A cheerless change: Bhutan Dooars to British Dooars

Following the Anglo-Bhutan war of 1864-65, the Duars, eighteen in number, seven along the Assam and eleven along the Bengal frontiers, were annexed by the British. The British accounts are replete with justifications that led to the war and the eventual appropriation of these tracts. Whether the charges will stand up to any impartial scrutiny, an interesting topic in itself, is another point and this essay will only barely scratch that surface. While ignoring the legal or political correctness of the war and subsequent annexation of the Dooars, this commentary will steal a glance on the moral correctness of the British intervention. The actual hub of the study will muse upon the consequences faced by the natives of these frontiers, more specifically the tribal people of the Western (or Bengal) Dooars.