The Comprehensive History of the Nepalis in North East India (Set of 3 Volumes)

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This second volume of the book entitled The Comprehensive History of the Nepalis in North East India, traces the history of Nepalis in the North East India in its entirety starting from the earliest migration and settlement including their socio-cultural, economic and political development, phase by phase. It deals with the two integral aspects of civil and military life of the Nepalis, unfolding the spectacular history of valour and sacrifice of the Gorkha soldiers which has no parallel anywhere in the world. It gives a riveting account of the brave Gorkhas and their supreme sacrifice of life in fighting against the British army, as an important segment of the Azad Hind Fouj of Subhas Chandra Bose for liberation of mother India. The book also throws light on the exemplary contribution made by the civilian Nepalis of Assam towards Mahatma Gandhi's Swadeshi campaign, Civil Disobedience Movement and the Bharat Chhodo Andolan of India. Referring to their socio-economic life, this book presents before the readers a picturesque landscape of Nepalis' socio-cultural milieu and at the same time narrates about their economic and political issues and perspectives.

K.K. Muktan, a retired bureaucrat- turned author, was born at Behali, district Biswanath, Assam in 1931. While still a school student he participated in the Quit India movement of 1942 became a political sufferer. He graduated from St. Anthony's College, Shillong in 1953 and completed M.A. in Economics from the Allahabad University in 1954. He joined Assam Civil Service (ACS) in 1960. On bifurcation of Meghalaya from Assam, he was absorbed in the Meghalaya Civil Service (MCS) in 1975. During his long service in the state of Assam and Meghalaya he worked as District Sessions Judge, Director and Joint Secretary of Agriculture, Veterinary and Fisheries. On his retirement from service in 1989, he turned back to his old predilection of literary activities.

Having been associated with socio-economic developmental works throughout his service life, he is deeply interested in the dynamics of Indian society and has dedicated his retired life in research work on socio-economic life of the Nepalis in the North East until his ripe old age of 90 years. He has to his credit a number of books which include The Legendary Gorkhas, Planning For Retirement, The Gorkhas in the Freedom Struggle of India, Indo-Nepalese Socio-cultural Dimension, Origin and History of Tamang People and many articles in Newspapers and Magazines.

Two hundred years have elapsed ever since the Nepalis started to come and settle down in Assam. It was in 1817, to be precise, that the Gorkhas of the Cuttack Legion (later named as the Assam Light Infantry) had for the first time set their feet on Assam's soil during the wake of Burmese war. Since that time till now a great many political and socio-economic changes have taken place in the North East. But it is a sad commentary that till today the Nepalis of the North East have no written history of their own. A few piecemeal and scattered articles that are available in books and magazines cannot be equated with the name of history. They can, at best, be used as substratum for reconstruction of history after proper verification of their historicity. A history is a chronological and systematic narrative of the past events, recorded with critical analysis, evaluation and interpretation of both primary and secondary sources. Historian must read and examine every source with abundant caution and care by assessing and filtering every material fact that come before him. History is a must for every nation, nationality or a community. A community without history is like a boat without oar. For history provides us with the knowledge of the past which is essential for our guidance towards the future, because the present and the future necessarily grow out of the past. In short, "history is a dialogue between the past and the present" (E.H. Carr) and a means to chart out the future plan of action. Highlighting the importance of history a noted journalist, Nar Bahadur Dahal wrote in his foreword to-Nauduar Diganta Samma of Padam Dhakal, as follows:

"The history of the Nepalis of Assam has not yet been written properly. Not to speak of history, even the booklets or articles that might provide a basis for our future history, are found scattered here and there in miniscule. This has proved for us to be a pinching void. The more the time passes, the more will our resource materials pass into oblivion. The place names and the landmarks that were created by the sweat of our forebears would vanish in the thin air. Our glorious success stories would turn into mere folk tales. The great men of our society who deserve veneration would remain buried under the limbo of time. Therefore, if we do not prepare the substratum of our history today, our future history would really be a misleading one. Such history would miss out the reference of many an illustrious man and will amount to be merely a history of dead men."

I feel honoured to have been asked to write the foreword to this book whose author is one of the most admirable persons I have ever met. In his eighties now, he is not only mentally fit, but also physically agile. With three beautiful and brilliant daughters, one worthy son, and several grandchildren he could not have asked for more in life, although it was sad that he lost his wife some years ago.

I have read almost every book that he has published during the past three decades or so that I have been living in Shillong. His books are written in simple language which almost everyone can understand. What one fails to understand is where he gets so much energy to write one book after another and to tap the archival sources, which is very challenging to say the least, given the way they are maintained in India. As someone working on the Nepalis of Northeast India myself, I know how difficult it is to collect relevant historical and archival materials related to the Nepalis of the region. I have also noticed that in all his books he has tried his best to argue that the Nepalis or Gorkhas, as some would like to call themselves, are also Indians and they have contributed to India's freedom movement, India's fight against her enemies, protecting its porous and perilous borders, etc. Yet he does not ever say that they need a better deal from the Government of India and from fellow Indian citizens, which I say they do. In other words, he appears to be like the lone man with a torch in hand trying his best to remove the darkness surrounding the Indian Nepalis, to remove misconceptions and myths about them and their nationality in the minds of most Indian citizens And in doing so he self-consciously remains as objective as one can ever be.

Migrating from one place to another is the natural proclivity of mankind. The history of human civilization is an unbroken story of people's movement from one country to another in search of greener pasture. Ever since time immemorial people have been migrating from country to country or place to place for various reasons. The history of the Nepalese immigration into the North East India is a case in point. So also is the case of the Aryan's migration into India during first century. Migrations are either voluntary or forced and the factors that induce human being to wander from place to place are many and varied which may be economic, religious, social, political or environmental. Among them the economic reason for seeking a better livelihood is by far the most compelling factor of majority cases of human migrations.

Like many other countries of the world India has witnessed some of the world's largest voluntary and involuntary migrations. While the mighty Himalayan ranges in the north and north-east formed a natural barrier, the passes in the north-west mountains such as Bolan, Gomal and Khyber passes were the key-holes that were used by the Aryans, followed by the Iranians, the Greeks and hordes of other races like the Bactrians, Scythians, Huns, Turks etc. who migrated into India many centuries ago. The fertile plains and bracing climate of the Saptasindhu must have attracted the Aryans who traversed the rugged Afghanistan and crossed over the chilly Hindukush to reach India. In course of time, the flourishing trade and agriculture in the Indo-Gangetic valley led to the birth of prosperous Mauryan empire during circa 320 BC.

Book's Contents and Sample Pages