Hinduism in Nepal
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Hinduism is the major religion of Nepal. In the 1991 census, approximately 89.5 percent of the Nepalese people identified themselves as Hindus. Buddhists and Muslims comprised 5.3 and 2.7 percent, respectively. The remainder followed other religions, including Christianity. The national calendar of Nepal, Bikram Sambat (B.S.), is a solar Hindu calendar essentially the same to that widespread in North India as a religious calendar, and is based on Vedic principles of time-keeping.
The geographical distribution of religious groups revealed a preponderance of Hindus, accounting for at least 87 percent of the population in every region. Among the Tibeto-Nepalese, those most influenced by Hinduism were the Magar, Sunwar, and Rai peoples.
However, there has traditionally been a great deal of intermingling of Hindu and Buddhist beliefs. Many of the people regarded as Hindus in the 1981 census could also in some senses be called Buddhists. Hindus long have worshipped at Buddhist temples and Buddhists at Hindu temples. The reason for this is that both Hinduism and Buddhism have common roots as dharmic religions, and over most of their history have not been seen as separate communions, but rather rival tendencies within a shared religious tradition. Because of such dual faith practices (or mutual respect), the differences between Hindus and Buddhists have been in general very subtle and academic in nature; Hindus and Buddhists have never engaged in any overt religious conflicts.
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This article contains material from the Library of Congress Country Studies, which are United States government publications in the public domain.
