Frontmatter -- Table of Contents -- List of Images, Maps and Charts -- Acknowledgements -- A Note on Translation and Transliteration -- Introduction -- 1. Memories of a Feud: Chinjhiar, 1795 -- 2. Alterity and Myth in Himalayan Historiography: Kangra, Sirmaur, and Gorkha Rule in the West -- 3. Sati and Sovereignty in Theory and Practise -- 4. Statecraft at the Edge of Empire: Bilaspur, 1795-1835 -- 5. Widowed Ranis, Scheming Rajas, and the Making of 'Rajput Tradition' -- Epilogue -- Appendix: The Jhera of Chinjhiar -- Bibliography -- Index
AbstractIn 'The Rani of Sirmur: An Essay in Reading the Archives', Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak offered a literary analysis of British records to demonstrate the inextricability of language from the colonial/imperial project's goal of world domination. Honing her arguments on the threat of a Himalayan queen (rani) to 'become sati' (i.e. immolate herself), Spivak interpreted the event as representative of the plight of subalterns and of 'third world women' in particular. However, a close reading of the records reveals profound discrepancies between Spivak's interpretation and conditions that existed in and around the kingdom at the time. This article contextualizes the rani's story by supplementing archival sources with folk traditions, local histories, and recent research on sati and Rajput women. It shows that the rani was actually an astute ruler, similar to her peers in the West Himalayan elite, and that her threat of suicide resulted from reasons that go beyond an alleged attempt at recovering agency from the dual oppressions of patriarchal indignity and an invasive superpower. The discourses about sati in contemporary texts are also investigated, revealing a considerable overlap in South Asian and European views of sati among Himalayan elites in turn-of-the-nineteenth-century northwest India.
The unlikely emergence of the remote Himalayan valley of Kullu as a centre of devotional ( bhakti) Vaishnavism c. 1650 has customarily been explained as the residual outcome of regional integration into the Mughal Empire. However, recent research on the role of ascetic movements in the history of early modern India suggests the bairagi sadhus behind this shift in religious orientation played a far greater role in the mountain kingdom's development than the mere 'conversion' of its raja that is reported in local tradition. This article traces the development of bairagi involvement in Kullu to revise the customary account of state formation in the region. It shows that Vaishnava ascetics directly contributed to Kullu's development at various historical junctures and links these processes with parallel phases of the Ramanandi sampraday's evolution in north India. In investigating a pan-Indian phenomenon in a limited area, this article highlights the importance of integrating regional histories within the broader framework of the history of the subcontinent.
How do genealogical accounts in sparsely literate regions come into being, and what forms do they take? What are the factors that help sustain their appeal over centuries of oral transmission? Finally, what happens to their content when the story is committed to writing? This article addresses these questions by examining the evolutionary stages of a martial-historic oral epic from the western Himalayas. In looking into the details of the events that brought a local lineage to dominance, it delineates the multiple strands of bardic composition—acculturative, sociological and mythic—that address social, political and religious issues of relevance to its audience so as to produce an account of the past that is both credible and efficient as a tool for legitimating political dominance. Although largely faithful to the oral tradition, the story's transition to script is shown to produce changes that affect its historicity and its capacity to deliver a persuasive explanation of the past.
This article explores the interaction between a kingdom on the Himalayan frontier and colonial rule. Drawing on recent anthropological research regarding the local expression of political sovereignty through 'government by deity' (devta ka raj), it aims to reinterpret the actions taken by Bashahr's ruling class in relation to their colonial superiors. As British interests in modernisation and forestry challenged the rulers' power base, the latter devised alternative methods in order to retain their authority. The increasing contestation of power in the latter half of the nineteenth century gradually polarised the kingdom's ruling strata between those advocating accommodation to British rule and those bent on retaining their independence. The culmination of this process saw a transformed kingship in early twentieth-century Bashahr.
This article discusses the life-story of Suchet Singh (1841–1896). The ruler of the Himalayan kingdom of Chamba, Singh was deposed by the colonial authorities soon after his accession in 1870, and spent the rest of his life seeking restitution. We argue that the strategies employed by Singh, who combined appeals to the international press with political manoeuvrings in India and Europe, evince a novel type of cosmopolitanism. This new development allowed elites from the colonies to contest the empire by exploiting unprecedented technological advancements in communications and travel alongside the support of a widening liberal lobby in the metropole. While Singh ultimately failed to regain his patrimony and died destitute in exile, his life story demonstrates the capacity of judicious engagement with the public sphere and the cultivation of global support-networks to improve the standing of colonial subjects in the Age of Empire.
