clear how much of this criticism of Brahmanism arises out of a deep-seated dislike for Bahuns as individuals and as a group, and how much arises from disavowal of the country´s political and administrative heritage.

Certainly, the Bahuns of Nepal have no monopoly on saintliness, despite their claims to religiosity and higher learning. Likemembers of any other group,Bahuns have their share of ills and shortcomings along the lines of which they have been stereotyped. While this stereotyping, too, in itself is not unexpected, the increasingly shrill anti-Bahun pronouncements by some in the ethnic leadership can have far-reaching implications, including the undermining of the very concept of the Nepali State, its unity and integrity. If this process of uncritical lambasting continues toits natural denouement, today´s Bahun-bashing—for what it means to the notion of Nepal — will harm all population groups of the country, regardless of class, place of origin, religion or ethnicity.