Book Review: The war that almost changed Nepal’s history

Marcus Potter's book, 'Crisis on the Northern Frontier,' delves into a little-explored period of Nepal's history: the years between the Anglo-Nepali War's conclusion in 1816 and the rise of Jang Bahadur Rana.

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Readers learn that years after the Sugauli Treaty, in 1840, the British came close to another invasion of Nepal.

The updated dissertation, originally from 2003, focuses on 1837 to 1846, a decade when Nepal teetered close to another conflict with the British. Potter reveals that in 1840, Britain considered invading Nepal, a notion not entirely unwelcome by some factions within Nepal's Durbar.

Drawing heavily on correspondence between British residents in Kathmandu, notably Brian Hodgson and Sir Henry Lawrence, and the governor-general in Calcutta, the book offers insight into the East India Company's perception of Nepal's ruling elite. Potter portrays Hodgson not just as an orientalist but as a politician eager for conflict, repeatedly urging an invasion despite living in Kathmandu.

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Potter paints Hodgson the politician, whom he separates from the better-known Hodgson the orientalist, as a man thirsty for conflict.

Contrary to a nation subdued by the 1814-16 war and the subsequent Treaty of Sugauli, Nepal during this period is depicted as still expansionist. This outlook stemmed from the Gorkha conquest that formed the modern nation. The Durbar itself was divided, with factions like 'the war party' pushing for continued assertiveness.

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Nepal, for its part, does not come across as a nation reeling from the Sugauli Treaty and now willing to get along with the Company.