Sarita Pariyar

Drawing on more than a decade of multidisciplinary engagement with politics of dignity and social justice, this essay critically interrogates the influence of Hindu jurisprudence and its connections to the current Nepali constitution on the lower or ‘impure’ castes, especially women. The author argues that, notwithstanding the abolition of the caste system more than 50 years ago, the new constitution, which defines secularism as Sanatan Dharma–essentially preserving old Hindu traditions and practices under the law–continues to perpetuate discrimination against Dalits and other marginalized groups. She cites her own experience as an ‘untouchable’ child of a mixed-caste marriage and the tragic experience of an inter-caste alliance that led to the death of the ‘lower caste’ groom to examine our understanding of and prospects for love, violence, social inclusion/exclusion, family, citizenship, and society in Nepal. The essay succinctly focuses on the intersectionality of caste, class, gender, and religion that continues to shape everyday life and future of the ordinary people in the predominantly Hindu country

The recent Rukum case in Nepal echoes the rampant caste violence in India. The region needs a new dalit narrative to imagine a better future.

Remembering Suvash Darnal on the second anniversary of his death. Where do I start? How do I start remembering someone who left us so suddenly two years ago?

I’ve met many mothers in my travels around Nepal. I’ve heard the tales of their lives and struggles. I feel that not all these stories are the same. I’ve written this story as a monologue, based on what a few mothers have shared with me

The rain is incessant, like the unceasing outpouring of a child’s questions for her mother. A small hut roofed with sheets beaten out from drums of bitumen. Intermittent holes filled with putty. When the rain is slanting, water gets into the house.

Maya Bishwokarma was 20 when she was gang raped by her co-worker Ganesh Baduwal Manoj Bogati, Suraj Chaudhary, Bhuvan Khati and Topendra Bogati on June 26th, 2018, in Chapre community forest, Kailali. Her new job involved collecting household data from Gauriganga municipality.

More Dalit women representatives than ever before won seats in the local, provincial and federal legislative bodies during the latest elections. Yet some are trying to deny Dalit women their deserved glory by arguing that this was an undeserved victory, a gift of the quota system.

Narratives of Dalits as just being victims of caste hierarchy ignores many stories of resistance.

It feels as if the war drum of death is beating its booming march in my body. I see a torrent of corpses falling before my naked eyes. And I see – a blue-and-red checkered shirt, a face blackened as if some acid or some other chemical had been thrown on it to render it unrecognizable. Swollen lips. The body, too, somewhat swollen. Grey jeans. A corpse muddied as if dragged there by a flooded river.

“We are but the jungle—everybody pisses in the jungle.” These words from a middle-aged sister from the Far West still jab at me like wasp stings, and leave me reeling. She says in the language of her experience and sensibilities, “My life is just like that riverbank—desolate, dry."