Nepal's uneasy balancing act

Book review of All Roads Lead North: Nepal's Turn to China

In his book All Roads Lead North, Amish Raj Mulmi presents a finely grained narrative of China’s increasingly insistent imprint on Nepal’s political and economic landscape, placing it within a broader historical and cultural context. He demonstrates that Nepal has an agency independent of its giant neighbour to the south and a distinctive identity that has crystallised over a long period of history. While there are deep and long-standing connections with India, Nepal’s history at the cross-roads of trans-Himalayan trade, its unique and syncretic culture, blending Hindu, Buddhist and Tantric impulses, bestows on the country and its people a remarkably