The quote 'Nepal is a garden of four castes and 36 races' has been repeated to death. CK Lal brings it up again in his State of the State column ('Nepal's other half', #238). Poets, politicians, historians and whoever have all interpreted the saying to their advantage. But how many people have stopped to think whom the quote really refers to? Did Nepal, 200 years ago, comprise the population groups and landmass it does today? It did not. So the designation of castes and races doesn't apply to people living within Mechi-Mahakali today. The great king, of course, was referring to the inhabitants of the Nepal Mandala.

'Bhai Kaji',
Kathmandu

. CK Lal in 'Nepal's other half' is incisive and succinct as always. While agreeing fully with his article, I would like to offer one more point as a corollary to the dogma of 'Nepali language', since it will not be complete unless the myth of the 'Nepali language' is demystified.

The languages and dialects traditionally spoken in the territory of Nepal, from north to south and from east to west, are Nepali bhasas: each one of them is and should have been called Nepali Bhasa and not mere titular 'Rastra Bhasa'. The so-called 'Nepali Bhasa' is in fact the 'Khas Bhasa'.

Ramesh Tiwari,
Sanepa