Kinship and Religious Practices as Institutionalization of Trade Networks: Manangi Trade Communities in South and Southeast Asia Author(s):

Prista Ratanapruck Source: Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, Vol. 50, No. 2/3, Spatial and Temporal Continuities of Merchant Networks in South Asia and the Indian Ocean (2007), pp. 325-346 Published by: BRILL Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25165198 . Accessed: 22/10/2013 10:14
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KINSHIP AND RELIGIOUS PRACTICES AS INSTITUTIONALIZATION OF TRADE NETWORKS: MANANGI TRADE COMMUNITIES IN SOUTH AND SOUTHEAST ASIA BY PRISTA RATANAPRUCK*
Abstract This paper examines traders social and institutions religious and Southeast Asia. that create It looks and at how sustain kinship a trade network

as well as reduce protection costs. Because the trade network is embed trade networks, a geographically in institutionalized it is resilient and keeps social practices, dispersed connected and competitive community throughout their trading history. The paper is based on in Nepal, field research Thailand, India, Burma, Malaysia, Singapore. local ded Dans et religieuses institutions sociales qui cr?ent dans et du Sud-est. l'Asie du Sud n?palais aux moyens les liens de parent? et des pratiques s'adresse L'article par lesquelles religieuses un syst?me de coop?ration et ?conomique soutiennent dans cette communaut? dias sociale ressources et de certaines En partageant du travail, des renseignements mat?rielles porique. l'auteur un m?ne et maintiennent r?seau de analyse des commer?ants en suivant un processus c'est-?-dire dont la bonne foi et le sens d'obligation ils savent r?duire les d?penses En le bon fonctionnement, garantissent d'op?ration. les r?seaux de parent? vers l'?tranger, par exemple par des rapports matrimoni ?largissant aux ?conomies en m?me et trans-locales l'acc?s locales aux, ils r?ussissent temps ? gagner et financi?res, r?ciproque en r?duisant cet article une

and religious Nepali in their community. sanction a system of social and economic practices cooperation By pool and financial ensured by trust and mutual resources, ing labor, information, material obliga costs. By extending kinship relations to societies tion, they can lower their operating abroad, to both local and trans such as through marriages with local women, they can have access among

in South

et les razzias. C'est contre l'extorsion les frais de la sauvegarde gr?ce ?galement ? l'enracinement dans des pratiques sociales du r?seau de commerce institutionelles que celui ci reste toujours flexible et de longue dur?e, ce qui lui permet de survivre dans une commu un haut niveau de concurrence et de maintenir naut? g?ographiquement ? travers une dispers? d'activit?s longue histoire ? Kathmandu furent men?es kinship, commerciales. Les et ? plusieurs trade network, comptoirs sur lesquelles enqu?tes en d'autres pays. protection s'appuie cet article

Keywords:

religion,

local marriage,

cost

Harvard author

The

University, would like

the panel, Engseng for organizing Bhattacharya on the presentation. for comments ? Koninklijke Also available Brill NV, online 2007 Leiden, www.brill.nl

pratanap@fas.harvard.edu to thank Gita Dharampal-Frick, Ho

Jos J.L.Gommans

and Bhaswati

formentoring

support, and Pius Malekandathil

JESHO 50,2-3

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326
Written or whose

PRISTA RATANAPRUCK texts are excellent sources for learning about traderswho kept records, stories were recorded by others. But traders for whom writing is nei of communication nor an instrument of business leave behind few and trade networks. Manangi merchants from Nepal of traders. They are former caravan traders who had

ther a means are one migrated

traces of theirmovements such group to Nepal across

from the southern edge of the Tibetan the Himalaya over centuries. several Although they are not well known to historians, plateau for centuries traded along the North-South river valleys that cut through they the Himalayas, and are still trading nowadays between Nepal, India, and South
east Asia.

now? What

subjects and hence did not period since they often traveled as British-Indian attract the attention of historians. Thirdly, the East India Company records on overland trade are limited compared to records on maritime trade. Therefore, a retrospective approach from the contemporary period, by doing field research and learning about their history from the current community, is a fruitfulway to learn about them. Under which conditions do Manangis operate as a commu is the nature of internal relationships within the community? What nity? What kind of relationships do they form with the economies and societies abroad? A COMMUNITY OF TRADERS

points to answer these questions has limitations for several reasons. Firstly, record keeping and written correspondence is not really a part of theManangi their movements were disguised during the later colonial trade.1 Secondly,

resilient and able to remain thriving traders until Manangis kind of trade networks do they establish? How have they sustained that network throughout their trading history? Using written sources as starting What makes

Although trade in the Tibetan region2 had flourished at least since the rise of the Tibetan Empire in the 7th century,Manangis3 probably did not operate as a

are more In fact, most Manangis who than thirty-five years old are illiterate. Written texts by Buddhist monks. in Tibetan documents religious society are mostly 2 a center of regional Tibet was trade in tea, wool, salt, grain, and luxury goods, with border and the Himalayan trade routes cutting (Van region through both the Sino-Tibet as Manangis called themselves, meaning (an area in Tibet Nyishangba, people of Nyishang came to live in theManang as at several different called Shang), times, valley early as 600 A.D. to at least the 12th century, the Klatzel back 2004: 2-3). Tracing (Messerchmidt, Gurung, area to Se-rib, a southern Tibetan state. With the Manang valley was already a tribute-paying rise and fall of various ties at different points fell under the jurisdiction of different principali dynasties, Manang et al. 2004: in time (Messerchmidt 2000: 2-3; Van 146). Spengen

2000: 107-10). Spengen 3

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MANANGI TRADE COMMUNITIES IN SOUTH AND SOUTHEAST ASIA

327

trading community until much later.Many Tibetan peddlers were not free men; they were serfs (dud chung), whose labor was bound to aristocrats' or monas teries' estates (Goldstein 1973). Peddlers who led caravans traded on behalf of monasteries?the major entrepreneurs at that time.4 It was only in the 18th cen

tury,when many serfs ran away from their estates in search of physical mobil ity and personal freedom, that themonasteries started granting a "human lease" status to their serfs5 (Goldstein 1971: 533-4). With the "human lease" status,

individuals could move freely and engage in entrepreneurial activities as long as they paid their "lease",6 either in cash or in occasional corvee labor services (Goldstein 1971: 528-33). Under this condition, "human lease" peddlers could start trading on their own, with investment money borrowed from large finan cial institutions such as Tibetan Buddhist monasteries.7 It was probably during this time thatManangis established themselves as a trading community. of Trade: the Shifting Social Geography

History

Manangis were skilled traders, responding quickly to and taking advantage of conditions in and around the region changes in the political and economic where they traded. In 1784, when the Shah of Gorkha attempted to unite prin in return for gave him their allegiance cipalities on Nepal's fringe, Manangis the privilege to trade freely in areas under the Shah's jurisdiction.8 This made

monastic

sect led to monastic 15th century, the rise of the Gelugpa rule in politics, and of labor and trade enterprise 2002: 1972: 70-83; 119, 161; Stein (Rajesh were Goldstein 1973: 449-53). monasteries patrons, Supported by aristocratic religious endowed with animal livestock, cash, and a range of assets?from (Michael grains to jewelry an attractive 1982: 49; Nornang investment 1990: 256; Rajesh 2002: 123, 125). Trade was control option nomic in Tibet, as it required less returns (Rajesh 2002: 129). income came from trade, business, labor In some and than tilling farm lands, while higher eco generating an estimate of about 30% of monasteries' places, activities such as money-lending (Michael banking

In the

reasons for granting "human to discourage lease" status was serfs from labor supply in the soci their lords, and thus to ensure a more reliable due to the vast num labor and under-population ety predominated by a shortage of human ber of celibate monks. 6 a "lease" It was from having owed their human body and labor to their lords. 7 For a discussion lent out cash for loans see An-che about how monasteries 1994: 61-2. 8 to expand his territory beyond For discussions about Prithvinarayan Shah's ambition the area of Nepal in the early 1770s see Shaha Gorkha 1996: 23-32, 38-9, 73-81. See also Regmi One of the main from running away 2002: 19-20. For the Tibet-Nepal 1985: (Cooke Today a long border in gaining alliance in the areas along time, the Shahs did not succeed ethnic Nepalis, the Manang occupied by Tibetan including valley of this, different because of the Shahs generations gave Likely still tell stories about how the trade privileges made

1982: 49-50).
5

Manangis tradeprivileges from 1784 until 1977 (Van Spengen 2000: 203-30; Cooke 1985:
78-80). Manangis their trade

130-5).

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328
their Tibet-India

PRISTA RATANAPRUCK

van Spengen 2000: 143). This was the Chumbi valley route to Central Tibet via Sikkim, which was opened by the Younghusband expedition in 1904 (Mehra 1968: 288-304). Faced with this change, and with the development of new infra structure in British India, Manangis shifted their trade towards the colonial set of the British tlements, taking advantages pathways to India, Burma, and the Peninsula. Malay The history of Manangi trade in India is closely intertwined with the history of transportation networks of colonial expansion in British India. Development between urban centers, the establishment of Gorkha army stations, and expan sion of trade to theMalayas, all opened new opportunities forManangi trade.

trade routes more flexible and profitable. In the early 20th cen tury,however, the Tibet-India routes through Nepal declined, as a new route re channeled trade away from theNepal-Tibet border (Furer-Haimendorf 1975: 64-92;

As Nepali citizens, not needing a passport to travel in India, Manangis brought to sell salt rocks, musks, and medicinal herbs from Southern Tibet and Manang in Calcutta.9 In 1920, they traded as middlemen, moving between the urban and into rural markets of Delhi and Jammu-Kashmir. After the British expansion Assam, they brought foreign goods from Calcutta ucts from the hinterland of Assam and Bhutan, trade with maritime trade. to exchange these with prod thereby connecting overland

to stocked up their goods, they continued to follow the British waterways sell gems in the Malayas 2000: of (Van Spengen 182-8). Taking advantage moved between the ports of Calcutta, the colonial settlements, Manangis on their return sometimes via Madras and passing Rangoon, Penang, Singapore, to Calcutta. In 1962, after military take-over in Burma, and with the introduc tion of air-travel between Calcutta, Bangkok, and Singapore, Manangis shifted area to peninsular and their trade route again, away from the Bengal-Burma island Southeast Asia. In the last two hundred years, the shape of theManangi

also moved among port cities if Although mainly overland traders,Manangis therewere profits to be gained. In 1930, hearing about gem mines in theMogok areas of Burma from Nepali and Mandalay immigrants and Gorkha soldiers to Rangoon; in Maymyo, after having they took British ships from Calcutta

trade circuit has thus changed several times?first as trans-Himalayan trade run ning North-South through Nepal, then as trade along the northern hills of India and in the Bengal-Burma

area, to the present form of trade in handicrafts and

and competitive, profitable until now. 9 See also Fisher 1987

and

how

they are

still grateful and India.

to the Shahs,

remaining

royalists

for trade between

Tibet

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MANANGI TRADE COMMUNITIES IN SOUTH AND SOUTHEAST ASIA

329

precious gem stones between Kathmandu, Delhi, Jaipur, Bangkok, Singapore, and Malaysia. Yet despite these changes, Manangi traders have remained con nected as a community throughout these centuries: their trade circuits are more

than just a physical space, they constitute the shapes of the social geography of their trade community. as Sites of Social and Economic Relations:

Nodes Local

and Trans-Local

trade routes reflect the trade networks thatManangis form. They Manangis' are networks of social and economic relations, both within their community and between Manangis
marriages.

them and

local communities. When

many Manangis moved people?from

stayed behind?with

the gem trade in Burma ended, their Burmese wives and children. As

through places, they established social relations with local transactional business relationships to longer-termkinship ties through

The level of connectedness between Manangi traders and local communities has varied between places, depending on factors ranging from the nature of the market to individuals' life events. Some relationships are based on mutual agreements with few commitments. Some are more institutionalized and trans actional. Others marry their wives' local women are expansive and deeply rooted, such as when Manangis and invest trade profits in local production, building on social networks. Though wide-ranging, these relationships are not

necessarily exclusive to one another. In fact, often they build on each other and become intertwined, as they have one common feature: they help orient in foreign lands, connecting them with the local economies, resources, Manangis societies. Equally, these cross-cultural relationships also help con and markets, itinerantManangis marry local women, become more rooted and relatively less mobile, they rely more on itinerantManangis tomaintain their ties with the larger trans-local Manangi net works. Being locally rooted, localized Manangis also become anchoring points that connect itinerantManangis with local economies and societies. itinerant Manangi traders, relationships are also based on mutual Among dependency and mutual benefits. Trading sites form points of convergence dur ing trips abroad. At nect the local economies with the trans-local ones. As

rary residences; other on their search for goods and customers. Common interests,mutual depen dency, and companionship draw them together to share knowledge and to offer mutual support. Cooperation, however, does not take place independent to social

these sites, Manangis meet up and stay together at tempo they share buying or selling space and they accompany each

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330

PRISTA RATANAPRUCK

is risky, and must be sanctioned by trust. conditions. Cooperation this Moreover, trust and cooperation reduce their operating costs, making their business com petitive. To ensure cooperation, trustmust be institutionalized and constantly a site of temporary residence?that It is at a node?at Manangis renew and reinforce their trust in various ways, through many strands of kin ship and social relations. Even though their convergence at the nodes is tempo renewed.

rary and transient, it constitutes the core of social relations that are continuous and enduring. relations of reciprocal obligations, trust, and cooperation?sanctioned by reinforced and renewed not institutionalized kinship and social practices?are also meet at home, in abroad. Manangis only at the points of convergence The

at religious ceremonies and institutionalized social gatherings. Kathmandu, where frequentlymoving traders These are organized points of convergence?nodes and their families meet to reaffirm their values and social practices. How do social, kinship, and religious institutions create and shape particular kinds of values and social practices that facilitate Manangis' long-distance trade? This into nodes of their trade networks, this the focuses upon paper question, looking

both at home and abroad.

From Rooming Early Days: When

Houses

to Local

Wives:

Nodes

Abroad

Local

Patrons

of Pattaya, they slept on the floor of a barber shop paying minimal rent. Once they were more established, they started renting a house together in Bangkok. These shared residential spaces at various trading sites were well known to itin A young trader could explore a new trade route alone by being referred to these communal sites. Arriving at a new site, an extended kinship network made the new trader recognizable and his place in the community a was as treated identifiable, and he community member. Staying together also erant Manangis.

temples in Amritsar and Penang where they helped clean the In the 1960s, they slept on for free housing. temple grounds in exchange In the Thai beach town rooftops of people's houses in Calcutta for 3 Rupees.

stayed at Sikh

are on trading trips abroad, they often establish a itinerantManangis shared residential space. With friendship and patronage relations, temporarily this local residence can cost them almost nothing. In the 1940s, Manangis

made

to collectively reciprocate local favors. Sometimes, it easier forManangis local patronage came in the form of local assistance; for example, on an island near Pattaya, Manangis could leave theirgoods at a restaurant overnight in exchange

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manangi

trade

communities

in south and

SOUTHEAST ASIA

331

for helping out at the restaurant when traders become more complex familiar with more Hotel

extra labor was needed. When Manangi the places that they frequent, they develop arrangements with local people. s Boarding House

and Gem Middlemen

In Penang, Malaysia, after sleeping at a Sikh temple with bags of gems chained around their waists for years before the Second World War, Manangi traders shifted to a hotel thatwas safer and more private. For more than 50 years now, they have Having become

reserved room, designated as room number G, with G referring to Gurung, a common Manangi last name. Staying in room number G, Manangis pay mini mal rent, regardless of how many of them occupy the room. There they can do traders who supply laundry, chant, meditate, and even sell gems to Bengali

stayed at this same hotel, through three generations of owners. friends with the hotel owners, Manangis have their own large

or bribes to local police.10 Based at this convenient, inexpensive, and safe place, take short trips to Ipoh, Alor Setar, Kota Bahru, and Kelantan to sell Manangis gems, making Penang their base for trade in the northernMalay Peninsula. This would

a shared public space that gems to jewelry factories. The room gives Manangis is private to outsiders, unlike at the Sikh temple. The friendship with the hotel owners guards Manangis against unpredictable protection costs such as robbery

arrangement with a Thai gem middleman named Sumith, who provides them with a comprehensive package of local services. Because the Chanthaburi gem market is structured in such a way that sellers have to move around showing their gems to potential buyers, Manangis need a buying space where they exam

direction, namely into a more formalized commercial exchange of local ser vices. Chanthaburi is the biggest gem trading town in Thailand and the largest source of gems forManangi traders. There, Manangis have a complex business

not have been possible without the long-term relationship with the hotel owners. Although into transactional at its start, the relationship developed favors, special arrangements, and protection. friendship that brings Manangis A transactional relationship with local people can also develop in a different

ine the gems before offering their bids. As non-natives, they have to rent that space; and Sumith provides it. Like other middlemen in Chantaburi, Sumith col lects his rent by deducting 13% of what the sellers would receive. To make his competitive and the 13% commission justified, he has added additional

business

10

For

discussion 1973:

about 60-113.

the concept

of

'protection

cost'

see Curtin

1984:

42.

See

also

Steensgaard

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332
services. because These services

PRISTA RATANAPRUCK

Sumith dedicates a floor of his house to serve like room number G in Penang? a shared living space forManangis that is off-limits to others. Living in Chant a serves as his transit point and store for cash and gems, house also haburi, on and whence Manangis their cash and gems among each other, and carry pass among different trading sites. This practice is sensible as payment is usually due much leave their selling sites, and the transport of gems later, after Manangis to ensure the safety of both the sites different should be minimized among in this light, the payment for Sumith's service traders and of the gems. Viewed can be considered

cost him little, but are of high value to Manangis value of the institutional arrangements already exist the they augment within the community. ing Manangi

as a protection cost, but one that is bought in bulk, at a can cooper Because Manangis wholesale price, to be shared among Manangis. ate, they pool social resources together to get more out of Sumith's material and

Nevertheless, being Sumith's client is probably still the best arrangement for the time being. This was an assessment made by Rinchen, a thirty-year-old Manangi gem trader with a Thai wife. This couple is emerging as Sumith's rival and

social arrangements?the protection they pay for. sometimes feel Although Sumith's protection is bought in bulk, Manangis that his business is too lucrative, that they are paying more than he deserves.

competitor. Rinchen's wife has relatives and friends in the gem business, one of whom owns a gem buying space in the market. When Rinchen has accumu lated enough skills, funding, and networks, he plans to separate from Sumith to will gravitate establish his own gem trading house. At that point, Manangis protection and assistance will be reciprocated with access to the trans-local markets. Such social exchange based on kinship ties helps reduce Manangis' their trade competitive protection costs abroad and makes towards him. Local
to outsiders.

Local Wives an economic, social, and cultural Being a node or serving as middlemen?in in various ways. sense, Manangis with local wives can help itinerantManangis In Singapore and Kuala Lumpur, they helped itinerantManangis establish room a can house together,Manangis become less dependent ing houses. By renting

on local people such as the hotel owner or the gem middleman like Sumith. But in order to accommodate a community of travelers whose tripsmust be respon sive to changes in the local markets, the house must have a sophisticated sys tem of space and rent sharing. In Singapore, where Manangis stay briefly to sell

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MANANGI TRADE COMMUNITIES IN SOUTH AND SOUTHEAST ASIA

333

the duration gems and to transit through to sell a higher volume inMalaysia, create a flexible of their board is uncertain. Given this uncertainty, Manangis system by renting a large, open, one-story house, where at night they line up that can be easily added or stored away. The rent is col lected on a per person-per night basis, depending on an average daily expense and the number of people passing through. In Kuala Lumpur, where Manangis rows of mattresses

take turnswith a partner to rent a handicraft stall in Chinatown for two months at a time, they take turns with a partner to pay a fixed two-month rent for a fixed sleeping space in a rooming house. To make sure that the house runs smoothly, Manangi women take turns?to ensure equal opportunities of employment?in the house: collecting rent, cooking, and cleaning as if it were their managing

to other nodes is exemplified by the sheet of paper on the of nodes at other trading sites: names of Manangis numbers listing phone women who married local living in other cities, the hotels in Penang and in the gem middlemen's Mae-Sod, boarding houses in Chantaburi and in Jaipur, connected wall their rooming houses locally, in also aid them business. Neema and his Singapo Manangis rean wife help arrange transportation between Singapore and Malaysia in ways to cross the border and go through customs and that allows itinerantManangis with local wives the two rooming houses in Kuala Lumpur. Besides helping itinerant Manangis establish

benefit of sharing a space supersedes the mere reduction in operating costs. A rooming house serves as a meeting point for sharing information, a site of the can find one another. Its role as community abroad where traveling Manangis a node

own lodge for the duration of their stay. Such a system of space and rent shar ing, and communal living, requires a high degree of organization, creativity, and to leave their expensive gems in their trust.Had it not been safe forManangis travel bags, this space and rent sharing would not have been possible. The

helps arrange a shared selling space inside two former Chinese coffee shops in can set up their own Chinatown, where a large number of itinerantManangis individual stalls and take turns renting them every two months with a partner. This rent, in fact, is less costly than the bribes selling on the sidewalk. Being Manangi connected they paid to local police when

immigration in the most efficient and cost-effective way. They arrange to have a local van-owner pay protection cost at customs on their behalf for a fixed pre dictable amount, to reduce hassles, loss of goods, and delays in travels due to unpredictable encounters with custom officers. Likewise, in Kuala Lumpur, Ali, a Manangi who married a Malay woman from Kelantan and converted to Islam,

through a local wife is significant to the development of a community abroad. A rooming house does not develop just anywhere

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334

PRISTA RATANAPRUCK

buri, Rinchen has a Thai wife. But because he has not lived there long enough, still have to stay with Sumith. Seen from another perspective, rela Manangis are important to localized Manangis formain tionships with itinerantManangis

trade routes. Penang is an important node, but without a local along Manangi woman Manangis are not able to have a house of their own there. In Chanta

Kathmandu.

taining their connections with the world beyond the local. Traveling Manangis supply goods from abroad, export local goods to the trans-local markets and carry money from Manangis living abroad to extended families at home in the return journey, they bring back news from religious ceremonies. On and blessed objects

Local Local

and

Trans-Local and

Economy

and

Society Economy and societies can

Production

itsArticulation with the Trans-Local

The connection between also become more

the local and trans-local economies

shift their business from trade to significant when Manangis social networks, making their social and local production based on theirwives' economic relations more intertwined. The silver production of Tenzing and his Thai wife is one such example. Tenzing used to trade in silver; his wife is from a silver guild family in Chiangmai. Fifteen years ago, he joined his wife's local silver production with his trans-local silver trade to open a silver factory inBangkok for export business. For his factory, Tenzing used skilled silversmiths and bought cheap raw silver through his wife's family network in Chiangmai. Later

he expanded the production to incorporate stones and beads from his Manangi relatives, and hired more labor through his wife's networks of relatives and silver production is competitive because he has access to friends. Tenzing's cheap

labor, cheap materials, and a broad international market. silver production benefits not only his wife's social network, but Tenzing's also his own Manangi family. As the production grew profitable, he expanded more to hired his outlets, local labor and brought more relatives from Nepal the business, paving the way for Manangi relatives to supervise and manage con with extensive them establish their own businesses locally. By providing tacts in Thailand, his relatives could establish their own outlets instead of just supplying to him. Today, they do import and export business between Thailand,

Nepal and India, dealing in silver and semi-precious stones, having their busi ness registered in Tenzing's wife's name. Without this trust, Manangi shops in Thailand would not have multiplied, nor would more local employment have been generated. As Tenzing's relatives open more shops, the constant flow of

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MANANGI TRADE COMMUNITIES IN SOUTH AND SOUTHEAST ASIA

335

his family members to Thailand increases, and the reasons for travel extend to for a health check-up and other domains. Older relatives come to Bangkok sometimes even just to escape winter inNepal. Nepali wives and children come

relations, they are enduring and keep community members ple domains beyond those of mutual economic benefits. Remaining Connected with the Trans-Local is not a local Community

to help in the shops during school breaks. Tenzing does not just connect the trans-local one, but also the social life local economy with the Manangis' the economic relations within theManangi around it. Because community and externally with the local community abroad are embedded in social and kinship connected in multi

Manangis' a local base

Then, they will need to rely on itinerantManangis whose networks are expan sive and spread out. For example, when Neema opened his own handicraft store in Singapore, it became more convenient and cost-effective for him to have his fellow Manangis Ali bring supplies from Kathmandu and Bangkok. Similarly, when size of his stall in Kuala Lumpur, he had his Manangi son-in the tripled was own him also his sister's son, supply with gems from abroad. law, who Even

trade, but a trans-local one that has a of operation. Thus, when localized Manangi becomes more invested locally, there comes a point when it ismore efficient and advantageous to have others move on his behalf instead of continuing to take trading trips. local business

relatives supply him with beads Similarly, Tenzing has his Manangi them is one of his two Manangi from India. Among sons-in-law. Manangi tains his connection with marries a local woman and shifts to invest more

and stones if a

through kinship ties and through trade networks founded on mutual dependency and obligations. For a community that is physically dis persed, a node nullifies the spatial and temporal distances that separate com remains connected
munity members.

to his daughter's generation, enables the connection between riage, from Ali's the trans-local and local Manangi community to continue across generations. As the economic relations become institutionalized through family relations, trust and cooperation are ensured over a long period of time, across generations. Even though theManangi community is dispersed from Jaipur to Singapore, it

often lead to marriages between them, as in the case of Ali's Manangi-Malay daughter and his Manangi nephew. The continuation of this cross-cultural mar

the larger Manangi cultural affinity and emotional ties extending beyond mutual economic benefits. As children of Manangi mixed marriages are socialized by constantly visiting itinerantManangis, cultural affinity and inter-twining economic and kinship ties

locally, he stillmain community. This is also due to

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336
While

PRISTA RATANAPRUCK

the Manangi economy in the Kath frugal living, and surplus accumulation, mandu home base is one of conspicuous consumption and surplus redistribution. Such an economy at home, while appearing to be in opposition to the economy trade. of surplus accumulation abroad, in fact facilitates theManangi

kind of economy, embedded in its own set of social institutions. In contrast to the trans-local Manangi economy abroad, which is focused on profit making,

trading sites abroad are nodes that collectively form a trans-local econ a home base for omy and society with a social life of its own, Kathmandu?as itinerant Manangis?can also be viewed as a node that functions as another

INSTITUTIONALIZED RELIGIOUS The Circulation For both ofMoney Back

AND SOCIAL GATHERINGS: NODES to Kathmandu

AT HOME

localized and itinerant Manangis, profits from trade are not only in the next round of trade, but also spent on several other activities. investment in a more sedentary and perhaps less risky business such as Local in shops, production, service industry, and real estate is one of the activities reinvested living abroad. Location of local home base, economic opportuni ties, and their sense of connection to a place. But besides reinvesting in busi ness, a large fraction of profits from trade is spent on religious and social among both itinerant and Manangi investments varies depending on individuals'
functions at home in Nepal?the domains where conspicuous consumption and

common

redistribution of economic Surplus Accumulation

surplus take place. Consumption

and Conspicuous

merit-making activities. Buddhist religious practice is an important part of the social life. Being ordained as a monk or a novice is the greatest Manangis' merit one can attain. Not everyone, however, can afford to be a monk as most lay people must earn money to support their family and community. Because traders cannot make merits by being ordained, they set aside a substantial amount of time for religious practice: during a resting time on a trading trip,

are traders and entrepreneurs who invest a large amount Although Manangis are also religiously devoted in profit-making activities, Manangis of money and dedicate a generous portion of money, labor, and time to various kinds of

during a home-visit between trading trips, and after retirement from trade. Abroad, they chant daily and periodically avoid eating meat. At home inKathmandu, they spend a large amount of money sponsoring, organizing, and participating

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MANANGI TRADE COMMUNITIES IN SOUTH AND SOUTHEAST ASIA in collective

337

also spend a significant amount of Besides religious practice, Manangis money and time socializing with each other at several annual social gatherings, all of which involve a great deal of eating and drinking. Religious ceremonies and institutionalized social gatherings occupy a large fraction of the calendar

fasting, chanting rituals and performing ceremonies. In addition to also build lavishly grand sponsoring elaborate religious ceremonies, Manangis a monuments: wall around a monastery, prayer religious two-kilometer-long three fifteen-meter-tall Buddha statues, a gilded stupa in Lumbhini, and a sizable rest house in Bhodgya.

year, leaving only about half the annual cycle to go trade and earn enough to finance the elaborate gatherings. Annual events include four community-wide three daily chanting ceremonies at a monastery led by monks and nuns, a three-week-long fasting ritual, a two-week-long, community-wide gambling fes commit so tival, and five one-week-long family reunions. Why do theManangis

week-long

much

of their resources and time to these festivals? What is the significance of these religious and social events for theManangi community? Do they facili tate their trade? How and in what ways? The organization of these social and religious gatherings facilitates trade by providing opportunities for refinancing trade and entrepreneurial activities more equally. How is that done? The fundraising for these gatherings pools surpluses from trade, which come from different community members, together accord

ing to their wealth. And before the sums of money are spent on religious and social events, they are redistributed within the community in the form of invest ment loans. The accumulation and redistribution of trade surpluses on such a

religious and social responsibilities at home. For religious ceremonies, each married Manangi man must take turns to host the community-wide gatherings at a monastery. While the contribution of labor and time is required equally of every host, the contribution of money is voluntary. This augments the latter's social value, associated as it is with generosity, prestige and social status? qualities thatmust be recognized publicly. Because monetary contribution is not limited to the host, it is of high social value to other community members as well. In addition to the social values associated with the monetary contributions towards hosting religious ceremonies, the contribution of money has an equally material contribution important religious value. It is a form of merit-making?a

scale does not happen by itself. It requires organization and cooperation, which must be institutionalized, in order to motivate and enforce its practice. In the same way thatManangis have a sophisticated and intricate system of a rooming house, a selling space, or a system of passing on money and sharing gems abroad, they, likewise, have an equally sophisticated system of sharing

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338

PRISTA RATANAPRUCK

to support the Sangha. Not only does the material contribution have an imme diate direct religious value in itself, but merit-making in the form of monetary contributions can also be exchanged for other kinds of religious merits derived

from other forms of merit-making practices such as chanting and fasting. For example, even though participating in a religious ceremony by oneself is more virtuous, it can still be substituted through a financial contribution to support others' religious practice. When this religious idea of merit-making is combined with the prestige and social status associated with generosity, merit-making can assume the form of conspicuous consumption. The numerous orate. The

The gathering of families of twelve women who form a close circle of friends is often in the form of a trip to a resort hotel. While merit-making in the form of donations provides the funding for religious ceremonies, the funds for social

social gatherings in theManangi community are no less elab festival organized on a monastery ground is two-week-long gambling a large, lavish feast. At each of the four annual, one-week-long family-lineage reunions 300-400 people gather together in a comparatively festive atmosphere.

ests earned from guthi money?a lineage fund accumulated from every married man's contribution, according to his economic status. The married women's get together is financed by a similar process, but within a circle of friends, through the intermediary of women. At all these gatherings, each contribution to the funds is influenced by the idea of wealth, generosity, prestige, and social sta tus. The contribution amount reflects one's wealth and the level of generosity?

through several means. The village-wide gatherings are amassed gambling festival pools money to finance the festival by taxing 15% of an individual's gambling earnings. The village usually makes much profit, which goes into establishing a village fund. The family-lineage reunions are financed by inter

both of which affect a person's social status and his credibility. Hence, be it a religious or a social gathering, for the purpose of chanting, fasting, gambling or meeting relatives, all such events require the pooling of funds through various means, by the same set of ideas and social values. That is, one's status do not depend on the wealth one accumulates, but on and virtue, prestige one in this light, the institutionalized the wealth expends on others. Viewed endorsed

religious and social gatherings are an economic institution that pools together capital from wealthy community members to amass large funds, which is tan tamount to a form of taxation on trade surplus.

Although the accumulated trade surplus is collected to finance religious and social gatherings, it can still be redistributed as investment loans. This is possi ble because of the time lag between the collection and the expenditure of the fund. Before the fund is used for sponsoring religious ceremonies, religious

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MANANGI TRADE COMMUNITIES IN SOUTH AND SOUTHEAST ASIA monuments,

339

Manangi scales requires a sophisticated and thorough system of administration providing to the for the availability of loans in such a way that the loans are available most needy community members, loans back to the community. while still ensuring the repayment of the

family reunions and vacation trips, it can be circulated within the community. Such redistribution of various funds and on multiple

Internal Credit Rotation For most ment loans, credibility is an important criterion for ensuring loan repay and for disbursing them. How do Manangis verify one another's credibil

to get to know each other, to range of opportunities and contexts forManangis earn and to verify their credibility among different circles of community mem bers. Each social gathering brings Manangis together along different lines of social which and kinship relations, and along different levels of relatedness?all of add up to form a large span of kinship and social networks. Religious

for earning one's credibility requires time and opportunities contexts it involves for verification. The cross-checking, multiple diversity of are in events and the which and social ways religious organized provide a they ity? Because

ceremonies bring together the whole community and pool the largest funds. The the whole community according to the gambling festival compartmentalizes seven ancestral villages inManang Valley, with each village organizing its own festival with its own village fund. The four family reunions are organized along each person's four grandparents' lineage, providing access to four family funds available through four sets of kinship networks. The twelve women's gatherings add another social circle on the basis of friendship, allowing for the creation of social relations that do not require preexisting blood relations. At each of these events, social and economic status, credibility and trust can

monies

be earned and verified in various ways. Donation for sponsoring religious cere indicates one's social and economic status. Payment according to the amount pledged signifies one's credibility and trustworthiness. Appropriate con tributions to family funds and timely repayments of loans reflect one's levels of integrity and financial liquidity. Credibility, integrity, trustworthiness and relia

bility can also be earned through social exchanges of labor and time, in addi tion to earning them through monetary transactions. Being able to host religious and social gatherings well when one's turn is due?and being able to help out relatives when it is their turn?reflect one's trustworthiness, and credibility. Monetary religious gatherings provide multiple ways level of responsibility, reliability, and social exchanges at social and in which Manangis can cross-check

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340
one another's

PRISTA RATANAPRUCK

credibility, besides carrying gems and money for each other can between trading sites abroad. At each one of these gatherings, Manangis form a variety of social and kinship networks with different boundaries and levels of intimacy, earn trust and credibility among loans of various kinds. The themselves, and take out

ways sizes of loans and various borrowing conditions. Funds collected for organizing religious ceremonies, for example, can be given out as loans in their entirety, earning interest to be further contributed towards themerit-making ceremonies, and thusmust be repaid on time. The size of the loans generated from this fund is large and is used for large investment projects. The village fund generated largely from gambling festivals can also be given out as sizable loans. Interest from this loan is accumulated activities. as the village Such

purposes for which religious and social events are organized, and the in which the funds are managed and rotated as credit, generate different

fund, which sometimes is used for a fund is smaller than a religious village-wide merit-making its fund and the of timing temple expenditure is flexible; thus, it can absorb more risks and some delays in payments. The loans offered by family-lineage it funds are smaller and are provided by a circle of relatives, which makes easier and more effective to sanction default loans. The diversity of contexts in can meet and verify their credibility, and the diversity in the which Manangis size of loans, the ways in which religious and social events are organized, and the ways in which funds are managed, provide multiple borrowing options to members communities. of theManangi to funds generate organize religious and social events, Manangis By pooling a working capital that can be used as rotating credits for investments in entre

Manangis' preneurial activities, enabling new traders to establish themselves and the in this light, religious and kinship institutions trade network to expand. Viewed in theManangi community are financial institutions that are sanctioned by reli values and individuals are unlikely to default a gious kinship practice. When loan provided by a fund collected for religious ceremonies, and when they are

unlikely to cheat their kin, the accumulation and redistribution of surplus for further investments can function effectively. It is the embodiment of trust and economic cooperation in social the sustenance of the Manangi in the social, material, are ensured that trust and cooperation?which at trust institutions home?echo the and cooperation trade networks?both institutions that is the key to the formation and

and financial domains. And when

by religious and kinship abroad, it becomes even more binding.

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MANANGI TRADE COMMUNITIES IN SOUTH AND SOUTHEAST ASIA Nodes as Sites for Pooling Social, Material, and Financial Resources

341

The nodes where Manangis converge, both at home and abroad, at religious ceremonies, at social gatherings, at rooming houses, and at trading sites, may appear to be rather different in many ways. But in fact they were established

could offer this asset and enter into an exchange relation with local Manangis economies and societies. These social relations, ranging from business transac to reduce local tions to marriages with local women, have allowed Manangis

other. Such cooperation, which lowers their operating costs, requires trust. But trust and cooperation do not exist by themselves, in a vacuum. They must be created, enforced, sanctioned, and made verifiable by social institu tions. Being endowed with such a network of social and economic cooperation, each

material, according to the same principle: as sites for pooling resources?social, and financial. Abroad, the nodes pool together residential and commercial space to lower expenses. At a rooming house and on the road, they pool knowledge, and assistance?carrying information, companionship, money and goods for

protection costs and expand their trade networks locally. The pooling of and local communities abroad, through resources between trans-local Manangi trade competitive and makes and economic, social, Manangis' kinship ties, profitable. community is not limited to the pooling of Cooperation within theManangi resources abroad. At home, religious ceremonies and social gatherings serve as nodes that pool together social and financial resources. Being present in the same shared social economic space, such as at a rooming house abroad, Manangis information about trade, social information about individuals' share credi

bility, and emotional sentiments about distant family members. By pooling labor and time to organize religious ceremonies and social gatherings, Manangis pool abroad in order to redistribute them surplus accumulated together economic as loans. Such redistribution of economic surplus atmultiple scales allows Manangis, especially those with limited funding, to invest in trade. This leads to an expan

networks, are unlikely written documents. Yet

nomic cooperation is achieved and sustained because it is embedded in institu tionalized religious and kinship practices. Such institutionalized religious and kinship practices, albeit crucial to the creation and sustenance of the trade to be visible

sion of the trade network, which requires a larger scale and higher degree of social and economic cooperation which, if achieved, can facilitate long-distance trade even further. In theManangi community, this high level of trust and eco

in colonial sources, or to leave traces in it is precisely because the trade networks are embedded in these institutionalized social practices, that they remain resilient and can keep

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342

PRISTA RATANAPRUCK community connected and competitive through

a geographically dispersed Manangi out their trading history.

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MANANGI TRADE COMMUNITIES IN SOUTH AND SOUTHEAST ASIA

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Figure between

1: North-South Tibet and India.

river

in Nepal: natural valleys 1975: (Furer-Haimendorf ix)

trade

routes

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PRISTA RATANAPRUCK

life'"

Figure

2:

Shared

selling

space

in Kuala

Lumpur

rV

Figure

3: Rooming

house

in Kuala

Lumpur

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MANANGI TRADE COMMUNITIES IN SOUTH AND SOUTHEAST ASIA

345

Figure

4: Religious

ceremony

at home

in Kathmandu

Figure

5: Chanting

and

fasting

ritual

at a monastery

in Kathmandu

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346

PRISTA RATANAPRUCK

Figure

6: Gambling

festival

in Kathmandu

Figure

7:

Social

gathering

at a religious

ceremony

in Kathmandu

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