Nepalese Nation, Nationalism and Identities in Patriotic Songs

The main purpose of this study is to investigate the different aspects of Nepalese patriotic songs. Here, lyrics of patriotic songs are reviewed and their contents are analyzed. This study is focused on how these patriotic songs assist to promote Nepalese nationalism, national beauties, national identities and national unity. It is the representative expression of all national songs and patriotic songs all over the country. Music in the form of the national songs and patriotic songs were and remain essential components of national identity and national unity. These songs are popular and accepted by Nepalese citizens as a part of their national identity and such affinities are supported by the songs’ repeated broadcast and consumption on Radio Nepal, various other Radios, Nepal Television, private television channels and social media platforms. It is found form the research that patriotic music provides a means for social cohesion, not via the propagation of dogmatic patriotic content, but through the personal and intimate associations that such songs solicit from individual citizens.


Introduction
According to Ronald Reagan, "A nation that cannot control its borders is not a nation" and a nationalist as someone who is proud of his country no matter what it does. There is the difference between a nationalist and a patriot is one of degree: someone whose love for their country is too extreme vs. someone who has an appropriate love of their country (as cited in Chester, 2006). While defining the nationalism and patriotism, Reagan argues that nationalism is very important identity of every people of that particular nation while patriotism means "devoted love, support, and defense of one's country; national The theory of ethno-symbolism propounded by Smith's (2002) recognizes, the importance of society, cultures, history and symbols in the formation of nations; and the role of the various arts, knowledge, language, painting, sculpture, music and literature, in giving concrete and recurrent embodiment to that particular cultures and particular symbols (Leousi, 2004). Smith assumes that national symbols derived from mythical ethno-history will be unifying not only in established nation-states, but also in new and fragile multicultural, multilingual and multi religious states. That feeling of belonging the idea of what nationhood represents has its roots to Durkheim's "collective conscience", and Marx's "class consciousness". In a sense it is the interplay between "collective conscience" and "class consciousness" in establishment of morality, consciousness, division, cohesion and shared feelings and values, economic relations, class interests to achieve common goal acting as a self-conscious social grouping associated with the nation and state.
In patriotic songs, the feelings of national symbols provide perhaps the strongest, clearest statement of national identity. In essence that they serve as modern totems -sings that bear a special relationship to the nations they represent, distinguishing them from one another and reaffirming their identity boundaries (Cerulo, 1993). In patriotic songs the artistic presentations of national symbols were projected a message; that is purposively, meticulously constructed, with history of the nation formation by its leaders of national governments consciously picking and choosing its elements. Usually, they have embraced and adopted national symbols using them to create bonds, motivate patriotic action, and honor the efforts of citizen and legitimate formal authority of state. According to Smith's (1998), national symbols mainly have a social, external functions; to unite individuals under the same flag, oath, anthem, and so on, both inducing a general feeling of belonging to a specific community and using forms which already existed in the nation. The transformation of symbols has a double impact on the individual's perception of the nation: firstly, accepts a conversion at the personal level recognizing that some symbols have acquired new symbolic functions; secondly, insists that particular symbols have a desirable effect on his social vision of the community. Cerulo (1993), presented the message of national symbol in two ways; one can examine the content of the symbol in one hand; such an approach represents a semantic analysis of a symbol and in another hand the configuration of the symbol. A semantic analysis isolates the symbols elements and focuses on the meaning of each of those elements, while another would have to study the design or configuration of a symbol. Scholes (1982) argued about the elements such as these, we are undertaking a syntactic analysis of symbols. A syntactic analysis examines the meaning conveyed by a symbol's structure -its design or configuration and the relation between its parts.
Mostly, both words patriotism and nationalism were once considered synonyms. However, they have taken on different connotations. While both are the feelings of love people feel for their country, the values upon which those feelings are based are very different. Feelings of patriotism are based on the positive values the country embraces such as freedom, justice, and equality. According to Ronald Regan, the patriot believes that both the system of government and the people of their country are inherently good and work together for a better quality of life (as cited in Chester, 2006) and nationalism is "the policy or doctrine of asserting the interests of one's own nation viewed as separate from the interests of other nations or the common interests of all nations." Patriotism generally has a positive connotation, while nationalism generally has a negative connotation. Ronald Reagan defined the patriotism as "Patriotism is used for various positive sentiments, attitudes, and actions involving loving one's country and serving the great good of all and its people, but nationalism is used for political ideologies and movements that a more extreme and exclusionary love of one's country at the expense of foreigners, immigrants, and even people in a country who aren't believed to belong in some way, often racial, geographical and religious grounds" ( as cited in Chester, 2006). Patriotic song is one which inspires feelings of pride in one's country. In Seeger's view (1987), the way in which music performance is a part of the construction of social process and experience is often not fully realized, neither in the anthropology of music. In this context, Seeger (1987) is also contrasting his own work to the anthropology of music as; "Anthropology of music looks at the way music is a part of culture and social life". According to Small (1987) "Music is not primarily a thing or a collection of things, but an activity in which we engage. One might say that it is not properly a noun at all, but a verb".
According to musicologist and theorist Carl Engel (1866), the people of a country created truly "national" songs, or songs that reflected the character of a country and its people, "in… moment(s) of extraordinary emotion" not "infrequently connected with remarkable national events, by which they were called forth.
Music is another sector to introduce the image of nation and music, along with its associated icons and modes of dissemination such as singer, lyrists, musician, artists, bands, performance spaces, and broadcast technologies -can be instrumentalized by authoritative structures or agents to promote a particular understanding or ideology of national identity. Conversely, music is also a cultural product that is consumed by the particular cultural group and is distributed for such consumption via technologies of reproduction and distribution for a monetized and/or nationalized public sphere. However, the experience of listening to music can also be a personal but, it may resonate with different emotional and sentimental meanings amongst individual or collective groups of listeners. It is to study the patriotic music that has been received over time by Nepalese people who are listeners of music. Further, we want to determine the current impact of patriotic songs and such patriotic songs in fostering a sense of national affinity.
Society is an immense body of diverse macro as well as micro but well-structured institutions and component that perpetually keep on interacting with each other. As we have social formations, associations and interactions, these have been run by internal forces of society and activities of actors; those live in the Society. So, our creation, knowledge, capabilities for our livelihood and subsistence strategies are well known by our cultural association of particular people, in particular context by using indigenous knowledge. Among all these creations, lyrics of the music are particular one, through which we can predict our socio-cultural context and circumstance. Lyrics of music, as it is an artistic and figurative portrayal of society/culture, provide us with the vantage point from where we can dissect all the strata of the society and practices of culture. Therefore, a comprehensive and microscopic analysis of lyrics of music in the light of the social and cultural paradigm in which it is produced gives vent to the existing caste, class, gender, race, etc. relationship, interaction, contradiction, conflicts, harmony, which truly determines the fundamental character of a society or culture . The caste-based inequality, discrimination and oppression (i.e. somehow the myths or somehow realities too), posited in it are the major issues of the study of mythical structure or social structure in reality of the society on the basis of analysis of lyrics in Nepali music and its meanings, message and elaboration, etc. are analyzed through symbolic perspective (Dahal, 2020).
Nepal is a multi-religious, multi-ethnic and multi-cultural country where there is liberal market for musical development and very few resources have been invested by the government to canonize particular forms of music suitable that could serve as a platform for national integration, but the resources were used to allocate for such work during Panchyat period. Conversely, now it is excluded after the restoration of democracy. National and patriotic music are also known to acquire their aesthetic and sonic characters from the aesthetic and lyrical ways in which they narrate a nation's history (Bohlman, 2011). The intangible aspects of a nation -such as symbols, emotions, ethnicities -are thus represented with efficacy through national songs or music that expresses patriotic sentiments. This paper is based on the conceptual frame work that makes and maintains the feeling of nationalism while artists, lyricists, singers and composers laden it with patriotic feelings. In another metaphor, we can say in paraphrase that nationalism symbolizes the body while patriotism makes that body living (alive) or in another way, patriotism is a life of nationalism, without it nationalism is incomplete. That's why, this article visualizes the theories of nationalisms to the intimate sentiments and interactions that occur amongst Nepalese in their daily life experiences and associations with this patriotic popular music. Expanding on conceptual work on cosmopolitan intimacy in the process of nation-making through Stirr's (2017) Singing Across Divides can locate the importance of intimacy in bringing together disparate communities in Nepal through music, what are the implications for musical intimacies that can bridge ethnic, religious and social 'divides' in Nepal. Many literatures about the patriotic music also cannot directly explain how such music provides a means for intercultural, interregional and interethnic cohesion amongst diverse Nepalese people in terms of region, language, culture, caste, ethnicity and religion. Do they provide clear insights on how apparent divisions in Nepalese society might be addressed? This research suggests here that patriotic songs may provide the means for such cohesion, but not necessarily in the dogmatic or 'top-down' manner with which they are commonly associated. The aim of this research is to find out how these patriotic songs disseminate the feelings of nationalism for people of different caste ethnicity, class, occupations, religions, geography, and language community and so on.

Purposively four songs were selected-'Desh Le Ragat Magye', 'Yo Maan Ta Mero Nepali Ho', 'Nepali Hami Rahula Kaha Nepalai Narahe', and ' Bihana Uthne Bittikai Himal
Dekhna Paiyos' so as to compare the degree, aspiration, lyrics and overall theme of the patriotic songs. These songs are juxtaposed and critically analyzed through their content and context. By means of this analysis, we can understand the context of contemporary national spirit, feelings, and sentiments in socio-national settings through symbolic interpretation. Content analysis in lyricist survey is the methodology to generate the information about the patriotic songs, their content and context. The lyrists, music composer and singers as key informants were interviewed or discussed so as to generate information primarily. The Focus Group Discussions (FGD) was carried out in three representative valleys of mountain, mid-hill and terai ecological regions. Pokhara represented from mountain, Kathmandu from mid-hill and Chitwan from terai. The research was carried out in January to February, 2020 and the interview was carried out about their everyday experiences and preferences in listening to patriotic music. The informants were divided into four demographic groups in each location: Youths (ages 19 to 39); Business Owners or Entrepreneurs (no age barred); Professionals (no age barred); Arts Practitioners and Musicians (Table 1). Each group contains at least five member and not more than ten members in size.
The primary data were collected after the listening session. Four sample patriotic songs were tuned and the listeners tendered their opinion about the performance of songs with their votes. This research is limited for sample patriotic songs and will not be generalizable to others and cannot be signified for the particular all patriotic songs that are available in Nepal. There were four patriotic song samples played and each song was edited to short 30-second samples that featured key moments of a particular song, such as a chorus, refrain or opening verse and was played and all participants would have to indicate whether they recognized the song or they like the song. Then, the FGD members would mention keywords or explain any personal associations and experiences they might have with a particular song.  Lyrics of the sampled songs from Nepali version in Romanized form and their sense transcreated in English are presented as follows:

Presentation of the Patriotic Songs
Four patriotic songs were presented in roman and the translated versions are also presented. The lyrics of the presented four patriotic songs are as:

Sense Translated in English
If the nation asks for blood, sacrifice me

My mother doesn't cry, she is the daughter of Nepal
If the nation asks for blood………… The supporting baton of the old age [son], sacrificing in the yagya of nation The mountains are sparklingly clear, the chest and The sky are spread out while thoughts are vast

Discussion, Findings and Analysis
After analyzing the lyrics of those above mentioned widely celebrated Nepalese nationalistic songs, its findings and analysis are categorized in the sub titles so as to make the description easier Based on the findings from the content analysis of the sample patriotic songs, the national identity, nationalism and nations are found the prime emotional things for people of Nepal. Usually patriotic songs were sung in special occasions and national functions where more people gathered to share their feelings towards their motherland, their own national identity and nationalism. Here are various patriotic songs as sample presented here to show the situation of feelings of people on nationalism, nationhood and their own identity in society in which the feeling of nation and nationalism in various songs were discussed as;

Issues of Harmony, Cohesion and Unity
In all four patriotic songs, the issues related to harmony of people is given high priority because Nepal is a country of unity in diversity. Even though there are many diverse elements in the society and cultures in terms of caste, ethnicity, religion, geography and language, Nepalese society bears solidarity and tolerance. The songs importantly focus on the respects towards every diverse culture equally so as to maintain the social solidarity, harmony and cohesion among all diverse communities for the united Nepal. Songs can establish the issues of national feelings, patriotism in many aspects.
Similar patriotic songs are also sung in Nepal now-a-days and commonly known as rastriya geet or national song. Struggle, patriotic attempts and national songs all form part of a larger effort to forge national unity and to create a sense of national identity in relatively new state which are multi-ethnic, multi-religious, multi-lingual, multi-cultural etc. in which any government of Nepal from Panchyat to till now, set in motion an ideological campaign to promote national unity as the song of harmony and unity which glorify harmonious coexistence of the various caste, ethnic group, geography, culture, society, etc.
Tarai hamro sunakaa tukra, Himaal Hiraako Maato ra pani, Pahelo Dhaan Dharti ka chhorako Ae kaha bata, sansar herchhau samjhanai narahe, samjhanai narahe, samjhanai narahe "The diverse races, languages, faiths, and cultures are so extensive." It shows how flexible the Nepalese are. These lines also show the world that Nepal is a center of multi-ethnic tolerance and something of our participation in globalization and the unity in humanity. It shows the democratic way of thinking of the people and their belief on pluralism.

Expression of Natural Beauty and Pride in Patriotic Songs
Ecologically Nepal is very beautiful country and there are, basically, three ecological regions in Nepal namely Mountain, Hill and Terai. Except, physical, natural and ecological beauty our nation is full of cultural as well religious heritages which are world famous. All respondents, lyricist, composer and singers gave opinion that Nepal is great and it is full of beauty in terms of natural and cultural heritage. There are so may things that are unique in the world but found in Nepal.

Bihana Uthne Bitikai Himal Dekhna Paiyos Yi Haatale Sadhai Sadhai (NEPAL Lekhna Paiyos)2
If only I could see mountains early in the morning I wish these hands could write NEPAL for ever Here metaphor is also used to glorify the pride, natural beauty, cultural heritage, Nepalese civilization and Nepalese identity in those songs. The motherland is compared with the place greater than heaven and the pride of nation cannot be compared with anything else in this world.

Issues of Sacrifice and Bravery
Many pieces of lyrics are expressed in patriotic rather than political theme. The main messages of these songs are national unity and bravery of Nepali all over the world. Nationalism, now is defined in terms of nation as the site of peace and harmony out of the interior conflicts which raked the state for many years. And the It is evident that from past to the present Nepal was not, is not and will not be a colony of any empire and it is well mentioned in those songs. Moreover, those songs reflect how our ancestors fought against foreigners to save this nation and their dignity with courage and bravery. Nepalese were not, are and will not be greedy for any things in compensation with nation, national identity and soverginity. Our forefathers kept the national spirit alive and we still hold our heads high. The independence which our ancestors preserved before the might of the British Empire might be compromised by the selfishness and greed of the present ruling force. Though, at present, we talk about multiple nationalisms despite of varieties of nationalisms, we should preserve our nation with strong nationalistic feelings. These songs specifically glorify the history of brave forefathers, historical events and their heroism. I can't live a life of a frail guy even for a moment I'd rather have a heroic death and become a martyr We die a death of hero, she tolerates the bullets She won't ask for golden letter, she's the daughter of Nepal

Nepalese Nationhood and Emotions
The tendency towards nationalism was fostered by various technological, cultural, political, and economic advances. Improvement in communications extended the knowledge of people beyond their village or province. The spread of education in vernacular tongues to the lower-income groups gave them the feeling of participation in a common cultural heritage. All People provoke nationalist consciousness among all of diverse populations of caste, ethnicity, religion, gender and so on as the flower of the garden.

Malai Chaina Chahana Marera Swarga Ma Pugaun/2 Chha Kamana Yahi Mero Baru Ma Narka Mai Paru Jaha Puge Pani Tara Nepali Bhetna Paiyos Nepali Bhanna Paiyos
I have no desire to get to heaven after expiry No problem even if I get to the hell But I could remain Nepali wherever I reach to

Use of National Symbols on Songs;
The components of state engage in symbolic nation-building in order to foster a sense of national unity among all segments of the country's population; however, the flag, anthem, national symbols, national language, national culture and other emblems are often contested by various ethnic and political groups. National Anthem, National Flag and National Song are secular symbols of the nationhood. They represent the supreme collective expression of commitment and loyalty to the nation as well as patriotism for the country. Nepal is widely multi-diverse country in terms of language, culture, ecology, caste ethnicity etc. these symbols, further, play a pivotal role in integrating the varied cultures, traditions, languages, habits, etc., of its numerous citizens and uniting them under a common awning.
Patriotic songs are a hymn or song expressing patriotic sentiments or feelings. It is not a chronicle which defines the territory of the nation, despite, a few things such as-a National Flag, a National Song, a National Emblem and so on, are symbolic of our national honor and heritage….the patriotic songs are our patriotic salutation to our motherland, nestling between the Himalayas and the plain lands of Terai surrounding her…" In the course of studying national symbols, Karl W. Deutsch (1955) defined the national symbols as follows: 1. abstract symbols, such as words, ideas, slogans, works of literature, or songs; 2. pictorial symbols, such as flags, statues, relics, historic objects, buildings, animals, flowers, and the like; 3. personal symbols, such as heroes, kings, leaders, saints, prophets, or poets; 4. symbolic places, such as capital cities, historicists, national shrines, centers of pilgrimage, battlefields, tombs of martyrs, or places of scenic beauty or grandeur; 5. symbolic organizations or institutions, such as congresses, church synods, political parties, legislatures, law courts, universities, bureaucratic or military organizations, in so far as any of these acquire symbolic function in addition to their primary activities; 6. religious symbols -this is a category that cuts across the other five in many instances, but it is perhaps not exhausted by them. From all four sample lyrics of the patriotic songs and focused group discussions it is found that the most of the refrain of the songs describe the "homeland", even as a notion, even as a territory, and soverginity of the motherland-Nepal. After then, .the focus of the songs pays more attention on braveries our past ancestors to create the country with the help of Gorkhas associated with national unity, talk about the national pride of people about the country. Some of the focuses of the songs are found the national symbols, national pride, heritage, religious site for world Heritage of the country.
Mainly patriotism has emphasized numerous social contexts within which the dimensions of nationalism, as a discourse, is produced, reproduced and consumed and patriotism is an emotional way to express the understandings of nation's feelings with social groups in which all nationalisms and national discourses are complicated and fractured by a variety of other issues related to the identity and emotions. But the wholehearted feelings of belongingness, ownership, and feeling of "mine" that represent the nation without referring any clause and criteria play a vital role for enhancing or emerging common nationalism and patriotism as a whole. Nationalism, therefore, is akin to a secular religion, and patriotism is a feeling of nation, love of nation and belongingness of nation, which helps to provide a focus for individual and group identity.
The patriotic songs were especially created when ethnic, religious, geographic, and ecological and reservation issues are up thrust in the surface of multi-ethnic, multi-religious, multi-linguistic, multi-cultural country which is most important in the South-Asian and even in between Chinese and Indian boarder. This is more recently composed patriotic songs express the achievements Nepali should be proud on: the ecological and cultural heritage beauty, brave history, artistic and comprehensive complex culture, multi dimensional diversities with unity with unique civilization, vary climate in the world, highest peak in the world, world popular natural beauties, art, crafts of Araniko, ideals of Buddha, and open cultural Museum in the world etc.. This section will draw on FGD group members' responses to a few prominent patriotic songs that were played during the Listening Session. This researcher focused on the songs entitled 'Desh Le Ragat Magye', 'Yo Maan Ta Mero Nepali Ho', 'Nepali Hami Rahula Kaha Nepalai Narahe', and ' Bihana Uthne Bittikai Himal Dekhna Paiyos'. Upon viewing the FGDs, we observe that most of the members find that the lyrical content of the all patriotic songs emphasize the expression of loyalty in the nation-state.
It is found from the analysis of the presented lyrics of the patriotic songs that all caste, ethnicity, religious people, people living in all regions of the nations mostly like patriotic songs of different genera because these songs widely expresses the national identity in which they belongs to. It is found from the study that people first wants to know their own identity through the nation. During the course of study, despite wide and diverse diversity among people inside the country they never express such differentiation and discriminations in terms of national identity, nationalism and their motherland. All over the people of the country became proud on their past bravery history, independency, soverginity, harmony, social cohesion and cultural diversity and natural beauty of the country.
The aesthetics of the song immediately conjures a sentiment of patriotism, whether personalized or projected. However, the lyrical contents as well as the retrospective listening of the song as something antiquated and 'removed' from the present has the potential to solicit deeper reflection about the narratives of conflict, struggle and hardship that form a historical image of a nation.

Conclusion
It is found from the research that the messages that are shared to the people of the nation in patriotic songs are the byproducts of our feelings towards nation that are constructed by society and culture and life experiences of people. National identity, unity, harmony, co-operations, natural beauty, bravery, heroism, contribution for nation, national feelings regarding various emotional and sentimental feelings towards nation are highlighted by using patriotic and emotional lyrics. So, the study of lyrics of songs efficiently provide the clear cut understanding about society, culture, people's aspiration, feelings, sentiments, contribution, belongingness towards nation including the behaviors of citizens of particular nation in this world.
The study finds that patriotic songs are actually more popular and wide-reaching in appeal across different professions, ethnicities, religions and geographic locations of Nepal. Nepalese generally recognize, enjoy and appreciate patriotic music. This affinity with patriotic songs, however, the respondents were singing (and whistling) indicating not just their knowledge and fondness of the song, but also how these songs are a common ground for moments in which people felt an overwhelming sense of collective sentiments for their nation. These song-related experiences are not all necessarily positive or overtly nationalistic, which further suggests that such music provides a natural platform for social cohesion that crosses boundaries of ethnicity, religion, class and geographical locations. However, such songs do indeed clearly demarcate the intangibility of a shared national space through affective means formed through a history of musical circulation and mediation -via the institutions that promote nationalism such as public radio, television and mass media. Patriotic music thus provides a means for social cohesion, not via the propagation of dogmatic patriotic content, but through the personal and intimate associations that such songs solicit from individual citizens.