Nepal - An Historical Miscellany

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The volume, Nepal: An Historical Miscellany contains materials on different aspects of Nepal's social and economic history, as well as the religious and cultural life of the Nepali people. It is divided into six parts as follows: Law and Administration, Caste and Social Life, Land and Agriculture, Forest and Environment, Women's Problems, and Religion and Culture. The emphasis is on the nineteenth century, although a few items belong to the late eighteenth and early twentieth century. The reader is requested to bear it in mind that is not a finished study within a definite conceptual framework but only a discrete compilation of primary and secondary materials which, I believe, will be useful for scholars of different disciplines and interests, thus partially liberating Nepali historiography from the confines of political intrigues wars and diplomatic relations.

Mahesh Chandra Regmi (b. December 1929) has been described as "a truly unique phenomenon in the intellectual and scholarly community of Nepal". In the opinion of the British scholar, the publication of a work by Regmi, Nepal's formost scholarly", is "invarialbly and event of great significance for students of Nepal. In 1977, Mahesh Regmi received the Ramon Magsaysay award for Journalism, literature and Creative Communication Arts" in recognition of his chronicling of Nepal's past and present, enabling his people to discover their origins and delineating national options. Mahesh Regmi also received the POLSAN (Political Science Association of Nepal) in 1998. "In deep appreciation of the pioneer role played in promoting research in political economy and honorable contribution made in the field of the economic history of Nepal related to Land Tenure and Journalism especially issue and event documentation." He has so far published about 14 titles, including Land Tenure and Taxation in Nepal (4 vols, 1963 -68), A Study in Nepali Economic History, 1768 -1846 (1971), Londownership in Nepal (1976), Thatched Huts and Stucco Palaces: Peasents and Landlords in 19th Century Nepal (1979), The State and Economic Surplus (1984), Kings and Political Leaders of the Gorkhali Empire, 1768-1814 (1995), Imperial Gorkha, An Accont of Gorkhali Rule in Kumaun, 1791 -1815 (1999).

This volume, Nepal: An Historical Miscellany, contains materials on different aspects of Nepal's social and economic history, as well as the religious and cultural life of the Nepali people. It is divided into six parts as follows: Law and Administration, Caste and Social Life, Land and Agriculture, Women's Problems, Forests and the Environment and Religion and Culture. The emphasis is on the nineteenth century, although a few items belong to the late eighteenth and early twentieth centuries.

The sources used in the compilation include selected laws from the Muluki Ain (Legal Code), first promulagated in 1854 after the establishment of Rana rule, and its subsequent editions, as well as official notifications and proclamations, regulations, administrative orders, etc. transcribed from the records in the possession of Records Office (Lagat Phant) of the Department of Land Revenue in the Ministry of Finance, and the library was partially destroyed by fire in 1972. The Lagat Phant records have similarly been a victim of carelessness, fire accidents and the depredations of rain water, rats and termites. The makes the materials I have been able to transcribe from those places even more important.

The reader is requested to bear it in mind that this is not a finished study within a definit conceptual framework but only a discrete compilation of primary and secondary materials which, I believe, will be useful for scholars of different materials which, I believe will be useful for scholars of different disciplines and interests, thus partially liberating Nepali historiography from the confines of political intrigues, wars and diplomatice relations.