Book Reviews

Yogesh Raj. 2010. History as Mindscapes: A Memory of the Peasant’s Movement of . : Martin Chautari.

This book, entitled History as Mindscapes: A Memory of the Peasant’s Movement of Nepal, focuses on the ‘reminiscence of a peasant leader’ from the Newar community in Bhaktapur. It was published at a time when no other publications have been initiated on similar themes with the exception of a small number of works. The book should, therefore, be regarded as the welcome beginning of a new trend in history writing in Nepal, supported by the theoretical foundations. Thanks to this innovative approach of presenting history in the form of experiences of an individual, the author Yogesh Raj deserves appreciation for creating it and Martin Chautari for publishing it. Nepali historians who prefer to select stereotypical themes and present them in a very traditional way should, at the very least, look at the style and the method that the author has applied to conceptualize the reminiscences of the peasant leader. The author further deserves special thanks for his love of history and skill in presenting the historical context of the peasant society and economy as well as his effort in highlighting the experiences of a peasant leader. The author’s knowledge and skill in historical writing is remarkable and much appreciated by this reader. There is ample ground to hope for more valuable contributions in historical writing from the author in the future. Individuals from the lower rungs of society have contributed significantly in Nepal’s historical process but they have not been not duly noticed by historians. However, a later generation of historians is now gradually turning to address this section of society’s role in making history. This is what is actually required for the study of Nepali society. In this context, focusing on the lowest rung of the society can yield a fruitful people’s history, which is no doubt the primary focus of ‘history- from-below.’ This includes the oppressed, the poor, the Subaltern and persons who are outside of hegemonic power structures as well as otherwise forgotten people. Yogesh Raj has applied a ‘revisionist approach’ in highlighting peasant’s history which is in direct opposition to the ‘great man’ theory of history. Historical revisionism is the reinterpretation of orthodox views on

Studies in Nepali History and Society 17(2): 373–398 December 2012 © Mandala Book Point 374 Studies in Nepali History and Society 17(2), 2012 evidence, motivations, and decision-making processes surrounding a historical event. Constant revision of history is part of the normal scholarly process of writing history. The author further argues that the driving factor of bottom line history is the daily life of ordinary people. It is hard to disagree with this point. The subject matter dealt with in this book is the reminiscences of Krishna Bhakta Caguthi (1928–2011), a peasant leader from Bhaktapur. His experience as the leader of peasant community provides the reader with a detailed account of various aspects of the lives of downtrodden peasantry, including agricultural economy, agrarian relations, agrarian social structure, the rights of involving parties and so on. It is a kind of oral history presented in the written format. Although the area of discussion is limited to inside the periphery of Bhaktapur town and based on the personal experience of the leader, the book more or less represents a snapshot of the entire agricultural scenario of the country of that period. This book also advances studies of the political economy of agriculture in Nepali society. Basically, this book is an attempt to re-construct agricultural history through a narrator’s reminiscences. From the author’s perspective there are various dimensions to peasants’ history, particularly their role in movements and in resistance. The most important factor of the peasant movement in the Nepali context is its political orientation, which cannot be overlooked in either mode of interpretation. The writing of peasants’ history in Nepal is still in a very preliminary stage, although more than six decades have already passed after the first organized peasant movement of Nepal. This was initiated by another leader, Padma Bahadur Budhathoki, from a village called Somlingtar in Bhaktapur district. He and Caguthi maintained good connections while they worked for the welfare of the peasantry. While it is true that a critical history of peasant activities in Nepal has still not been written, the personal narrative of a peasant leader as presented in this book can provide certain clues on how to write a history of peasantry in the national context. That is to say that it provides a basis for the historical analysis of peasant society and economy. This kind of oral narrative can provide historians with an opportunity to draw significant conclusions. In uncovering the bundle of the historical context of peasantry, both the author and Caguthi deserve appreciation from historians. Since Caguthi is an ordinary person, he could be seen as a ‘nobody.’ However, a person who is the source of a history of peasant activities cannot remain a ‘nobody’ but is, instead, a hero. I believe that Book Reviews 375 every person who recognizes the importance of history would agree on this point. My view is that historians should treat information from persons like Caguthi as exceptional source material and as the source of history. But unfortunately, in a country like Nepal, institutional support is still unavailable for such activities. Thus, it is the duty of lovers of history, like you and me, who have to take care of these things. If we talk about the structure of the book, it is divided into two chapters followed by appendices. The first chapter deals with certain conceptual descriptions as a background to what has been written in the following chapter. The second chapter is the body of the book. It is the compilation of the personal experiences of the leader during his long association with the peasantry as their trusted leader. This is, in fact, ‘history from below’ and the Subaltern mode of historiography. The experience shared by Caguthi is an example of ‘people’s history.’ This book represents all the forgotten people who have played their part in the historical process. It gives an interesting account of historical details of the peasant society from the perspective of the common people. The detailed narratives of personal experiences in the book are concerned with the conditions of the peasantry, various other social aspects, rights in land, agrarian relations, the role of intermediaries in the agricultural economy, the mode of production, peasant politics, insurgency, and changes brought about in land holding practices among many other topics. The book further discusses how peasants lived in such harsh conditions. The peasants of Nepal actually lived in bare subsistence conditions. Caguthi says, “Instead our daily food consisted of a pot full of boiling water with two handful of wheat flour, a pinch of salt and turmeric” (p. 38). The gentry also exploited the peasantry to fulfill their economic interests. The landowning community also adapted various modes of exploitation. In the agricultural sector, appropriation of exorbitant rates of rent had been a common practice. It would not be an exaggeration to say that Nepali peasants lived at the mercy of the gentry. Peasants had no courage to speak against prevailing malpractices. They endured harsh conditions until the Land Reforms Act was promulgated in 1964. The condition of peasantry that prevailed in Bhaktapur is the main point of discussion in the book. But one should know that it was also the general condition of Nepali peasantry elsewhere. The author has nicely conceptualized the context in the book, especially through extensive use of footnotes and cross-referencing to other written works and events that took place at the same time. 376 Studies in Nepali History and Society 17(2), 2012

The construction of history out of this sort of personal narrative is the task of historians, which demands certain scholarly efforts. The methodology of history recommends performing ‘internal criticism’ of all kinds of such personal statements and experiences that are to be used as the source of history because there always remains the possibility of deviation and distortion of facts in personal narratives. Since the book is simply the personal narrative of a peasant leader, the author did not look into passing the matter through a process of historical criticism. In spite of the author’s careful presentation, there are a few weaknesses such as providing irrelevant notes occasionally. But in general this book is worthy of reading and could also work as source book on several topics. Finally, those who are particularly interested in the history of Nepali peasantry and agriculture must read this book. I particularly recommend Nepali historians to go through it closely and experience another mode of history writing, different from what Nepali historians traditionally do. I believe that such a study could provide historians with interesting thematic clues and necessary methodological considerations when looking at historical problems while writing history. Finally, the book is very well written. The author demonstrates his scholarly ability while also conceptualizing the context in the start of the book. Yogesh Raj also demonstrates his skill in compiling personal memories of others into one source of history. Shanker Thapa Tribhuvan University

Ian Carlos Fitzpatrick. 2011. Cardamom and Class: A Limbu Village and its Extensions in East Nepal. Kathmandu: Vajra Publications.

Cardamom and Class: A Limbu Village and its Extentions in East Nepal is a full and informative study of the lives of a Limbu community in Nepal. What makes Ian Carlos Fitzpatrick’s approach unique is his use of data on the history and continuation of cardamom farming in this community as a unifying trope for exploring the Limbu culture, a method absent from more recent ethnographies of communities in Nepal. In so doing, Fitzpatrick is able to present the reader with more “traditional” cultural material, such as linguistic practices and kinship structures, as well as useful ecological and demographic data. He then uses this data to explore the appropriateness of the political economy approach and to Book Reviews 377 trace the formation of class in Mamangkhe village as it relates to the control, or lack thereof, of local means of production. One is immediately struck by the completeness and thoroughness with which Fitzpatrick collected data. The first three chapters verge on the encyclopedic and will surely be of use to other scholars interested in studying Limbu culture, rural farming techniques in Nepal, and the history of land ownership law and reform. In chapter one, Fitzpatrick explains the major theoretical premises of the work. He argues that the shifts in ownership and control of the means of production—in particular of subsistence farming, cardamom cultivation, and wage labor—have led to economic differentiation within Mamangkhe village eventually resulting in the formation of economic classes. The second chapter, which deals specifically with Nepali history as it relates to the community of study, provides an excellent overview of the effects of Kathmandu-based politics and land reform projects on Eastern Nepal. Fitzpatrick also does a praiseworthy job of making a very long period of history (from the 11th century to the present) understandable as a coherent whole. While Fitzpatrick does refer back to this history in the remainder of the work, the connections between current circumstances in Mamangkhe village and the longer history could be made even more explicit. For example, it would be interesting to know if the origin stories or the history of the conflict between and the early Limbuwan communities continue to be used in daily discourse as explanations of current conditions as can be observed in other communities. The third chapter presents statistical, survey, and demographic data for Mamangkhe. This chapter is particularly thorough and presents a lot of the quantitative data that Fitzpatrick later draws on to support his larger argument. Unfortunately, this is the only chapter which pays any attention to social divisions or groupings other than class. The diversity in age, gender, religious practices, caste, and education described here could have been re-incorporated more clearly into the life histories so that the dynamics of the community could be more easily understood by the reader. The remaining three chapters deal with Fitzpatrick’s qualitative data. Chapter four describes the history of cardamom farming in Mamangkhe. This chapter is particularly interesting given Fitzpatrick’s success in locating and interviewing the farmer who first brought cardamom to the village. In chapter five, Fitzpatrick discusses migration, mobility and emerging migration and settlement networks. This chapter highlights another one of the strengths of the work, namely, Fitzpatrick’s rethinking 378 Studies in Nepali History and Society 17(2), 2012 of the concepts of mobility and migration. By enlarging the idea of migration beyond long term, long distance movements, Fitzpatrick is able to include as field sites locations which are not the site of permanent migration, but which are still important to the individuals living in Mamangkhe. This helps him to represent more accurately, and more meaningfully, the social landscape of Mamangkhe residents. The expansion of this concept allows Fitzpatrick to seamlessly incorporate the dispersed village in Jhapa and workers who have migrated to the gulf countries into the social landscape of Mamangkhe. Doing so highlights the more recent intersections of class and place within this community and points to areas where future research will further enlighten the class formation processes at work here. Chapter six then moves on to a general overview of changes in land use and economics over time. It also contains four brief life histories, which add some ethnographic depth to the analysis. The book ends with a few brief remarks in the conclusion section. Overall, Fitzpatrick has done an excellent job of demonstrating exactly how the historical shifts in control of the modes of production have led to class differentiation. There are, however, a few points which could be strengthened in this work. While Fitzpatrick is very explicit about the aims of this book, and makes no claims to presenting a fully gender inclusive picture of Mamangkhe, there are points where further exploration of gendered experiences could have made significant contributions to his theoretical points. In particular, the exclusion of the practice of visiting màitãghar (a married woman’s natal home) in discussions of the importance of temporary, local mobility was surprising. Having not worked in a Limbu village, I must admit to the possibility that this practice does not exist in Mamangkhe, but given its prevalence in so many Nepali communities, even its absence would have been worth noting. Additionally, in my observations these short visits serve as an important channel for loans, labor collaborations, economic alliances, and, sometimes, economic and ownership disputes. This is only one example of how the book could have been strengthened by increased consideration of women’s activities. Finally, the most serious criticism of the work is that the few life histories provided are still not sufficient to give the reader a clear sense of class as an experience. Fitzpatrick is correct in pointing out that how an individual or family comes to be part of a particular class is an essential component of how people make sense of class. But the tensions that must be inherent in the further deepening of class divisions in this community Book Reviews 379 can only be shown by closer attention to the ways in which class continues to affect life decisions and opportunities. It would be particularly interesting to provide the reader with more details about the way class makes itself felt in a variety of everyday situations. In light of the use of cardamom farming as an organizing feature of the book, more descriptions of the interactions of farmers as they negotiate working for and with each other, giving and collecting loans, selling their produce, etc. would be particularly helpful. Additionally, this would provide Fitzpatrick with another opportunity to address other perspectives within the community such as age and gender. Ultimately, the work is an important contribution to modern studies of communities in Nepal. Fitzpatrick promises the reader that he will show the processes of class formation in Mamangkhe through an examination of who controls the modes of production over time, and in this, he is overwhelmingly successful. Theoretically, the work serves as an valuable examination of the minute economic events which can ultimately restructure the socio-economic landscape of a community, and the data collected by Fitzpatrick will prove to be a compilation of very useful information for any scholar interested in Eastern Nepal. Sarah Shepherd Manandhar University of Illinois at Chicago

Sebastian von Einsiedel, David M. Malone and Suman Pradhan, eds. 2012. Nepal in Transition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Nepal in Transition is a nearly 400-page long collection on Nepal’s peace process jointly edited by Sebastian von Einsiedel (a German UN official), David M. Malone (a former Canadian diplomat) and a Nepali, Suman Pradhan (a former journalist, now a UN political affairs officer based in New York). A mix of Nepalis and international contributors, many of whom were involved in the peace process, author the fourteen chapters. The book is divided into three main sections, starting with an introduction to the context, then a core section covering the ‘Critical Transition and the Role of Outsiders’ and a final section detailing regional dynamics. Most of the chapters contain some interesting insight or narrative description— and two or three chapters are outstanding reads—but the collection in general is slightly disappointing. 380 Studies in Nepali History and Society 17(2), 2012

As stated by the editors in their introduction the aims of the book are to offer a “mid-term assessment” of Nepal’s peace process as well as “a country case study of internationally supported peacemaking and peace building efforts” (p. 3). However, the book tries to do more than this. This perhaps stems from hurriedly tacking additional chapters on to an original smaller focus on the United Nations Mission in Nepal (UNMIN) and international intervention in Nepal. Several chapters in the core section (those authored by Ian Martin, Teresa Whitfield, Catinca Slavu) appear as a cohesive explanation and score chart of UNMIN and international involvement in Nepal. Other linked chapters focus on explaining one aspect of the peace process, in particular the chapters written by Rhoderick Chalmers, Jörg Frieden, Frederick Rawski and Mandira Sharma, Slavu, Bhojraj Pokharel, Aditya Adhikari, S.D. Muni and Prashant Jha). However the chapters on the economy (Sujeev Shakya) and regional relations (Rajeev Ranjan Chaturvedy and David M. Malone) seem part of ticking-off exercise to ensure the topics are covered. Stylistically these two chapters contain brisk workman-like descriptions of their topic rather than interesting argument-led explanations of peace process-related themes. The book could have benefitted from chapters on the economic or regional impact of the conflict and the peace process, but they are not found in these chapters. The highlights of the book for this reader were Nepali social scientist Deepak Thapa’s chapter on ‘The Making of the Maoist Insurgency’ and Rawski and Sharma’s chapter entitled ‘A Comprehensive Peace? Lessons from Human Rights Monitoring in Nepal.’ Thapa’s chapter works as a succinct update to his earlier co-authored book (2004). In a few short pages he marries an introduction to the factors behind the People’s War with current academic literature on social movements. He offers a clear argument as to why the conflict started when it did (political opportunity). He also sheds light on other topics including why the 1854 Muluki Ain still plays an important role today, namely in generating an undeniable link between social hierarchies and ethnicity and caste as well as useful passages on the link between Maoists and ethnic group mobilizations. His largely convincing argument places the People’s War beginnings neatly into a theoretical context. Rawski and Sharma’s chapter is unique in the book for several reasons. They are the only practitioners (both work on human rights in Nepal) who consider constraints to their work as, in part, stemming from practices of Nepali political culture and the Nepali state. In this particular Book Reviews 381 analysis the authors draw heavily on Nepal’s Political Rites of Passage, an International Crisis Group (ICG) report (2010). In this the frustrating failure of human rights monitoring on issues such as impunity is not simply blamed on lack of political will, or the obstruction of the Nepal Army, Maoists, or India but is also made inseparable from well- established cultural practices of Nepali politics. Nepali political culture and the logic of the state, in this view, operate along ingrained patronage networks which extend power and corruption and which fundamentally clash with contemporary human rights notions on transitional justice or the rule of law. The chapter goes on to offer a candid evaluation of the impact of international monitoring and advocacy. This is followed by a nuanced critique of the transitional justice approach to post conflict peace building, illustrating the dangers of the powerful using commissions to delay work on impunity. Rawski and Sharma also raise the important issue of sequencing in a peace process, making the valid criticism that “[i]t was not until almost three years after the peace agreement was signed that the UN and other international actors began to take initial steps to link development, impunity, and institutional reform” (p. 198). In the latter stages of the conflict, as the authors state, the Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights (OHCHR)—with civil society support for its formation, a large field presence and “one of the most robust mandates ever seen for a UN human rights field operation” (p. 182)—helped to mitigate some violence and abuses (especially torture, disappearances, abductions and civilian casualties). OHCHR also, alongside other human rights defenders, helped to expand the political space for the democratic and civil society movement. As the authors say, rights monitoring was also more successful when it was linked to close understandings of the economic, political and social context at local, national and regional levels. The editors’ co-authored introduction and conclusion are among the weakest chapters of the book. The introduction gives an overview of the history (repeated again in shorter form in several chapters) and then a basic overview of different causes of the conflict, something Thapa also details in the following chapter. Both the introduction and conclusion summarize and restate arguments in the book whilst not referencing more complex views on Nepal, the Nepali state and the peace process. The editors, unlike Rawski and Sharma, do not move beyond a form of analysis that essentially asks “what is missing in the peace process?” and “how should democracy be deepened in Nepal?” They say clearly in the 382 Studies in Nepali History and Society 17(2), 2012 conclusion that “Nepal’s transition to democracy is…stuck and still has a long way to go” (p. 368). The introduction and conclusion also seem excessively concerned with stressing the Nepali peace process’s relevance to the outside world, a mode bound to annoy Nepal specialists. The first section called ‘The Context’ contains a generally strong set of chapters. Chalmers, former head of ICG in Nepal, writes an engaging chapter on ‘State Power and the Security Sector: Ideologies and Interests.’ The perspectives of both the then Royal Nepal Army (RNA) and Maoists are well presented in the chapter, which remains still relevant despite progress in army integration. Panday’s chapter on ‘The Legacy of Nepal’s Failed Development’ is an excellent introduction to the topic and the impact that development (and the lack of it) had on the conflict. Despite a searing critique of current development practices Panday, a Nepali civil society leader and activist, retains optimism in the capacity of development to bring about real change. He does not question the notion of “development” but, in a fruitful discussion, suggests many ways that it could do a better job in Nepal. Frieden (a Swiss development professional who worked in Nepal), in the following chapter, concentrates on the role of donors during the conflict. He highlights the February 2005 takeover by King Gyanendra as a turning point and belated wake up call for donors, many of whom apparently began to re-study their programs and took greater interest in structural causes of the conflict, such as social exclusion. Frieden’s chapter also implicitly echoes a common perception among some internationals in Nepal: namely that Western engagement in to Nepal acts as a vital bulwark to manipulation of Nepal by India. Shakya’s chapter offers only a cursory overview of economic challenges in Nepal. Shakya, a Nepali business executive in Kathmandu, unsurprisingly argues for a greater role for the free market, which he believes can stand above the messy pragmatism of politics. He does not engage with economic literature on development, which often shows a greater role for the state in many development success stories. Nor, strangely, does Shakya reference the work of M.C. Regmi in a very brief discussion on land issues. Apparently, he says, it is “the fatalist attitude of Nepalis towards their country’s economic possibilities [which] predisposes parents to encourage their children to migrate” (p. 119). Lawoti’s chapter on ‘Ethnic Politics and the Building of an Inclusive State’ is a generally solid overview of ethnic politics and the political role of ethnicity in Nepal. Readers familiar with Lawoti’s other published works will find much repetition in the chapter. Lawoti, a Nepali professor Book Reviews 383 of political science in the USA, highlights the long history of ethnic activism by different communities and raises other important issues (including media bias by caste elites). However he predictably does not engage with notions of fluid or multiple identities. The next section entitled ‘Critical Transition and the Role of Outsiders’ contains the core of the book. Whitfield (‘Nepal’s Masala Peacemaking’)—a former UN official and Senior Advisor to the Center on International Cooperation and the Center on Humanitarian Dialogue— presents a detailed account of early international peacemaking efforts up to the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) signing in 2006. The chapter focuses on the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue, the UN, the Carter Center and the Swiss government. The readable narrative highlights the many ways in which the peace process was, practically speaking, not always Nepali-led. This does not mean, however, that Westerners were central drivers of the process. The chapter ultimately, like many others, emphasizes the preeminent role of “the heavy hand of India” (p. 156). As with Frieden, Whitfield also implicitly suggests that diversity in the peacemaking process through multiple actors (i.e. European, American and UN involvement) was ultimately beneficial to Nepal in order to balance Indian influence. Readers familiar with Ian Martin’s statements during and after his time as UNMIN Special Representative of the Secretary-General will not find much new material in his chapter on UNMIN, although he writes insightfully. The article is somewhat reflective of Martin’s encounter with the Nepali media discourse around UNMIN, especially Reporters Club style questioning. Although not the author’s fault this does mean that the criticisms he engages with tend to be among the easiest to rebut. Of particular interest in the chapter are Martin’s frustrations with the government for not creating a national-level monitoring mechanism for UNMIN reports to feed into, difficulties in cantonment verification and monitoring, the failed attempt to widen UNMIN’s mandate and Martin’s views on the role of India. While the reader may or may not agree with decisions that were taken by UNMIN leadership it is not clear from Martin’s chapter that, in many cases, there were other policy alternatives. It is possible that, to take a few examples—and notwithstanding very real constraints—the original UNMIN mandate could have been different, that security sector issues could have been speeded up and that so-called child soldiers and late recruits could have been released earlier from the cantonments. However Martin’s chapter will be useful for many readers, as well as for 384 Studies in Nepali History and Society 17(2), 2012 discussions on UN peacekeeping design and lessons for the UN system (expanded in Martin 2010). Surprisingly, Martin makes little mention of UNMIN’s successful efforts to recruit from previously underrepresented sections of the Nepali population. This effort made an impact on the national inclusion debate (as criticisms of it showed), influenced recruitment policies across the UN, development and INGO sector and changed the lives of recruited individuals. The following two authors (Slavu and Pokharel) offer perspectives on the elections. It is interesting to note that Slavu, an independent consultant and election advisor in Nepal, considers the main purpose of electoral processes to be “consolidating or deepening democracy” (p. 232). Students of post-conflict elections may suggest that this is among the last aims of a first election after war, with the demilitarization of politics and the need to install a government with democratic legitimacy being far more important. Her chapter documents the before, during and after of the 2008 election in detail. Bhojraj Pokharel writes a short but interesting chapter discussing his role as Chief Election Commissioner of the Election Commission during the post-conflict period, in which he stressed his own view of the purposes of a post-conflict election. This was that he deliberately sought to be flexible on rules in order to assist the broader peace process. The section ends with a nuanced study of internal shifts inside the Maoist party since 2006 by noted Nepali journalist Aditya Adhikari, highlighting the move from insurgency to party politics. This chapter is one of the few in the book to draw heavily on Nepali languages sources and also shows a historical understanding of the Maoist movement in Nepal. The third section of the book contains, in the chapter by Chaturvedy (an Indian foreign policy expert) and Malone a general overview of Nepal’s foreign policy dilemmas. Prashant Jha, a leading Nepali journalist, in his chapter on ‘A Nepali Perspective on International Involvement in Nepal’ emphasizes the “centrality of India to developments in Nepal” (p. 333). Jha’s chapter along with S.D. Muni’s detailed chapter on Indian involvement work as a kind of corrective to many of the earlier chapters by internationals. Both authors emphasize the importance of India to Nepali politicians and the peace process. Their chapters also reflect changes in Indian policies, as well as highlighting Indian policies that contradict each other, often due to the sheer range of Indian interests involved in Nepal. Incidentally the chapter by Muni (an Indian academic with strong Nepal connections) contains no shocking revelations regarding Indian support for the Maoist party. To review or Book Reviews 385 condemn Nepal in Transition on such a flimsy basis is absolutely mind- boggling. Given the absence of competition, prominence of the authors involved and the range of factual and explanatory information in the book it is clear that Nepal in Transition will become a valued resource for several different audiences. This includes researchers of conflict and peace studies, future election observers and development professionals working in Nepal. The book additionally contains new information and fresh arguments for those who follow Nepal, particularly in the chapters authored by Nepalis. The book also stands out for being largely political in focus, in contrast to the anthropology focus of much internationally published work on Nepal. Due to the range of topics covered the book can be seen as an update to the edited collection, State of Nepal (2002). Inevitably, in such a structure, there is also plenty of repetition. Many of the chapters repeat virtually identical introductory histories of Nepal before moving onto their specialist topic. Perhaps the editors expect readers to only read those chapters of direct interest to them and not the book as a whole. There are several glaring copy-editing and spelling mistakes (on pages 88 and 99 for example). This occurs particularly in the footnotes, some of which are not completely referenced for follow up reading (e.g., p. 59, p. 166). Also, frustratingly, not every chapter has a bibliography of references and references are made to policy papers that are not in the public domain (e.g., a draft report by John Bevan and Bhaskar Gautam, referenced in Slavu’s chapter on page 235). One criticism of Nepal in Transition is, however, not that the information it presents is incorrect but that it leaves out other important perspectives on the peace process. For Nepal specialists an interesting aspect of the book lies in how internationals perceived the peace process and Nepal. In a typical international authored chapter the author starts by detailing the long history of exclusion, bad governance or another fault of the Nepali state and then details the mistakes of the Panchayat and 1990s systems in perpetuating that wrong. The 2008 elections are then presented as essentially without major problems. Typically authors then detail their particular role in solving that wrong, with a focus on the ways in which their mandate or role was frustrated and only achieved partially. At this point many of the international authors blame India. Only Rawski and Sharma’s chapter and also Jha’s move beyond this frame to substantively analyze international perceptions of Nepal. The editors could have broadened the book along the lines of a cohesive focus on the peace process. They could have included a chapter 386 Studies in Nepali History and Society 17(2), 2012 or afterword by a victim’s association representative, for example. Further space could have also been allowed for a chapter on local level politics, perhaps to also illustrate the complex interaction between local and national politics. Instead the book looks primarily at national level discussions whilst, at the same time, critiquing Kathmandu-centric policies of the government. The book also includes, as mentioned, a foreign policy chapter and an economics chapter, which are not closely linked in to peace process themes. Additionally the issue of gender in peace processes is not included (and only 3 of the 19 authors are female). The chapters in Nepal in Transition, in general, rely heavily on policy paper-level analysis and only contains a few references to deeper, more complex ways of looking at Nepal and the peace process, including, for example, the ICG Nepal’s Political Rites of Passage report, sources and articles published in this journal. This does not mean either that the narratives or arguments presented in the collection are totally incorrect (this author agrees with many of them). Nor does it mean that well-known vocal commentators of the peace process (, Kul Chandra Gautam) should have been included in this book in place of the largely sympathetic Nepali commentators who contributed. It is only to suggest that there are other ways of looking at the Nepali peace process as well as international interventions, something only one chapter in the whole book suggests. Compiling a slightly more critical version of the events and policies under scrutiny would be an interesting exercise. A starting point could be to revisit policy choices of actors in the peace process at key moments. The sequencing of the peace process, debates on verification, the lengthy wait to demobilize so-called child soldiers and late recruits, the nature of UNMIN’s electoral assistance, efforts to explain UNMIN’s mandate, the funding priorities of donors and many other topics would be worth looking at again, from alternative and outsider perspectives. An additional step would be to question the assumptions and policies brought to a Nepali context by internationals to the peace process, especially through the UN and donor agencies. Rawski and Sharma do this for human rights and transitional justice and it could be done for many other topics, such as elections, child soldiers (see Sharrock 2011), governance, the security sector and more. In this respect an article by Ratna Kapur, a law Professor and former UNMIN Senior Gender Advisor, on gender issues in the peace process and the position of the Gender Affairs office inside UNMIN would be of interest to many. Kapur’s unpublished views, referenced in Book Reviews 387

Puechguirbal (2010), reportedly emphasize the marginalization of gender issues inside UNMIN and in the peace process. This approach would then lead into questioning the underlying premises of internationals during the transitional and post-conflict period. Among other topics this could have included deconstructing the very notion of a transitional or post-conflict period, placing it instead in a historical context and considering also the extent of continuities in Nepal’s political culture. The emphasis of the editors and many authors in the book in their approach towards the peace process, is on the “gap” thesis of looking at post-conflict states. Alex De Waal, criticizing this approach, says this is when “…countries are defined by what they are not: they are not delivering services in an equitable manner; they are not exercising a monopoly in violence within their territories; they are not choosing their leaders through democratic processes, and they are not putting international assistance to its rightful use. In turn this approach leads to approaches for peacemaking, peacebuilding, reconstruction and development that are premised on trying to achieve a particular normative standard” (2009). Proponents of this approach, such as many authors in Nepal in Transition, tend to focus on what is missing from an ideal picture of an inclusive, stable, functioning, conflict-resolved and service-delivering state, not on what works or is actually taking place. In a passage worth quoting in full the editors bemoan the fact that Nepal “is still far from qualifying as a liberal democracy in which the procedural aspects of elections is complemented by respect of individual liberty, the rule of law, and the respect of basic rights, all of which are secured by checks on the power of each branch of government, equality under the law, impartial courts…and separation of religion and state” (p. 368). This kind of argument limits the overall usefulness and explanatory power of the book, particularly for Nepal specialists, and also makes many of the arguments deployed increasingly vulnerable to changing political winds inside Nepal. As De Waal (2009) suggests measuring post-conflict countries against an ideal of a post-conflict state is not as analytically useful as trying to understand how the practice of politics actually works. Nepal in Transition is a useful reference book on post- CPA Nepal, containing much of interest for many different types of readers. However, a more interesting explanation and score chart of the Nepali peace process would have located a “mid-term assessment” alongside references to and acknowledgement of the complex political . 388 Studies in Nepali History and Society 17(2), 2012

References De Waal, Alex. 2009. Fixing the Political Marketplace: How can we make peace without functioning state institutions? Fifteenth Christen Michelsen Lecture. Bergen. October 15. Available at: http://www.cmi.no/news/ ?557=fixing-the-political-market-place; accessed on 22 November 2012. Dixit, Kanak Mani and Shastri Ramachandaran, eds. 2002. State of Nepal. Kathmandu: Himal Books. International Crisis Group (ICG). 2010. Nepal’s Political Rites of Passage. Asia Report 194, 29 September. Kathmandu/Brussels: ICG. Martin, Ian. 2010. All Peace Operations are Political: A Case for Designer Missions and the Next UN Reform. In Review of Political Missions. Richard Gowan, ed., pp. 8–14. New York: Center on International Cooperation, New York University. Also available at: http://www.cic. nyu.edu/politicalmissions/docs_missions_10/chapters/martin_allpeace2. pdf; accessed on 20 October 2012. Puechguirbal, Nadine. 2010. Discourses on Gender, Patriarchy and Resolution 1325: A Textual Analysis of UN Documents. International Peacekeeping 17(2): 172–187. Sharrock, James. 2011. International Policy Approaches to “Child Soldiers” in Nepal, 2007–2008. Studies in Nepali History and Society 16(2): 381–406. Thapa, Deepak with Bandita Sijapati. 2004. A Kingdom Under Siege: Nepal’s Maoist Insurgency, 1996–2004. Kathmandu: The Printhouse. James Sharrock Kathmandu

Bal Gopal Shrestha. 2012. The Sacred Town of Sankhu: The Anthropology of Newar Ritual, Religion and Society in Nepal. Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.

The Sacred Town of Sankhu is an impressive attempt to give a coherent and comprehensive description, analysis and interpretation of the ritual, religion and society of an ancient Newar settlement on the trade route to Tibet. Shrestha worked for six years on it, punctuated by two spells of extensive fieldwork in his home town. The earlier version of the book had an enigmatic and awkward title, The Ritual Composition of Sankhu: The Socio-religious Anthropology of a Newar Town in Nepal. It was the author’s doctoral thesis submitted to Leiden University in 2002. Published in a limited number of copies, it had 476 pages, divided into 12 chapters. The present text of 615 pages is an expanded and revised version of the thesis. Book Reviews 389

Picturesque Sƒkhu is a small town populated by 5,340 inhabitants, comprising 713 families, divided into 24 castes and 84 guthis, mostly managing to cremate the dead or to celebrate 34 festivals a year. Until recent years it was economically vibrant when faster and alternative means of transport from Kathmandu and communications with wider world overtook and bypassed it. Born in that town and brought up in a middle-class joint Newar family, Shrestha has several assets to bank on for this study. Shrestha conducted an extensive household survey of the town covering almost all aspects of its social-economic life. It is not a sample survey. As it was done in 1997 most of his data documented in Chapter 6 are more than a decade old. Everything in Sƒkhu might seem to matter because its founder-cum-presiding deity Vajrayoginã is sacred. One wonders if the collection of data on their own is a relevant exercise in social anthropology, unless it is informed by principles of selection depending on variables as well as hypotheses to be tested. Although the survey data may help us to piece together a reliable social and economic status of the town the relevance of demographics to religion or culture is not evident on its own, nor so easy to show. Consequently, Chapter 6 may read like an almanac, a yearbook, or a book of general knowledge rather than a survey to verify specific hypothesis or human development index. Income-level or literacy rate may, for instance, be more relevant than counting the heads or the number of tailoring shops or tea shops. The data on landownership is significant. They show that the Shrestha caste, not the Jyàpu caste, owns more than 67 percent of cultivated land in Sƒkhu. They comprise 60 percent of the population. A question that may be raised is: are they higher up in ritual/caste hierarchy because they are rich or are they rich because they are more pure? At any rate, some caution may be required before one takes some of these data for granted, As Shrestha’s early schooling and youthful days were spent in this comfortable and culturally vibrant environment he developed attachment with its rhythm set in cycle of feasts, festivals, and colorful rituals observed in Sƒkhu. However, as he grew up he felt less fascinated by religion and cultural forms. The higher he went up the school ladder the greater was his disaffection for traditional social and cultural beliefs and practices. At one time, he thought much of these as superstition and obscurantism. What inspired and revived him to take up a comprehensive study of social system and religious organization of his home-town was his catalectic meeting and collaboration with a Dutch scholar affiliated to the 390 Studies in Nepali History and Society 17(2), 2012

Centre for Nepal and Asian Studies (CNAS), a research institution of Tribhuvan University which Shrestha joined as a lecturer in 1993. Although Shrestha studied Political Science for a Masters degree at Tribhuvan University he began to work in earnest only after a spell of collaboration with A.W. van den Hoek, a brilliant Dutch cultural anthropologist who studied and worked under the eminent Indologist J.C. Heesterman. Shrestha collaborated with him in a number of stimulating papers and other projects, including on The Sacrifice of Serpents, an award-winning documentary film, listed in his web page. The book consists of a wide variety of material on the town, from demographic to ethnographic, from historical to current political landscape. Out of the sixteen chapters, Chapter 1 provides the rationale of the study while Chapter 16 sums up its findings. Chapter 2 is devoted to an overview on the calendars in use in Nepal. A luni-solar calendar regulates all ritual activities, feasts and 34 festivals discussed in Chapter 10, including the festival of Svanti or Yama-pan^ caka. Several aspects of religion and culture of the Newars are, of course, common to all the thirty-three townships and settlements in and around the Kathmandu Valley. Similarly, the role of the sã guthi (the funeral association) or of guthis in general, discussed in Chapters 8 and 9, is not too different from those of Dhulikhel studied by Declan Quigley, or those of PyÐgƒu studied by Gérard Toffin, or of Pàm. gà studied by Gopal Singh Nepali. The most informed core of the book are these chapters on the guthis. Whatever major structural or functional variations there are they seem to be due to local needs and adjustments. What is remarkable is the number of guthis gone out of scene, albeit due to increasing State interference in local affairs through nationalization of real estate belonging to religious institutions. Measures such as Land Reform Act, 1964 and the Guthi Corporation Act, 1964 led to diminishing resources and social relevance of their functions. In Sƒkhu, 14 guthis have ceased to work out of a total 84 documented in Chapters 8 and 9, However, the efficacy of these social networks and density of these institutions do not seem to depend upon the size of the settlement nor on their social/cultural relevance. Hàóigƒu, for example, has more than 200 still operative! Sƒkhu is an ancient settlement. Presumably, the Gum. -vihàra was a complex of rock-cut caves where monks meditated, prayed and lived. In India rock-cut caves were used as monastic retreat during 200 B.C. to AD 200. In Sƒkhu they may have been occupied by Mahàsàïghik sect – the ancient forerunners of Mahàyàna. A number of rock-cut caves are located west of the present-day Vajrayoginã temple. As consort of Book Reviews 391

Cakrasam. vara, Vajrayoginã cult emerged as an offshoot of Vajrayàna. It is related to a cycle of radical and heterodox texts. The location and distribution of the yoginã temples in India have been charted by several Indian and Western scholars, and their finding is that the yoginã-cult is a part of heterodoxy popularized by the siddhas stationed in centres such as the Vikrama÷ila (see Davidson 2002: 170–182). According to Elizabeth English, “the cult of the tantric goddess Vajrayoginã flowered in India between tenth and twelfth centuries at a productive phase in Buddhist tantras” (2002: 1). Bhattacharyya (1968[1924]) says that the goddess Vajrayoginã was brought to Nepal by Bengali priests in AD 1350. In Tibetan religious tradition these caves are associated with the names of Padmasambava and Milarepa. The Vajrayoginã temple in Sƒkhu became one of the few shrines which continued to remain popular with the later Malla kings. The earliest inscription found in Sƒkhu is dated ÷aka 460/AD 538. Archaeological remains and extant historical inscriptions indicate that it was an important site in the past. But how to link the Gum. -vihàra as the hub of a sect of Mahàsàïghikas with the rise of tantric worship is a problem. According to Bledsoe (1998) the political annexation of the town by Kathmandu was accomplished and culturally glorified by Pratap Malla. He built a granthkåña-style temple in AD 1655. The present temple in tiered style was built by Bhaskara Malla. At any rate, Sƒkhu was not a city-state, nor an independent kingdom (p. 7). As most of its rituals refer to the King, Shrestha claims that it was “a ritual kingdom,” a seat for political asylum for fugitive members of the ruling families. However, it was never a secular independent state (p. 69). It is arguable if Sƒkhu had any traceable royal seat, a central locality, a Taleju, or a Kot where sacred activities converge. In 1968 when parts of the town were being dug large bricks of various size were found. An elevated platform was traced in the city centre. Shrestha claims that there was a Làyeku, a structural complex or its nucleus “which has recently been leveled down.” As the sacrality of the town is derived mainly from the goddess Vajrayoginã, who ordered the king øaïkhadeva to found a temple, a more intensive enquiry into the rise of the cult may be desirable, if not urgent. Its ritual boundaries are delimited by a pradakùiõà màrga with a defined route delineating the sacred territory, for pulling the chariot of divinity (see, Map 6 on p. 84). Out of four, a city-gate is still standing. The town was dotted with nine monasteries which seem to lie behind the name, Gum. -vihàra. According to Locke (1988/1989), all the Vajràcàryas and øàkyas of the “four lineages of Kathmandu,” including those of Patan, Bhaktapur, Banepa and Panauti trace their degu-dyah in one of the 392 Studies in Nepali History and Society 17(2), 2012 nine vihàras of Sƒkhu. In later medieval period, politically Sƒkhu had been a satellite of the Kingdom of Bhaktapur or of Kathmandu at least since the time of Surya Malla (AD 1520–1530) who initiated the jàtrà of the goddess. However, it does not seem to have any residential colony or settlement of ritual elite. Among the presiding priests or ritual specialists only the Vajràcàryas are native to Sƒkhu whereas the Ràjopàdhyàya and the Karmàcàryas seem to come from Patan. This compels us to believe that its status as one of a cultural outpost may be only a recent one. The Gum. -vihàra may have been the centre of Vajrayàna from where the community of the diamond sect dispersed. Rather than “a ritual universe on its own” (p. 523). Sƒkhu may very well be the locus of diamond vehicle in the valley. The current ritual specialists seem to lack credibility, authority or intellectual confidence to interpret the tradition. The well-known Buddhist text, Maõicåóàvadàna was invoked only to subject it to disingenuous and unexpected localization, just to sanctify the fresh water- falls from nearby hillocks. However, its name Sƒkhu is probably derived from that of the river tSang – a word still traceable in Bhaktapur’s Kha-sàng-khu. It has been sanskritized as Hanumante. Sa-kva in Newari just means “below Tibet.” None of the surviving versions of Maõi÷aila Avadàna is dated, nor is its language older than 18th century. Shrestha has written a critical paper on the form and content of this text only to conclude that its language does not seem to date from before the 19th century (Shrestha 2004: 63). The complex is littered with Licchavi caityas. Among other art-treasures there is a solid bronze head of the Buddha which betrays stylistic features (e.g., pouting lips in a small mouth) of the Gupta period. However, it is mistakenly worshipped as the head of Vikramàditya, who in turn is mistaken for Mànadeva (see p. 404, plate 39). The head is believed to have “landed” in Vajrayoginã after decapitation of the ruling King, committed unwittingly by Mànadeva. His penance for parricide led to the emergence of a vihàra-complex at the centre of the forest. An early Pàla-style standing bronze of Avalokite÷vara is worshipped here as Blacksmith’s Queen (see p. 408, plate 41)! What more incredible example can one cite for the town’s sad loss of historical memory? Wisely, Shrestha devotes only a chapter to the more recent Hindu cults of Svasthànã and the month-long fast of Màdhavanàràyaõa – the former observed exclusively by women. Both cults are recent in origin, presumably the Hindu initiative to annex the riverside as the Sàli-nadã. However, Shrestha does not elaborate the social and cultural reasons why Book Reviews 393 the Svasthànã vrata kathà picked up so fast and so widely. Of interest is the embedding of a Vaiùõava cult in a ÷avite narrative. He discusses the cult of Vajrayoginã in great persuasive detail in three chapters, Chapter 13, 14 and 15. The sanctuary, the festival and the masked dance are each treated at length, elaborating every ritual and synthesizing all available historical-textual evidence supplemented by first-hand observation. Here Shrestha’s grip on details is firm just as his ability to describe what he has seen is remarkable. As he explains in his Preface, he is “privileged to be an insider-outsider,” a member of the society he is studying, and he is rarely, if at all, embarrassed to lay everything bare, even if he had to investigate an episode or event as an agnostic researcher. In his unmistakable enthusiasm to promote the sacred history or geography of Sƒkhu Shrestha appears to be less of an outsider than an insider at large. This brings us close to a vexed, complex, and delicate issue in this publication. Except for a couple of pages at the beginning, Shrestha doesn’t give us any clue of his theoretical position on ritual, religion, society or culture. Readers of the book might as well wonder whether it wasn’t planned simply to promote Sƒkhu as a culturally viable restoration project. The earlier title was, “ritual composition” of a Newar town. Presumably, Shrestha wanted to avoid theoretical shibboleths by resisting popular terms like “structure.” His theoretical persuasion is not one of formal structuralism. Unlike Durkheim, Weber, Lévi-Strauss or patriarchs of British social anthropology, he willfully resorts to all available textual- historical evidence, ready to discuss inscriptions from the past, or popular texts such as the Maõi÷ailàvadàna. In this work we don’t find any diffidence, or embarrassment, nor any reluctance to admit the relevance of written texts, particularly as gloss on social/cultural praxis. In this respect, Shrestha veers closer to Indologists (e.g., Kölver or Lienhard) than to anthropologists proper (e.g. Levy or Toffin) who believe in the relevance of concepts and constructs such as centre versus periphery, the opposition of sacred and polluted. Like Heesterman, or his disciple van den Hoek, Shrestha sees the King as the pillar of Hindu varõa system, not the Brahmin. But where is the King in Sƒkhu? Like Heesterman, Dumont or Tambiah, Shrestha considers cultural anthropology intrinsically linked with and tied to Indology. In his quest for “a totality of texts and contexts embedded in deep past” Shrestha’s theoretical ground-plan is none too visible. Though this work is solid, “holistic,” ambitious, and voluminous, surprisingly Shrestha doesn’t make any tall claims for major findings 394 Studies in Nepali History and Society 17(2), 2012 enshrined in this study. His single articulate claim is that Newar society is too fragmented, visibly divided into contesting castes or into ritually defined castes and sub-castes. Yet they are held together by associations such as the guthi, endowed and founded to perform defined cultural role, and accomplish cultural events and actions. In secular world, they are divided in loyalties to competing networks, such as non-governmental organizations, or political parties with divergent ideologies and socio- economic programs. But once in a while they all come together to participate in, to celebrate the feasts, observe fasts and rejoice in jàtràs where most of the members of a locality tend to have some or other important role in accomplishing the theatrical and spectacular procession of the Devã. The astonishing fact is that the Newars don’t seem to care for sectarian identity of a deity. Whether Màdhavanàràyaõa is a Hindu god, whether Vajrayoginã or Ugratàrà is a Hindu or Buddhist goddess doesn’t seem to worry his/her devotees in Sƒkhu as long as the chariot arrives at one’s locality on time. Yàþnyàþ (the arrival of the chariot at its destination on time) is the greatest accomplishment both for the Devã as well the community! All kith and kin join in a family feast in celebration of the goddess’s triumphal march to their locality. No wonder if Shrestha concludes so comfortably, “It becomes apparent that the goddess is importance (sic) for the cultural identity of the town” (p. 524). In the Danish Royal Library, Copenhagen, there is a manuscript brought from Sƒkhu in 1953 by the late Warner Jacobsen (No 135), a student of Tucci. It is a temple diary of Vajrayoginã maintained by several generations of priests, with dated notes from circa AD 1524 of people and events in the temple. Whenever anything unexpected, untoward, inauspicious or unusual happened to the image of the goddess (specially perspiration in the face, fall of any side of the goddess’s dress, or ñãkà or dçùñi or ornaments) it was instantly and directly reported to the King in Kathmandu by a messenger or biseta, the keeper of ornaments in the temple. Usually the officiating Vajràcàrya recommends to the palace to perform a homa, or a modest sacrifice of a goat or a buffalo to placate the goddess or propitiate the resulting untoward turn of events. Once a stray dog walked inside the sanctuary while the chief priest was deeply engrossed in attending to worship of the goddess. In spring AD 1525 the Magar invaders led by Mukunda Sen set fire on a number of shrines in the Kathmandu Valley. To face this scourge Vajrayoginã was among the leading deities who were invoked and propitiated. The diary records that the Magar contingent “departed thereafter without doing more pillage.” Book Reviews 395

The value of Shrestha’s book is enriched by 65 plates, 15 maps, 20 tables, 7 charts, a glossary and several photos. The black-and-white photos are, however, poorly printed as they are scanned at high ratio of reduction. Some of the plates are barely visible! It is no small surprise to see that the text bristles with faulty Romanization of or Newar/Nepali/Hindi terms or names. The manuscript could have been more carefully attended to by a professional copy-editor. Faulty structures, unidiomatic words, phrases and expressions are left as they were in the manuscript. The book would have borne comparison with Robert Levy’s Mesocosm had Shrestha been more clear on the theoretical framework he was to use to cope with field work. His statement that “the main hypothesis of this study is that distinct entities in this urban-oriented society are not defined by socio-economic features but by their ritual practices” is at best ambiguous. The lifeline of Sƒkhu’s economy was trade with Tibet. After the opening of the Kodàri route the caravans have bypassed Sƒkhu. Lately, the town wears a deserted look. Abandoned by forces of change the ambitious ones have found limited options. They can, of course, continue to live in isolation as in the past, or move beyond the limits of the sacred boundaries necessary to compete in the wider world.

References Bhattacharyya, Benoytosh. 1968[1924]. The Indian Buddhist Iconography, Mainly based on the Sadhanamala and Cognate Tantric Texts of Rituals. Calcutta: Firma Mukhopadhyaya. Bledsoe, Browen. 1998. Vajrayogini and the Kingdom of Kathmandu: Constructing Polity in 17th Century Nepal. Paper presented at the 50th Annual Conference of the Association of Asian Studies, Washington DC, 26–29 March. Davidson, Ronald M. 2002. Indian Esoteric Buddhism: A Social History of Tantric Movement. New York: Columbia University Press. English, Elizabeth, 2002. Vajrayogini, Her Visualization, Rituals and Form. Boston: Wisdom Publishers. Locke, John K. 1988/1989. Vajrayogini Temple of Sankhu. Buddhist Himalaya 1(2): 1–6. Shrestha, Bal Gopal. 2004. The Legend of Manisaila Mahavadana. In Keshar Lall: A Homage on the Occasion of His Buraa Janko. Corneille Jest, T.R. Kansakar and Mark Turin, eds., pp. 60–78. Kathmandu: Marina Paper. Kamal P. Malla Alpharetta, Georgia, USA

396 Studies in Nepali History and Society 17(2), 2012

Michael Hutt. 2012. Eloquent Hills: Essays on . Kathmandu: Martin Chautari.

What does it mean to venture into the language and literature of another nation which you accidentally encounter while you have ample and more convenient options for your academic pursuits? Would you wish to sustain your interest when your contemporaries view the planned area of interest with high degree of cynicism? Generally, the answer to the second question can be “yes” when there are ulterior missionary intentions. Should exceptions be denied, then? No. In the case of the interest of “a 20-year old Englishman in 1978” which was initially viewed “as an eccentric obsession” (p. 2), the answer should be no. The venture for him would mean one leap and no second thought to get engrossed into the rich texture of Nepali language and literature. 1988 was the first ripening year to continue life-long pursuit and eventually reach the literature among “a scholarly Euro-American readership” (p. 8). In 2012, the scholar has again come up with Eloquent Hills: Essays on Nepali Literature, an anthology of already published articles to orchestrate the scholarly lineage that was initiated three decades ago. The introductory chapter briefs the content of the anthology at the backdrop of “autobiographical reminiscences” (p. 2) and makes an appeal for its reception, “…I hope you (Nepali readers) will find something of interest in them (the essays)” (p. 8). Nine chapters following the introduction address multiple facets of Nepali literature ranging from eminent litterateur to recurrent themes. The readings perform multifarious function: ruminates over the theme of lāhure in purposively selected writings across two genre—fiction and —to argue that the figure appears in ambivalent light (Chapter 1); historicizes textual representation of ideal Nepal in 20th century Nepali writings to conclude that ideal Nepal should hear and attend to all the voices of Nepali writers (Chapter 8); presents nuanced reading of the theme of going to Muglan to suggest about the potential of these texts to “cast new light on much that remains largely hidden from view” (Chapter 6); analyzes the nature of discourses on Shangri-la to postulate that they assist in, what Edward Said would say, “orientalizing the orient” (Chapter 5); and provides an overview of literature during the 1990s to schematize literary endeavours of “time- manufactured” authors during the turbulent time (Chapter 3). Similarly, Chapter 2 elucidates Mohan Koirala’s poems as they have evolved in three distinct phases and concludes that the poetry of Koirala contributed significantly to enrich literature in Nepali; Chapter 4, after providing Book Reviews 397 précis of Devkota’s life, performs an incisive reading of Munā-Madan in terms of themes, content, source, structure and meter, and remarks that the poem occupies “a cherished place in the hearts of its readers”; Chapter 7 discusses B.P. Koirala’s Sumnimā setting the novel against “the circumstances in which it was written” and observes that the burning of the book is a legacy of “burnings elsewhere” (p. 7); and Chapter 9 presents contextual and textual analysis of ’s poems, and makes Bhupi’s early life an open book. A common denominator exists in most of the readings included in the anthology, i.e., anti new-critical stance. Except in the analysis of jhyāure in ‘Devkota’s Munā-Madan: An Introduction’ and ‘Bhupi Sherchan: From Schoolboy to Sarvahara,’ nowhere does Hutt pay attention to the formal elements in the texts. Even in these two essays, he does not second the idea of authors being amnesiac about and incubated apart from the happenings in and around their society to campaign a close reading of selected texts. Instead, he confirms that reading literary elements of any text needs to pay attention to context so that the critique can account dialectical relationship between writing and society. The take, as apparently observable in most of the essays, seems to propel Hutt to expose readers to comprehensive contextual information before the presentation of analytical part. One of the offshoots of the author’s acknowledgement of the importance of context is the tone of didacticism. In ‘Ideal Nepal and the Voices of Nepali Writers,’ he emphasizes the need to discuss Nepali literature “outside a purely literary frame of reference” so that not only the foreigners but also Nepali themselves can find appropriate referent. He suggests, “I do not see why Nepalis should not use the names of their own writers to coin their own formulations” (p. 161). This concern needs special mention also because it speaks about the author’s intended audience, i.e., Nepali critiques who have been accustomed to slavish borrowing of nomenclatures in their assessments. No question that Eloquent Hills will be invaluable as a reference material for foreign scholars of Nepali literature. Because of the comprehensive and nuanced texture of analysis, readers can equip themselves with the figures in Nepali literature like , Bhupi Sherchan, Mohan Koirala, B.P. Koirala and their canon setting writings. They can also acquire understanding of the context in which the authors produced their literary art. Besides this category, Nepali scholars who have been gradually shifting their enticement from English language and literature to Nepali literature due to various reasons will 398 Studies in Nepali History and Society 17(2), 2012 find the book an eye-opener to the richness of the latter. Similarly, students in English departments of Nepal who have been obliged to get their teeth into Nepali literature due to course requirements and dissertation obligation will find the book useful. The wider scope of readership, beyond the author’s initial targeted audience, counts as one of the major strengths of Eloquent Hills. Indeed, the anthology deserves appreciation for many other reasons. Nevertheless, I have a few reservations. First, the articles in the anthology could have been arranged in an identifiable pattern. The order of any texture such as chronological or genre-wise would have made the collection a coherent book instead of an anthology of random essays. Second, the author could have made amendments in the flawed parts instead of making excuses, “I have made no efforts to ‘update’ these essays apart from adding a citation or two where relevant. The book also includes several factual errors” (p. 8). Third, the spaces spared for describing context while examining any particular text emerges so prominently that the readers may find the detail inapposite. For instance, when readers wish to get introduced to Munā-Madan, they need to wade through a four-page biography of Laxmi Prasad Devkota before they reach the desired section. Moreover, as the author does not compromise in providing context, many spaces in the anthology have reiterated information. For example, the content that has been a significant part in the analysis of jhyāure in Devkota’s Munā-Madan appears almost in the same magnitude in the chapter on Bhupi Sherchan. Fourth, the analysis, due to the prominence of context, carries potential to impart impression among foreign scholars that Nepali literature is also “national allegory,” as remarked by Raymond Williams. Fifth, the content of some articles spill away from the scope of the title. At the end of chapter 9, for example, we read Bhupi beyond his status of Sarvahara despite the limitation created by the title. These reservations aside, the book makes it indispensable for any scholar whether foreign or native who is willing to understand Nepali literature. By rending both synchronic and diachronic history of Nepali literature through the textual and contextual analysis, the author successfully exposes the richness and importance of literary figures and literature in this part of the world. I find all the articles commendable. Khagendra Acharya Kathmandu University