
. 
ec ye ree, ee rr, ‘ q o " & . <> " 
1923.] An Essay on the History of Newar Culture. 527 
advantage of the general laxity that has set in. in their social 
organisation under Gurkha rule 
The case of the cowherds is | diferent Hodgson mentions 
definitely that they have for guru and purohit, Brahmans ! 
The occupation occurs also in the lists of the easte in the time 
of Jayasthiti Malla, given by Lévi and Hodgson, and the latter 
again mentions them as having Brahman priests. This is all 
the more striking as most other castes are described by Hodg- 
sons in the list as having Gubha priests. Hodgson’s account of 
their a (traditional) agrees with these facts and with the 
actual state of affairs about employment and use of cattle in 
Nepal. 
Cattle do not seem to be bred or used in any way by New 
aris, and only a few are kept by the better classes, presum- 
ably Gurkhas. The numerous Brahmini bulls set free to graze 
at liberty, by pious Hindus, are imported from the plains. In 
the cultivation of land, the Newaris always use the digging hoe, 
the Kodatie,? but not the plough. This cannot be said to be due 
to the nature of the ground,’ for the fields often allow of it. 
In the centre of the v alley. there are often dead flats or terraces, 
varying from an acre or an acre and ahalf to, it is true, four or 
tive feet in length and breadth. But the Parbatiyas (Magars 
and Gurnngs) who oceupy the confines of the valley and 
cultivate the lands there on the declivities of the mountain 
base, and therefore on areas less favourable for the use of the 
plough than the central portions, (which are almost wholly 
cultivated by Newars), yet use the plough partially. The 
Murmis cultivate the hillsides, generally facing the valley, and 
use the coe Bi not often, as their locations are much 
too steep for i 
e Banrds are said to perform the funeral rites them, as for 
the Srsthas and others. This ~ will be — late 
st authority a about agriculture, etc.. of Necal is Campbell. 
ren is puea on ‘‘ The dorama and Rural Bocus omy e Va alley of 
of t 
aul,’’ Transactions of the pbetsdetcd and Horticiiterat Soctety of 
Pale, Vol. IV, A887. (Poblished in Serampore, ca talogued in the British 
Musenm under Cal eutta), pp. 73, id, 155 
on Kirkpatrick : eo ae mont 
a 
8. Léw wir ibid. ae ge his information is acknowledged by him to 
be eg chiefly from Campbell. 
358. 
3 Suggested vo Cavanagh: ibid., logs 
*C icultuze, ete., ibi 
Ries: a hie ee : epal quoted before also rema ~ paler cattle 
re not used in the Nepal valley although it is done (for c rea in 
other parts of "he world on steep es, as for exam For 
€ remarks that buffaloes are valued only for meat and = Sik t 
ixamples of the use of the cattle-drawn plough on elds in 
Merde are found in the neighbouring esuinterios of Ladskh, “Tibet and 
h 
