ABSTRACT
Brian Hodgson’s reputation today rests primarily on his contributions as a pioneering scholar of Nepal and the Himalayas. His academic work has stood the test of time, in some cases amazingly well, as other chapters in this collection demonstrate. Throughout his years in Nepal he was, however, first and foremost a diplomat and politician, and here, whilst the difficulties he faced and the energy and conviction he brought to them are undeniable, his role was the subject of great controversy at the time and has continued to be so. One of his earliest critics was Henry Lawrence, his successor at Kathmandu and a man who, ironically, had in common with Hodgson a wider outlook and a more sympathetic attitude towards the people of South Asia than were normal among the East India Company’s servants at that time. This account of Hodgson’s diplomatic career and the debate surrounding it is largely condensed from the author’s earlier study of mid-nineteenth-century Nepalese politics.1
