Hinduisms and Histories in Nepal

Chapter 1 introduces Nepal’s popular Svasthānī tradition: the goddess Svasthānī, the Svasthānīvratakathā text that Nepali Hindus recite annually, and the Svasthānī vrat (ritual vow) that is described in the text and performed annually to honor the goddess. Both Nepal’s Newar Hindus and high-caste (Brahman and Chetri) hill Hindus, Parbatiyās, participate in these devotional practices, and have influenced in different ways the many stories that the Svasthānīvratakathā contains within its pages. The chapter also enumerates the theoretical concerns that fuel the book, such as the tensions between local (Newar) and translocal (Brahmanical Hindu) influences, and the methodology that underpins it. Finally, the chapter maps out in very broad strokes a general political history of Nepal that subsequent chapters in this book reinvigorate with a focused discussion of concurrent religious, sociocultural, literary, and linguistic developments that round out Nepal’s often one-dimensional master political narrative.