Kanak Niti
and Nepal
The elite
of the Nepalese society are the descendants of high-caste Hindus – mostly of
the Brahman or Kshatriya castes – who sought shelter in Nepal during the period
of Muslim invasions of India or even earlier. While the majority of the
Nepalese population is of Mongoloid stock, the predominant religion is the Sanatan
Dharma. ( Leo E. Rose, Nepal: Strategy for Survival, ( Berkeley, Los
Angeles, 1971, p.7) Religiously and culturally, the majority of Nepalese and
majority of Indians form one unit. From Rameshwaram in Tamilnadu to Janakpur (
the old capital of Mithila) and Pashupatinath (near Kathmandu) the same
religious and cultural ethos prevails.
The Kings of Nepal had their training in the
tradition of ancient Indian Kings. King Mahendra, the architect of contemporary
Nepalese policies (and a true follower of his famous ancestor Prithvi Narayan
Shah who considered Nepal as a gourd between two rocks), is said to have deeply
read and valued the three great Indian classics – the Hitopdesh, the Panchtantra
and the Raghuvansh. However, it was the Kanak Niti, which is said
to have influenced the King immensely. There is a fable in the Kanak Niti,
relevant for understanding Nepal’s perception of its position in regard to
India and China. The fable briefly told runs like this:
There was a flood. A cobra, a scorpion and a
bull-frog were marooned on high ground. The cobra was eager to swallow the
frog. But in between them was the scorpion sitting with its raised sting. It
held back the cobra. The frog wanted to bite off the sting and chew up the
scorpion. The hiss of the cobra frightened it. The balance of terror made
possible what was an uneasy survival. ( Cited in Y.G.Krishnamurti, His Majesty
King Mahendra Bir Bikram Shah Deva – An analytical Biography, ( Bombay, n.d.)
p. 29.
Excerpted
from Raj Kumar Jha, The Himalayan Kingdoms in Indian Foreign Policy, ( Maitryee
Publications, Ranchi, 1986) pp. 10-11.
