The Gurkhas and colonial knowledge

Abstract

This thesis examines the origins and development of martial race discourse, the belief that Gurkhas were more warlike than other Indian 'races' , and their selective recruitment into the British Indian Army during the early nineteenth century. It seeks to reconcile the relationship between discourse and material forces by interrogating 'orientalism', examining the way in which colonial knowledge was gathered by British officers and surveyors and the relationship between this knowledge, military experience of the Gurkhas and colonial policy. It focuses on the shift from pre-war stereotypes of the 'barbarous' and 'insolent' Gurkha to those of a martial race; manly, brave, hardy, chivalrous and faithful, by examining the British discourses that developed on the Anglo- Nepalese War (1814-1816). ' Orientalism' and the construction of martial race theory was mediated by environmentalism, literary tropes of the day, military agendas and changing conceptions of masculinity, as 'martiality' became inextricably associated with manliness within the Army.