Paper short abstract:

This paper introduces different understandings of the recently declared secularism in contemporary Nepal and outlines related political debates focusing in particular on 'religious' interpretations of secularism

Paper long abstract:

In 2008, a secular republic replaced the Hindu monarchy of Nepal. Secularism faces numerous challenges, as the country has preserved for centuries a symbiotic relationship between Hinduism and the State, and Hindu religion permeates the legal system, state policies and everyday practices. Secularism is viewed as the separation of Church and State only among a certain intellectual elite; it is more widely understood as the abolition of the primacy formerly given to Hinduism and a constitutional guarantee that all religions will enjoy equal rights and opportunities.

This paper introduces different understandings of secularism in contemporary Nepal and outlines related political debates in a period of Constitution writing, focusing in particular on 'religious' interpretations of secularism: sometimes criticized as the imposition of an inappropriate Western category or as an invitation to live without religion, or yet again reduced to the logic of religious reform or confounded with the concept of 'religious harmony'.