A moment with Prof. Michael Opitz

Sharing a moment with Michael Opitz

Do you believe in Bhoot, Pret, Boksi, Dhami, Jhankri or SHAMANISM? I can presume that many of you do not believe in them. The fact is that in Nepal, still these practices go on in the societies. These are not only practiced in remote villages but also in the capital city of Nepal—Kathmandu. 

David E. Watters in his paper 'Siberian Shamanistic Traditions Among Kham-Magars of Nepal' writes:

"…Shamanism, as described by most scholars, is pre-eminately a magico-religious phenomenon of Siberia and Central Asia (Eliade 1964: 4,5). In fact, the word 'shaman' comes originally from the Tungusic word saman meaning 'one who is excited, moved, raised' and was borrowed into English from the Russian. The term is descriptive of the shaman's most basic attribute—shaking, or an 'ecstatic trance' (Casanowicz 1924:419)."

Michael Opitz did some research works on this community during 80s. Prof. Michael Opitz is the director of documentary film 'Shamans of the Blind Country' 1981. 221 min. West Germany/Nepal. 

 http://vimeo.com/3198388

An ethnographic film that studies the Magar people of West Nepal--Rukum, a pre-literate mountain tribe living in the vicinity of the Dhaulagiri range and practicing a shamanistic religion.

Source: http://dalbhattarkari.com/nepal-documenary/

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Siberian shamanistic traditions among Kham Magars of Nepal 

Respect others rights first

"The promotion and exercise of tolerance, the ability to keep our hearts and minds open to the reasoning of others are the true litmus tests to gauge whether our commitment to the full and interdependent set of human rights and to human dignity is truly genuine and not just expedient rhetoric." Ms. Navanethem Pillay

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Magar language

Magars speak Pang (known as Kham) in Mid-Western region, Tarali or Kaike in Dolpa district of North-Western region, and Dhut mostly in the West and Central part of Nepal. These mother tongues belong to Tibeto-Burman family. The population of mother tongue speakers is 3.39% of the total population of Nepal (2001 census). Other remaining Magars speak Khas, and Nepali. Magar language stands at the seventh rank in Nepal in terms of the large number of population speaking their mother tongue. The Magar tongue speaking population in 1952/54, 1991, and 2001 were 273780, 430264, and 770116 respectively. The study of the trend in mother tongue retention shows that Magar language retention rate has increased from 32.1% of 1991 to 47.7% of 2001 census.

Population by mother tongue and sex

Total Number % Cumulative % Male Female
770116 3.39 86.51 372568 397548

Source: CBS, 2002

Constituent Assembly revival or fresh elections

 Personally  I am in favour of CA revival because it will save time, cost, it will prevent polarization of society, and it will definitely guarantee Constitution. Prashant Jha, in his article, also fears of some kind of uncertainty if new election is held. He writes:

Elections are more democratic and will accurately reflect the new balance of forces. But the outcome is almost certain to be fragmented. Will the next house, which will consists of parties who have fought elections purely on positions of federalism, be able to throw up a document of compromise? The interim constitution did not envisage that CA would not produce a constitution, but Nepal no longer has that luxury of not contemplating failure; how will it deal with a scenario where a social contract is not drawn again. And listening to the conservatives — those who mythologize the 90s and want to go back to that period — will not work. Radical democrats, republicans, federalists and secularists will wage a battle for survival to protect existing achievements.
 
On Oct 28, 2012, the retired judges of Supreme Court have suggested to go for fresh CA election rather than to opt for the revival of CA.


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सुरक्षित समाधान ः संविधानसभाको पुनःस्थापना | विविधा | :: कान्तिपुर ::

Longer the political uncertainty; more the complication

Prashant Jha writes, "Political forces are still calculating who won and who lost with the dissolution of the CA without the constitution being delivered. On the surface, it appears that the Maoist-Madhesi coalition outsmarted the NC-UML combine by retaining the government while not giving up on the federal agenda." 
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Is it worth fighting for right to self determination today?

The report submitted by Janajati members of UML party also urges the party to ensure right to self-determination, autonomous governance and priority rights of the marginalised communities. The document has put the party leadership under confusion-whether to take action or to accept their demands-in near future. The party has been rejecting to accept ethnic federalism in the new constitution. My question is: Is it worth fighting for?
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Where will divisive politics take the country?

In future, divisive politics is going to be a major problem in our country. Those political parties that use caste and religion as tools to come to power would plunge the country into darkness. The responsible parties should shun such tactics of politicking.