Nepal

Abstract

This chapter explains the relationship between religion and politics in Nepal over the last two centuries. Between 1768 and 2008, for nearly 240 years, Nepal was a Hindu kingdom whereby the kings claimed their legitimacy as being the custodian of Hinduism. In 1854, the Rana regime also reinforced Muluki Ain that institutionalized the caste system through quasi constitutional edicts. By the closing years of the twentieth century, Nepal witnessed popular upsurges for constitutional democracy and secularization of the state. There took place both movements for parliamentary democracy and republican Maoist insurgency that sought to divorce affairs of the state from religion. Christian, Buddhist, and Muslim religious minorities also demanded a secular state. By 2008 when the monarchy was abolished after a popular upsurge, Nepal witnessed a move toward a secular state which came into existence in 2015. This obviously did not end social tensions surrounding religion as royalists and Hindu nationalists organized violent protests against the secular state and there persisted a fear of Christians proselytizing among Hindus. This chapter explores this transformation in the relationship between religion and politics in Nepali society against the background of modernization of economy, new discourse of human rights, and the changing demography of Nepal.