From ‘Unmodern Sherpas’ to Madhesi Cricketers: Towards a History of Nepali Sport

Abstract

In a recent issue of this journal, Kausik Bandyopadhyay (International Journal of the History of Sport 22, no. 4 (2005): 709) lamented the dearth of scholarship that considers sport in India to be a ‘serious intellectual discipline’. His observation is ever more fitting for India's neighbor to the north, Nepal, where even ‘popular sports histories’ are lacking. The one exception would be the global interest in Himalayan mountaineering. As a result of this imbalance, mountaineering has come to represent Nepali sport. (For example, the sport-focused July 2007 issue of the Kathmandu-based monthly, Himal SouthAsia, perpetuated this myopic view of mountaineering as Nepali sport. Amid the articles about polo, kite flying, wrestling, football and, of course, cricket, in India, Sri Lanka and Pakistan; there was an article on mountaineering in Nepal and a brief sub-article about archery in Nepal, Bhutan, and India.) Written primarily by Western climbers, the literature of mountaineering history has tended to reproduce an orientalist image of Nepal as ‘unmodern’ and inhabited by isolated and autonomous ‘ethnic groups’. The focus on mountaineering, unfortunately, obscures the surging popularity of sports, such as cricket, football, and martial arts, which although not historically associated with Nepal, have captured the imagination of youth, fans, and media. Because of the dearth of scholarly interest in challenging the central position of mountaineering, the following article serves as a call to scholars to consider the contribution of sport in Nepal. I argue that a more inclusive study of Nepali sport promises valuable insights for our understanding of Nepali history and nationalism.