Nepal before 1950

Nepal before 1950

From the early 19th century, ‘isolation’ became the main principle of the government, where most of the Nepali people knew of no other existence besides their own. The overall policies were governed by strict Hindu caste laws (The Nepalese caste system is a social institution, deriving sanctions from and intimately interwoven with the Hindu religion. The caste stratification is based on “Chaturvarn” doctrine and division of work theory as Brahmins, Chettris, Vaishyas and Shudras. “Varn” means color and denotes a racial significance) codified by the rulers in Muluki Ain (Law of land) in 1854. The Muluki Ain is based on the Hindu concept of ritual purity, regulated the lives of the people and put restrictions on their social and political mobility. In totality, the policy of isolation and Muluki Ain were the then government’s two crucial pillars for conservatism. Nepal’s modern period principally only started after 1950, where the Rana regime (Since 1846, the prime minister of Nepal had monopolized political power in Nepal and kept the monarch as a mere symbolic head of state) came to an end with the early 1950s revolution.