Darjeeling: In Search of People's History of the Hills PDF
Preview Darjeeling: In Search of People's History of the Hills
DARJEELING History has always dealt with people, yet often gazing at the people from the perspectives of the non-people – colonizers, intruders, outsiders and the privileged elite insiders – who seem to have internalized the ‘mainstream’ perspective framed by the outsiders. In this context a group of scholars working on Darjeeling felt that there was a need for an inclusive people’s history of the Darjeeling hills. The present volume tries to fill this gap of the missing voices of the people of the Darjeeling hills and their cultures through re-writing inclusive history of society and culture from ‘below’, not only by de coding the elements that are treated as tradition, but also the trans formations in the realms of arts and ecology. For, the tribal-scape of the Darjeeling hills is not a static/frozen zone and the people (hence, the geo-space) are in continuous transition from traditional beings towards becoming neo-traditional. Accepting history as constantly ‘extra mural’ the objectives of the book are to focus on und ocumented histories related to harmony, intimacy, belongingness and environ mental care and thereby, interact the living with what is often projected as ‘dead’, by rejecting to abide by any given set of references as the final/‘scientific’/authentic and, thereby, opening up with other kinds of historical dialogue with the understated historical items that are accessible in Darjeeling. Dinesh Chandra Ray, Ph.D., is presently Assistant Professor in History, Southfield College, Darjeeling. As Joint Editor he edited Dis courses on Darjeeling Hills (2013). Srikanta Roy Chowdhury, Ph.D., is presently Assistant Professor in History, Southfield College, Darjeeling. He has published From Bān< gā lār Itihāsa to Bā<ngālīr Itihāsa: History in Making (2007) and edited 1857: Text & Beyond (2013) and Darjeeling Hills University & the Prospects of Higher Education in the Hills (2020). Darjeeling In Search of People’s History of the Hills Edited by DINESH CHANDRA RAY & SRIKANTA ROY CHOWDHURY MANOHAR First published 2023 by Routledge 4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN and by Routledge 605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2023 Dinesh Chandra Ray, Srikanta Roy Chowdhury and Manohar Publishers The right of the contributors to be identified as authors of this work has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. Print edition not for sale in South Asia (India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan or Bhutan) British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN: 9781032424453 (hbk) ISBN: 9781032424460 (pbk) ISBN: 9781003362791 (ebk) DOI: 10.4324/9781003362791 Typeset in Adobe Garamond 11/13 by Kohli Print, Delhi 110051 Dedicated to the People of the Darjeeling Hills Contents Introduction DINESH CHANDRA RAY and SRIKANTA ROY CHOWDHURY 11 PART I: THEORETICAL CONCEPTS AND CONCERNS 1. Do ‘People’ Exist?: The Problems of Writing People’s History TANKA B. SUBBA 27 2. Darjeeling: In Search of People’s History ICCHIMUDDIN SARKAR 35 PART II: DARJEELING HILLS AND THE COLONIZERS 3. A Discourse on Control, Discipline and Punishment: Prisons in Colonial Darjeeling (1835-1947) DAHLIA BHATTACHARYA 49 4. Transforming Land and Landscape in Colonial Darjeeling: Readings in History TAHITI SARKAR 67 5. Popularizing Western Sports in Darjeeling Hills: The Context of Educational Institutions AWASHES SUBBA 89 6. Tourism and Recreation in Colonial Darjeeling: A Social History of Leisure SUMAN MUKHERJEE 99 8 Contents PART III: PEOPLE AND THE CONSTRUCTION OF AN IDENTITY 7. Multiple Imaginations: Exploration of the Different Notions of Homeland Present in the Darjeeling Hills RAHUL GANGULY 117 8. The Formation of Nepal, Nepali and Gurkha in the Colonial Discourse DEEPJOY KATUWAL 129 9. Contextualizing Nepali Nationalism in the History of Darjeeling: Issues and Challenges SOMOSHREE DE 155 10. Geographies of Exclusion, Identity and Gorkhaland Movement BISHAL CHHETRI 173 PART IV: PLURALITY AND SYNCRETISM 11. Cultural Pluralism in Darjeeling and Kalimpong: Reflections from Oral History KISHAN HARIJAN 201 12. Christianity and Indigenization: Sociocultural Impact on the Lepchas of Darjeeling Hills DEWAKAR THATAL 217 13. Politics of Ethnic Solidarity: A Post-colonial Analysis in Darjeeling Hills and sub-Himalayan Region of North Bengal NIRMAL CHANDRA ROY 241 14. Cultural Synthesis of Darjeeling Concerning Leisure during Colonial Rule VIVEK THAPA 251 Contents 9 PART V: POLITICS OF REPRESENTATION: LANGUAGE, ARTS AND LITERATURE 15. Origin and Growth of Nepali Language in India: An Exploratory Survey SUSHMA RAI 279 16. The Third Space in the Tea Garden Literature: Revisiting Select Works from Darjeeling NIMA DOMA LAMA and RATHIKA SUBBA 303 17. Birth of ‘Gorkha Janapustakalaya’ in Kurseong: An Outcome of People’s Consciousness during the Colonial Period ILLORA SHARMA 317 18. Ethnic and Cultural Identity in Music: Study of the Ethnomusic of Some of the Ethnic People of Darjeeling SUDASH LAMA and ANAND SHERPA 329 PART VI: HISTORIES FROM THE PERIPHERY 19. The Unwritten History of the Balmiki Community in Darjeeling Hills: History from ‘Below’ LEKHRAJ BALMIKI 347 20. Misery of the Tea Garden Workers: Immediate Effect of the Garden Shutdown SAURAV CHETTRI 361 List of Contributors 373 Index 375
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