In 'Kingdom of the bahuns', (State of the State, #153) CK Lal makes some sweeping generalisations in trying to advocate turning Nepal into a secular state. He cites examples of Nagaland and Kashmir where Hinduism is on the verge of extinction. Hindus were never present in large numbers in Nagaland, so the argument does not arise, and most Nagas were converted by Baptist missionaries in the 19th century.

Kashmir is different. Hindus may be on the verge of extinction in Kashmir valley but not in Jammu. There was an ethnic cleansing of Hindus from Kashmir valley about a decade ago that a 'secular' government of India could not prevent. The Hindus who were left were almost all Pandits or Kashmiri Brahmins. Lal may be right to say that 'if Brahmins don't reform Hinduism, they will be the only caste left with such an archaic faith'. But how could secularism provide a remedy? Also, why is he asking only Brahmins to reform Hinduism? Couldn't non-Brahmin Hindus also be reformers?

In the 168 years of a unified Nepal from Prithbi Narayan Shah till the end of the Rana regime in 1950, there was only one Bahun prime minister, Ranga Nath Paudel. True, the number of Bahun prime ministers was to increase dramatically after the advent of democracy in 1950.

A very small proportion of soldiers in the Royal Nepali Army are Bahuns, even though there may be a psy-war
expert who is a Bahun. Lal writes about traditional dominance of Bahuns over foreign relations in the Shah court by giving an example of Jaisi Kotha. Actually, the equivalent of the present day Foreign Ministry during the Ranas was known as Munshi Khana, that was directly under the Prime Minister. Jaisi Kotha specialised in Nepal-Tibet relations and there were many Newari speaking Joshis and Rajbhandaris working in both the offices.

It is certainly true that Nepal's administrative and judicial services at present are dominated by the Brahmins. But none of our noted mountaineers are Brahmins, nor are there any among Gurkha recruits for foreign armies. With time, there will be more janjatis and dalits in judicial and administrative services, as there will be Bahun mountaineers. There are already a large number of non-Brahmins in managerial posts in the field of tourism. The directory of Trekking Agents Association of Nepal (TAAN) for the year 2001 lists 300 members, of which only 16 percent of those listed as Managing Directors are Bahuns.

One of the advantages Brahmins enjoyed was the possibility of learning Sanskrit and getting free room and board as in Teen Dhara Paksala. This facility was not available to all Brahmins, only to a select few. Some were excluded because they belonged to a different category. This discriminatory practice was removed recently, and its doors are now open to all Brahmins and non-Brahmins.

Not all of Nepal's neighbours are 'secular', and several of them are multi-ethnic. The percentage of Hindus in Nepal in the period 1991-2001 declined, and the percentage of Muslims and Christians increased. However, there are few religious riots in Nepal and the various communities live in harmony. This is why it is difficult to agree with CK Lal's argument that 'secularism is the only way to govern a caste-ridden multi-ethnic nation state'.