The history left unwritten by royal chronicles, the philosophy of matri-cultural society, and new questions about Nepal\u2019s ancient past<\/p>\n
Nepal\u2019s written history tells us that its system of kingship began with the Gopal dynasty. This was followed by the Mahishpal, Kirat, Licchavi, Malla, and Shah dynasties, whose histories we have been taught over the years. The rise of kings, territorial expansion, wars, victories, and the transfer of power from one dynasty to another have been placed at the centre of historical narratives. But who lived in the Kathmandu Valley before the histories of these dynasties began? How did they live? What kind of social organisation did they have? What were their relationships with human beings, nature, and other living creatures?<\/p>\n
The most important question is this: What was society like before the establishment of states and dynasties? Were kings, territorial boundaries, genealogies, and systems of ruling over others necessary for society to exist?<\/p>\n
Traditional accounts of Nepal\u2019s history present the Gopal dynasty as the earliest ruling dynasty. The Gopalrajavamsavali is an important source concerning the royal history of the Kathmandu Valley. However, it is not a contemporary eyewitness account of the earliest period it describes. Its compilation is generally placed towards the end of the fourteenth century. It records the traditional succession from the Gopals and Mahishpals to the Kirat rulers, but not all the details concerning these early dynasties have been independently confirmed by contemporary evidence.<\/p>\n
Thus, even if we accept the traditional account of the Gopal dynasty as the first dynasty, one question remains unanswered: Where is the society that existed before the Gopal dynasty?<\/p>\n
The history of the state is not the entire history of society. People lived before royal records began. They maintained relationships with nature, transmitted knowledge, raised children, lived collectively, and developed ways of understanding their world. Royal genealogies alone are insufficient to understand their ways of life.<\/p>\n
1. Matri-Culture Is Not Simply the Rule of Women<\/strong><\/p>\n When discussing matri-culture, we can easily fall into the mistake of treating it as merely the opposite of patriarchy. A simplistic interpretation might suggest that if men ruled under patriarchy, women must have ruled under matriarchy. Such an explanation cannot capture the deeper dimensions of matri-culture.<\/p>\n Matri-culture may not simply mean women occupying men\u2019s positions and exercising the same kind of power. It may also represent a way of life in which human beings do not see themselves as separate from nature, other living beings, and communal life.<\/p>\n From this perspective, matri-culture is neither male-centred nor merely human-centred. Rather, it is centred on nature as a whole. Since all of nature itself is understood as mother, or Mata, this way of life can be understood as matri-culture.<\/p>\n Within such a worldview, the foundations of society may not necessarily be ownership of territory, control over other communities, or the continuation of a male lineage. Instead, they may be relationships, coexistence, and mutual responsibility. Human beings are not the owners of nature but living beings who exist alongside it. Land is not merely property to be conquered or registered in someone\u2019s name; it is the shared basis of life for human beings, plants, animals, birds, water, and countless other forms of life.<\/p>\n Under such a social philosophy, a central king, a permanent ruling class, or a state that exercises authority over others may not be indispensable for organising community life. Social norms, collective memory, rituals, mutual assistance, and relationships with nature can also guide how people live.<\/p>\n This does not mean that ancient societies had no rules, disagreements, or power relations. Leadership can exist without kings. Kinship can exist without written genealogies. Rules governing the use of shared resources can exist without formally drawn territorial boundaries. The important question is: How were authority and responsibility distributed within society?<\/p>\n If we are to investigate matri-culture in Nepal\u2019s ancient history, we must look beyond the question of whether women ruled. We must also study the worldview of society, its relationship with nature, collective decision-making, the use of resources, care, social memory, and the distribution of power.<\/p>\n 2. Ajima: More Than a Goddess, a Possible Bearer of a Different Social Memory<\/strong><\/p>\n Ajima occupies an extremely important place in the cultural life of the Kathmandu Valley. Among various Newar communities, Ajima is revered as a grandmother goddess. Deep connections can be found among Matrika traditions, local goddesses, sacred sites, festivals, and the cultural life of neighbourhoods.<\/p>\n These traditions should not be understood only as forms of goddess worship. They also raise questions about how communities understand their place, their past, their collective identity, and their relationship with the world.<\/p>\n Is an Ajima temple merely a religious site, or is it also a centre of collective memory for the neighbourhood? How do festivals and rituals associated with Ajima bring communities together? How does the tradition of addressing a goddess as mother or grandmother give meaning to care, protection, life, and relationships between generations?<\/p>\n These questions are important for the study of matri-culture.<\/p>\n Understanding Ajima requires more than asking who her husband was, how her lineage continued, or what kind of royal authority existed in her name. Such questions can themselves carry the assumption that every form of social existence must be understood within a structure defined by husbands, families, and lineages.<\/p>\n The older Ajima traditions hold that these goddesses had children but no husbands.<\/p>\n What if a community did not organise its social existence primarily around a male head of household, the inheritance of a male lineage, or political ownership of territory?<\/p>\n In some societies, social relationships may be organised around an extended community, maternal connections, place, ritual, and mutual responsibility. An individual\u2019s significance in such a society need not be limited to carrying forward a male family name. The continuity of the community itself may be broader and more important than the transfer of power within a single lineage.<\/p>\n The various Ajima traditions need to be reread from this perspective. What kind of social philosophy is expressed through their relationships, motherhood, sisterhood, protection, communal life, and connection with place? Do they preserve a cultural memory that is not centred on male genealogies?<\/p>\n These questions must be explored through the study of individual local traditions rather than by assuming that every Ajima tradition is identical.<\/p>\n 3. A Relationship with Nature or Ownership of Territory?<\/strong><\/p>\n In the history of states, territorial expansion, the drawing of boundaries, warfare, conquest, and ownership receive particular attention. Historical narratives tend to focus on the extent of a king\u2019s power, how much territory he conquered, and who inherited his authority.<\/p>\n But another way of understanding society is also possible.<\/p>\n For some communities, mountains, rivers, forests, water sources, and cultivable land may be more than economic resources. They may also be foundations of life, ancestral memory, local goddess traditions, collective responsibility, and relationships with other living beings. In such a worldview, the meaning of territory is not limited to owning it. Maintaining a relationship with it and protecting it may be equally important.<\/p>\n If communities with such worldviews lived in the ancient Kathmandu Valley, how did they organise their world? How did they use water, forests, cultivable land, and shared resources? How did they resolve disputes? How did local goddesses and rituals give meaning to social responsibilities?<\/p>\n We do not have sufficient evidence to answer all these questions. But if we refuse to make them subjects of historical inquiry simply because royal genealogies are silent about them, the history of society will remain incomplete.<\/p>\n It is necessary to raise such questions if we wish to understand the possible philosophy of matri-culture. At a time when nature is being destroyed at an alarming rate, it has become essential to look beyond perspectives that understand society only through the state, ownership, and domination, and to explore other possibilities.<\/p>\n 4. Is Society Possible Beyond Lineage, Family, and Inheritance?<\/strong><\/p>\n Royal genealogies connect history with the continuity of dynasties. Which king was succeeded by whose son? Who inherited his father\u2019s authority? Which dynasty displaced another? Such questions form the foundation of royal history.<\/p>\n But the continuity of human society is not the same as the continuity of a dynasty.<\/p>\n Community knowledge can be transmitted across generations through songs, stories, rituals, skills, language, and collective memory. A social tradition does not require the transfer of power under a male family name to survive. A community\u2019s identity need not be confined to a single patrilineage.<\/p>\n Likewise, matri-culture does not necessarily mean that every society followed matrilineal inheritance or a family system based on women\u2019s ownership. If the subject we seek to understand is the broader philosophy of social life, matri-culture cannot be reduced to the structure of the family alone.<\/p>\n It is possible that family and kinship were organised differently in some ancient communities than they are today. It is possible that their collective identities rested on relationships other than male genealogies. It is also possible that they did not define themselves as separate castes, nations, or owners of particular territories in the way these concepts are understood today.<\/p>\n However, turning these possibilities into historical conclusions requires detailed study of local narratives, linguistic evidence, archaeology, and social traditions.<\/p>\n The fundamental question is this: Are we using the family, state, and lineage structures of the present as universal standards for understanding the past?<\/p>\n 5. Lakhe, Lashi, and Khya: Cultural Memories of Ancient Inhabitants?<\/strong><\/p>\n Lakhe dances, folk beliefs associated with Khya, and other local cultural figures continue to live in the Kathmandu Valley. If we dismiss these traditions merely as entertainment, superstition, or stories about supernatural beings, we may lose the opportunity to understand the social memories and cultural meanings they carry.<\/p>\n Looking at Lakhe masks, facial features, representations of thick hair, and bodily appearance, some people may perceive characteristics that differ from the physical appearances most commonly seen among people living in Kathmandu today. Some may even feel that certain features resemble those associated with people of African origin. Representations of Lashi and Khya also display similarly distinctive forms.<\/p>\n This raises an intriguing question: Are these figures entirely imaginary or symbolic, or might they also preserve cultural memories of ancient human communities that once lived in the valley?<\/p>\n The prehistoric journey of humankind is connected to Africa. The ancestors of modern humans spread from Africa into different parts of the world, and scientific understanding recognises that human communities had also inhabited South Asia many thousands of years ago. It is therefore important to investigate early human settlement and the movement of different communities into and across the Kathmandu Valley.<\/p>\n It has not yet been established that Lakhe, Lashi, and Khya figures directly represent people of African origin. Before connecting the forms seen in masks, dances, and folk beliefs directly to the physical characteristics of actual human populations, we need to understand their histories, symbolic meanings, and cultural development.<\/p>\n Nevertheless, there is no reason to dismiss the question from the outset. People with surnames such as Lakhe, Yekkhy\u00e9 (Yaksha), and Dwakha still exist among Newar communities today. Where are the earliest historical references to these names? What are their linguistic meanings? What stories do these families preserve about their origins? Are they connected with particular festivals, occupations, ritual roles, or local communities?<\/p>\n A surname or the appearance of a cultural figure cannot, by itself, establish African ancestry. Nevertheless, investigating the historical development of these names could be an important contribution to broadening our understanding of Nepal\u2019s social history.<\/p>\n 6. Were Older Communities Defeated and Left Behind Only in Cultural Memory?<\/strong><\/p>\n In many parts of the world, communities that inhabited a region earlier may lose their traditional social structures following contact, competition, conflict, or political changes involving later-arriving groups. Their languages, names, traditions, and cultural forms may survive in different ways within the societies that emerge afterwards.<\/p>\n We can ask similar questions about the Kathmandu Valley. Which human communities lived here before the establishment of the Gopal, Mahishpal, Kirat, and subsequent political structures? What were their relationships with one another? How did later states and social structures incorporate or displace earlier communities? Does local goddess worship, festivals, dances, and folk belief preserve any memories of earlier societies?<\/p>\n Could stories associated with Lakhe, Lashi, or Khya carry such memories? Do certain local surnames or cultural traditions point towards a past that has not yet been written down? Did later patriarchal states and social structures transform the ways of life or cultural practices of earlier communities?<\/p>\n These are legitimate subjects for research. However, there is currently insufficient evidence to establish the specific narrative that a community came from Africa, was subsequently defeated in warfare by patriarchal groups, and survived only in cultural memory through Lakhe or other folk figures.<\/p>\n This possibility should be treated as a historical hypothesis and examined through archaeology, anthropology, linguistics, cultural studies, genetics, and oral history.<\/p>\n The important principle in historical inquiry is neither to reject a possibility from the outset nor to declare it an established truth without evidence.<\/p>\n 7. The History of Ajima, Kali, Bhadrakali, and Nardevi<\/strong><\/p>\n The histories of Ajima, Kali, Bhadrakali, Nardevi, and other local goddesses are an important part of this discussion. Studying their names, temples, festivals, local narratives, and the communities that worship them can reveal much about the cultural development of the valley.<\/p>\n It is not enough to understand local goddesses solely by placing them within mythological genealogies established at a later period. Their local forms, relationships with communities, rituals, and cultural memories must also be studied.<\/p>\n Some goddesses\u2019 stories emphasise their independent power and place. Others explain them through their relationships with other deities. For example, Ajima traditions describe the goddesses as having no husbands, yet when these same Ajimas are incorporated into the Matrika framework, husbands are introduced.<\/p>\n Such differences offer opportunities to investigate distinct cultural layers, local traditions, and reinterpretations that may have occurred over time.<\/p>\n However, there is currently insufficient evidence to claim that Kali, Bhadrakali, or Nardevi were ancestral goddesses of a particular ancient human population of African origin living in Nepal. Similarly, we cannot conclude without further research that their earliest forms were erased by patriarchy or replaced by male deities.<\/p>\n Instead, we should ask: How were local goddesses reinterpreted in later religious texts? What changes occurred in their names, forms, and methods of worship? What roles did local communities play in these processes? What roles did women play in preserving and leading these traditions? Why are women themselves not the priests in many goddess temples today? Why are the priests predominantly men, and when did this practice begin? How do older stories portray nature, communal life, and the independent existence of goddesses?<\/p>\n These questions can help us understand the history of goddesses as part of a broader social and cultural history.<\/p>\n 8. Were Older Matriarchal Traditions Demonised Later?<\/strong><\/p>\n With the development of new religious and political systems, older local goddesses, deities, powers, and traditions have sometimes been assigned new meanings in societies around the world. An older goddess may be incorporated into a new tradition, portrayed as a demon, given a new name, or transformed into a different representation of local power. However, the same process does not occur everywhere.<\/p>\n In Nepal, too, the historical images of Matrikas, Ajima, Dakini, Yogini, Lakhe, and Khya deserve investigation.<\/p>\n When local goddesses or powers were incorporated into later mythological traditions, did their independent local identities change? Were certain older local figures reclassified as demons, ghosts, or malevolent forces within new religious frameworks? Were these changes connected with social hierarchies, relations between communities, or patriarchal values?<\/p>\n Dakinis and Yoginis should not automatically be regarded as demonic figures in every context. In Buddhist Vajrayana and Tantric traditions, they have many positive spiritual and ritual meanings. Similarly, Lakhe and Khya have not been represented exclusively as evil forces in every tradition.<\/p>\n We therefore need to investigate how the meanings of older local traditions changed over time, whose interpretations became dominant, and what roles gender and social power relations played in these processes.<\/p>\n 9. What Kinds of Society Has History Learned to Recognise?<\/strong><\/p>\n One fundamental problem with historical writing is that we often treat the origins of states, the names of rulers, wars, territory, and genealogies as the principal means of understanding the past. Such history helps us understand state structures and changes in political power. But the history of the state and the history of human society are not the same.<\/p>\n Asking who ruled a society can be useful when writing its history. But what if a society had no king, or did not place royal authority at the centre of its organisation? How do we write its history?<\/p>\n If a community organised its collective life through relationships with nature, the protection of shared resources, communal responsibilities, and orally transmitted knowledge, its history cannot be understood merely by searching for royal genealogies.<\/p>\n The history of such a society may be found in local rules governing the distribution of water. It may be found in traditions associated with forests, agriculture, animal husbandry, and nature. It may be found in stories about goddesses, festivals, dances, relationships between people, systems of cooperation, and shared responsibilities.<\/p>\n These too are historical sources. They deserve to be examined alongside inscriptions, archaeological remains, and written records.<\/p>\n 10. Why Must We Search for Nepal\u2019s History Before the Gopal Dynasty?<\/strong><\/p>\n The Gopal, Mahishpal, Kirat, Licchavi, Malla, and Shah dynasties are all important subjects in Nepal\u2019s history. Yet studying dynasties alone cannot reveal the complete social lives of Nepal\u2019s ancient communities.<\/p>\n We must also study the traditions of Ajima and the Matrikas, local goddesses, festivals, dances, folk narratives, and oral memories. Rather than treating them merely as matters of worship or entertainment, we should connect them with the question of how societies understood and organised their worlds.<\/p>\n What we need to investigate is not simply whether women or men ruled in ancient Nepal. The question is deeper:<\/p>\n Were there social worldviews in which ruling over others, conquering territory, transferring power through dynastic inheritance, or exercising dominance were not considered essential foundations of society?<\/p>\n If such worldviews existed, where are their memories preserved? Does the matri-culture that survives today retain any elements of them? Can relationships with nature, shared life, and collective memory help us understand the social philosophies of the past?<\/p>\n Bringing overlooked voices into history does not mean reconstructing the past according to our own wishes. Rather, it means giving space to other kinds of social experience alongside the narratives of power, states, and dynasties that historical writing has prioritised for so long.<\/p>\n \u201cSociety existed before the state. Human life, knowledge, culture, and relationships existed before royal genealogies began. The history of those societies may be different from the history of kings\u2014and it is our responsibility to search for that different history.\u201d<\/p>\n Let us reread the traditions of Ajima, the worship of the Matrikas, Lakhe dances, stories of Lashi, Khya, and local goddesses, and cultural practices connected with nature in the light of these questions. Let us consider not only what they prove, but also what new questions they teach us to ask about the past.<\/p>\n Nepal\u2019s history is not found only in inscriptions and royal genealogies. It remains to be discovered in collective human memory, living culture, and relationships with nature as well. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The history left unwritten by royal chronicles, the philosophy of matri-cultural society, and new questions about Nepal\u2019s ancient past
\nNepal\u2019s written history tells us that its system of kingship began with the Gopal dynasty. This was followed by the Mahishpal, Kirat, Licchavi, Malla, and Shah dynasties, whose histories we have been taught over the years. The rise of kings, territorial expansion, wars, victories, and the transfer of power from one dynasty to another have been placed at the centre of historical narratives. But who lived in the Kathmandu Valley before the …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":49,"featured_media":14553,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,1081,492,490,3,2065],"tags":[2272],"class_list":["post-14552","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-current-issue","category-explanationawareness","category-opinion","category-slider","category-society","category-top-stories","tag-ajima"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14552","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/49"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14552"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14552\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14554,"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14552\/revisions\/14554"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14553"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14552"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14552"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14552"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}