Chapter I, the Introduction, gives details of the original Nepali materials on which this thesis is based, and indicates the system of dating which has been utilised in fixing an absolute chronology. Chapters II and III contain English translations of Prthvinarayan Sah's memoirs (Divya upades) and letters. Chapter IV considers the genealogy of the Sah kings of Nepal. The various claims which have been put forward in this connection are stated and assessed, and a final judgment attempted. Chapters V-IX inclusive follow in chronological order the career of Prthvinarayan Sah's. His boyhood and early career (Chapter V) are followed by a detailed account of his various campaigns from the date of his becoming King of Gorkha, 1742, to the position his forces were in before the final conquest of the Nepal Valley (Chapters VI-VIII). Chapter IX begins with the capture of the three cities in the Valley and describes Prthvinarayan Sah' s attempts to extend his kingdom, the first to the vest proving abortive, the second to the east being successful. At his death in 1775 Prthvinarayan Sah' s kingdom extended from Gorkha in the west to the boundaries of Sikkim and Bhutan in the east. The final chapter attempts an assessment of Prthvinarayan Sah' sas a man, a soldier and a statesman, and includes a number of measures for the maintenance and enrichment of the resources of his kingdom which he

This thesis presents an argument for examining the politics of postconflict and demonstrates how the new, and uniquely, politicized contestations in a post-CPA Nepal have contributed to continued local-level violence. Based on one year of ethnographic fieldwork in Nepal, this thesis examines violence in the postconflict period, specifically in the central-eastern tarai region between the years 2007 and 2009. The thesis asks: How was the local level violence that persisted after the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement understood by conflict actors and civilians in the central-eastern tarai? Furthermore, how do NSAG members and civilians experience that violence? More broadly, how are social relationships being negotiated in the postconflict period and how have such transformations impacted on individual and collective lives in the central-eastern tarai region of Nepal? The study focuses on the border as the unit of analysis and examines the relationship between borders and belonging in Nepal. The study proposes that the key variable that explains lowintensity violence in the central-eastern tarai is the proposal of ethnofederalism. It analyzes how the formation of the nation and relations between the state and central-eastern tarai residents impacted on NSAG recruitment and activism. The study offers new empirical data by presenting an ethnography of NSAG recruitment and participation as well as narratives of civilian perceptions of, and experiences with, violence. This study aims to fill a gap in the conflict recurrence literature which assumes that the actors who are involved in conflict violence and 'postconflict' violence are one and the same. The main theoretical contribution of this thesis is the finding that new actors are involved in low-intensity violence in the 'postconflict' period in the central-eastern tarai region of Nepal.

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This dissertation presents a detailed ethnobotanical documentation of the knowledge and use of medicinal plants by the inhabitants of a Tamang hill village in central Nepal. Based on 45 in-depth open-ended qualitative interviews and 115 household surveys, it shows that this knowledge and usage have altered in response to changes in knowledge resulting from increasing links with the outside world. Traditional domestic medical practice is in flux as a result of the introduction of allopathic medicines. The construction of a road to the village has changed agricultural practices and new crops have been introduced for sale. Basic needs which were previously met from the local forests now include commercial goods. Trading in plants is a way of raising the money needed to satisfy them. This can result in unsustainable practices in the utilisation of specific plant resources. The exploitation of plants is also influenced by government officials both at central level where policy is formulated and at district level where it is implemented. Policy and practice are influenced by domestic and foreign traders, and by foreign donor agencies. These processes are illustrated by a case study of sunakhari. This orchid is in high demand in China. The arrival of Chinese traders in the village altered local perceptions of this plant and patterns of behaviour. This study analyses the dynamics of the sunakhari trade and the complexity of its regulation. Corrupt practices in the forestry sector are revealed. The nature and operation of such practices in the exploitation of forest products is examined and its causes are identified. It argues that distribution of ethnobotanical knowledge at the three administrative levels influences the politics of knowledge and the structure of corruption. A map of ethnobotanical knowledge is created making apparent connections and interrelationships between factors underlying the ethnobotanical reality of contemporary Nepal.

This thesis is an ethnographic account of social change, triggered by the civil war in Nepal (1996-2006). Based on an ethnographic fieldwork in the village of Thabang, the war-time capital of the Maoist base area, this thesis explores the transformative impact of the conflict on people’s everyday lives and on the constitution of key hierarchies structuring Nepali society. Rather than focusing on violence and fear – the commonly researched themes in warzones – the thesis examines people’s everyday social and embodied practices during the war and its aftermath, arguing that these remain central to our understanding of war-time social processes and the ways in which they shape the contours of post-conflict society. By focusing on mundane practices – such as meat-eating and alcohol-drinking, raising livestock and worshipping gods – the thesis demonstrates how change at the micro-level is illustrative of a profound transformation in the social structures constituting Nepali society. Theoretically, the thesis seeks to understand how the situation of war re-orders society: in this case, how people in the Maoist base area interiorized formerly transgressive norms and practices, and how these practices were normalized in the post-conflict environment. The research revealed that much of the change triggered by the conflict came as a result of the ‘exceptional’ times of war and the necessity to follow ‘rules that apply in times of crisis’. Thus, in adopting transgressive practices during the conflict, people were responding to the expediency of war-time rather than following Maoist war-time policies or ‘propaganda’. Furthermore, while adopting hitherto unimaginable practices and making them into habitual action, people transformed the rigid social structures, without necessarily intending to do so. The thesis puts particular stress on the centrality of unintended consequences in social change, the power of embodied practice in making change real, and the ways in which agency and structure are mutually constitutive.