The State and Society in Nepal : Historical Foundations and Contemporary Trends

Contents: Foreword. Preface. I. The setting: 1. Nepali culture and society: an historical overview. II. Ancient and mediaeval Nepal: 2. The land system of the Licchavis in Nepal. 3. The Licchavi and mediaeval period land systems: a sketch. 4. A fresh look at the origin and forms of early temples in the Kathmandu Valley. 5. The divinities of the Karnali Basin. III. State and society: 6. Caste, social mobility and Sanskritisation: a study of Nepal\'s old legal code. 7. Introduction to The caste Hierarchy and the State in Nepal. 8. Caste societies in the state of Nepal: a historical perspective. 9. Nepal: Hindu-tribal interface. IV. Emerging trends in ethnicity: 10. Ethnicity and national integration in Nepal: a statement of the problem. 11. How to tend this garden. 12. Bahuns in the Nepali state. 13. Nation-building, multi-ethnicity, and the Hindu state. 14. The Matawali Chetris of Western Nepal. V. Contemporary sociology of Nepali life: 15. Old age in Nepal: some preliminary observations. 16. Secular India and Hindu Nepal: convergences and divergences. 17. Values in the doldrums: does the west meet the east in Nepal. 18. Emergence of a hill-town: urban development in Nepal\'s rural backhills. Bibliography. Index.

From the foreword: "In the papers collected here the reader will find the collected wisdom of Nepal\'s finest historical anthropologist or anthropological historian of his generation. Most Nepali historians use the facts of the present to illuminate the past, but few do so with the sophistication and sensitivity of Prayag Raj Sharma. He argues for long-term continuities of culture and structure, but he is aware of the methodological pitfalls in doing so. Of the three crucibles he identifies which have made modern Nepali culture what it is today--the far west, the Kathmandu Valley, and the Tarai--Prayag Raj Sharma has carried out first-hand research in the first two areas and he has offered new intellectual syntheses and overviews relevant to all three. . . His lucid prose, his classical sociological approach, his engaged but balanced concern, and his deep appreciation of all aspects of Nepal\'s society and history mean that his corpus will stand for a long time to come as an essential witness to the struggles of post-1950 Nepal to come to terms with its Hindu Past."