SINHAS Vol 28 No 2 Ajapa-Sharma

Deserting Gurkhas: Sovereign Claims, Extradition, and Migration between India and Nepal (1885–1925)

Abstract
This article narrates a history of the diplomatic negotiations over the extradition of deserting Gurkha soldiers between Nepal and the British India. It reads the Nepali government’s refusal to enter into an agreement for handing over Gurkha deserters to British India as a mechanism of retaining the subjecthood of a valuable labor force to the Nepali state. Locating desertion in the wider history of Nepali labor migration, this article challenges racialized conceptions of Gurkha “loyalty” and “bravery,” and charts the multiple avenues of employment pursued by Nepali subjects in India. Exploring how discursive claims over Gurkhas formed an integral part of Nepal’s negotiation over power with the British, this article contributes to the literature on Gurkhas as currency for Nepali sovereignty.

Keywords: Desertion, Gurkha, labor migration, extradition, Darjeeling, sovereignty