The history of the expansion of Protestant Christianity among the Nepali diaspora

Abstract

The history of the Protestant Christian church among Nepali people started while Nepal was still a "closed" country, among a diaspora community across the eastern border in Darjeeling, then a part of British India. This thesis documents the history of the expansion of Christianity throughout the Nepali diaspora as it spread to disparate parts of India and beyond. In order to trace that history, it was also necessary to historically trace the dispersion itself and its contacts with Christianity.The first chapter deals with the basic question of "Who is a Nepali?" and the historico-sociological forces that led to widespread external migration out of Nepal. Then a two-tiered region by region historical analysis is made of the Nepali diaspora itself in the context of its receptor communities and the influence of Christianity among it, resulting in the establishment of Nepali Protestant Christian churches. This process is traced from its early beginnings in Darjeeling on through the Eastern Himalayan states of Sikkim and Bhutan and into the Duars, and along the relentless eastward migration trail into North East India and Burma. The analysis then looks at the regions to the south and west of Nepal in three broadly defined blocks: the North India plains of North Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, the Western Himalayas with emphasis on the UP hills and Himachal Pradesh, and urban India. A separate chapter documents the spread of Christianity among Gurkha soldiers, particularly within the British Brigade of Gurkhas. Throughout attention is given to the agents of Christian expansion and other factors inherent in that expansion, the particular ethnicity of the Nepali most affected, their links back to the "mother church" in Darjeeling and with the church in Nepal. Finally, contrasts concerning where and how Christianity has spread among the Nepali diaspora are drawn between the regions.