The Intersection of ‘Hindu’, ‘Independence,’ and ‘Sovereignty’ in the Nepali Public Discourse of the 1920s

Abstract

This study analyzes the public discourse on Nepal around the 1923 treaty which rested on its central theme of reassuring Nepal’s independence and sovereignty in the comity of nation-states, studying Nepali national imaginative elements of statehood that unravels intricacies of history for the present discourse of Nepali state in a substantial way. The aim is to unpack the treaty’s reception and assess its consequences in shaping Nepali ‘state’ discourse, shedding fresh light on a historical event that has remained largely understudied. Once a treaty is signed, it becomes public property, capable of igniting change in the behavior of the signing nations or the lives of their citizens, or both. Examining how such changes manifested in the public discourse in Nepal and beyond after the 1923 treaty provides valuable insights into the formative democratic space in the country. For this, it employs a triangulation of primary sources from Nepal's domestic discourse as chronicled in the Gorkhapatra. The second set of data is drawn from the sporadic and emergent Nepali media landscape of the 1920s, primarily based in India. Furthermore, a third set of sources is assembled from English-language newspapers from India and the United Kingdom that reported on the 1923 treaty as it unfolded. This approach, hitherto unapplied in the study of this treaty, provides a comprehensive understanding of the public discourse surrounding it.