Lionel Caplan

‘Bravest of the Brave’: Representations of ‘The Gurkha’ in British Military Writings

The legendary Gurkhas have inspired a considerable literature about their character, quality and exploits under British command. Some years ago, after I returned from fieldwork in an area of east Nepal inhabited by the Limbu people, many of whom had served in Gurkha regiments, I began to read some of this literature for background purposes. It struck me then, although not nearly so forcibly as it did later when I had read Edward Said (1978), and returned to the Gurkha material after a long absence, that these writings have a very distinctive character, constituting a particular mode of ‘orientalist’ discourse.

Caste and castelessness among South Indian Christians

In the penultimate chapter of Homo hierarchicus Dumont (1970) raises the question of whether there are castes among non-Hindus in India.’ A number of authors have since addressed themselves to the question and it is possible to discern three distinct, although by no means mutually exclusive approaches in the literature. One identifies a set of fundamental empirical properties of Hindu caste systems, and seeks to ascertain the extent to which these can be found outside the Hindu context. Thus, Ahmad, introducing an important collection of papers on Indian Muslims, follows Hutton and Ghurye in selecting a ’minimal set of primary characteristics’ which together constitute ’the real essence of caste among the Hindus’, viz. endogamy, occupational specialisation, hierarchical ordering of groups, and

Gifting and receiving: Anglo-Indian charity and its beneficiaries in Madras:

This article attempts to further the study of gifting in India by examining both the donors and recipients of charity in a contemporary urban context. Considering the case of Anglo-Indians in Madras, many of whom have been the objects of philanthropy since the colonial period, it explores various dimensions of this activity today. For one thing, it notes the highly personalised character of charity, which contributes to the definition and realisation of a moral community of benefactors and their beneficiaries. For another, it seeks to demonstrate how the relief of poverty is a vital ingredient in the definition of Anglo-Indian leadership—as of leadership in India generally—and occupies a significant place in the discourse of community politics. Finally, it seeks to take account of the recipients of philanthropy, exploring some of the ways in which the ideologies and practices surrounding almsgiving bothfragment and unite the poor in their distress, and asks how those in a relationship of almost total economic subjection attempt to assert some control over the conditions of their dependency.

From tribe to peasant? The Limbus and the Nepalese state

This articles context is the distinction inform and meaning of land tenure systems as between tribes and peasants, and the role of the state in the transformation of traditionally inalienable tribal lands into alienable private property. The historical circumstances which have shaped and transformed the economy and culture of a particular tribal population ‐ the Limbus of east Nepal ‐ are examined. There is analysis of the programme of land reform introduced by the Nepalese state, whose chief outcome for the Limbus was the abolition of their kipat tenures and the conversion of their lands into private property. The implications in terms of land and identity are considered, and the outcome of heavy dependence on a small class of high caste Hindus who are now their landlords, creditors and employers is outlined.

Social mobility in metropolitan centres: Christians in Madras city

pansion on industrial, commercial, educational, medical and other fronts. This, together with the Indianization of the higher levels of large-scale bureaucratic organizations established during the colonial period, have created widespread opportunities for social mobility in metropolitan areas. To date, the study of mobility in India has, on the whole, been subsumed in the general consideration of caste. To challenge a widespread view of the system as rigid and inflexible sociologists have shown how attempts -successful or otherwise-to raise a group’s ritual position in a local hier-

Pignède's Les Gurungs: A Commented Summary

was interrupted by his untimely death in 1961 at the age of twenty-nine. The main burden of editing the rnanuscript was assumed by Professor Louis Dumont, who has also written a short biographical note on the author. The Gurungs, a Mongolian people speaking a Tibeto-Burman language, are among the original inhabitants of what is now Nepal. Although many are to be found throughout the country today, their original home lies to the west of Kathmandu, between the Kali-Gandaki and the Buri-Gandaki rivers. At the