Pashupati area is regarded as one of the most important places of pilgrimages for the followeres of Hinduism. Thousands of devotees from within and outside the country come to pay homage to Pashupatinath every day. And on special occasions like Ekadasi, Sankranti, Mahashivratri, Teej Akshaya, Rakshabandhan, Grahana (eclipse), Poornima (Full moon day) people congregate here in far greater number. Pashupati area is also included in the list of world cultural heritage. Pasupatinath Temple in Kathmandu is one of the most important and sacred places of the Saivites.
It is believed to be the oldest and largest Shiva Temple in the world. The temple is regarded as the head of Sati Devi who burnt herself into ashes and who was the first wife of Lord Shiva. The temple is situated on the banks of holy Bagmati river. The uniqueness of the temple is that it has four main entrance doors in four directions which are opened for the devotees to have a darshan of the Lord. Early morning, I suppose its 4 a. m, the main entrance door facing west is first opened and then later the three other main doors are opened to the devotees.
On performing ksheerabhishekam / (pouring of milk) to the deity, the devotees are given aPanchamukhi Rudraaksha Maala with 54 Rudraakshaas in the chain and it is believed by the devotees that the other 54 Rudraakshaas in a maala obtained from the Kedarnath Temple of India together making a 108 Rudraakshas in a chain or maala is considered very very auspicious and lucky indeed as per the beliefs of the Saivites. In addition to its being the oldest, largest and holiest among Shiva Temples of the world, it also provides a home’Bridhaashram’ to the old and destitute. Present CONDITION:
Pashupatinath temple stands in the center of the town Dheopatan. It is a very beautiful temple and there are beautiful grasslands all around it. There are beautiful wooden houses and small temples around this temple. It is a very huge temple which lies in the north west of Kathmandu. The temple is listed in the world heritage site list. The present architectural nature of Pashupatinath came into existence by the queen Gangadevi during the reign of Shivasma Malla. (1578-1520)AD. It is a square two tired pagoda temple. The environment around Pashupatinath is not so clean though it is one of the greatest temple of Nepal.
Bagmati river which was once known for its purity has become drainage these days. So it won’t be bad to call Pashupati area polluted and unhygienic these days. MEASURES To improve the condition: 1. There should be made strict rules for the cleanliness of Pashupati areas. 2. There should be public participation. 3. Drainages should not be connected to the water resources. 4. Dirt like plastics, and other household materials should not be thrown into water resources. 5. Government should forcaste plans and policies for the betterment of these places. 6. There should be recycling process of dirty water, a nd only attach to the water resources. . The person violating the rules should be strictly punished. 8. The animals like stray dogs, sheep should not be let to go inside tourism areas to cause disturbance. 9. People should respect their public properties and behave themselves with the foreign guests. 10. There should be tight security inside the temple to stop the crime. 2. SOCIAL PROBLEMS The use of alcohol and drugs creates evils and defects on the feeling, conscious and activities of people . The use of these evil things may make our nerves weaker and we may suffer from diseases like blood pressure ,tuberculosis,etc.
It future results into family conflict and animosity among friends. To prevent it, guardians should be psychologically very attentive towards them right their age. We should raise public awareness about the possible evils upon the society. Girls trafficking has been a problem in our society. Girls are persuaded and brought abroad by influencing the guardians from economic point of view and pretending to establish marital relationship. This problem is very serious among the economically week and disadvantaged societies. The guardians are so forced through various influences that they are obligated to sell their daughters and/or sisters.
Therefore, in order to discourage such activities, the campaign against girls trafficking should be strengthened. For this, things like guardian’s supervision, formal and informal education, employment based education etc. Should be promoted. Similarly, as a social evil, there is a tendency of unnecessary expenditure and show. To spend a lot of money on such occasions as marriage and threading ceremony, fashion; clothing and ornaments has misdirected the society. Attending fairs, picnic and festivals is also an unnecessary show of health. Such tendencies should be discouraged. There should be the policy of spending within limits of earnings.
The necessities should be classified and should be classified according to their importance lopsided thinking that people can be considered great when they spend more should be one should never live beyond his/her mean. Another problem is the discrimination against women. Despite the fact that more than half of the world population is of women and they are supposed to be like one of the two wheels vehicle they are unfortunately suffering from various types of torture and suppression. Philosopher Aristotle said, “The progress of a nation virtually depends on the progress of women. Education should be taken as the main resource to solve the various social problems. We can root out social problems like backwardness, poverty etc. with the help of education. Our principal social problems are gambling, theft, dacoity, vandalism, rape, corruption, bribing, child marriage etc. the causes that create the social problems are lack of education and consciousness, population growth unemployment, poverty etc. Social problems give birth to social evils. They ultimately may destroy the whole nation and society. Therefore, it is essential to identify the social problems and follow the measures for their solutions.
PREVENTION OF SOCIAL EVILS Stealing , gambling, girls trafficking, use of druges etc. are social problems and evils. These evils hinder the regular development of the society. To create a civilized society such evils one person alone can’t do anything. We should keep on removing the social evils unitedly and with cooperation among all members of the society. Village Development Committes, municipalities and District Development Committee have contributed a lot root out the social evils prevailing in the society. Village Development Committees prohibit the people from engaging in gambling encourage those involved on it to do creative works.
It further mak es the people aware against girls trafficking. Similarly, to protect the localities from theft, municipality manages ward security arrangement during nights . such arrangement during nights . such arrangements protects the wards from theft. District Development Committes run public awareness programes time and again with a view to control such activities in the district. Drictrict Development Committees have important roles to play in order to protect people form social evils by making them aware of these issues.
District Development Committees advise and direct the village Development Committees and municipalities to conduct several programme to root out social evils. They further provide resources and means to them . accordingly , they also conduct several awarness related programmes to remove social evils. In every ward , locating neighbourhood and village several public awareness related message based , education oriented programmes are conducted. Programmes designed to punish wrong doers are peiformed for the people by the local bodies.
Such programmes encourage everyone to help remove the social evils prevailing in the society. Today’s pressing need is to orient to the nation towards civilization and progress by removing social evils with co-operation from all. For this , apart from Village Development Committee, Municipalities and Destrict Development Committees, the role of other government and non-governmental organization is equally important. 3 . SHERPA Sherpa, in literal terms, means people of the east in the Tibetan language. Originally from Tibet about 500 years ago they have a close affinity with the Tibetan language, culture and religion.
Sherpas major occupations include agriculture, animal husbandry, trade and have become famous for trekking and mountaineering. Today they are know worldwide for their skill The language of the Sherpas, called Sherpa or Sherpali, is a dialect of Tibetan, although it has borrowed heavily from neighboring languages. It belongs to the Tibeto-Burman branch of the Sino-Tibetan language family. The Sherpas use the Tibetan script for writing. Sherpas use Nepali in their dealings with other peoples. They follow Buddhism as their major religion. Sherpa villages cling to the sides of sheer mountain slopes or sit on top of steep escarpments.
Sherpa settlements range from villages with a few houses to towns such as Khumjung or Namche Bazaar with more than a hundred houses. In the higher elevations, a house is usually built in the middle of its owner’s fields. Where more flat land is available, however, houses are clustered together in a group at the center of the village’s agricultural land. Larger villages may have a community temple, a community mill, and religious monuments called stupas and chorten . There are few proper roads, and villages are connected by tracks and trails. Goods are transported by pack animals or on the backs of the people.
Sherpa houses have two stories and are built of stone. The roofs are flat and usually made of wood, weighted down by heavy stones. The lower level is used to house livestock, fodder, food, and firewood, while the upper story holds the living quarters. The floor of this room is wooden, covered with carpets and rugs. There is no furniture; platforms and benches are used for sitting and sleeping. A small area of the house is set aside for an altar. Incense and butter lamps are kept burning before the shrine. The population of sherpas is about 45,000.
Sherpa dress is similar to that worn by Tibetans. Both men and women wear a long inner shirt over a pant-like garment, both made out of wool. Over this, they wear a thick, coarse, wraparound robe (bakhu) that reaches to below the knees and fastens at the side. A sash is belted around the waist. Both males and females wear high, woolen boots with hide soles. The uppers are colored maroon, red, and green (or blue), and the boots are tied on with colored garters. An unusual feature of women’s dress is the multicolored striped aprons worn to cover the front and back of the bodies below the waist.
Both married and unmarried women wear the rear apron, while the front apron is worn only by married women. Various ornaments and a distinctive cap called a shyamahu complete the dress of the Sherpa woman. Traditional Sherpa dress is rapidly disappearing among Sherpa men. Many younger men who have worked for mountaineering expeditions wear Western-made high-altitude clothing. Sherpa society is divided into a number of clans called ru . A person is required to marry outside his or her clan. Although there is no ranking of individual clans, they fall into two groups, the khadeu and khamendeu .
The former are of higher status and anyone marrying into the lower group loses this standing. Sherpas choose their own marriage partners. The marriage process is a lengthy one that may stretch over several years. Following a betrothal, the boy has the right to live with his fiancee in her parents’ house. This arrangement may continue for several years, during which the relationship may be broken off. Once the respective families feel that the marriage will be successful, a ceremony is carried out that formally confirms the marriage negotiations. Several months or even years may pass again before the wedding date is fixed.
Sherpa families are small by South Asian standards. The nuclear family is the norm in Sherpa society, with households consisting of parents and their unmarried children. A newly married son is supposed to receive a house on completion of the marriage. Interestingly, a man does not return home until he has a child; he lives with his in-laws until such time as his wife gives birth. Most marriages are monogamous, although fraternal polyandry (having more than one husband) is permitted and is even considered to be prestigious. According to this practice, two brothers marry the same woman. Divorce is quite frequent among the Sherpas.
The major festivals of the Sherpas are Losar, Dumje, and Mani Rimdu. Losar, which falls towards the end of February, marks the beginning of the New Year in the Tibetan calendar. It is celebrated with much feasting and drinking, dancing, and singing. GURUNG Gurung traditional areas are from the eastern part of Gorkha district through Lamjung District and Kaski District through Syanja district. Gurungs predominantly practice their ancient Bon religion, which is Shamanistic and animistic in nature. Gurungs later came to adopt Tibetan Buddhism. Some Gurungs of eastern Nepal have also been influenced by the Hindu religion.
The main occupation of the Gurung people is aggriculture but some breed animals like sheep. There are roughly 450,000 Gurungs in Nepal totaling about 2. 43% of the population. The Gurungs are also one of the major groups from Nepal representing Gurkhas, the feared soldiers making up part of the English and Indian armies. The Gurkhas are known for their endurance and bravery. There is a World War II story of a British regiment leader asking for volunteers for a dangerous mission to drop from a plane in enemy territory and only about half of the men came forward. Once it was explained they were going to use parachutes, they all volunteered.
Today, some of the wealthier families in the Pokhara area include retired Gurkha soldiers due mainly to their compensation from the British government. Although treated as such by historical Hindu Kings, the Gurung people do not fall into the Hindu caste system since the mongoloid societies of Tibet and China from which the Gurungs came had no caste system and within themselves the Gurungs do not practice caste rules. Yet for several centuries, at least, the Gurungs and other hill peoples have been mixing with the caste cultures of Aryan India and they have been influenced by them in various ways.
There are more than a hundred family names ( Thars ) known within the Gurung people. Some of the names are:Ghyapring and Pachyu (priest), Ghale, Ghotane and Lamchhane ( which divide into various sub-groups with different names )Other major family names are Thimje, Telme, Lehge, Kromje, Lamme, Eujme, Lohnme, Lainme, Tohrje, Sarbuja, Mhobje BRAHMIN AND CHHETTRI Socially and politically, Brahmins and Chetris have been the dominant caste group in Nepal for a long time. These people are scattered along the middle belt of Nepal, but have rarely settled higher than 6,000 ft in elevation. Only a minority of them live in the Terai.
The mother language of these castes is Nepali, which is also spoken by a number of occupational castes. Farming, teaching, and government service are their main occupations. The Brahmins add to their income by acting as family priests. The literary and priestly traditions of the Brahmins has facilitated their taking important roles in modern Nepalese government, education, and business. The two castes together are responsible for the country’s national language, Nepali. Brahmins are considered higher caste than the Chetries however other than this minor distinction the two castes share many similarities.
Very often, one can identify Brahmins and Chetris by their middle name. Bahadur, Bikram, Singh, and Kumar are common middle names of Chetri men. Some Brahmin family names are: Neupane, Koirala, Paudel, Nirwala, Pokhrel, Regmi, Chiluwal, Adhikari, Dhakal. Some Chetri family names are: Shah, Rana, Thapa, Basnet, Khadka, Karki. NEWAR Total population is more than 1,245,232. Newars are bound together by a common language and culture. Their common language is Nepal Bhasa (also “Newar” according to Statistics Nepal) or the linguistic progenitor of that language.
In 2011, there were approximately 846,000 native speakers of Nepal Bhasa. Many Newar communities within Nepal also speak their own dialects of Nepal Bhasa, such as the Dolakha Newar Language. Nepal Bhasa is of Tibeto-Burman origin but has been heavily influenced by Indo-Aryan languages like Sanskrit, Pali, Bengali and Maithili. During Swanti (Tihar), Newars celebrate New Year’s Day of Nepal Sambat by doing Mha Puja, a ritual in which a mandala is worshipped, that purifies and strengthens one spiritually for the coming year.
Mohani (Dashain) is one of the greatest annual celebrations which is observed for several days with feasts and religious services. Another major festival is Sa Paru (Gai Jatra) when people who have lost a family member in the past year dress up as cows and parade through town. In Kathmandu, the biggest street festival is Yenya (Indra Jatra) when three cars bearing the living goddess Kumari and two other child deities are pulled through the streets and masked dance performances are held. During the festival of Jana Baha Dyah Jatra, a temple car with an image of Karunamaya is drawn through central Kathmandu for three days.
A similar procession is held in Lalitpur known as Bungadyah Jatra which continues for a month and climaxes with Bhoto Jatra, the display of the sacred vest. The life cycle of a Newar from birth till death. Hindu Newars consider life-cycle rituals as a preparation for death and the life after it. Macha Janku, the rice feeding ceremony, is performed at the age of six or eight months for boys and at the age of five or seven months for girls. As a male child approaches puberty, the Kayta Puja, a rite of initiation, is performed. Shakyas and Bajracharyas perform Bare Chhuyegu which is initiation into the monkhood.
The boy disrobes and goes back to being a layman after four days. For a female child, Ihi (also called Bel Bibaha) is performed between the ages of five to nine. The next ceremony is Baray when a girl approaches puberty. She is kept in a room for 12 days hidden from the sun and generally taught domestic sciences. At the end of the retreat, a service is held. The next ceremony is marriage. Janku is an old-age ceremony which is conducted when a person reaches the age of 77 years, seven months and seven days. Further Janku ceremonies are performed at similar auspicious milestones after which the person is accorded deified status.
All Newars, except the Laakumi and Jogi caste, cremate their dead. The Jogis bury their dead. As part of the funeral, offerings are made to the spirit of the deceased, the crow and the dog. The crow and the dog represent ancestors and the god of death. Subsequently, offerings and rituals are conducted four, seven, eight, 13 and 45 days following death and monthly for a year and then annually. Buddhist Newars also make a mandala (sand painting) depicting the Buddha on the third day after death which is preserved for four days. TAMANG
The Tamangs live in the high hills east, north, south and west of Kathmandu valley. They are commonly seen on the streets of the capital city carrying large basket loads of goods by headstraps, the men and boys dressed in loincloths and long, usually lack, tunics and in winter wearing short-sleeved sheep wool jackets, always with a Khukuri knife stuck in the waistband. Women, seen in lesser numbers, wear a simple cotton sari and blouse adorned with a few ornaments. Tamangs prefer the higher, dryer elevations for living and farming generally between 5,000 and 7,000 feet above sea level.
In some cases they live even higher, but they are also found out of their traditional high habitat in the low Terai plains or in the Rapti valley. The old Tamang villages are compactly built and the streets are usually paved with stones. The houses are well built with cut stone walls and wooden shingle roofs. In a few cases there are even slate roofs. Most of the houses have two stories; the upper storey is generally used for storage of grain and other household possessions, while the ground floor is used as a kitchen, dining place and bedroom.
There is usually a balcony on the first floor and a verandah beneath it in front of the main entrance. The verandah is used as a living room. Tamangs eat what they grow on their own lands: wheat and barley during the months may through July; potatoes in August through October; millet, maize and some rice from November to April or May. They will not allow buffalo meat, garlic, nettles or paha the treetoad to the forest in their houses, although there is no prohibition against eating these things if they are cooked outside in the open or in some other house.
THARU Tharus are the largest group of people in the Terai area. Historically, they were the only ones that were able to reside in the malarial jungles on the country s southern border. But as mosquito control became available, many others have migrated into this caste s areas. Being hunters and fishermen, this migration has affected the Tharus lifestyle of roaming with resource availability. Many are now farmers. They are the most exploited peasants, especially in the Dang-Deukhuri, Bardiya, and Kailali areas.
Tharus have their own language but their customs differ according to the settlement area. Tharus have their own language but their customs differ according to the settlement area. In some areas, the bejeweled Tharu women marry early. Their lovers must often work for their parents-in-law for two to three before they “earn” the right to marry. Living as they do in the realm of wildlife and insects, Tharus revere animistic spirits as well as some Hindu deities. A village god is worshipped by each community at a small raised shrine. Some family names of Thruus are: Rana, Kathariya, and Chaudhari.
