ABSTRACT
As well as invigorating older models of study, the advent of transnational history has encouraged alternative focuses for scholarly work. Amongst these are the histories of geographical spaces, in particular border regions, which have fitted uncomfortably amongst orthodox histories of the formation of nation-states and the modern international order. In the midst of their respective state building drives of the nineteenth century, the Himalayan border between colonial India and Nepal (see Figure 6.1) remained a relatively unmanageable terrain, constantly threatening the quest of these states for sovereign power within a closed geographical territory. As these ruling powers began to take steps towards modern statehood, the protection of trade, control of movement, and concerns surrounding rebellious networks became increasingly important issues. Once it was clear that neat lines of sovereignty could not be drawn across the Himalayan border, the region became a site of power play between these emerging neighboring states and the individuals that transgressed the thresholds. These issues of security and power consistently spilled over ill-defined boundaries as criminals and men of “bad character” resided in or traveled through this borderland to escape punishment. The existence of such escapees put these states in a position where they had to balance the protection of their own carefully constructed perceptions of sovereign power through the retrieval of the absconders, with action that respected the sovereignty of their neighbors from whose territory they needed to be retrieved. Piecing together information from the correspondence between the Resident of Nepal and the British Government of India, this chapter seeks to offer insight into the “specific cultures of governance” possessed by these states, drawn out through an analysis of their behavior in this borderland (Michael 2012, 3). The chapter will seek to outline how the priorities of Nepal and colonial India converged and clashed through attempts to pacify this region, particularly in relation to the formation of laws of extradition and the policing and maintenance of their borders. In doing this, it is also important to highlight the emergence of an incipient language of modernity in relation to law and punishment on the international stage. Through this it will be shown how quickly this emerging language of modernity was manipulated as a tool to sway larger political battles.
