In ‘Essays on Nepal: Past and Present,’ Sam Cowan brings to the analysis of contemporary Nepali history and society a rare incisiveness and depth. Most of 19 essays in this volume have already been published in various outlets, and an avid follower of Nepali history and politics would have relished them. Even so, in bringing them together in one volume, Cowan helps us form a useful mosaic of the evolution of modern Nepal and Nepali nationalism, and better understand the country’s recent journey from war to peace.
Travelling to Nepal regularly after his 1994 appointment as Colonel Commandant of the Brigade of Gurkhas, the titular head of Gurkhas in the British Army, and being in regular touch with the reigning Nepali monarchs of the time, Cowan had over the years gathered an acute understanding of the functioning of the modern Nepali state, most notably the post-1990 leg of its long and painful transition from absolute monarchy to full democracy.
This gives Cowan remarkable foresight. As a battle-hardened ex-soldier, Cowan was able to predict how the government-Maoist conflict would have no clear winner and was headed for a stalemate—this, in 2005-06, when many were forecasting a decisive victory for the state following the full engagement of Royal Nepalese Army in the war.
While the Maoists were ill-equipped for an all-out war, Cowan argues, the RNA was fast losing ‘hearts and minds’
While the Maoists were ill-equipped for an all-out war, Cowan argues, the RNA was fast losing ‘hearts and minds’ with its brutal anti-insurgency tactics. Another path-breaking essay in the volume explores Maoist military tactics during the insurgency: for instance, how they prepared for, and learned from, each raid.
Another set of fascinating chapters juxtaposes Prime Minister Chandra Shumsher’s 1906 visit to Great Britain with King Mahendra’s 1960 visit. Chandra Shumsher was successful in finagling an honorary doctorate from the University of Oxford from his obliging British hosts. But King Mahendra was unable to do so, much to his visible chagrin.
Cowen digs into rare Bodleian Library records and National Archives in Kew, London, to give new backgrounds to these two visits, including the doctorate debate. The subtle differences in the treatment of the two Nepali rulers in the UK was, for one, reflective of changing British interests in the pre- and post-colonial worlds.
Other chapters deal with the upshots of old geopolitical rivalries in this ‘cockpit’ of Asia—encompassing topics like Kalapani, Khampas, border firing, infiltration, etc.
Whether Cowan is writing about the Anglo-Nepal war, the civil-military relations, the systemic corruption in government agencies in Nepal, or about one of his countless treks through his beloved country, he brings great insights as an astute outside observer. Again, there is military precision in the writing, the writer’s ability to separate noise from the essential evident in each essay. Now living a retired life, Nepali watchers will be waiting for more from Cowan-the-writer.
Essays on Nepal: Past and Present
Sam Cowan
Genre: Non-fiction
Publisher: Himal Books
Price: Rs 990, Pages: 362
