Kingship and Polity on the Himalayan Borderland : Rajput Identity during the Early Colonial Encounter This book explores the modern transformation of state and society in the Indian Himalaya. Centred on three Rajput led kingdoms during the transition to British rule (c. 1790 1840) and their interconnected histories it demonstrates how border making practices engendered a modern reading of tradition that informs communal identities to date. By revising the history of these mountain kings on the basis of extensive archival textual and ethnographic research it offers an alternative to popular and scholarly discourses that grew with the rise of colonial knowledge. This revision ultimately points to the important contribution of borderland spaces to the fabrication of group identities Frontmatter Table of Contents List of Images Maps and Charts Acknowledgements A Note on Translation and Transliteration Introduction 1. Memories of a Feud: Chinjhiar 1795 2. Alterity and Myth in Himalayan Historiography: Kangra Sirmaur and Gorkha Rule in the West 3. Sati and Sovereignty in Theory and Practise 4. Statecraft at the Edge of Empire: Bilaspur 1795 1835 5. Widowed Ranis Scheming Rajas and the Making of Rajput Tradition Epilogue Appendix: The Jhera of Chinjhiar Bibliography Index