Crown, Faith, and Tongue

This chapter traces the historical evolution of Nepali nationalism from state unification in the eighteenth century to contemporary debates over secularism, identity, and monarchy. It adopts an instrumentalist approach, viewing nationalism as a constructed and contested process shaped by political agendas, imagined communities, and invented traditions. The chapter argues that Nepali nationalism has oscillated between state-driven homogenization and demands for plural recognition, anchored historically in the triumvirate of Hindu religion, monarchy, and the Nepali language, yet repeatedly challenged by excluded groups and shifting geopolitics. Dividing the analysis into three broad phases—the Shah-Rana regimes (1744–1951), the Panchayat era (1961–1990), and the democratic-republican period (1990–present)—the chapter shows how nation-building moved from a loosely defined Hindu empire to an assertive homogenizing project, and finally to a contested framework of reluctant multiculturalism. India emerges consistently as the defining ‘other’, shaping Nepali identity through both antagonism and dependence. More recently, the Maoist insurgency, Madheshi movements, federal restructuring, and rising Hindutva revivalism have redefined the contours of nationalism, exposing its inherent contradictions. The chapter concludes that Nepali nationalism remains fluid, contested, and multilayered, oscillating between inclusionary aspirations and exclusionary legacies, while external and domestic pressures continue to reshape the meaning of ‘Nepaliness’.