Book Reviews

Mahendra Lawoti, ed. 2007. Contentious Politics and Democratization in . New Delhi: Sage.

Scholars largely concur that the historical rise of modern democratic states and social movements was contemporaneous, but few have explored recent phases of democratization and social movements. Nepal’s political experience during the 1990s makes a compelling case to explore this issue. In Contentious Politics and Democratization in Nepal, Mahendra Lawoti addresses this theme: did social movements (or “contentious politics” as he prefers to call them) in the 1990s strengthen or weaken “democratization” in Nepal? The answer is divided into five sections: context and framework, the Maoist insurgency, identity politics, collective public protests, and contentious politics and democratization. A total of 13 articles authored by scholars working on such diverse fields as conflict management and social psychology are included in the five sections. Part I describes the overall framework of the book. Lawoti tells his readers that the book is informed by current theories of social movements which put factors such as organizations, framing, and political opportunities at the center of the analytical framework. While maintaining that contentious politics in Nepal has a long history, he situates political activism in the 1990s specifically in the “constitution-engineering process” during the drafting of the 1990. The argument is plain: as the Constitution of Nepal 1990 largely failed to include cultural aspirations of the people, culturally “marginal” and other ideological groups expressed their discontent through social movements. He argues that Caste-Hill Hindu Elite groups whose interests were represented by the , the United Left Front, and the Royal Palace succeeded in maintaining their cultural hegemony largely through their numerical strength in the constitution drafting committee and the outright manipulation of constitutional provisions. Lawoti presents contentious politics in the 1990s as reaction to the 1990 Constitution, undemocratic political culture during the period, and the centralization and executivization of power. The Maoist insurgency section includes four articles. Shisir Khanal raises a very important and interesting question on the emergence and

Studies in Nepali History and Society 12(2): 391-419 December 2007 © Mandala Book Point 392 Studies in Nepali History and Society 12(2), 2007 growth of the Maoist movement (MM): how and why did the MM begin in the mid-1990s? He criticizes social psychological perspectives, often endorsed by the media and intelligentsia alike, claiming that the rise of the MM cannot be understood as grievances and frustration generated by inequality and marginalization. He claims that in the mid-1990s (in fact, it appears that the Maoists had decided to go to war much earlier) Nepal was faring well economically and the people were being empowered. Why then the MM? He attributes the emergence and the “success” of the MM to Maoist leaders who were determined to push forward their revolutionary programs along with the political opportunities offered by the dwindling repressive capacity of the state and the divided elites. I wished Khanal had been consistent in his arguments. At times he resorts to the same social psychological processes which he discounts in his theoretical framework. In fact, social psychological factors, such as “grievances,” “alienation,” “felt needs,” and “frustration,” largely inform the book. Li Onesto nicely compliments Khanal’s arguments. She offers an insider’s view on how the Maoists doggedly pursued their goal from primitive fighting to the “threshold of power.” The blueprint for all this came from none other than Chairman Mao himself. Thus the making of the MM has to do with the heroic efforts of the Maoist fighters and the leadership. As the Maoists often repeat instinctively, she notes that the United States and India are two of the biggest obstacles to the Maoist revolutionary plan in Nepal. Onesto’s spirited discussion of the Maoist movement actually ends in a rather gloomy note: how to do “revolution in a globalized world?” Ivan Somlai offers a “stakeholder” analysis to understand the complexity of the Maoist insurgency and to formulate a negotiation strategy. He argues that in addition to the often-talked about parties in the conflict (i.e. the government and the Maoists), Nepal’s insurgency involves directly or indirectly a myriad of actors and social forces with their own peculiar interests. These forces include groups such as armed groups in the southern plains and civil society in urban centers. An effective negotiation process should take into account all of these forces even though the process might be cumbersome and time-consuming. Apparently, the article was prepared well before the April Movement in 2006. Although what shape the current peace process eventually will take is far from clear at this stage, there is good reason to believe that the pact between the Maoists and the political parties actually deviated from Somlai’s preferred model, which he terms a “trans-stakeholder approach,” Book Reviews 393 in several ways. It appears that he is pessimistic about the prospects of the current peace process. I only hope that he would be proved wrong. Mary Crawford, Michelle Kaufman, and Alka Gurung look at the often-neglected humane side of the conflict: violence against women and children. They present several cases in which children and women suffered systematic violence at the hands of security forces as well as the insurgents. Violent acts ranged from rape and abduction to the hampering of outreach work by national and international non-governmental organizations. Although the authors describe their cases vividly, at times it is hard to figure out how much the insurgency actually contributed to the ever gloomy situation. The authors probably overstate a few of their observations. The mushrooming of cabin restaurants in , for example, could well be the result of broader societal trends that preceded the insurgency. As the authors hint throughout the article, the political economy of violence against women and children in Nepal is a complex phenomenon that clearly goes far beyond the current insurgency. Part III of the book deals with “identity politics.” This section includes three articles, one on the Mongol National Organization (MNO) in eastern Nepal and two on Newar activism in Kathmandu. In one of the most informative chapters in the book, Susan Hangen directly addresses the question the editor of the book asks in the opening section regarding the relationship between democratization and contentious politics. She first notes that, in the context of Nepal, it is hard to maintain a strict boundary between social movement organizations and political parties. Although marginal ethnic political parties might give an impression that they hinder democratization by promoting parochial interests and identities, she found that the MNO actually contributed to the democratization of Nepali polity and society by empowering rural, uneducated masses in villages in east Nepal. While Bal Gopal Shrestha examines the rise of Newar nationalism in general, Keshav Lal Maharjan explores the rise of Theravadin Vihar Buddhism among Kathmandu Newars. It is noteworthy that Shrestha candidly describes how class, caste, gender, and political orientations have historically complicated Newar activism in Kathmandu. This type of admission and analysis is often missing in scholarly debates on identity movements in Nepal. Shrestha’s points could well be extended to the MNO and other groups, for example. Maharjan, on the other hand, chronicles how Theravada Buddhism came to fill the voids created by political exclusion and the ills of modernization. I have a few reservations with his argument however. That new religious-cultural movements can 394 Studies in Nepali History and Society 12(2), 2007 be explained as reflecting and reacting to the “material” reality should be taken cautiously. Such arguments often take this form: people turn to new cultural systems (or cultural politics) as strategies to solve their individual or group problems. If this were the case, hundreds of thousands of people would join Theravada Buddhism. This clearly is not the case. On top of this, I was not fully convinced that the data gathered by Maharjan in Nakadesh allow one to conclude the way he does. Part IV of the book takes readers to the streets. Genevieve Lakier examines the use of coercive protest tactics (e.g. road blockades, coercive strikes, sit-ins) by two groups: the Kamaiyas and the transportation syndicate, the Federation of Nepal Transport Entrepreneurs. The Kamaiyas succeeded in expanding their social and political rights. The transport syndicate, on the other hand, defended its traditional privileges against the potential entry of new transport entrepreneurs in the areas of their “control.” The government thus failed to implement its own liberal economic laws. Although coercive protest tactics at times might produce emancipatory results (such as the Kamaiya movement), Lakier takes them as examples of “illiberal democracy” because they interfere with fundamental liberal rights and the state’s monopoly on violence. Amanda Snellinger looks at the student movement in Nepal. Like Hangen, she begins with problematizing social movement theories developed in Western contexts. Indeed, Nepal’s student movement does not fit neatly with the theories developed in the context of “institutionalized” Western democracies. She argues that Nepal’s student movement fluctuates between norm and value-based politics depending on the macro-political environment. She points out that, despite cynicism among ordinary citizens, student movements have historically played important roles in Nepal’s political development. Snellinger further notes that the organizational set-up, lack of internal democracy, and the patron- clientele relationship with the parent parties are some of the factors which make it hard for student leaders to push forward their progressive agendas in the nation’s political priorities. The final section of the book includes two articles; one by Anne Rademacher and another by the editor of the book. Rademacher’s work stands out from the rest in that it moves away from the positivist research orientation that generally informs the book. She analyzes environmental discourse (rather than “framing”) in Kathmandu to understand how democracy is reflected and refracted in and through the discourse of environmentalism. Democracy here is a cultural lens through which people imagine their social world. Based on her fieldwork among Book Reviews 395 development professionals, NGO workers, and environmental activists, Rademacher shows that environmental workers often equated political practices in the 1990s to the ecological chaos in Kathmandu. Second, people came to view undemocratic political actions such as the state of emergency in 2001 as a semblance of “order” amidst democratic chaos in the 1990s. In his concluding essay, Lawoti argues that contentious politics in the 1990s have had mixed results. On the one hand, it expanded public participation, increased public awareness, opened up discursive space, and even ensured several concessions from the government. On the other hand, use of social movement tactics by privileged groups such as the transport syndicate and the [Maoist] challenge to electoral politics undermined democracy. At the heart of this dual impact of contentious politics on democratization is the deployment of “coercive” protest tactics in varying degrees by almost every protest group or organization. Clearly, social movement is a double-edged sword; it seems, however, that this is also an extremely complicated issue. The case of the Maoists is an explicit example. Lawoti tells us that by “mobilizing” the rural poor the Maoists contributed to democratization; at the same time, he argues that the Maoists undermined the democratic process by opposing electoral politics. Third, he devotes a section in his concluding essay to “factors leading to reliance on coercive methods.” These factors include “alienation” of the masses and unresponsiveness of the government. If these “factors” really led the people to coercive protest tactics, how can an ordinary citizen, a protest participant, and a social scientist understand coercive protests and their impacts? Although scholars generally agree that violent protests decreased progressively as “democratic” polity took root in the Western world, the debate on the relationship between coercive tactics and movement outcomes is far from over even in the context of Western democracies. Do we then need a new language other than the one offered by liberal political theory? Finally, Lawoti must be praised for the book. Individually, all articles have something interesting to say. Many articles are actually part of bigger research projects the authors have carried out in recent years. I presume that interested readers can easily access those projects if they so wish. Articles included in the book focus not just on elite discourses, but also on ordinary citizens in rural areas. The book is highly informative for those interested in Nepali politics in the post-1990 period. Chudamani Basnet University of Georgia at Athens 396 Studies in Nepali History and Society 12(2), 2007

Sanjeev Uprety. 2007. Ghanacakkar. Kathmandu: Nepa~laya Publication. Ghanacakkar is a fusion of multitudes of cakkars [problems]. Life is a labyrinth of a variety of cakkars. So life is a ghanacakkar. The ghanacakkar of life has four dimensions: political, psychological, existential, and material. (Ghanacakkar p. 144, reviewer’s translation)

Ghanacakkar, a Nepali novel by Sanjeev Uprety published recently, picks up the theme of an individual madness apparently triggered by a pervasive national madness. While the national madness is related to the decade-old violent conflict with the consequent political instability, and the eroding faith in the society, the individual madness is tied to one’s quest for meaning in a society which is itself unstable. This commentary reads Ghanacakkar on two levels: social and individual. At the social level, there is a (political) society stuck in a labyrinth of activities that do not seem to lead to a solid, uniform, meaningful whole. The political activities occurring do not relate to a definable rationale. Against this backdrop, we have an individual who is mixed up between his own incoherence of mind and that of the nation/society. This mix-up forms one of the cores of the novel.

The Individual The novel is about one individual. In technical terms, there is only one protagonist in the narrative (and the author does not want to introduce him by any proper name). The other characters come and go, contributing one or two things to the development of the story. The protagonist does not have a ‘material’ problem in an ordinary sense: he is not living in poverty, he does not have a failed relationship, he is not bothered much about his career, and he has no hard work to do for a living, so to say. This unproblematic social situation places the character in an advantaged position to get lost—intellectually (to use a plainer word in place of (‘spiritually’). When the novel begins, the character has an awakening about a potential madness that is growingly captivating him. He knows he has a quest but does not know what this may be or how he may pursue it. The character admits to himself that he has a problem—the typical way in which he is confused between fact and fiction—and is in a frenzied struggle to resolve it. This struggle makes up most of the plot of the novel. Book Reviews 397

Ghanacakkar is an extraordinary fusion of fact and fiction: readers are constantly challenged to question what they would traditionally take for granted as fact or fiction. The novel’s literary argument is that what happens in the theater of the mind is a happening, similar to any other happenings which we call facts. In other words, isn’t it a fact that certain imaginings took place in your mind? So isn’t that piece of imagination a fact? Readers familiar with wider literary genres would recall the novelistic technique called ‘stream of consciousness’ where events in the novel are things that take place in the minds of the characters. For instance, a character is reading a newspaper over a cup of coffee in a confused morning and is thinking about what she would do for the whole of the day. She goes to a number of places, encounters a number of people, does a series of strange things and, when she is back home (in the travels of her mind), she is just about to finish the coffee in her cup. All those events occurred but in her mind. Some Modernist writers in English, like James Joyce and Virginia Woolf, called such events a better portrayal of reality than just a description of things that the characters physically did, like in other event-packed novels. Ghanacakkar is a saga of the wanderings of a seeking mind which is arguably stuck in a ghanacakkar, the master impasse. Because the protagonist has a lot of similarities with the author himself one could argue that the novel has significant autobiographical elements. Just to note a couple of examples: The protagonist is a university teacher like the author himself, and there is a consistent pattern in which many real life characters working at the university appear in the novel with their real names subtly twisted but sufficiently giving an indication as to who the characters could be in real life. In addition, there are several activities that the protagonist performs in the novel which the author in his real life has done. In sum, at one level of discussion, the novel is not only inherently preoccupied but completely based on the ghanacakkar of an individual character, whose personal (primarily intellectual/spiritual) ramblings make up the novel.

The Social Level By thus questioning the taken-for-granted boundaries between fact and fiction, Ghanacakkar offers a way to look into the ‘realities’ of the times we now live in. It provides a chance to examine whether it is the country that has gone mad or the individuals who participate in the madness of 398 Studies in Nepali History and Society 12(2), 2007 time. The novel is a ‘spiritual’ autobiography of a character that is seemingly losing the balance of his mind. We, the poor readers, are condemned to trust the narrative of this very semi-lunatic. This technique adds to the flavor of the novel. Should we trust a mentally imbalanced narrator for the whole story of the novel? Though the novel makes no mention of it, one is tempted to think about the notion of madness discussed by French philosopher Michel Foucault.1 In Ghanacakkar the character, who is an otherwise promising university academic, does not find himself abiding by the “norms” that other people follow. Hence, the difference between people called ‘normal’ and ‘abnormal.’ To quote the over-quoted postmodern terminology, Uprety deconstructs this binary opposition between the normal and the abnormal in the novel, much like he deconstructs the binary of fact versus fiction. In one brilliant episode in the novel, a student demands a re-examination of his answer-sheets after he gets poor marks. But the university system allows only for a ‘re-totaling’ or recounting of the numbers awarded to the answers on the answer sheet. This student (Ranganath) is, like the protagonist himself, admitted to the mental ward of a hospital where the two see each other. Ranganath again demands that his answer sheets be re-examined or re-checked and asks if the protagonist (Ranganath’s teacher) could help him in this. The protagonist responds, “I am helpless, Ranganath. The doctors here are even refusing to re-examine me. They have already put me on the list of the mad. With the different set of (fixed) questions, they only try to re- total me” (pp. 182-183). This allegorical episode is a powerful satire against a society which is accustomed to interpreting individuals on the basis of a rigid set of rules: those whose characteristics do not fall within a set of predetermined categories are doomed to be labeled ‘abnormal’. Ghanacakkar is history. Its characters are real, even in the mundane sense of the word ‘real.’ The canvas (or theater) is the . Its time frame is the past few years. This is a documentation of facts about

1 See Michel Foucault. 1989. Madness and Civilization: A History of Insanity in the Age of Reason. London: Routledge. In this book, Foucault explores the dynamics of the origin and growth of the idea of insanity in the history of modern human civilization. Foucault argues that the knowledge of madness developed during the modern era as a regime of truth which helped a certain category of human beings to systematically dominate those who behaved rather differently. According to Foucault, the identification of madness as a social and medical problem is a reflection of the "age of reason” (modernity) which thrives on the politics of difference. Book Reviews 399 the oldest university of this country, the myth and reality about being an academic in our present day context. This is an autobiography of the most tumultuous time in Nepal’s history beginning with the royal massacre through subsequent political changes and instability. I would also like to argue that the novelist tends to intellectualize the notion of madness. There are undertones of a glorification of madness in the text. There is an intellectual defense of madness. The novel’s protagonist suggests that it is not only he who has gone mad, but that the times we live in that have gone mad. This intellectual treatment of the theme of madness could be very engaging for some readers while for others it could be the opposite. If the novelist was making an attempt to demystify things about ghanacakkar, the novel does not serve the purpose. The way the ghanacakkar mind of the character is hooked with the invisible (divine?) forces of this valley is simply intriguing. Its only defense could be an intellectual one. On different occasions in the novel, the academician writer’s persona is predominant over the novelist. But his brilliant insights into the mysteries behind things (the mystification of the otherwise commonplace life and its surroundings) make the novel an interesting reading experience. One could safely claim that this is a very new type of novel in the context of Nepali literature. All of us obviously have our own personal responses to the extraordinary time we have been undergoing in our nation’s recent history. Ghanacakkar is one such powerful response that many would love to read and relate to themselves.

The University: An Incomplete Mess Tribhuvan University, where some of the novel takes place, is a complete mess. Something like a mess could be an incomplete mess rather than a complete one. According to the novel, the primary disillusionment of the protagonist comes from the fact that he has sacks of answer-sheets to examine as part of his responsibility as a teacher at the university. When one has, say, three hundred answer-sheets to examine of a one hundred full marks paper—the duty thrust upon you without any choice—this is simply a ghanacakkar. The novel is not primarily focused on this exact theme but it suggests in a number of instances the fading glory of academic work associated with the university. There’s a senior professor (pp. 8-10) who is not happy with the younger generation which is not doing serious academic work. There are students challenging the professors over the quality of the 400 Studies in Nepali History and Society 12(2), 2007 examination. In this novel the university is fertile ground for the birth of ghanacakkar minds. Even if not every university mind in ghanacakkar would come up with a novel like this, the author conveys the declining sense of purpose and meaning behind academic work associated with the university due to failing systems (largely associated with the overarching political instability of the country) that can no longer uphold the dignity and value of academic pursuits. Even when Ghanacakkar is not about the university’s mess thematically, it definitely reflects the university situation as a rich predicament for cakkars like the ones dealt in the novel. A powerful instance of this is the student-character (Ranganath) who is admitted to a mental ward of the hospital, apparently as a result of his being unable to perform at the university as per his expectation.

In Sum, What is the Novel Like? This is an intellectual novel. The intellectual element is its strength. But when it comes to reading the political history of the nation, the novel is weak in its political analysis. It attempts to connect political anarchy with the anarchy of the protagonist’s mind but this part is relatively weak. The novel’s strength is its powerful depiction of the main character’s search for the meanings behind different ‘forces’ that exist in the Kathmandu valley. The most fascinating part for me was how the character believes in the possible ‘supernatural’ forces as the ropes that anchor his consciousness, his quest, and the connections between trivial activities in his life. The novel deals with the theme of madness with a high degree of luxury. The main character is into a philosophical adventure. However, the novel concludes without any ‘intellectual’ solutions to the cakkars the character has faced. The novel returns to the normalcy and mundane-ness of life as a solution and the ordinariness of family love as a last resort. In this sense, the concluding section of the novel is a disappointment to the readers. The novel is remarkable for the subtlety with which it examines events and people that tend to almost always pass unnoticed in our day to day lives. For instance, isn’t it fascinating to ponder how a shopkeeper selling wrist watches makes sense of his own real time? How does one whose duty it is to sell time machines look at time? Uprety demonstrates a wonderful capacity to observe and establish connections between the ordinary work of a watch shopkeeper and the philosophical concepts of time. Dilbarnath yogã, who comes to the Taudaha area annually for a Feri, Book Reviews 401 is another such insightful person. And, most importantly, the beliefs these ordinary people carry are extraordinary. The novel does not have a narrative flow that tells a nice, linear story. There is a risk that if a reader does not like the character of the protagonist, then s/he will not be impressed with the rest of the novel. But if the reader likes the way the character is stuck in ghanacakkar, then the novel begins to attract. This is the limitation of the work as a narrative. Bishnu Sapkota Tribhuvan University

D.R. Regmi. 2007. Ancient Nepal, Medieval Nepal (2 vols.), Modern Nepal. New Delhi: Rupa and Co. in association with Dilli Raman Regmi Memorial Library.

Dr. Dilli Raman Regmi is perhaps the lone historian of Nepal to write extensively in English and disseminate it inside and outside the country. In spite of being an economist by training and a politician by profession, Regmi chose history to be his main area of research and study, and produced seventeen volumes on the in the period of thirty-five years (1948-83). His writings covered the total history of Nepal from ancient period to modern times and did not even leave the technical areas such as painting, sculpture and coins. Recently, one researcher told me that he has discovered four more books by Regmi in Hindi on Nepali history, contemporary politics and language and literature. But I think these are the pamphlet-like thin books which cannot be compared with his thoroughly researched works in English. Regmi also has written a number of papers on Nepali history (the first article being published in 1942), but most of them are beyond the reach of readers till date. None of the books written by the Regmi are now available in the market and one has to visit some specific libraries to consult them. Under such a situation, the reprint of some of his big volumes is “good tidings of great joy” to the academicians of the country and abroad. Rupa and Co. has taken great interest in the history and . Some months back, it has published four classic volumes on Nepal by William Kirkpatrick (first published in 1811), Francis Himilton (1819), Daniel Wright (1877) and Perceval Landon (1928), and now it, in association with Dilli Raman Regmi Memorial Library, has come with a gift of four big volumes by Dr. Regmi containing nearly 3500 pages for the students, teachers, academicians, and general readers. 402 Studies in Nepali History and Society 12(2), 2007

Ancient Nepal Regmi’s first book on ancient Nepal appeared in 1952 under the title Ancient and Medieval Nepal. After eight years (1960) he produced a separate volume on Ancient Nepal, which was once again thoroughly revised and enlarged in 1969. In 1983, Regmi came with three volumes under the title Inscriptions of Ancient Nepal. The book under review is the reprint of the 1969 edition. Why Rupa and Co. did not choose the recent edition (1983) for publication is understandable, because the Inscriptions of Ancient Nepal is meant primarily for professional historians and researchers, whereas the 1969 edition is useful for all sections of readers. But the publisher has mentioned 1965 as the first publication year of the book, which is not correct. No book on ancient Nepal by Regmi was published in 1965. Regmi admits the lack of sufficient epigraphic evidence to analyze different issues of ancient Nepal, and that is why he offers several working hypotheses to the scholars for further study and research. He divided the history of ancient Nepal into three parts—legendary (Gopalas and Mahisapalas), Kirats and Licchavis. Even in the period, he considers its history from the middle of fifth century as historical. He considers Nepal’s pre-history “a matter of convenient guess” (p. 37). The political boundary of Nepal during the ancient period is a subject of controversy till date. Some historians consider the boundary of ancient Nepal as big as the present boundary. But Regmi rejects this view and writes “In ancient times, the word ‘Nepal’ meant only the valley of Kathmandu and the state which came into existence under the same name could just include areas measuring hardly a hundred miles on both sides” (p. 34). But he has words of praise for the civilization of ancient Nepal. He aptly writes “The Nepal Valley measured the most advanced civilization in the whole of the Himalayan region…. It is because of this civilization that Nepal has a name in history” (p. 13). Without citing any evidence, Regmi considers Patan to be the capital of ancient Nepal. He writes, “Bhatgaon as a city was probably founded in the late 13th century…Kathmandu appears to have enjoyed the status of the second city of the realm from the very beginning” (p. 11). Some scholars have tried to bring the political status of ancient Nepal under controversy by considering it as under the suzerainty of India. Regmi refutes this idea and says that the discovery of some Kushan coins cannot “establish the fact of Kushan hegemony over Nepal” (p. 70) and the mere fact of “three pillars in the western Nepal of the modern period Book Reviews 403 does not indicate that the country was under the suzerainty of Ashoka” (p. 60). He argues how Manadev secured his country’s independence by striking his own coins (p. 72). But at the same time, Regmi accepts the impact of Indian culture on art, literature, language, sculpture, philosophy and even “political ideas” of ancient Nepal. He has cited several sources to prove his statement. Regmi considers inscriptions, chronicles, coins and foreigners’ accounts as main source of ancient history of Nepal (pp. 4-47), but he has critically analyzed their utility and drawbacks as sources of history. He considers inscriptions to be the most important source, but not to forget, the inscriptions do not speak anything negative about the rulers. Of the two eras mentioned in the Licchavi inscriptions, Regmi considers the first one as Saka Sambat which is still the opinion of the majority of historians. On the second, he makes a review of three propositions viz. Harsha era, Tibetan era and Amsuvarma era. This part of history is still a subject of debate among scholars. Coming to the political history of the Nepal during the Licchavi period, Regmi describes Amsurvarma as “most prominent ruler of early Nepal and [sic] greatest personality in the Licchavi period” (p. 164) and he identifies him as either the nephew or son-in-law of Shivadev I, solely on the basis of chronicles (p.161). He quotes one Chinese source to say that “Udayadeva was killed by his brother (Dhruvadeva) and Narendradeva (his son) then had escaped to Tibet” (p. 18). He says that Narendradeva showed prowess and was courgeous, adventurous, and fearless. His reign was free from internal disturbances (p. 196). Regmi calls Jayadeva II a man of courage with wide fame, but does not accept his sovereignty over Kamarupa, Kanchi and Saurastra, only on the basis of the court poet’s description (p. 200). About Aramudi, Regmi calls him a local ruler of Gandak region belonging to Magar race and asks for further research on the topic (p. 214). About , he calls her a daughter of some local chieftain either of eastern Nepal or that of present day Palpa (pp. 216-17) and concludes that the “Bhrikuti story is not a part of Nepal’s history” (pp. 351-52). Similarly, Regmi has convincingly argued that Nepal was never under the suzerainty of Tibet. In the last chapter of the book, running more than 120 pages (pp. 223- 345), Regmi describes the administrative system, society, economy and art and architecture of ancient Nepal based on inscriptions, chronicles and some external sources. Some of his conclusions in this connection are:- (a) Nepal maintained her monopoly over transit trade between India and Tibet and also the trade passing between Nepal and Tibet (p. 261). 404 Studies in Nepali History and Society 12(2), 2007

(b) Castes in Nepal are as ancient as its history. Its inscriptions and foreign source materials have testified to the existence of castes in Nepal as early as the 5th century AD and even earlier (p. 271). (c) Pagoda style originated in Nepal and from here it travelled to China and other countries (p. 300). It was during the seventh century that the entry was made by this style into Tibet mainly through Nepali efforts.

On the whole Regmi’s Ancient Nepal (the 1969 edition) is a rare piece of research work. On the basis of available original and secondary sources, the author has presented a definite picture of ancient Nepal with suggestions for further study and research, and with working hypotheses for the same.

Medieval Nepal Dr. Regmi first wrote on medieval Nepal in 1952, as a part of his book, Ancient and Medieval Nepal, but his account of medieval period is very short covering only fifty pages. However, in 1965-66, he came out with four big volumes on medieval Nepal, containing more than 2500 pages. The first volume gives the history of early medieval period from the introduction of Nepal Sambat to the division of the Kathmandu Valley kingdoms. The second volume traces the separate history of Kantipur, Lalitpur and Bhaktapur for nearly three centuries and in the last two volumes, the author has produced source materials such as inscriptions, chronicles and thyasaphus, specially for professional scholars. Rupa and Co. has reprinted the first two volumes in the original form, but has added the source materials of the third volume as appendices in a divided form in both the volumes and the fourth volume is not reprinted at all. This has placed readers in great confusion. There is no publisher’s note to clarify the contents and Bishu Hari’s two-page introduction is merely an eulogy to the author, as it does not mention a single word about the book. Hence, it has become extremely necessary for Rupa and Co. to reprint the fourth volume immediately with a publisher’s note of clarification. It will complete the medieval Nepal series by Regmi and also clarify the confusion among the readers on the original contents. As the sub-title of the book suggests, the first volume of Medieval Nepal covers the period from 750 to 1530 A.D. This is slightly confusing. Regmi himself considers the start of early medieval history of Nepal from 879 i.e. the introduction of new era, Nepal Sambat and he has started his discussions with the same event. As to the year 1530, Yaksya Malla died in 1482 and his kingdom disintegrated in due course of time. But Regmi Book Reviews 405 has his own argument to end his first volume in 1530. He writes, “It seems that actually the kingdoms divided formally about 48 years after the death of Yaksya Malla in the time of his grandsons. This was so because as long as Yaksya Malla’s sons lived they held the throne under joint sovereignty” (p. 452). Regmi makes a bitter criticism of some Indian and Italian historians for their versions about the Tibetan hegemony in Nepal (pp. 65-68) and writes, “We have not the slightest doubt about Nepal maintaining its independence all through the centuries while Tibet had become an imperial power” (p. 64). The author has mentioned in detail Samsuddin’s invasion of Nepal (1349 A.D.), including the routes he took to reach the Kathmandu Valley and pointed out the mistakes committed by Petech and Jayasawal on the event (pp. 312-20). He argues that Jayasawal made a mistake and Petech followed him without verifying the original inscription (p. 319). Regmi’s analysis of events prior to the rise of Jayasthiti Malla is confusing and there are some errors too. But he has presented an analytical picture of the time with whatever materials he had in his possession. About Jayasthiti Malla, he writes that the king “rightly deserves a place among the few greatest kings of Nepal” (p. 370), but he doubts the historicity of his reorganising the social system (p. 369). Writing on the conquests of Yaksya Malla, Regmi argues that the contemporary source of Yaksya Malla’s conquest “are more in the nature of an eulogy than presenting a statement of facts” (p. 446), but he accepts that Yaksya Malla “had curbed unruly feudatories and defiant tribes in his eastern and western sectors of the kingdom outside the Valley” (p. 446). A separate chapter on socio-economic conditions of the Kathmandu Valley during the early medieval period, covering 228 pages, may be considered as a significant contribution by Regmi. Emphases have been given on the administrative system, economy, religion and architecture. A separate section is given to the caste system with special reference to Jayasthiti Malla, but information about the guñhãs, an important aspect of medieval social system in Nepal, is very short, covering less than three pages. The last chapter of the book is devoted to the Khasa kingdom of Karnali region, based mainly on the source materials collected by Tucci and Narahari Nath. Regmi calls it an era of “tremendous prosperity both in cultural and material spheres,” and writes, “Although feudal in structure, the Khasa state maintained an expanding economy with extensive commercial contacts both internal and external” (p. 718). 406 Studies in Nepali History and Society 12(2), 2007

On the whole, Regmi concludes, “This was altogether a glorious age for Nepal. Except for the factor contributing to territorial dismemberment and series of foreign invasions that affected the events of the period, Nepal recorded prideful achievements in many a significant sphere, particularly in those of literature and arts” (p. 629). The message of Nepali culture to the next door neighbors, specially Tibet and China, is worth remembering. The second volume of Medieval Nepal is the biggest volume ever written by Dr. Regmi. It consists of 1076 pages, out of which political history of the three kingdoms – Kantipur, Lalitpur and Bhaktapur have been analyzed in about 350 pages, whereas the administrative system, socio-economic life and art and architecture have been discussed in more than 600 pages. Equally important are the appendices which give an account of Nepal by contemporary foreign travellers and also a detailed analysis of the Malla coins. One serious limitation of Regmi’s work on medieval Nepal is that the author is strictly limited to the three kingdoms of the Kathmandu Valley and he has largely neglected the Bàise and Caubise in Karnali and Gandaki region respectively. He has also neglected the Sena kingdoms in eastern and western Nepal, though some reference may be found in the book on their relations with the Malla kingdoms of the Kathmandu Valley. Another point to note is that the author has taken the accounts of Kirkpatrick (1811) and Hamilton (1819) as primary sources to explain socio-economic life of later Malla period, with the assumption that the socio-economic scenario does not change so quickly. This may not be fully true, in view of the rise of the new royal dynasty and its conquest of the small principalities in the eastern and western Nepal. While analyzing the political history of early medieval period (in Vol. I), Regmi has adopted the style and format of Luciano Petech and that is to present the source materials (mostly inscriptions) in brief first and then to describe the events on the basis of those materials. But in the second volume, the author has slightly modified his style by generalizing the source materials to analysis the facts and events. He might have done so in view of the plethora of materials on later medieval period. Regmi has used the words Kantipur and Kathmandu, Bhaktapur and Bhatgaon, and Lalitpur and Patan simultaneously throughout the book for the Valley kingdoms. It may create confusion at least among the foreign readers. He should have adopted uniformity in naming the Valley states. In the history of Kantipur, special emphases have been given to Pratap Malla, followed by the age of regents and Chautarias and finally the Book Reviews 407 emergence of a new dynasty under Jagajjaya Malla. While analysing the history of Lalitpur, the rule of the feudatory chiefs, its conquest by the King of Kantipur, Siddinarshing’s declaration of an independent state and political feud after Yoganarendra Malla have been discussed. In the case of Bhaktapur, the achievements of the different kings have been discussed in a chronological order. Plenty of new materials have been discovered after the publication of Regmi’s books and so a reader should also consult the recent materials to get a correct picture of medieval period, specially the political history. For instance, Regmi has presented Bhaskar Malla and Mahendra Singh as two different rulers (p. 167), in fact, they are the same. Coming to the socio-economic conditions during the later medieval period, the author has given special emphases on the social life, covering more than 300 pages. Included in this section are domestic rites, society and family, caste and inheritance, food and drinks, dress and ornaments, world of superstitions and religious life. Along with that the administrative system, economic life, and art and architecture have also been duly analyzed on the basis of primary sources. One serious charge leveled against Regmi is that he ignored the contributions of local scholars to a maximum extent, and a number of inscriptions, already published by Samsodhan Mandal, have been referred to as unpublished. In fact, it is a general tendency among the Nepali writers of the 1950s and 60s to neglect the contributions of their counterparts by giving special emphases on the writing of foreign scholars, and in Regmi this tendency was at its height till the publication of volumes on medieval Nepal. But in his books published in 1975 and 1983, Regmi had slightly changed his attitude and began acknowledging the works of native writers too.

Modern Nepal Dr. Regmi had produced his first book on modern Nepal in 1961 under the title Modern Nepal: Rise and Growth in the Eighteenth Century. This 333-page book deals with the history of Nepal during the 18th century starting from the 1740s, along with a short background of Bàise, Caubise and the Sena kingdoms. In 1975 the author came out with an enlarged and revised edition of the book running through 608 pages, but a significant chapter of the previous edition dealing with administration, polity and economic condition has been omitted. Why Regmi did so, is not known. Possibly, he did not get sufficient materials for it and decided to make the new volume purely a political history of Nepal and its foreign relations. 408 Studies in Nepali History and Society 12(2), 2007

Simultaneously, Regmi produced the second volume of modern Nepal, under the title, Modern Nepal: Expansion, climax and fall dealing with the first fifteen years of the nineteenth century, starting from Rana Bahadur’s flight to Banaras in 1800 and ending with the beginning of Anglo-Nepal war in 1814. Rupa and Co. reprinted both the books in a single volume. Divided in sixteen chapters, the first volume of Modern Nepal gives a detailed account of the military campaigns of , Rajendra Laxmi and Bahadur Shah along with a brief background information on Bàise, Caubise, Sena kingdoms and the Gorkha state. Nepal’s relations with her northern (Tibet) and southern (British India) neighbours during the second half of 18th century have also been analyzed and the book ends with Rana Bahadur’s abdication of throne and his flight to Banaras in 1800. Prithvi Narayan’s military campaigns have been analysed on the basis of Babu Ram Acharya’s book, though his name does not appear in the bibliography, and for the regency period of Rajendra Laxmi and Bahadur Shah, several documents published by Samsodhan Mandal have been utilized. Regmi is correct to say that the victories of Prithvi Narayan was “not the success of one man alone” (p. 270). Credit should be given to his sincere brothers, able generals and far-sighted diplomats. The author considers Rajendra Laxmi and Bahadur Shah as of different temperaments. Both were equally ambitious and so their unity did not last long (p. 289). Regmi has discussed in detail the clash between the two, with plots and counterplots by their supporters and opponents, but has slightly neglected to analyze the military campaign of Rajendra Laxmi. Not to forget, the conquest of powerful Caubise states viz. Kaski, Lamjung and Tanahu by the regent made it easier for Bahadur Shah to make further territorial expansion. Nepal’s expansion in the west, including Kumaun and Garhwal, has been discussed at length and Regmi describes Bahadur Shah as a man who “with all his statesmanship and administrative ability steer clear of difficulties and stresses of circumstances” (p. 565). However, the author considers the dismissal of such an able statesman as a “natural sequel.” He writes, “No ruler tolerates a regent in his manhood and least of all one, like Rana Bahadur who was aspiring to enjoy an absolute and autocratic regime” (p. 566). The objectives, activities and failure of two British missions (Kirkpatrick and Abdul Kadir) have been discussed mainly on the basis of Indian archival documents and Calendar of Persian Correspondence and Nepal’s war with Tibet have also been analyzed in a chapter of nearly 100 pages. However, the title of the chapter, “The First Gorkha Tibet War,” is Book Reviews 409 not correct because Nepal had fought two wars with Tibet in 1788 and 1791 respectively, the second war being converted into the Nepal-China war. In this connection, the author has published the original text of Nepal-Tibet Treaty 1775, signed by the Nepali king and the Dalai Lama (pp. 511-12). The treaty is in Newari and different scholars have given their own arguments as to why such an official treaty was prepared and signed in the Newari Language. The second volume of Modern Nepal is more or less a history of Nepal’s relations with the British during the first fifteen years of the nineteenth century (1800-1814). Divided in eight chapters, the first four chapters deal with the Knox Mission – from genesis to failure whereas the last four chapters analyse Nepal’s expansion of territory and her clash with the Sikhs and the British, which ultimately led to a war with the British in 1814. On the political history, the fifteen-year period witnessed the tragic end of some big personalities such as Kiritiman Singh, Damodar Pande, Rana Bahadur Shah, Prithvipal Sen and Rajrajeswori and the emergence of as the defacto ruler, who completely dominated the political scene for more than three decades. The sub-title of the volume – Expansion: Climax and Fall – seems not to be justified. Regmi discusses the climax of Nepal’s territorial expansion (up to Satlaj) but not its fall. He should have discussed Nepal’s defeat in the war and the (1816) which halted Nepal’s militancy campaign forever and through which it ceded a third of its territory to the British. The chapter scheme in the book does not seem to be satisfactory. In the chapter titled “British Mission Returns,” Rana Bahadur’s return to Nepal and the killing of Damodar Pande have been discussed in detail, whereas in the next chapter titled “Rana Bahadur Returns to Nepal,” the assassination of Rana Bahadur and the emergence of Bhimsen Thapa have been analyzed at length. Despite these minor drawbacks, the volume gives much new information on Nepal’s history during the crucial period on the eve of Anglo-Nepal war. The author has extensively used Indian archival documents and also a few Nepali sources to analyze the different issues. As such, the volume is most useful for further research. Epilogue Rupa and Co. and Dilli Raman Regmi Memorial Library must be congratulated for the reprint of the monumental volumes of Dr. D.R. Regmi on the history of Nepal. This 4-volume set almost covers the historical survey (from ancient period to the beginning of Anglo-Nepal 410 Studies in Nepali History and Society 12(2), 2007

War 1814) made by Regmi as a historian and a professional scholar. The only exception, perhaps is the Inscriptions of Ancient Nepal (1983) which reflect the latest viewpoint of Regmi on ancient Nepal. But this 3-volume work has been designed in the form of original inscriptions, their English translation and a commentary on them is more useful for professional scholars than general readers. Research on any subject is a continuous process. With the discovery of new materials or development in research methodology, certain facts or figures and comments or analyses may have to be revised or modified or even changed. There are certain points in Regmi’s works which need to be revised thoroughly or partially (in view of the exploration of new materials). But they do not decrease the quality or standard of the work in any way. In fact, the colours of Regmi’s books today are as fresh as when they were painted. Tri Ratna Manandhar Tribhuvan University

Martino Nicoletti. 2006. The Ancestral Forest: Memory, Space and Ritual Among the Kulunge Rai of Eastern Nepal. Kathmandu: Vajra Publications & Ev-K2-CNR Publications.

This interesting if unusual book by Martino Nicoletti – his third single- authored title in English – is an ‘abridgement and adaptation’ of his doctoral dissertation submitted to the University of Siena in Italy in 1997. The topic of his research project, and also of this book, is the religious life of the Kulunge Rài people of Solukhumbu in eastern Nepal, focussing particularly on the forest world and the ‘cynegetic ritual complex’ which they still practice. For those readers whose knowledge of ‘cynegetic ritual complexes’ is a little rusty, as I confess that mine is, a web search informs me that cynegetics is both ‘the art of hunting with dogs’ and ‘relating to the chase.’ This esoteric goal captures the essence of this eclectic book: Nicoletti is as much poet as anthropologist, in both writing style and content. Yet paradox reigns and marks the rule, since this derelict and soon to be forgotten forest still spreads its wild aroma within the village and there – right there – deposits is fecund pollen, just as it did in the past (p. 18). I cite this example of Nicoletti’s symbolic brocade to illustrate the point that this is emotional, figurative ethnography, at times even romantic, in Book Reviews 411 which the medium becomes the message. While it can be difficult to be dispassionately functional about shamanism, monkey spirits and clan mythologies, the injection of a little rationalism might help readers of The Ancestral Forest make sense of loquacity such as: “With the blows of the axe, a new form of civilisation opens a breach among the thick foliage of the ancient forest” (p.15). In the anthropologist’s defence, however, since Nicoletti has set out to test an intangible hypothesis (as detailed below), his methodological arsenal needs to be equally conceptual. Part of the challenge may be the process of translation—not that the translation reads poorly, it is in fact very good—but that discourse strategies common to Italian appear flowery and obtuse when translated into English. For example, the hypothesis which the author aims to test is that: …in the Kulunge Rài mind, the forest, on the one hand, par excellence represents the dwelling of uncontrolled, antisocial and chaotic forces, on the other, it is interpreted as the active reservoir of infinite potential, capable of interacting positively with the social and organised world of which, at first sight, it would appear to be the antithesis (p. 17). If one can make it past the verbiage, Nicoletti is making an interesting point, but his choice of language and tone remain an impediment to understanding. The monograph is divided into six chapters book-ended by a short introduction and conclusion. Starting with cults of domestic deities, the text deals with Kulunge rituals that accompany the souls of the dead and village farming cults before analysing hunting cults and the secret paths taken by Kulunge Rài shamans. The first chapter locates the Kulung Rài in the greater cultural complex of Kiranti groups and provides a brief historical overview of their interactions with the Nepali state. Chapter two is a heavily referenced and footnoted explication of Kulung cosmology and mythology, from the primaeval waters through to the present. This is a strong section, carefully researched and dexterous in its comparative reach, adding another important thread to our knowledge of the complex origin narratives of Kiranti peoples. Having elicited such narratives from the Thangmi community, I am aware of the difficulties involved in collecting and ‘verifying’ such tales, and Nicoletti has done a fine job. In his third chapter, on the structure, functions and symbolic organisation of Kulunge dwellings, the author contends that the ‘dwelling’ provides us the “right angle to decipher the whole meaning of 412 Studies in Nepali History and Society 12(2), 2007

Kulunge cultural life and, above all, to understand its specific implications of a religious and symbolic nature” (p. 81). This is in large part because in the Kulunge world, the dualism between ‘human’ and ‘non-human’ is configured as the opposition between domestic space and the surrounding woods. The village and its dwellings thus index human space which exists and is “founded and governed by laws promulgated exclusively by man” (p. 83). When reading The Ancestral Forest, it helps to have a dictionary at one’s side. At times, however, even the most comprehensive dictionary fails us, as in my search for what an ‘ophidiomorphic’-ancestor-spirit might be, a term used in the title of Chapter four. Google offers only four hits, three of which link back to this book, and the complete Oxford English Dictionary is equally ignorant of the word. From context, the reader can deduce that it relates to serpents and snakes, but this level of obfuscation is as unnecessary as it is frustrating. Nicoletti’s use of such terminology is a reminder of the elite nature of much modern ethnographic production, accessible to only the most exclusive and classically-educated academic consumers, and remaining largely inaccessible to a non-specialist readership. For the initiated, however, this intriguing and substantial chapter deals with the anatomy and physiology of the Dedam Mayam ceremony (honouring the clan’s founding father- deities), arguably the most important ritual “among the periodic cultural activities occurring in the midst of Kulunge domestic realities” (p. 105). The following chapter addresses the Kulunge symbolic organisation of death and its rich classificatory taxonomy which divides death into three basic kinds, and the nature of monkey-ancestor-spirits. The sixth and final chapter takes the reader deep into the jungle world, in the shadow of the forest, the realm of Kulung hunting, rites and shamanism. Having “lost its function as a means of subsistence, hunting survives exclusively within the ritual dimension,” we learn on page 198. For readers who may have hurried through the introduction, this declaration might come somewhat as a shock. The Kulung no longer hunt, yet this is in many ways a book about hunting. According to Nicoletti, the “shift from an economy based on hunting to one founded on agriculture and stock raising has transformed the methods, but not the purpose of religious activity” (p.16), but no historical anthropological or archaeological evidence is provided to underpin or date this assertion. Hunting, in other words, has become a metaphor with which the Kulunge Rài think, remember and organise their cultural world, with the forest continuing to exercise considerable control over the formation and practice of rituals. Book Reviews 413

The four-page conclusion marks the end of this narrative and ritual journey through the oral memory and sacred territory of this Himalayan community, and also through the impressive vocabulary of this Italian anthropologist. In conclusion, Nicoletti reminds us that it is the forest that “founds civilisation and keeps it alive,” and that without recognising this “tacit alliance between the two worlds, no survival appears possible” (p. 233). Nicoletti’s perspective on Kulunge ritual builds upon earlier studies by Nick Allen (on Thulung), Martin Gaenszle (on Mewahang), Charlotte Hardman (on Lohorung) and Philippe Sagant (on Limbu). With the addition of Nicoletti’s writings in English, the Rài-Kirƒti cultures of eastern Nepal can no longer be said to be under-documented, given this wealth of comparative data that is now in the public domain. I have only two substantive criticisms of this otherwise significant ethnographic contribution to the cultural documentation of the eastern . First, Nicoletti’s narrative can be termed neither holistic nor modern, but is rather an intense discussion of the ritual and symbolic world of this community. Ethnic claims and national politics are almost entirely absent, as are the most basic data that would help less expert readers get a handle on the salient cultural markers of the Kulunge Rài. As a case in point, Nicoletti’s footnote on page 19 informs the reader that “from a numeral point of view, the Kulunge Rài only represent an extremely marginal element within the ethnic mosaic of the Rài…who number slightly fewer than 636,000 persons,” but nowhere in his book could I find even a rough population estimate (according to the readily- accessible 2001 Census of Nepal, 18,686 people speak Kulunge as a mother tongue). It is unsatisfying to read a whole monograph and still not know the most basic of social facts about a people, particularly when primary data is not difficult to source. While Nicoletti is linguistically sophisticated, he is not always precise, leading to some inconsistent transcriptions and important typos, such as “‘Lr’ stands for the Nepali language”, on page 12, which is surely an error. Second, I remain troubled by idealised invocations of a perfectly sequestered autochthony found in the promotional text which accompanies the book on the publisher’s website: “Lost among the high hills of Eastern Nepal, which has meant centuries of cultural isolation, the Kulunge Rài ethnic group have tenaciously maintained their religious tradition ever since their ancient origins. Bearing witness to a far-off past of hunting and nomadic life, their myths and legends form a plot and scenario that comprise a multitude of invisible entities.” Lost to whom, 414 Studies in Nepali History and Society 12(2), 2007 one might ask? Certainly not to themselves, as I am confident that the Kulunge R ài have long known that they have existed, nor to anthropologists (Charles McDougal conducted intensive research on Kulunge kinship and marriage customs in the 1970s and published widely) or linguists (Gerard Tolsma wrote a grammar of the Kulung language, strangely not referenced in the bibliography). Romantic prose on primal absence may help sell books, but it does not withstand even the most cursory analysis, and misrepresents the complex patterns of contemporary livelihoods. I end with a few words about the publishers. Cinnabaris - Series of Oriental Studies was established in the summer 2006, as an initiative of Ev-K2-CNR Publications. Cinnabaris is a scientific collaboration between the Ev-K2-CNR Committee and the Italian Institute for Africa and Asia (IsIAO) in Rome. The objective of this new publishing initiative is to publicize studies and research in the fields of anthropology, ethnography, visual anthropology, archaeology, history of religions, philology and art history of Himalayan civilizations in central, southern and south-eastern Asia. Cinnabaris is published in English by Vajra Publications of Kathmandu. Martino Nicoletti is coordinator of the series on behalf of Ev-K2-CNR and directs the anthropological section. To date, three works have been published in the Cinnabaris series, two authored by Martino Nicoletti and a third by Gabriele Tautscher.

References McDougal, Charles. 1979. The Kulunge Rai: A Study in Kinship and Marriage Exchange. Bibliotheca Himalayica, Series 3, Vol. 14. Kathmandu: Ratna Pustak Bhandar. Tolsma, Gerard Jacobus. 2006. A Grammar of Kulung. Leiden: Brill Academic Publishers. Mark Turin Digital Himalaya Project

Kavita Rai. 2005. Dam Development: The Dynamics of Social Inequality in a Hydropower Project in Nepal. Gottingen: Cuvillier Verlag.

Many in Nepal consider water from Himalayan Rivers to be the primary resource with which to transform this country into a “nayà Nepal.” According to many developmental paradigms (conceived both locally and abroad), local and national development must go side by side in the Book Reviews 415 development process of a country. One common line of thinking during the past decade has been that local resources must be developed to benefit local people. Nepali society for the last decade, and even today, has been weighing the impacts of large projects verses the selection of small projects. A common argument is that smaller projects will bear more benefits to people at the local level. Smaller projects would mean that local people would be introduced to people-friendly development technologies which they could manage and adopt. Others argue that a natural resource such as water is a national resource, one that must benefit the nation as a whole. This argument then moves a step ahead to claim that the development of resources of national importance cannot be made by primarily considering the benefits to local communities. Development work must, of course, fit with the development aspirations of people. Nepal as a country is now at a stage where local people and communities are seeking more autonomy and more rights to determine development priorities. Understanding their view of “development” requires studying the technology at work and considering what impact that technological intervention has on them. Today the country is facing massive scarcities in all forms of energy (wood, cooking gas, petroleum products), including a severe shortage of electricity. This has resulted in eight hours of planned power outage everyday. This scarcity of electricity is expected to increase in the coming days and years. To meet the challenges of additional electricity generation, the nation is now calling upon private investors (both national and foreign) to infuse the required resources for the development of hydropower. The issues of local benefits and development can get more complicated when large scale private sector investment drives projects, in place of government funded developments. This book, while studying the Kali Gandaki ‘A’ Hydropower Project (the largest hydropower plant built in Nepal to date, and also the last hydropower plant completed by the state owned Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA)), pushes all of us to think through these developmental issues. The book is in fact the author’s dissertation for the degree of Doctor of Development Studies at Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-University of Bonn (Germany). The book is divided into six chapters and has five annexes. In the first chapter the author goes into the theory of development activities (dam building in this case) and a nation’s dreams based on such development. She further talks about social inequalities in Nepal and how the state has been selling developmental dreams to the people. This chapter also looks at the trade off between hydro-dollars, the 416 Studies in Nepali History and Society 12(2), 2007 state’s aspirations for earning foreign currency from exporting hydro energy, and the cost to local people and the environment. The second chapter goes into the theories of defining caste, ethnicity, gender, and inequalities in traditional Nepal. In the same chapter the author outlines her research methodology and data acquisition process. The third chapter, titled “Hydropower Development in Nepal: Managing Resources and Society,” provides background to hydropower development in Nepal, discussing projects such as Arun III and other large projects that the state has always sold to the public as dream projects. The author further discusses the communities in the project area as well as the background of the project under study. The fourth chapter deals with the legal issues of land acquisition and how the land was actually acquired. This chapter also discusses how local and political influences affected the process. In the fifth chapter, titled “Unintended Consequences of Dam Intervention: Reshaping Social Inequalities and Patronage Politics,” the author discusses the social impact brought about by the development project. The final chapter of the book looks at the policy lessons learnt from the Kali Gandaki ‘A’ Project with regards to social and political changes brought about by a capital intensive, high tech development scheme in a socially backward area. Chapters 4, 5, and 6 each have their own conclusion section. Although the book is quite well organized, a lay reader could easily tune out in the first two chapters as the author discusses theories relating to her research. The book got my full attention as I started reading the third chapter, when the author begins to describe the project and shares her experiences based on interactions with local communities, the government and NEA officials, and her observations of the interactions of the stakeholders amongst themselves. I easily related to the author’s experience and the responses she was getting from the stake holders. What is new is the author’s special attention to gender issues. This consideration is new for research in this area and should help project developers (myself included) pay attention to the impacts of development projects on women and children. The project’s field study provides clues to some developmental concerns. The study shows that the people affected by the project did actually benefit financially from its implementation. Although follow up studies will be required to conclude that people actually benefit in the long run, the short term financial impact on most of the affected communities is positive. The study also shows that social dependencies were influenced during and after this developmental intervention. An Book Reviews 417 interesting finding of this research is that class and caste hierarchies were, to a great extent, diluted by the development of the hydropower project. Development initiatives have for a long time attempted to get rid of traditional caste structures. There has been effort at the national level to empower the lower caste population so that they are not exploited by the upper caste population. In this case, Sarkis (shoe makers, traditionally untouchable) became better off due to opportunities for jobs and cash compensation. This resulted in declining numbers of Sarkis available for upper-caste people to employ as agricultural laborers under traditional payment systems, which forced the upper-caste land owners to renegotiate the terms and conditions for employing lower-caste people. This was, in fact, empowering for lower-caste people. This shows that providing economic opportunities can be an effective means of realigning caste and class relations in a very short time, and of empowering people that were here-to-fore powerless. Economic opportunities can and do trigger the kinds of social transformations sought by many in this country. This could be a strong message that the government should heed to while trying to deal with social and caste issues in the new Nepal. This research also clearly shows the necessity for some kind of education for the local population as part of the compensation program. There are examples of displaced people who received handsome compensation packages but did not know what to do with the compensation they received. A few years later these people were a lot worse off than they were before because not only had they lost their land, they had also not been educated enough to invest their compensation money wisely. The book is also about organizational commitment. Many hydropower projects fail to look at the key stake holders and identify their problems. The NEA itself has had troubles taking care of social- and community- level demands in its previous projects (such as Kulekhani or Lower Marsyangdi). But in the Kali Gandaki ‘A’ Project the donors made it clear that the local issues had to be addressed adequately. The NEA complied, local people were well compensated, and the end result was much more positive than in previous projects. Unfortunately the same experience could not be carried forward with ease in the next project that the NEA undertook. The Middle Marsyangdi Project today is still suffering and is witnessing massive cost over runs as well as time over runs, partially because the NEA could not replicate the methods used to mitigate the social and environmental issues at the Kali Gandaki ‘A’ Project. One 418 Studies in Nepali History and Society 12(2), 2007 wonders if this is due to a lack of institutional commitment from the executing agencies. Another insight this book provides is into the politics of patronage. In the preliminary stage of the project, local politicians are crucial for defining affected people and developing compensation packages for them. At this stage local people are not familiar with the contractors or the government agencies that are implementing the scheme. So politicians play a key role to get the project off to a start. Interestingly, the politicians’ impact on the project diminishes as the project progresses because the people providing employment or quantifying and providing compensation are different from the politicians. Therefore people stop relying as much on the politicians and start responding to project staff and contractors. Project developers need to pay attention to this kind of phenomenon if they are to be successful at initiating and completing projects. Economic independence has an impact on families as well. The author’s research shows that people do in fact become more individualistic and rely less on extended families with increasing personal cash incomes. This is yet another critical insight in what awaits a society that is looking for economic modernization. We need to be prepared for changes like these and accept them as natural phenomenon. It will be wise to venture into future economic development programs knowing that this is an inevitable outcome, rather than being caught off-guard when it actually occurs. The government, domestic investors, and international private parties are all major players in the field of hydropower in Nepal. There are now laws that make it easy for private investors to play a crucial role in the sector. In the next few years we may see more private sector than governmental involvement in this sector. In this context it will be wise to streamline local development practices when it comes to compensating and uplifting the local communities where hydropower projects will be developed. I have spent most of my professional life developing and studying hydropower. I found the parts of this book that dealt with field research and their outcomes extremely interesting. It reminded me of the challenges we faced while developing the Jhimruk Hydropower Plant in Pyuthan District and also my on-going day to day interactions with people from Mustang, Parbat, Ilam, Sindhupalchowk, etc. where we are trying to build hydropower projects of varying sizes. This book has a strong message for hydropower developers who are often reluctant to spend Book Reviews 419 money on social and environmental mitigation. More often than not, the cost of not doing so is much greater than what it would be if a fair compensation package was prepared at the very beginning and was followed in a transparent manner. Whether we like it or not, Nepal will continue to build bigger hydropower projects in the future. The Kali Gandaki ‘A’ Hydropower Project was a huge investment designed to bring in large benefits to the nation in terms of electricity. With the existing deficit in electricity in the country, one can be sure that bigger projects will be built in a few years time. This book should serve as a guide to parties that are relying on technological intervention to develop the country. Promoters need to be fair and remain committed to the project, the marginalized communities, and their aspirations for equitable development, if they are to be successful. The developers must internalize the changes that have taken place in the country along with the people’s changed aspirations for development. Donors need to also understand that their commitment is important to ensure that governmental agencies actually implement development work in a socially equitable manner. It is most important for our policy makers and politicians to understand that social development and empowerment can come about through fair economic development. Therefore the focus for empowering poor people should be the upgrading of local economies. Kumar Pandey Hydro Solutions, Kathmandu