Dor Bahadur Bista


Dor Bahadur Bista is a Nepalese anthropologist, social scientist and activist. Bista is considered the father of Nepalese anthropology, and has published such popular books as and People of Nepal. Bista mysteriously disappeared in 1995.

Education

Sources vary regarding Bista's date of birth. Some say he was born around 1924, others in 1926. He graduated from Patan High School, after which he attended Tri Chandra College. He completed his Certificate in Indian Ethnography in London.

Career

While working as a government headmaster in a girls' high school in Patan, Bista became a research assistant to Professor Christoph Furer-Haimendorf of London University who was conducting field research in the area of Solukhumbu. He later claimed that it was this experience that ignited his interest in Anthropology.
In 1972 he was sent to Lhasa in Tibet as Nepal's Counsel General.
He established an organization called Karnali Institute in Jumla.

Disappearance

In January 1995, Bista mysteriously disappeared from Jumla District, being last seen boarding a bus to Chisapani or Dhangadhi. His wife, Narayani, with whom he had a daughter and three sons, died soon after.
The Association for Nepal and Himalayan Studies, which took over from the Nepal Studies Association of which Bista had been Honorary President, awards a prize named after him on an annual basis.

Books