Book Review: Till Kingdom Come: Medieval Hinduism in the Modern Himalaya / By Lokesh Ohri: New York: SUNY Press, 2019. xx, 394 pp. ISBN: 9781438482552

Lokesh Ohri's book is a historically informed ethnographic study of the realm of Mahasu Devta, a local Himalayan god who is considered the divine ruler of the region of Jaunsar-Bawar, which forms part of the contemporary Himalayan Indian states of Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh. Drawing on materials from as early as Nepalese Gurkha rule (1791–1815), through colonial times and up to (and mostly) the present, Ohri uncovers the deep-seated structures of faith, ritual, and power underlying life in this region. Ohri presents us with the machinery of Mahasu's divine polity, which centers on the four brother deities constituting it: Bautha Mahasu, who is enshrined in the cult's main temple in Hanol and is the main axis of the cult; Pabasik and Basik, who are localized forms of Mahasu and who respectively rule the north and south banks on the Tons River; and Chalda Mahasu, the younger itinerant brother who roams the god's territory in regular yet flexible cycles. Ohri points to Chalda's frequent palanquin processions and their accompanying oracular sessions performed by possessed mediums as the main ritual mechanisms by which Mahasu communicates with his subjects and establishes his sovereignty over them. His main argument in the book is that despite centuries-long competition with external sovereign powers and continuous demands for adjustments, divine kingship in the Himalaya is alive and well, resilient and effective as ever: “The Mahasu kingdom, despite its interactions with external forces, largely remains a sovereign polity for Mahasu subjects” (84).