Guthis, Organizations for Special Purposes

Newar society has from very early times included miscellaneous associations of people formed for various special purposes called guthi s. The word is derived from the Sanskrit term gosthi^[*] , "assembly, company, fellowship." D. R. Regmi cites inscriptions from Licchavi times suggesting some of the early functions of these gosthi^[*] , as the inscriptions then still called them. Some were for the purpose of providing drinking water to travelers, some for the maintenance of water conduits, and others were concerned with various aspects of the maintenance of temples and palaces. The early inscriptions also refer to donation of agricultural land by the state for material support through a portion of the land's yield for the purposes of the guthi (D. R. Regmi 1969, 299). Such land is called "guthi land," and is one of the fundamental kinds of land tenure in Nepal.^[47]

A large variety of guthi groups persisted into the recent past. Older informants at the time of this study could list twenty or thirty named guthi s, but the list seems to be quickly diminishing as the central government takes over some of their functions, and others disappear with modernization. In addition to guthi s using the income from specially designated lands for the maintenance and repair of temples, shrines, mathas^[*] (chap. 8), and palaces and for the support of public ceremonies of various types,^[48] there were (and are) groups dedicated to one or another god, or who came together for some special purpose during one or another calendrical festival, or who worshiped in some particular way (with torchlight processions or with one or another of the traditional forms of music, or who sacrificed unusual forms of sacrificial animals such as sheep, etc.). There were some groups representing a particular thar or profession,^[49] such as palanquin carriers or Ayurvedic physicians, and others whose members included different thar s. Guthi s choose one of their members as a leader, have a tutelary god, meet for periodic feasts, and raise money in various ways, often from a tax on members—and by fines for violation of guthi rules.

In recent years various new kinds of organizations—scouts, women's organizations, and literary societies—which represent larger social

units than Bhaktapur society (or, indeed, Newar society) are arising and are locally understood to be replacing or competing for people's commitment to some of the traditional guthi s. The most numerous enduring guthi s are "death guthi s" (those assisting with funerals; see app. 6) and those dealing with phuki and thar affairs.^[50]