Kingship and Polity on the Himalayan Borderland: Rajput Identity during the Early Colonial Encounter

Cover
Table of Contents
		Acknowledgements
		A Note on Translation and Transliteration
		Introduction
	1	Memories of a Feud: Chinjhiar, 1795
		1.1	The Bilaspur-Kangra Rivalry, c. 1750-1795
		1.2	The Bard’s Tale
		1.3	Enter Sirmaur
		1.4	The Rajputization of Pahari Kingship: Narratives of Chinjhiar, c. 1900
	2 Alterity and Myth in Himalayan Historiography: Kangra, Sirmaur, and Gorkha Rule in the West
		2.1	The Rise of the Katoch Legend
		2.2	Beyond the Bilaspur-Kangra Rivalry: Sirmaur, 1795-1815
		2.3	Explaining the Silence about Gorkha Rule in West Himalayan Histories
	3	Sati and Sovereignty in Theory and Practise
		3.1	The Multiple Roles of Royal Women, c. 1775-1825
		3.2	The Guleri Rani of Sirmaur
		3.3	Rethinking Sati and Women’s Agency in British India
		3.4	European and Pahari Rajput Appropriations of Sati
	4	Statecraft at the Edge of Empire: Bilaspur, 1795-1835
		4.1	Beyond the Rajput Fold: Brahmins, ascetics, and monastic advisors
		4.2	The Ends of ‘Empire from Below’: Kot Dhar, 1819
		4.3	Kingship Recalibrated: Kharak Chand’s Bilaspur, 1824-35
	5	Widowed Ranis, Scheming Rajas, and the Making of ‘Rajput Tradition’
		5.1	A Marriage of Interests: the Sirmauri ranis in Bilaspur
		5.2	Kingship and its Practise: Bilaspur, Sirmaur, and the ‘Rajput State’
		5.3	The Ranis’ Revolution: Bilaspur, 1839-40
		Epilogue
		Appendix: The Jhera of Chinjhiar
		Bibliography
		Index
List of Images, Maps and Charts
	Image 1 The Kangra Valley, looking west from the northeast (Mata Maheshwari temple and fort, Chota Bhangal)
	Image 2 Kangra Fort (Kangra Kot)
	Image 3 Bilaspur, the view towards the south from Garh Chinjhiar
	Image 4 The highlands of inner Sirmaur
	Image 5 Raja Kirat Prakash of Sirmaur (b. 1747, r. 1757-73/4)
	Image 6 A Nath yogi visiting a Rajputni harem in Chamba
	Image 7 Raja Sansar Chand Katoch II alias Pahari Padhsah (b. 1765, r. 1775-1823); Kangra c. 1840
	Image 8 Pahari Rajputnis; Guler c. 1830
	Image 9 The Sutlej River Valley near Rampur-Bashahr
	Image 10 A Sikh sardar, possibly Desa Singh Majitha, receiving a deputation of Hill Chiefs; Guler c. 1775
	Image 11 Portrait of a Prince, Bilaspur c. 1700
	Image 12 Pahari warrior-peasants; Punjab Hills (Kangra?), late nineteenth century
	Map 1 Rajput Kingdoms of the Western Himalaya
	Map 2 Sirmaur
	Map 3 Bilaspur
	Genealogical chart