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Lecture 2004
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The second Mahesh Chandra Regmi Lecture 2004 was delivered on 18 August by the Siliguri-based historian Dr. Kumar Pradhan on the topic bfhL{lnªdf g]kfnL hflt / hghftLo lrgf/Lsf gof“ c8fgx?
(The People of Nepali Ethnicity in Darjeeling and New Stances on the Issue of Ethnic Identity).
Dr. Pradhan follows the historical trajectory
of the Nepali migration into Darjeeling. Travelers'
accounts and local annals from the 19th and early
20th centuries attest to centuries-old migrations
into the area by today's Nepali ethnic groups.
Similarly, British records filed after the consolidation
of the Gorkha conquest in Nepal in the first two
decades of the 19th century show continuity in
this migratory trend. The district of Darjeeling
was formally established in 1866 and with its
development under British rule, the Nepali population
also increased. Dr. Pradhan notes that the majority
of the Nepali settlers there belonged to the proletariat.
They had fled their villages in Nepal as a result
of feudalism. In Darjeeling, they became daily
labourers, soldiers and small farmers. They laboured
in the tea gardens in thousands.
The majority of these migrants belonged to the
numerous matwalis groups, and despite their ethnic
differences, these settlers forged a common Nepali
ethnic identity. Dr. Pradhan explains how the
process of Nepali identity creation in Darjeeling
differed fundamentally from that in Nepal proper.
In Nepal, the process was state-imposed and ideologically
driven to create a monolingual unity at the expense
of the ethnic cultures. In contrast, the process
in Darjeeling occurred at the grass-roots. It
was a historical development resulting from the
multi-ethnic settlers' efforts to forge a new
identity in their newfound home. One important
factor in this identity formation was the collective
adoption of Nepali by the Darjeeling people as
not just the lingua franca amongst them but also
their first language of choice. In this historical
context, one would assume the Nepali identity
in Darjeeling to be more resilient than that in
Nepal.
The post-1990 ethnic revivalism in Darjeeling,
following a similar resurgence in Nepal, has put
an end to such a notion. Numerous ethnic organizations
have sprung up. Even the tagadhari people now
reportedly have their organizations. There are
suggestions among some that individual groups
campaign for Union educational and job quotas
provided to backward classes, castes and tribes.
Dr. Pradhan reflects on the possible consequences
of this trend on the collective Nepali identity
in Darjeeling. Unlike in Nepal, where a multi-ethnic
society may be possible within the larger state
structure, in Darjeeling, without a collective
Nepali identity, there will exist only fragmented
minority tribes, especially since the Nepalis
in India do not have a separate state or autonomous
region of their own. Dr. Pradhan concludes the
lecture with reasons to suggest such dissolution
may not in fact take place. According to him,
the Nepali language and the common historical
destiny of the Nepali people there are the pivotal
binding forces for the continued existence of
a collective Nepali identity.
Dr. Kumar Pradhan, His Life and Works
Dr. Kumar Pradhan received his PhD in history
from Calcutta University and served in the Department
of History, Darjeeling Government College, from
1966 to 1984 when he took over as the Principal
of Kurseong College, Kurseong. He is the author
of The Gorkha Conquests: The Process and Consequences
of the Unification of Nepal with Particular Reference
to Eastern Nepal (1991/2, OUP).
Dr Pradhan is also an eminent writer and critic
who has edited a number of literary journals and
anthologies and published learned articles in
Nepali. He is the author of A History of Nepali
Literature (1984), published by the Sahitya Akademi,
New Delhi, in the Sahitya Akademi Histories of
Literature Series. His work, Pahilo Pahar (1982),
was awarded the Bhanubhakta Puraskar for 1983
by the Nepali Academy instituted by the Government
of West Bengal. He received the Nepali Sahitya
Sammelan Puraskar awarded by Nepali Sahitya Sammelan
in 2002, and the Aam Smriti Puraskar, an award
given every three years for contributions to the
Nepali language and literature, instituted by
Nepali Sahitya Parishad of Sikkim in 2003.
After retiring from teaching in 1993, he started
publishing and editing Sunchari Samachar the first
Nepali-language daily in India.
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