ABSTRACT
The few years that have elapsed since the extinction of the Partyless Panchayat System have seen an intensified insistence on cultural distinctiveness on the part of a number of communities, a trend denounced by one commentator as “nascent ethnic egotism” (Bhandari, n.d.). The political orientation of these manifestations covers a considerable spectrum, ranging from exclusively cultural concerns at one end to the rhetoric of secessionism at the other. The appropriation of ethnicity for political ends is certainly nothing new in Nepal. As we shall see presently, the phenomenon has been observed, at various periods in the present century, among the Newars, Limbus, Rais, Tamangs, Magars, Gurungs, Tharus, and Maithils, to cite the most conspicuous examples.
