80 SOCIAL SCIENTIST imperial policy of 'divide and rule': Thakur does not find a single element of similarity between them so abundantly available (see Subba 1990. Chapter IV). There is also a definitive 'othering' of the non-Hindus when he says: Contrary to the Hindu notion of 'Kanya Dan', brides among the Lepchas are sold away by the parents (78). Notwithstanding the fact, which we ignore here, the ethnocentrism of the author is too clear to be excused. No culture or cultural trait that differs with the ethnographer's can be rational or meaningful: a la Orientalists. Yet another example of home-grown Orientalism in Thakur's book is found when he writes: They are primitive. Their agricultural technology is primitive, level of literacy is very low and rate of population growth is extremely low (151). Similar comments have been amply made about the Lepchas by the European Orientalists like A. Campbell, W.W. Hunter, and Dr. Graham over hundred years ago. And the counter-colonial literature referred to here bear testimony to the fact that colonialist literature on the Orient has always described it in similar language. Thus, if Thakur finds the Lepchas or their agricultural technology as 'primitive' it does not surprise us as his epistemological orientation has been very much orientalist and for scholars of his breed the Himalayan tribes are just a new Orient. We next cite the example of The Lepchas of West Bengal (1978), which is an improvised version of The Lepchas of Darjeeling District (1962) published as a Special Series No. 1 of Cultural Research Institute, Calcutta. Like Thakur, Das writes in the very first page: As a people, the Lepchas are extremely simple, amiable, cheerful, helpful, cooperative, careful and lack in spirit of conflict (1978:1). This line is vividly reminiscent of the language of the European colonialists like Campbell, Hooker, Hunter, Dalton, and Mainwaring, to name only a few who have written about the Lepchas. They often sought the services of the Lepchas as 'servants', 'companions', and 'subjects' and rewarded them with epithets like 'amiable', 'cheerful', 'careful', and 'helpful'. Das describes them in similar terms not only because he has inherited the Orientalist mind-set (polished by G.P. Murdock of Pittsburgh University) but also because he belongs to the ruling 'race* in West Bengal. This is also clear from the very title of the book. Hence, Said's contention that 'no production of knowledge in the human sciences can ever ignore or disclaim its author's involvement as a human subject in his own circumstances' (1978:11) needs to be