By Narayan Prasad Mishra
Nepal is a small country in terms of territory, but it is an ancient country that has a centuries-old history. Though we are small in territory and population compared to our big neighbors, India and China, we are not less rich compared to them in our culture, customs, traditions, festivals, religion, faith, and the number of spoken languages and dialects. According to the statistics published in Nepal Traveller Information, we have 125 castes/ethnic groups and 123 spoken languages. Similarly, we have dozens of festivals throughout the country. Even in Kathmandu Valley, we have a big or small festival almost every month. We see some kinds of festivals going on in some corners of cities.
In the same way, we see varieties of colorful, beautiful dresses from different castes and creeds. That is why Prithivi Narayan Shah, the founder and creator of unified Nepal, once described Nepal as a beautiful common garden of four castes and 36 subcastes.
According to our castes and cultures, the country has various manners, customs, and traditions. Society is mainly based on them. Though some customs and traditions, like discrimination between caste and creed, are harmful to a civilized society, several manners and customs play an unforgettable role in creating a peaceful, harmonious society. Our manners and customs are based on Dharma, our duty towards God, parents, guru, family, society, and creatures. That is our code of living. So, I think that is much stronger than laws and rules formulated by the government. You may break the law when you can escape punishment, but you never break your conduct or good manners when you are accustomed to it.
Traditionally, we are taught to respect and love our parents and teachers. We are taught to respect seniors. We are taught to love juniors. In the same way, we are taught not to kill, steal, lie, harm, or betray anyone. Similarly, we are taught to be helpful, cooperative, loving, and kind. Even in our schools, we were taught all these things as a part of our moral education. Studying Sanskrit was compulsory as part of our courses, essential to imparting moral education to students. Our society grew based on all these things, which kept it in good shape.
But in the course of movements and revolutions, our people started to get revolutionary education:
- boycott Sanskrit education, labelling it harmful education,
- obey revolutionaries in everything and do accordingly,
- help the revolutionaries in every way; otherwise get punished,
- torture or kill anyone who does not obey them,
- Faith and religion are harmful to society, etc.
- People are taught to be divided according to their language, caste, creed, and color and fight to claim the federal state rather than taking pride in the nation.
That was against then-existing social manners and customs. In this context, many people were tortured, killed, and extorted. Even the teachers and priests were brutally killed. The revolutionaries took state power with them and often became executive, judiciary, police, army, etc. Their word was the law, and not obeying was a violation of the law. Many people have experienced this.
Consequently, our old culture mentioned above is primarily nonexistent in Nepal now. Our people are different. The culture of respecting teachers and seniors is slowly disappearing. We often see it in educational institutions and gatherings. Even teachers are disrespected and manhandled. People are more arrogant than tolerant. People boast of being arrogant rather than polite and kind. They take arguing and fighting as bravery. We hardly see cooperation and helping each other.
Just recently, in the context of the protest against the government, the two young boys who aspired to go to Korea for a job were killed by a police bullet, and the car of the Minister for Physical Infrastructure and Transport, Prakash Jwala, was torched to ashes by the protesters. At the same time, it seemed some people said they would give Rs 20/ lakhs compensation for killing each–Pushpakamal Dahal, the Present Prime Minister; Shere Bahadur Deuba, and K. P. Sharma Oli, the ex-prime ministers, if the people could do that crime with compensation. By referring to this offer, our honorable Prime Minister Dahal expressed his anger and sadness about the uncultured language, conduct, and style and also questioned their undemocratic culture and behavior. One can see our Prime Minister’s reaction to it on YouTube.
I was so happy when I heard our Prime Minister speak about the importance of culture. I am happy that he realized the valuable role of good culture in maintaining discipline and peace in society and that being uncultured threatens a civilized society. But at the same time, I became sad to remember that our country and people would not have suffered a lot if he had realized the importance of good culture during his revolution. We all should learn from experience that establishing a good culture takes decades and centuries but can be ruined within a few years.
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect People’s Review’s editorial stance.
Login to add a comment