IN A NUMBER of important areas of Newar social life notions of complementarity and status parity are accorded almost as much weight as are those of hierarchy and inequality.' I here suggest that though the kind of hierarchy that defines relations between the major sub-divisions of Newar society may be described as of the 'pure' caste variety, that is to say, based on clearly articulated notions of inherited ontological differences in human worth, within such sub-divisions hierarchy approximates more closely to that found typically in kin-based societies, that is to say, based on notions of differential seniority, age and achievement. Hierarchy of this latter kind, which derives primarily from the world of kinship and descent, differs fundamentally from the 'pure' hierarchy of the caste variety. Whereas the hierarchy of castes may be accurately described as a highly institutionalized form of both ontological and social inequality, the kin-based variety also incorporates notions of social equivalence and common ontology.
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