Nepali Christians lose right to ancient burial ground (News Feature)

By Pratibha Tuladhar Feb 1, 2011, 5:38 GMT

Kathmandu - Raju Budha Magar, 20, died on January 5 from a severe head injury sustained during a boxing match. For his family, the grief was intensified as the search for burial ground began.

The family had to go to a district some 100 kilometres from Kathmandu for his funeral after they were banned from burying him at a cemetery at Pashupatinath temple, a traditional burial ground for Christians.

They were not the only ones.

Temple authorities last month suddenly barred Christians from burying their dead in the temple's Sleshmantak forest, saying it was reserved for the Dasnami Hindu sect.

Over the weekend, they also banned the Kirat ethnic group from the cemetery, arguing they were not Dasnamis. The ban triggered violent street protests.

'You give a month's notice, even if you want your tenants to leave,' said Laxmi Tamang, who had to wait four days before finding a burial plot for her brother.

The forest owned by the Pashupati Area Development Trust (PADT) is a UNESCO World Heritage site with ancient monuments including the Hindu temple.

While stone inscriptions in the forest say the burial ground is devoted to the Dasnamis, Christians and indigenous Hindu groups have also been burying their dead there. Some have done so clandestinely without placing tombstones for fear of being discovered.

Christians are a minority in predominately Hindu Nepal. Eighty-six per cent of its 30 million people are Hindus. According to 2007 statistics, there are 500,000 Christians in Nepal, but Operation Mobilization, a Christian organization, puts the number at 1,200,000. Some churches own property, but for those who do not, the Sleshmantak forest had been serving as a cemetery.

Jagat Pradhan, a pastor at Bansbari Church, said they had bought land for burial in a village on the outskirts of Kathmandu. 'But the villagers haven't allowed us to conduct burials, saying they do not want graveyards near their homes.'

Nepal was a Hindu kingdom until 2006 and conversion was a punishable offence. The country declared itself a secular state in 2007, after the monarchy was abolished.

Many who converted say it was a move to shun the caste-based Hindu society.

'In Christianity, I'm not an untouchable,' said Sunita Nepali, who comes from the family of tailors, considered low-caste among Hindus.

'I've become an outsider among my relatives in some ways,' she said, recounting an incident in which she was barred from the funeral rites of her sister-in-law because she was not a Hindu anymore.

Although Nepal prides itself on religious tolerance, Christians say the state discriminates against them.

'We cannot understand why we are still being treated like this, after the country has been declared secular,' Pradhan said. 'The government should either declare we are not citizens altogether, or ensure our rights.'

Christians in Kathmandu were left in a lurch as the government said it was not planning to find an alternative burial ground.

'Sleshmantak Bann [forest] falls inside the Pashupatinath and members of no other religion except Hinduism can intervene,' said PADT secretary Sushil Nahata.

'If they fail to address our demand, we will demonstrate by parading corpses in front of the (parliament),' said CB Gahatraj, general secretary of the Nepal Christian Community.

When the cemetery controversy flared up last week, Culture Minister Minendra Rijal was drawn into it, with reports saying he had permitted the Christian burials. On Sunday, the minister denied the report and said only Hindus had the right to bury their dead in the forest

'The government is firm on its decision that non-Hindus will not be allowed to bury their dead in the area,' Rijal said, adding that an alternative solution could be found though dialogue.

Following the Kirat protests on Monday Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal said the community would be allowed to bury its dead in the forest until a new provision had been put in place. But nothing was said regarding the Christians.

'The number of Christians has increased since Nepal became a democracy,' said John Narayan Parajuli, a political analyst and writer.

'Land is a big issue in Kathmandu, as the price has gone up,' he said. 'This is a logistical issue and it is for both the sides to see how it can be resolved.'

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