A Case Study of Guthis as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Newāḥ

Speaker: Sipoy Sarveswar

Anthropology, or the conventional understanding of communities and societies in human
history, has placed importance on kinship group formations such as Family, clan, marriage
alliance and caste. However, it is apparent that no society can be found without people
sharing ties that are not purely based on kinship. Guthis are one of the unique social
institutions found among the Newāḥ of Nepal. Guthis can be categorized as non-kinship
group formations and act as an additional social institution in the social organization of any
Newāḥ community. Similar kinds of institutions can also be found in various other
communities in the form of self-help groups, decentralized government structures such as
gram panchayats in India, Communes, Churches, Buddhist monasteries, youth dormitories
in many of the Indigenous communities, or kibbutz in Israel and so on. However, as long
as they don’t pose a challenge to the establishment (either the earlier monarchy or the
modern democratically elected government), they would be allowed to function. However,
the history of Guthis and their existence have always been perceived as a threat to the
establishment. Guthis, by all means, should be categorized as intangible cultural heritage
and how they act as ‘little republics’ and make the people truly independent, and their
democratic functioning should be an example of replicating among the other communities
to make the people part of the larger governing structures. However, the establishment
through the Land (Survey and Measurement) Act 2019 BS (1963 AD), The Lands Act 2021
BS (1964 Ad) and the Guthi Corporation Act, 2033 BS (1976) AD in the past during the
monarchy or Guthi Bill 2019 AD was designed to attack the land holdings of the Guthis.
Guthis own land for their subsistence and day-to-day functioning. Guthis lands are
community-owned lands, and treating them as individual-owned lands undermines the
importance of community ownership and is a systematic attack on the Guthi functioning.
This paper is an attempt to establish the day to day functioning of the Guthis and
how they are tantamount to having the communities be independent and minimal
interaction from the government.

This paper is also an attempt to theoretically understand
why establishments are rattled by social institutions such as Guthis. Data collected from
the doctoral work and subsequent fieldwork in the Thecho village of Lalitpur district, Nepal
will be used as the primary source for the analysis. This paper will also attempt to establish
a larger discourse revolving around the importance of third-sector research and emphasize
the importance of social institutions such as Guthis among the Newāḥ.

Sipoy Sarveswar hails from South India and is currently working as an assistant professor in anthropology at Visva-Bharati, Santiniketan, West Bengal, India. He has carried out ethnographic work among the Newāḥ of Thecho Village, Lalitpur district of Nepal, for his MPhil and PhD. His upcoming book titled ‘Feast, ritual and Daughters among the Newāḥ of Nepal’ to be published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing House, is in the pre-press stage. He is currently working on the book on Guthis.