ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the ways in which Nepali cultural renaissance in Darjeeling influenced the three eastern Himalayan kingdoms of Nepal, Sikkim and Bhutan. It aims to understand the reasons for a hundred-year-old demand of regional autonomy raised by the Nepalese, which has remained unfulfilled. As the politically more experienced and organizationally more mature operatives, this chapter explores the ways in which Darjeeling has influenced the political events and democratic movements in Nepal, Sikkim and Bhutan. It further explores if the failure of AIGL in its central objective to secure Darjeeling as an autonomous political entity in India has influenced the course of political movements in the three Himalayan kingdoms for the Nepali-speaking people.
