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‘Bravest of the Brave’: Representations of ‘The Gurkha’ in British Military Writings

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 November 2008

Lionel Caplan
Lionel Caplan
Affiliation:
School of Oriental and African Studies
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Extract

The legendary Gurkhas have inspired a considerable literature about their character, quality and exploits under British command. Some years ago, after I returned from fieldwork in an area of east Nepal inhabited by the Limbu people, many of whom had served in Gurkha regiments, I began to read some of this literature for background purposes. It struck me then, although not nearly so forcibly as it did later when I had read Edward Said (1978), and returned to the Gurkha material after a long absence, that these writings have a very distinctive character, constituting a particular mode of ‘orientalist’ discourse.

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Articles
Information
Modern Asian Studies , Volume 25 , Issue 3 , July 1991 , pp. 571 - 597
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Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1991

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