Difference Between Newar And Newar

Compare and Contrast between the study of Newar by Gopal Singh Nepali and Gerad Toffin
According to Merriam Webster Dictionary Caste is defined as “one of the hereditary social classes in Hinduism that restrict the occupation of their members and their association with members of other castes. It is also a system of rigid social stratification characterized by hereditary status, endogamy and social barriers sanctioned by custom, law, or religion.” (Merriam Webster Online Dictionary, 2016).Caste is one of the forms of social stratification; a person is born in certain caste according to the family caste she/he is born into caste becomes a part of person identity. “According to Risely caste is a collection of families bearing a common name claiming
Different researches followed after in different countries as well. One of them Nepal, it has a distinctive caste culture and history which has attracted many scholars and Gopal Singh Nepali and Gerard Toffin both studied about “Newar” are some of them.According to both of the authors “Newar” is highly diverse and unique set of caste with the mixer of both Hinduism and Buddhism culture. Both of them have explored about the social organization of Newari people with major focus on the kinship, social functions, positions and lifestyle. Caste has played a vital role in the functioning of society in Newar community. The role that each caste in the society has played has given a sense of social harmony which is clearly seen in writings of G.S Nepali. The division of the caste in Newar is based on the Hindu principles from India. It is mentioned that King Jayastithi Malla with the help of Brahmins from India divided caste on the basis of hereditary occupation and genologies. They
Gerarad Toffin put forward the complexity of Newar society in his wirtings and also has criticized G.S Nepali. He address about it in his writing, where he states that “it has least two major drawback”. One of them is about the fact that G.S Nepali has presented Newars as a homogenous and uniform group but in fact it is highly heterogeneous with “its society and culture extremely diverse”. (Gerard Toffin, 2007, pg 7) Looking at these points, there is a difference in the matter of interpretation of G.S Nepali and Gerard Toffin about “Newars”. Even though they studied the same Newars, their finding varied and one of the major reasons might be study time periods. G.S Nepali study traced back around 1965 and the information was collected in the village of Panga and it has constricted the areas of study which is Gerard’s second criticism. Gerard Toffin study took place around 2000 and information he collected were from different locations. Yet, the similarity about the caste hierarchy and the customs, cultures has been more different that what has been stated by G.S Nepali. But “Newars are a highly complex society, which cannot be reduced to homogenized and somewhat schematic presentation formulated by G.S Nepali” because even though it is a member speak a Tibeto-Burman languguage, it cannot be considered as a tribe with