ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses on Indian Nepalis' diasporic consciousness according to vernacular and scientific discourses. The arrival of Nepalis in Assam, mainly as graziers on the Brahmaputra islands and as land clearers, was encouraged by the British colonial power in order to populate a region with low population densities. When Indian Nepalis get hassled by common Indian people or at the border, they tend to over-emphasise their Indian identity and ignore the long historical, linguistic, religious, and cultural linkages with the Nepal Nepalis. According to oral histories, most forefathers of Nepalis settled in Bokakhat arrived in Assam from the end of the 19th century to the 1920s. In the case of Bokakhat Nepalis, inheritance of language, culture, and so on and roots in Nepal are not sufficient for the diasporic Nepalis to make a legitimate claim. The path towards hybridity, de-territorialisation and diasporic forms of belonging is not the one adopted by Indian Nepalis.
