By the sheer number of temples, shrines, holy riverbanks and

lakes and sacred mountains dotted through its length and breadth, Nepal would easily qualify to be the most

religious and ritual-oriented nation

in the world. Truly, the diversity of

traditions, celebrations, religious melas and fairs, festivals and sacraments is unique to this country, where people of different religions have lived together for centuries. All these holy places have millions of visitors each year and draw a large number of pilgrims. It shows that Nepalese are more devoted to their faith than most other people in the world.

Is this high percentage of religious believers in Nepal due to the fact that Nepalese women are more devoted to religion and its ritual, than any others in the world? Perhaps, this may be true. While the masses of rural women believe in a “different” kind of religion spawned by traditions, superstitions and customs, urban women-including the hi-end society women-are into another kind of religion altogether.

Today, religious faith is a major bonding factor that brings women

together. They have Holi, Basant

Panchami, sankranti gatherings and so on to not only recognize the religious significance of these days, but to talk of business, world affairs and to see a larger world than their homes and families.

Added to this is the most important fact that religion in Nepal is not retrograde. Some Nepali religions especially Hinduism and Buddhism- were progressive and accommodated changes and even revolutionary concepts

to allow the society to become 21st century savvy. Women have been

the greatest beneficiaries of these dramatic changes in religious and social attitudes and mindsets, and they

are now discovering that religion

is one of the greatest bonding powers in the world.

Religion gives a person a value

system, faith in times of stress and

catastrophe, and hope in despair. Women, being the passers-on of

the value system and moral fabric

of Nepal to the next generation, are naturally more religious in their day-to day lives than men who are religious in a more social and personal or private sense. It would not be an exaggeration to say that men in Nepal are part-time religious people, whereas women are full-time religious devotees!