Thatched Huts & Stucco Palaces: Peasants and Landlords in 19th Century Nepal
Author: Mahesh C Regmi
Category: Nepal   
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About  .

The Book

This is the first volume of a projected two-volume study on Nepal’s economic history during the nineteenth century.

The study is based on an approach to history that recognizes it as “a dialogue between the past and present.” In as much as economic development is the leading national slogan in Nepal today, it makes an attempt to explore some of the historical and institutional constraints facing such development.

Thatched Huts and Stucco Palaces,
therefore, concentrates on relations between the state and the landowning elites on the one hand and peasants on the other, in order to identify those parasitic groups and the form and nature of their share in agricultural production.

Essentially empirical in nature, the book will prove to be of equal interest to scholars studying in different aspects of Nepal’s economy, society and politics. In particular, it may help explain how the Ranas were able to sustain their family rule for over a century, and why efforts towards agrarian reform in Nepal since the 1950s have not had the desired measure of success.


Mahesh Chandra Regmi (b. December1929) has been described as “a truly unique phenomenon in the intellectual and scholarly community of Nepal.” In the opinion of one British scholor, the publication of a work by Regmi, “Nepal’s foremost scholar”, is ~invariably an event of great significance for students of Nepal.” His published works include the following:

1. Some Aspects of Land Reform in Nepal,
Kathmandu, 1960.
2. Land Tenure and Taxation in Nepal:
Vol. I: The State as Landlord: Raikar Tenure, Institute of International Studies, University of Galifonia, Berkeley, 1963.
3. do. Vol. lI: The Land Grant System: Birta Tenure, do. 1964
4. do Vol. IlI: The Jagir, Rakam and Kipat Tenure Systems, do. 1965.
5. do Vol. IV: Religious and Charitable Endowments: Guthi Tenure, do. 1968.
6. A Study in Nepali Economic History, 1768-1846, Adroit Publishers, New Delhi
7. Landownership in Nepal, University of California Press, Berkeley, Los Angeles, and London, 1976.
8. Thatched Huts and Stucco Palaces: Peasants and landlords in 19th Century Nepal, Adroit Publishers, and New Delhi.
9. Readings in Nepali Economic History, Kishor Vidya Niketan, Varanasi, India~ 1979.
10. The State and Economic Surplus: Production, Trade, and Resource Mobilization in Early 19th Century Nepal, Nath Publishing House, Varanasi, India, 1984.
11. An Economic History of Nepal, 1846-1901, Nath Publishing House, Varanasi, India, 1987.
12. Kings and Political Leaders of the Gorkhali Empire, 1768-1814, Orient Longman, Hyderabad, India, 1995.
13. Imperial Gorkha, An Account of Gorkhali Rule in Kumaun, 1791-1815, Adroit Publishers, New Delhi, 1999.

In 1977, Mahesh Regmi received the Ramon Magsaysay Award for journalism, Literature, and Creative Communication Arts “in recognition of his chronicling of Nepal’s past and present, enabling his people to discover their origins and delineating national options.” He has also received the 1998 POLSAN (Political Science Association of Nepal). Award in deep appreciation of (his) pioneer role in promoting research and (his) honorable contribution in the field of the economic history of Nepal.”