Centre for the Study of Developing Societies Delhi

'Democracy ' is a familiar word to the majority of people in Nepal today. This word has been in use since last one century in the public lexicon in Nepal, although the usage gained greater currency following political change in 1951. The mass diffusion of the word through expanding networks of radio, television, print media, popular struggles, speeches of political leaders, books, school curriculum and other formal and informal communicative spaces has ensured that the sizeable majority of the Nepali people have heard, read, discussed, pondered and written about this word. A number of Nepali words are translatable equivalent of 'democracy', the most popular among them are 'prajatantra ' and 'loktantra', although other words such as 'janabaad ' and 'janatantra ' are also used. These later two words are used to denote, with some caveats such as 'new ' or 'people's, particular version of democracy that Communist Party began to promote in Nepal and they are translated with a caveat as 'people's democracy ' (Mikesell, 2004: 1). 1 The ideas of democracy contain in them, among other things, promises. This paper is an attempt to chronicle the promises of democracy in Nepal. The approach adopted is historical in that the promises are viewed in the context of a historical process of the emergence of the very concept of democracy in Nepal and its evolution in the last century. Democracy traveled to Nepal in specific time. It brought with it a variety of imaginations and it wa