Descriptive Catalogue of Master\'s Theses in History

From the Preface: Department of History (presently known as Central Department of History) at Tribhuvan University as established in 1959 A.D. to impart knowledge of history in Nepal. This department has laid priority on teaching history as well as research. It offered a course on ‘Research Methodology’ at the Master’s level before many other department of history to produce historians well-versed in modern research techniques.

In the present curriculum of history, thesis writing is an optional subject. But many students prefer to write thesis. However, lack of coordination and absence of an integrated catalogue of theses led to poor dissemination of knowledge. It prevented scholars and others to know about those theses. Altogether 418 M.A. theses in history are recorded in four campuses – Central Department of History, Kirtipur, Prithivi Narayan Campus, Pokhara, Thakur Ram Campus, Birganj and Post Graduate Campus, Biratnagar.

In view of the fact that there is no effective recording system of Master’s theses in history accepted by four post graduate departments at Kirtipur, Pokhara, Birganj and Biratnagar, an attempt has been made to compile a descriptive information regarding the complete record of M.A. theses in history. Although Department of History at Tribhuvan University was established in 1959 A.D. at Tripureshwar, Kathmandu, writing thesis at the Master’s level started much later. The first three M.A. theses submitted by Fr. Ludwig F. Stiller, S.J. Bir Nath Karmacharya and Netra Rajya Lakshmi Rana were accepted by the department of history in 1967 A.D. All the theses in this work were written from 1967 to 2014 A.D. During this period, some 308 theses have been accepted by the Central department of History, previously called Department of History or History Instruction Committee. Likewise, fifty five theses were accepted at P.N. Campus Pokhara. At the same time, history department at P.G. Campus, Biratnagar and Thakur Ram Campus, Birganj have accepted thirty nine and sixteen theses respectively. So far as we think this is the complete list of M.A. theses in history but due to the lack of information, there may be some left behind. All the available theses including eighteen with partial information are included in this catalogue. Regarding the identification of the supervisor, their status at the time of supervising the research is recorded. This catalogue mainly provides information regarding bibliography, chapter titles, length of the thesis and types of sources used. As per various institutional or individual documents used in the research, they are listed under archival documents category for convenience. The overall information recorded so far provides a clear picture of each thesis. This catalogue is expected to assist Ph.D. aspirants, researchers and other interested persons. Thus, it is supposed to the helpful to those pursuing research on various aspects of Nepalese history. Compiling a catalogue of hundreds of theses is certainly not easy. Meticulous effort and patience is necessary in such types of ventures. It will certainly help to promote research in history.