Contests of devotion in Nepal: music and civic rivalry in the Buddhist communitas

ABSTRACT

Through musical pilgrimage in Nepal, diverse groups come together at sacred Buddhist centres, unified, at one level, by an infectious sense of devotional fervour and shared purpose: a spirit of universal community that Victor Turner would term the communitas of pilgrimage. Yet division and competition are also legible within the sharply contrasting timbres and dissonant instrument tunings of groups from different neighbourhoods. Competition, largely unspoken, takes the form of challenging or invalidating the devotional logics of competitor music groups in favour of one’s own neighbourhood community. Pilgrimage involves construction of sacred communities at universal and local levels at once; consequently, there is slippage between goals of universal communitas and unspoken community rivalries. Heretofore understudied musical evidence suggests that competition does not invalidate the pilgrimage process, or suggest that communitas is not a genuine goal, but it does suggest that this is not the pilgrims’ only goal.

KEYWORDS:

• Nepal
• Buddhism
• pilgrimage
• musical competition
• communitas

Acknowledgements

I am grateful for the insightful and resourceful work of my friend and field research assistant, Mr. Shamsher B. Nhuchhen-Pradhan. I also wish to thank Prof. Gert-Mathias Wegner for his insightful guidance in numerous conversations in Bhaktapur.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributor

Paul D. Greene is Associate Professor of Ethnomusicology and Integrative Arts at the Pennsylvania State University, Brandywine Campus. His research focuses on Buddhism and music, music and technology, and musical revitalisation in South and Southeast Asia.

Notes

1. In late summer.

2. In Newar Buddhism, the ritual functions and social roles of monks and priests are ascribed to the Shakya and Vajracharya castes, respectively (see Allen 1973).

3. Khadgis (also known by the non-honorific name Nay) are a traditionally Hindu caste, but some also perform Buddhist rituals.

4. Gyanmala groups are not pilgrimage groups; rather, they are typically organised at and perform at temples. They have no caste restrictions on membership, and they are not exclusively associated with particular neighbourhood communities. Whereas the processual groups are traditionally all male, and only beginning to include women, gyanmala groups more openly and prominently include women. In fact, some are comprised exclusively of women. A modern development in Nepali Buddhism (see LeVine and Gellner 2007: 124–26), these groups constitute a counterpoint to the ancient, more competitive, neighbourhood-based musical pilgrimage groups that are the focus of this article.

5. Official census figures, which show Hindus vastly outnumbering Buddhists, are certainly skewed by the fact that, in the Hindu Kingdom of Nepal, which existed until 2008, practising Buddhists found numerous advantages in identifying themselves as Hindu. In addition, before 1990 more Maharjans would likely identify themselves as Hindu.

6. I am told that Newars cannot alter twah boundaries even to accommodate families who seek to expand their personal living space across the traditional boundaries.

7. See ethno-musicologist Carol Tingey's research on Gorkha musical procession (1990: 158–63).

8. In Balinese aesthetics, for example, it is customary for two genders – pentatonic xylophone-like idiophones – within the same gamelan ensemble to be tuned to slightly different pitches, such that when they are sounded together they produce a ‘shimmering’ sound quality, resulting from alternating constructive and destructive sonic interference. Similar sound qualities are cultivated in the Bosnian highland ganga singing tradition. Within pitched musics, performers in different traditions have wider or narrower ranges for determining whether a pitch is in tune or not. Among the Shona of Zimbabwe, the acceptable frequency range for each note is quite wide, such that expressive performers can vary the pitch considerably and still be ‘in tune’; but for performers in the western high church or Newar pilgrimage traditions, this range is quite narrow.

9. Maharjans have participated in gyanmala groups in growing numbers, especially since 1990, when Nepal became a democratic, constitutional monarchy. The political reorganisation of the government brought with it a more supportive environment for the expansion of many Mahayana Buddhist institutions and practices, and also to a lesser extent, an expansion of Theravada institutions as well. Since 1990, Maharjans have participated in both Mahayana and Theravada Buddhist practices in growing numbers (cf. Gellner’s study [1992: 322] of Maharjan participation in Theravada Buddhism, conducted in 1989). As far as I can determine, the swelling gyanmala groups generally draw into themselves Maharjans who have not been participants in the traditional musical pilgrimages. Therefore, the Maharjans who continue to conduct traditional musical pilgrimages do not perceive gyanmala groups as a competition or threat, for the growth of gyanmala groups does not reduce their numbers.

10. Members of different Newar communities implement different strategies of self-advancement. Today the Khadgis, a low-ranked caste of Butchers, especially tend to downplay musical traditions distinctive of their caste, and seek new opportunities for upward mobility as individuals. The Shresthas have over the past few centuries elevated their social standing by shifting their identification from Buddhism to Hinduism, and allying themselves with the country’s dominant religion and king (Quigley 1999).

Additional information

Funding

This article is based on field research in Nepal funded by the Brandywine Campus of the Pennsylvania State University.