THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES
 
 TEMPI.E OF DEVI BHAGWAM, 1JM ATG AC N . 
 
 Bniit, a.d. 1703.
 
 SKETCHES FROM NIPAL 
 
 HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE, 
 
 WITH 
 
 ANECDOTES OF THE COURT LIFE AND WILD SPORTS OF THE COUNTRY 
 IN THE TIME OF MAHARAJA JANG BAHADUR, G.C.B. 
 
 TO WHICH IS ADDED 
 
 AN ESSAY ON NIPALESE BUDDHISM, 
 
 AXD 
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS OF RELIGIOUS MONUMENTS, ARCHITECTURE, 
 
 AND SCENERY, 
 
 FROM THE AUTHOR'S OWN DRAWINGS. 
 
 BY THE LATE 
 
 HENRY AMBROSE OLDFIELD, M.D. 
 
 OF H.M. INDIAN ARMY, 
 MANY TEARS RESIDENCY SURGEON AT KHATMANDU, NIPAX. 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 W. H. ALLEN AND CO., 13, WATERLOO PLACE, 
 
 PALL MALL, S.W. 
 
 1880. 
 
 (All rights reserved.)
 
 LONDON : 
 PRINTED BY W. H. ALLEN AND CO., 13 WATERLOO PLACE.
 
 vs 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 The following pages were not written with an original 
 purpose of publication, nor did they receive through- 
 out the benefit of the Author's revision. During the 
 earlier part of his Indian career Dr. Oldfield was en- 
 gaged in duty as an Assistant-Surgeon in the Bengal 
 Army. Before long he was appointed to the medical 
 charge of the eligible station of Simla, where he at- 
 tended on Lord Gough, then Commander-in-Chief. 
 During the second Sikh war in 1848-9 he was ordered 
 to join temporarily the 13th Irregular Cavalry, then 
 serving in the Punjab ; but was soon after recalled to 
 his post at Simla, owing to the absence of his medical 
 colleague at that station. He was transferred in 1850 
 to Khatmandu, as Surgeon to the British Residency in 
 Nipal, then under the Honourable J. C. Erskine, of 
 the Bengal Civil Service. In 1853 Mr. Erskine, who 
 has since succeeded to the title of his grandfather, the
 
 IV 
 
 celebrated orator and Chancellor, retired from India ; 
 and the post of British representative in Nipal was 
 conferred on Colonel (now General) George Ramsay, a 
 cousin of the Governor-General, the Marquis of Dal- 
 housie. With these two Residents Dr. Oldfield re- 
 mained at Khatmandu till the close of 1863. His 
 duties there were, of course, primarily medical ; but 
 the lightness of these in so small a station enabled 
 him to devote, by way of recreation and self-instruc- 
 tion, much study to the natural and social character- 
 istics of Nipal, and to the private life, as well as 
 the political relations, of its Court. In recognition of 
 the knowledge and ability which he made in various 
 ways available for the public service, the Indian Go- 
 vernment, during the mutiny of 1857-8, nominated 
 him Honorary Assistant to the Political Resident. 
 
 The suspicious policy of the Nipalese Government 
 debarred any British officer from travelling freely 
 throughout the interior of the country. But within 
 the range allowed Dr. Oldfield visited, and noted with 
 pen and pencil, whatever appeared of interest in its 
 architecture, its magnificent mountain scenery, in- 
 cluding the loftiest peak in the world, or the physical 
 and moral peculiarities of its people. His pursuits, 
 however, were not exclusively studious. He entered 
 with ardour into the wild sports of the country, which 
 his friendly relations with Jang Bahadur gave him 
 special facilities for enjoying. To the use he made of 
 his equal opportunities for observation and amusement 
 the present volumes sufficiently testify.
 
 From a boy he had been fond of drawing, and in 
 such a neighbourhood he found inexhaustible material 
 for elaborate water-colour sketches and studies, which 
 unhappily it has not been found practicable to repro- 
 duce in their own proper hues within any reasonable 
 cost. But his eye-sight was unfortunately not equal 
 to his zeal ; and in aiding it with too powerful glasses, 
 to copy with greater exactness the intricacies of moun- 
 tain form seen at fifty or a hundred miles distance, 
 he overstrained and, as the result proved, irreparably 
 injured his sight. Hence, during the last seven years 
 of his residence in Nipal, he made little use of his 
 artistic skill, beyond correcting and putting the finish- 
 ing touches to the drawings of a native artist whom 
 he had trained to copy his sketches. At a later period 
 he held for a short time a post in the medical staff at 
 Calcutta; but his health finally giving way, he re- 
 turned to England in 1866, and retired altogether 
 from the service in 1869. 
 
 He had begun, whilst at Khatmandu, to rearrange 
 his notes, and put the essay on Buddhism in its pre- 
 sent form, though rather for the use of himself and 
 his friends than with any definite idea of a wider 
 circulation. He also partially revised the hunting 
 adventures and personal anecdotes ; but the larger 
 part of his manuscript was left as originally written. 
 Since his decease various causes have for a time 
 prevented any use being made of his papers. But 
 his family now feel it to be due both to him and 
 the Public no longer to withhold so much authentic
 
 VI 
 
 and detailed information on a country abounding in 
 curiosity and beauty, which borders our Indian do- 
 minions for not less than six hundred miles, and 
 which, though not lying (happily for itself) in the 
 highway of Russia, is in other respects not inferior 
 in interest to Afghanistan. 
 
 E. 0.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTEE I.— Geographical .... 
 CHAPTER II.— Provinces of Nipal 
 CHAPTER III. — Provinces op Nipal (continued) 
 CHAPTER IV.— Valley of Nipal . 
 CHAPTER V. — Valley of Nipal (continued) . 
 CHAPTER VI.— Kathmandu .... 
 CHAPTER VII. — Patan— Bhatgaon — Kirtipur 
 CHAPTER VIII.— Routes into Nipal 
 CHAPTER IX.— The Nipal Terai . 
 CHAPTER X. — Town and Valley of Nayakot 
 CHAPTER XL — From Kathmandu to Kamaon 
 CHAPTER XII. — From Nayakot to Gosainthan 
 CHAPTER XIII. — Military Tribes of Nipal 
 CHAPTER XIV. — Caste among the Niwars . 
 CHAPTER XV. — Catholic Mission in Nipal . 
 CHAPTER XVI. — Leopards — Dogs — Buffaloes 
 CHAPTER XVIL— Wild Elephants 
 
 Page 
 1 
 
 18 
 
 43 
 
 63 
 
 82 
 
 93 
 
 114 
 
 136 
 
 142 
 
 147 
 
 159 
 
 162 
 
 167 
 
 177 
 
 189 
 
 191 
 
 201
 
 Vlll 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER 
 CHAPTER 
 CHAPTER 
 CHAPTER 
 CHAPTER 
 CHAPTER 
 CHAPTER 
 CHAPTER 
 CHAPTER 
 CHAPTER 
 
 XVIII. — Rhinoceros-Hunting 
 
 XIX. — An Execution 
 
 XX. — Professional Visits 
 
 XXI. — Early History op Nipal 
 
 XXII. — The Gorkhas in Nipal 
 
 XXIIL— The Nipal War 
 
 XXIV. — History op Nipal 
 
 XXV. — History of Nipal (continued) 
 
 XXVI. — History of Nipal (continued) 
 
 XXVII. — History of Nipal (continued) 
 
 Page 
 
 . 235 
 
 . 238 
 
 . 246 
 
 . 256 
 
 . 277 
 
 . 298 
 
 . 331 
 
 . 353 
 
 . 380 
 
 . 404
 
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 To Dr. Oldfield's " Sketches in NipaV 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 Temple of Devi Bhagwani, Bhatgaon . . . Frontispiece. 
 Ruins of Buddhist Tope, called Kathisambhu, in 
 
 Kathniandu ....... To face p. 63 
 
 The Durbar, Patan, Nipal . . . . ,. „ 96 
 
 The Market-Place, Kathmandu . . . . „ „ 106 
 
 The " Golden Gate " in the Durbar, Bhatgaon . „ „ 131 
 
 Temple of Sakya Singha, at Patan . . „ „ 272 
 Thappatalli, the Residence of Maharaja Jang 
 
 Bahadur „ 388
 
 SKETCHES FROM 
 
 N I P A L. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 GEOGRAPHICAL. 
 
 The modern kingdom of Nipal is a narrow tract of 
 country extending for about five hundred miles along 
 the southern slope of the central portion of the Hima- 
 laya mountains. 
 
 It embraces nearly one-third part of that stupendous 
 mountain barrier which, in one unbroken line, stretches 
 for one thousand eight hundred miles — from the shores 
 of the Indus north of Kashmir in a south-easterly 
 direction to the great bend in the Brahmaputra river 
 on the confines of China — and which separates the 
 whole of British India, as well as the kingdom of 
 Ava, from the highlands of Central Asia. 
 
 The territory of Nipal lies entirely within this moun- 
 tain range, and extends from the 80th to the 88th degree 
 of east longitude. Its length is about five hundred 
 miles, and it has a varying breadth, which nowhere 
 exceeds one hundred and forty miles, and averages in 
 most parts from ninety to one hundred miles. 
 I. 1 
 
 1\
 
 Z GEOGRAPHICAL. 
 
 Its general direction is from west to east ; its most 
 southern and eastern corner, at the Michi river, reaches 
 as low as the 26th, while its most northern and western 
 angle extends up to the 30th degree of north latitude. 
 
 It is at the present time bounded on the north by 
 Tibet, on the east by the little principality of Sikkim, 
 on the south by Hindustan, and on the west by the 
 British provinces of Rohilkand and Kamaon. 
 
 Previous to 1815 the kingdom of Nipal was very 
 much more extensive, and included Kamaon and the 
 whole of the hill country as far as the Satlaj river. 
 Sir David Ochterlony, however, wrested those pro- 
 vinces from the Gorkhas; and by the treaty of Sigauli 
 (1816), it was finally agreed that the river Kali should 
 in future form the western boundary between the 
 British and the Nipalese dominions. 
 
 Nipal is thus hemmed in on all four sides between 
 the territories of the British and those of the Chinese 
 governments ; on its western, southern, and eastern 
 sides it is circumscribed by the possessions either of the 
 British or of their dependents, the Nawab of Oudh and 
 the Rajah of Sikkim, while on its northern frontier the 
 eternal snows form an insuperable barrier to any impor- 
 tant extension of power in the direction of China. 
 
 The kingdom of Nipal covers an area of about sixty 
 thousand square miles, and is therefore of about the 
 same superficial extent as the Panjab.* No trustworthy 
 census of its entire population has ever been taken, 
 
 * Not the Panjab of to-day, which has an area of 104,000 
 square miles. — (Editor.)
 
 FEONTIERS OF NIPAL. 3 
 
 but it is believed to amount to about four millions. 
 The Nipalese themselves reckon it at upwards of five 
 millions ; but there can be no doubt that their estimate is 
 considerably, and perhaps intentionally, exaggerated. 
 
 Supposing it to be four millions, it would give an 
 average of about sixty-six inhabitants to every square 
 mile, which is quite as high as is likely to be correct 
 in a mountainous country, especially considering that 
 the census of the whole of France in 1827 gave only 
 one hundred and fifty souls to each square mile. Of 
 this population of four millions, at least one-quarter 
 of a million live within the narrow limits of the Valley 
 of Nipal. 
 
 It will give a clearer idea of the geographical posi- 
 tion of Nipal if the nature of its frontier on each of 
 its four sides is described a little in detail. 
 
 Along the whole extent of its northern side the snowy 
 range of the Himalaya stretches in continuous and un- 
 broken length, and forms the natural boundary between 
 Nipal and the Chinese provinces of Central Tibet. 
 
 This portion of the Himalayas, which overhangs 
 Nipal, varies in height from sixteen thousand feet to 
 twenty-eight thousand feet ; it is covered with per- 
 petual snow, and embraces within its limits four of 
 the highest mountains in the world. These are the 
 Nanda Devi, the Dewaligiri, the Gosainthan, and 
 the Kin chin janga. 
 
 The Na?ida Devi mountain, at the extreme western 
 limit of the Nipalese Himalaya, is entirely within the 
 British province of Kamaon ; but it overlooks all the 
 
 1 *
 
 4 GEOGRAPHICAL. 
 
 western provinces of Nipal, and its rugged sides give 
 rise to the streams which unite to form the Kali river, 
 whose waters wash its eastern base and constitute the 
 western boundary of the kingdom of Nipal. 
 
 The Dewaligiri is situated about two hundred miles 
 to the east of the Nanda Devi, and due north of Gorak- 
 pur ; it overlooks the whole of the central provinces of 
 Nipal, and its towering peaks are clearly visible from 
 the plains of Hindustan. It is said by Humboldt to 
 be the loftiest mountain in the world, but its claims to 
 that distinction are disputed by the Kinchinjanga. 
 
 The Gosainthan mountain is situated one hundred 
 and eighty miles to the east of the Dewaligiri, and 
 stands due north of the Valley of Nipal. It is distin- 
 guished alike for its sanctity and its elevation. While 
 the sacred Tusk of Narayan, buried amid its snows, 
 is an object of special worship to the pilgrim, the bold 
 grandeur of its bluff peak is equally an object of 
 admiration to the traveller. 
 
 The Kinchinjanga, which competes with the Dewa- 
 ligiri for the sovereignty of the mountain world, is one 
 hundred and thirty miles to the east of the Gosain- 
 than. It forms the extreme eastern peak of the Nipal 
 Himalaya, and belongs as much, or perhaps more, to 
 Sikkim than it does to Nipal. It directly overhangs the 
 whole country of Sikkim, as well as some of the eastern 
 provinces of Nipal, and a lofty ridge or spur from its 
 southern face forms part of the boundary between the 
 territories of the two states. 
 
 These lofty mountains, the lowest of which is
 
 MOUNTAIN KANGES. O 
 
 upwards of twenty-four thousand feet high, divide 
 the chain of the Nipal Himalaya into three not very 
 unequal portions — the western, the central, and the 
 eastern. 
 
 The western division extends from the Nanda Devi 
 to the Dewaligiri, and is about two hundred miles in 
 length. The central portion extends for one hundred 
 and eighty miles from the Dewaligiri to the Gosain- 
 than. The eastern division runs from the Gosainthan 
 to the Kinchinjanga, which are distant from each 
 other one hundred and thirty miles. 
 
 The long axis of the Himalaya mountains is not 
 perfectly straight, but presents certain bends or angles, 
 which, as it runs from the N.W. to the S.E., give to 
 its direction a gradual curve, the convexity of which 
 faces to the south. 
 
 The most elevated mountains in the range are 
 situated at these angles, where they form so many 
 joints or huge knots in the main chain of the Hima- 
 laya. They stand out in advance of their companions, 
 with a forward direction to the south, like gigantic 
 bastions, supporting, overlooking, and binding together 
 all the lower mountains around them. From these 
 and from the entire length of the central mountains 
 numerous lofty ridges diverge, sometimes at right 
 angles, but more generally at acute ones, to the Ghat 
 line or main axis of the range. 
 
 These ridges, again, throw off smaller ones which 
 divide and sub-divide, interlacing and dove-tailing with 
 each other, until the whole tract of a country like
 
 6 GEOGRAPHICAL. 
 
 Nipal, which lies on the southern slope of the range, 
 becomes intersected by mountains of various sizes and 
 shapes. These usually run together into ranges, which 
 are separated from each other by deep valleys, some- 
 times of very considerable extent, at others narrowed 
 into mere gorges, which serve as the beds of torrents. 
 These secondary ranges form a series of lateral and 
 subordinate chains upon the flanks of the central or 
 snowy peaks. Individually they appear to be under 
 no fixed rules for their direction, but taken collectively 
 they will be found to diverge from the Ghat line of 
 the snow so as to be more or less parallel to each 
 other, and to run out towards the plains like so many 
 ribs given off from the backbone or spine of the 
 Himalaya. 
 
 Whatever their original elevation or direction, they 
 gradually subside as they approach the plains of India, 
 and are ultimately lost altogether beneath the surface 
 of the Terai. The immense elevation of these and of 
 all the highest peaks in the Himalayas, and the vast 
 scale on which even the subordinate ranges are con- 
 structed, render it easy to trace in them examples of 
 the most important laws which regulate the structural 
 anatomy of mountain masses. The Dewaligiri, in par- 
 ticular, affords a striking illustration of the fact that, 
 however bold the outline of a mountain may be, how- 
 ever much its pre-eminent height may apparently 
 isolate it from all the lower ranges above which it 
 towers, yet it never is in reality a detached or 
 solitary mass, and never consists of a single or
 
 STRUCTURE OF MOUNTAIN MASSES. 7 
 
 simply-formed peak. Every first-class mountain — and 
 such, and such only, are met with throughout the entire 
 length of the snowy range — is composed of a mass or 
 cluster of peaks, rising one above and within another, 
 and supported by buttresses in the form of converging 
 ridges, which spring from the lower hills as a founda- 
 tion ; all trend toward their common centre, and are 
 mostly of sufficient elevation to be covered with per- 
 petual snow. 
 
 This common centre is the highest peak of all ; and 
 around it, at varying elevations, the lower peaks, with 
 their subordinate ranges and ridges, are clustered in 
 greater or less proximity, and often in the greatest 
 apparent confusion. This confusion is only apparent ; 
 but the series of these lower mountains is often so ex- 
 tensive, and their bulk so vast, that the eye becomes 
 wearied in attempting either to follow out the details 
 of their forms, or to reduce them to order as parts of 
 a system. It is only when they are viewed as a whole, 
 and from such a distance that their crests may be 
 seen rising in succession one behind another until they 
 are lost beneath the eternal snows, that it is possible 
 to believe that there is any method in their arrange- 
 ment, and that the eye can be taught to look upon 
 them as mere outworks resting upon still vaster moun- 
 tains, — as so many steps in the gigantic ladder which 
 leads from ridge to ridge, and peak to peak, till it 
 gains the snow-crowned summit of the range. Ge- 
 ology, however, has established it as an undoubted fact 
 that all these huge secondary mountains — whether
 
 8 GEOGRAPHICAL. 
 
 linked together into chains, or standing out boldly 
 and alone — are but subordinate members of the great 
 central chain upon which they rest, and whose granite 
 peaks, in some places bare and black, in others 
 covered with snow, emerge from under the mass of 
 surrounding mountains like pointed rocks amid the 
 waves of the sea. 
 
 The Nipal Himalaya is traversed by several passes 
 leading into Tibet, but which, from their great eleva- 
 tion, — the lowest of them being higher than the 
 highest mountain in Europe, — are only open to tra- 
 vellers during the warmer months of the year. 
 
 The most important of these passes are the fol- 
 lowing : — 
 
 1 st. The Takla Khar Pass, or Yari Pass, — midway 
 between the Nanda Devi and Dewaligiri mountains. 
 The Karnali branch of the Grogra river, which rises 
 on the north side of the Himalaya, not far from one 
 of the sources of the Satlaj, quits Tibet and enters 
 the western provinces of Nipal by this pass. The 
 village of Thak, from which the pass derives its name, 
 is situated near its southern or Nipalese entrance, and 
 is the seat of considerable trade in the salt brought 
 from Tibet. 
 
 2nd. The Mastang Pass is about forty miles to the 
 east of the Dewaligiri. It leads to a small princi- 
 pality of the same name at the foot of the Dewaligiri, 
 but on its northern or Tibetan side. The Kajah is 
 tributary to Nipal, and his being so induces the Nipa- 
 lese to boast that from the Grosaintlian westward their
 
 MOUNTAIN PASSES. 9 
 
 frontier line includes both slopes of the Himalaya.* It 
 is an unfounded assumption of theirs ; as the district 
 of Mastang, though it pays a small annual tribute to 
 Nipal, is not within its frontier, nor does it form any 
 part of the Gorkha dominions. On the northern side 
 of the pass and on the high road to Mastang is a large 
 village called MuJctinath, which is much visited by 
 pilgrims, as well as by traders in Tibetan salt. Muk- 
 tinath is eight days' journey from Mastang, and four 
 from Bini Shahr, the capital of the province of Mali- 
 bum, which lies close under the snow, and is directly 
 overlooked by the Dewaligiri. A good deal of Nipalese 
 opium — grown in the western parts of the Terai — is 
 smuggled into Tibet by the Mastang pass. 
 
 3rd. Kerang Pass, to the west ; and 
 
 4th. Kuti Pass, to the east of the Gosainthan moun- 
 tains. These being the passes nearest to the capital 
 are most frequented by the Tibetan pilgrims and 
 traders who come annually in large numbers to the 
 Valley of Nipal during the cold months of the year. 
 
 The road from Kathmandu to Lhassa by Kerang 
 joins the road by the Kuti pass at Tingri. The Kuti 
 road is the shortest and most direct, by three or four 
 marches, but it is not passable for ponies. For this 
 reason the Chinese Embassy, on their way to China, 
 always go by Kuti ; but on their return from China, 
 
 * The principality of Mastang consists of an elevated mountain 
 valley, lying between the first and second ranges of snowy moun- 
 tains, and is approached from Nipal by the Muktinath Pass.
 
 10 GEOGRAPHICAL. 
 
 when they have with them eighty or one hundred 
 valuable China and Poomee ponies, they come by 
 Kerang, where the road is comparatively good. The 
 Chinese army of invasion in 1792 came by Kerang for 
 the same reason. 
 
 The Kerang pass is thirty-seven hill kos, or about 
 one hundred miles from Kathmandu. The journey 
 is made in eight stages, and the road lies by Nayakot. 
 The Kuti pass is thirty-four kos, or about ninety 
 miles from Kathmandu, and is also reached in eight 
 marches. 
 
 The high road to Lhassa runs through the Kuti pass; 
 and the traffic along it is therefore greater than along 
 any of the other passes. The snowy peak to the ivest 
 of the pass is called Kurdah-bhumi (copper soil) ; 
 that on its east is the Tambakosi peak, from its base 
 giving rise to the river of that name. 
 
 On the northern or Tibetan side of the pass is a 
 level district or valley called Tingri, where the 
 Gorkhas were defeated in a battle by the Chinese 
 army of invasion in 1792, and the frontier post of the 
 Nipalese at Kuti was taken and occupied by the 
 conquerors. The Bhotia river, one of the seven 
 branches of the Kosi, rises in the Kuti pass. 
 
 5th. The Hatia Pass, about forty or fifty miles to 
 the east of Kuti. The Aran, — by far the largest of the 
 seven streams whose union forms the Kosi river, — 
 after rising by several sources on the north side of the 
 Himalaya, quits Tibet and enters the eastern provinces 
 of Nipal through the Hatia pass.
 
 BHOTIA TRADERS. 11 
 
 6th. The Wallang Pass, or Wallanchon Pass, is 
 situated quite in the eastern extremity of the Nipal 
 Himalaya, and but a little to the west of the Kinchin- 
 janga mountains. 
 
 These different passes are used almost exclusively 
 by the Tibetans (commonly called Bhotias, as they 
 are inhabitants of the country of Bhot, or Tibet), 
 who flock in large numbers to Nipal from all parts of 
 Tibet, and especially from Lhassa and its neighbour- 
 hood during the cold months from November to 
 March. 
 
 These Tibetans bring down with them for sale in 
 Nipal blankets of various kinds, and other woollen 
 manufactures, as well as ponies, watch-clogs, sheep, 
 goats, crystals, agate, turquoises, yak-tails, gold dust, 
 gold and silver ores, and large quantities of rock salt. 
 The rock salt is packed in bags, forming loads of 
 15 lbs. each, which are brought across the snows 
 fastened upon the backs of sheep. Whole flocks of 
 sheep thus laden may be frequently met with entering 
 the Valley of Nipal by the road from Nayakot and 
 Kerang. 
 
 Besides the Tibetans, a few Niwar merchants, as 
 well as some Kashmirians from Nipal, who have 
 houses of agency at Lhassa, go to and from Tibet 
 generally by the Kuti pass. 
 
 The roads through these passes, as well as all the 
 roads leading to them in the Nipalese territory, are so 
 very bad, that all loads of every description have to 
 be carried on men's shoulders. When once, however,
 
 12 GEOGRAPHICAL. 
 
 the Himalaya is passed, the roads thence to Lhassa, 
 and generally throughout Tibet, are practicable for 
 beasts of burden. 
 
 The eastern extremity of Nipal is about one hundred 
 miles in width from north to south. It lies in 88° 
 E. long., and extends from 26*50° to 28° N. lat. The 
 frontier, which separates Nipal from the little princi- 
 pality of Sikkim, extends from the snows nearly in a 
 straight line towards the plains of Hindustan. The 
 boundary of the two states, within the hills, consists 
 partly of the Kinchin janga mountain, but mainly of a 
 lofty range of mountains called the Singhilela ridge, 
 which is given off from the Kinchin janga, and runs due 
 south towards the plains. This ridge near the snows 
 is from ten thousand to fifteen thousand feet high, 
 but it subdivides towards the south to an average 
 height of seven thousand feet. At about sixty miles 
 distance from the snows this ridge turns suddenly to 
 the east, and at this point ceases to form the boundary 
 between the two states. At the angle thus formed 
 it gives rise to the Michi river, which flows in a 
 southerly direction from its origin in the Singhilela 
 ridge towards the Ganges, into which it ultimately falls. 
 
 For the first forty miles of its course below the 
 hills, and until it enters the British territory, the 
 Michi river separates the lowlands of Nipal from 
 those of Sikkim, and forms part of the boundary to 
 the kingdom of Nipal on its eastern frontier. The 
 Singhilela range runs parallel to the Kankayi river, 
 and about twenty miles distance from it, on its eastern
 
 THE SOUTHERN FRONTIER. 13 
 
 or left side. This range is traversed by three narrow- 
 passes, the roads through which are bad, and prac- 
 ticable only for hill ponies. 
 
 The southern frontier of Nipal extends from the 
 Michi river in the east, on the borders of Sikkini, to 
 the Kali river in the west, on the borders of Kamaon, 
 — a distance of about five hundred miles. For two- 
 thirds of this extent the frontier of Nipal forms the 
 northern boundary to the British province of Bahar ; 
 for the remaining or western third it runs along the 
 northern border of the kingdom of Oudh. 
 
 The southern frontier of Nipal is divided into three 
 distinct portions, forming an eastern, a central, and a 
 western division. The eastern portion extends from 
 the Michi river to the Oreka Naddi, — a small stream, 
 which, rising in the Cheryaghati range of hills, and 
 flowing in a southerly direction, about ten miles to 
 the west of Bissaulia, on the high road to Kathmandu, 
 — falls into the Sikrani river. This portion of the 
 frontier is about two hundred and twenty miles in 
 length in a straight line, and runs in a direction nearly 
 due east and west. It separates the Morung and Terai 
 of Nipal from the districts of Parniah, Tirhut, and 
 Champaran in the British province of Bahar. It 
 follows an irregular and wavy line, and is marked 
 throughout its entire course by a series of pillars of 
 masonry, to prevent the possibility of border disputes 
 between the Nipalese and British zamindars. At the 
 Oreka Naddi the boundary line of pillars falls back 
 at a right angle, and runs due north for about twenty
 
 14 GEOGRAPHICAL. 
 
 miles, at first along the left bank of the Oreka, then 
 leaving that stream, passes across a strip of the Sal 
 forest till it reaches the chain of low sandstone hills 
 which is called Cheryaghati range. The eastern por- 
 tion of the southern frontier is crossed by two large 
 rivers as they quit the Nipalese territory, — the Kosi 
 and the Baghmatti. 
 
 The central portion of the southern frontier extends 
 from the Oreka Naddi to the borders of Oudh, — a 
 distance of about one hundred and fifty miles. It 
 separates the valley of the Rapti from the district of 
 Ramnagar in Ohamparan, and the Terai of Butul 
 Khas from the district of Gorakpur. For about forty 
 miles the frontier runs along the crest of the Cherya- 
 ghati range, till it reaches the pass through which 
 the great Gandak river debouches upon the plains at 
 Tribani. At this point it dips into the plains, skirts 
 the foot of the range for about ten miles, as far as 
 Pali, and then, leaving the hills, extends in nearly a 
 straight line, and with direction due east and west, 
 till it meets the frontiers of Oudh at Tulsipur, at a 
 point about twenty miles distant from the hills. The 
 boundary line then falls back at a right angle from 
 Tulsipur along the left bank of a small stream, and 
 runs due north till it again joins the sandstone range 
 of hills. By thus diverging into the plains, the 
 frontier encloses a long narrow strip of lowland 
 between it and the outer range of hills. This strip 
 constitutes the Terai of Butul or Butul Khas, and 
 lies due north of Grorakpur. The Gandak is the only
 
 THE WESTERN FRONTIER. 15 
 
 large river which crosses this central portion of the 
 southern frontier of Nipal. 
 
 The western division of the southern frontier of 
 Nipal is formed throughout by the outer or sandstone 
 range of hills, which here take a north- westerly 
 direction, and along the crest of which the boundary 
 line runs for one hundred and thirty miles, till it meets 
 the Kali river on the borders of Rohilkand. The 
 sandstone range separates the territories of Nipal 
 from the kingdom of Oudh. It is crossed by two 
 large rivers, — the Gogra and the Rapti (or Gorakpur), 
 — as they escape from the western provinces of 
 Nipal. 
 
 The western frontier of Nipal is formed by the Kali 
 or Sarju river, which, rising in the snows, washes the 
 eastern base of the Nanda Devi mountain, and flows 
 in a southerly direction for about ninety miles within 
 the hills, separating the territories of Nipal from the 
 British province of Kamaon. After reaching the plains, 
 through a pass in the sandstone range, it follows a 
 south-easterly course, during about fifty miles of which 
 it forms the boundary between Nipal and the British 
 province of Rohilkand ; it then enters the kingdom of 
 Oudh, and falls into the Gogra or Karnali river. 
 
 , The sandstone range of hills above referred to as 
 forming part of the southern boundary of Nipal, ex- 
 tends, under different names, for nearly the whole 
 length of the Himalayas. It is the lowest and outer- 
 most of all the mountain ranges and immediately 
 overlooks the plains of Hindustan. It runs parallel
 
 16 GEOGRAPHICAL. 
 
 witli the Ghat line or long axis of the snowy range, 
 at an average distance from it of eighty or ninety 
 miles, and it separates the dhuns or valleys at the foot 
 of the second or inner range of hills from the terais 
 or lowlands which, with an average width of about 
 twenty miles, skirt the outer base of the Himalaya 
 mountains throughout their entire length from east to 
 west. 
 
 The sandstone range is frequently interrupted by 
 breaches or gaps. In some parts it almost disappears, 
 subsiding or being half -buried beneath the vast alluvial 
 plains on its northern and southern faces through 
 which it has to penetrate. It has a varying height of 
 from two thousand feet to three thousand feet above 
 the level of the sea; and on the north-west, where 
 it is known as the Sewalik range, has proved very rich 
 in fossils of various kinds. 
 
 It is traversed by passes in several places, through 
 which the rivers rising on the southern face of the 
 Himalaya find their way into the plains of India. 
 
 The sandstone range has different names in different 
 parts of its course. In Nipal that part of it which 
 extends from the pass of the Gandak river in the 
 west, to the Kosi river in the east, is called the Cherya- 
 ghati range. The western part of the Cheryaghati 
 range, is called the Ridge of Someshwar. 
 
 The Someshwar ridge separates the valley or dliun 
 of the Little Rapti river from the British district of 
 Ramnagar, and is of some interest as having in 1840 
 given rise to certain local disputes about the boundary,
 
 THE OHERYAGHATI EANGE. 17 
 
 which very nearly involved the British and Nipalese 
 Governments in war. 
 
 The central portion of the Gheryaghati range, 
 between Someshwar ridge and the pass of the Bagh- 
 matti river, lies to the south of the Valley of Nipal, 
 and is crossed by the high road leading from the 
 plains to Kathmandu. 
 
 Throughout the whole of its extent in Nipal both 
 its northern and southern slopes are covered with a 
 dense forest, chiefly of Sal trees. 
 
 Wherever the boundary line described as forming 
 the southern frontier of Nipal is not identical with the 
 range, but runs to the south of it, — as is the case below 
 the Palpa and Betul hills, north of Grorakpur, and 
 again from Oreka Naddi eastward to the Michi river, 
 a distance of two hundred and twenty miles or more, — 
 the portion of lowland intervening between the outer- 
 most hills and the British frontier constitutes the 
 Nipalese Terai. 
 
 i.
 
 18 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE PROVINCES OF NIPAL. 
 
 The territory of Nipal, within the hills, from Kamaon 
 on the west to Sikkim on the east, is divided into 
 three large natural provinces by four very lofty and 
 massive ridges which, respectively are given off from, 
 or, more correctly, run up into, the high peaks of the 
 Nanda Devi, Dewaligiri, Grosainthan, and Kinchinjanga 
 mountains. These ridges stand out at right angles 
 from the central axis or spine of the Himalayas, and 
 from their origin in the snows run in a direction 
 parallel to each other, and nearly due south towards 
 the plains. They are much more prominent in elevation 
 than any of the other subordinate mountains with 
 which the sides of the snowy range are flanked, and 
 by which the whole territory of Nipal is, to a greater 
 or less extent, intersected. 
 
 Each of the three natural provinces into which 
 Nipal is divided by these lofty ridges is walled in on 
 all four sides by mountain barriers : on the north by 
 the snowy range ; on the south, by the chain of sand- 
 stone hills ; and on the east and west by one of the
 
 NATURAL DIVISIONS. 19 
 
 lofty ridges just referred to, which act as watersheds, 
 subordinate to, but continuous with, the main Ghat 
 line of the Himalayas, and which, running due north 
 and south, throw off all their waters towards their 
 eastern and western sides into the basins or valleys of 
 which they form the lateral boundaries. 
 
 Each of these districts, thus walled in, forms a large 
 mountain basin, having a gradual slope towards the 
 south, and furrowed by numerous streams which rise 
 on the sides of the surrounding mountains. All flow 
 towards the plains, and all converge towards each 
 other in their course through the hills, so decidedly 
 that they unite into one large river in two out of the 
 three provinces before they reach even the sandstone 
 range of hills. These Himalayan rivers — the Gogra, 
 the Gandak, and the Kosi — pass through gaps or 
 breaches in the lowest range of hills, and then enter- 
 ing the plains, all flow on into the valley of the Ganges. 
 
 Each of the three great mountain basins derives its 
 name from the river by which its waters are drained 
 off ; and the limits of each of these basins are identical 
 with the origin of the numerous feeders and tributary 
 streams, whose uniform convergence towards each 
 other in the hills, and ultimate union into one large 
 river as they approach the plains, form a striking 
 feature in the physical geography of the Himalayas. 
 
 The three natural provinces into which Nipal is 
 divided may be distinguished respectively as follows : 
 
 1st. The western division, or mountain basin of the 
 Karnali or Gogra river. 
 
 2 *
 
 20 PROVINCES OF NIPAL. 
 
 2nd. The central division, or mountain basin of the 
 Gandak river. 
 
 3rd. The eastern division, or mountain basin of the 
 Kosi river. 
 
 Besides these three grand geographical divisions of 
 Nipal, there is a fourth province or district, of but 
 comparatively limited extent, but of primary political 
 importance, in consequence of its containing the Valley 
 of Nipal proper, which is the capital of the modern 
 empire and the headquarters of the reigning or 
 Gorkha dynasty. 
 
 This district occupies an isolated tract lying between 
 the country watered by the Gandak on the west, and 
 that watered by the Kosi on the east. It is in the form 
 of a triangle, the apex of which points to the snows, 
 while its base rests upon the lower range of hills. It 
 is interposed like a wedge between the neighbouring 
 provinces of the Gandak and the Kosi, but is quite 
 independent of each of them, being watered by a river 
 — the Baghmatti — peculiar to itself, which drains the 
 whole of the district, and follows a solitary course, 
 not only within the hills, but also in the plains, until 
 it falls into the Ganges opposite Monghir. 
 
 These four districts — the basins of the Karnali, the 
 Gandak, the Kosi, and the Baghmatti rivers — em- 
 brace the whole territory of Nipal within the hills. 
 Below the hills the lowlands constituting the Terai 
 complete the remaining area of the kingdom of Nipal. 
 
 We will now describe each of these districts sepa- 
 rately and a little in detail. The western division or
 
 THE WESTERN DIVISION. 21 
 
 basin of the Karnali extends from the Nanda Devi to 
 the Dewaligiri mountain. It is divided into two unequal 
 portions by the Kali river, which forms the boundary 
 between Nipal and Kamaon. The territory on the 
 right bank of the river belongs to the British, but it 
 is not one-fourth of the extent of the whole basin. 
 The Nipalese portion of this basin extends from the 
 Kali on the west to the lofty ridge on its east which 
 runs up into the Dewaligiri, and which acts as a water- 
 shed between this district and the adjacent basin of 
 the Gandak. It is bounded on the north by the snowy 
 range, and on the south by the chain of sandstone 
 hills which form the boundary between Nipal and the 
 kingdom of Oudh. 
 
 All the mountain streams whose ultimate union 
 forms the Gogra river have their origin within the 
 limits of this basin. Of these streams the most im- 
 portant are three in number — the Kali, the Karnali, 
 and the Eapti. "Within the hills these rivers all con- 
 verge gradually towards each other, but they do not 
 finally unite their waters till they have traversed a 
 considerable portion of the plains. 
 
 1st. The Kali or Sarju. It arises by several streams 
 from the eastern side of the Nanda Devi, flows in a 
 southerly direction towards the plains, and forms the 
 boundary between Nipal and Kamaon (see p. 15). All 
 its tributaries are within the British territory, and the 
 river is only of interest to the Nipalese as forming 
 their western frontier. 
 
 2nd. The Karnali or Gogra river. The former
 
 22 PROVINCES OF NIPAL. 
 
 name is generally applied to it within the hills, the 
 latter to it while in the plains. It is by far the largest 
 river of the district ; and it gives its name accordingly 
 to this mountain basin. Its largest branch, named Kar- 
 nali, rises on the northern side of the snowy range, near 
 the Manassarowar lake, and enters the territory of 
 Nipal through the Taklakhar pass. In its course 
 towards the plains it traverses the central part of this 
 mountain basin, gathering numerous tributary streams, 
 most of which have local names, from all the ridges 
 and intervening valleys by which the country is inter- 
 sected. On crossing the sandstone range it enters the 
 kingdom of Oudh, and is there known as the Gogra; 
 after quitting the hills it receives numerous small 
 tributaries from the adjacent plains through which it 
 passes, and its volume is still further increased by the 
 waters of the Kali and Rapti, both of which fall into 
 it previous to its junction with the Ganges a little 
 above Dinapore. 
 
 3rd. The Rapti or Shingrak river rises from the 
 western face of the Dewaligiri mountain, converges in its 
 course towards the Karnali, and receives several tribu- 
 tary streams from the adjacent ranges, as well as from 
 the dhuns at the foot of the inner range of hills. 
 
 After quitting the hills, which it does by a separate 
 pass in the sandstone range, it traverses the north- 
 eastern corner of Oudh, then runs through the centre 
 of the Gorakpur district, having the station of that 
 name on its left bank, and at last pours its waters into 
 the Gogra river.
 
 THE BAISI RAJ. 23 
 
 The western division or basin of the Karnali in- 
 cludes the modern provinces of Jumla, Doti, and 
 Suliana. Until the close of the last century this district 
 was divided into twenty-two separate principalities, 
 which were known collectively as the Baisi* Raj, and 
 were all tributary to the Rajah of Jumla. 
 
 The names of these Baisi Raj were : — 
 
 Jumla. Darimeka. 
 
 Jagwikot. Doti. 
 
 Cham. Suliana. 
 
 Acham. Bamphi. 
 
 Rugam. Jehari. 
 
 Musikot. Kalagaon. 
 
 Roalpa. G-horia Kot. 
 
 Mallijanta. Gutam. 
 
 Balhang. Gajur. 
 Dailik. 
 
 Jumla lies to the N.W. of this division, and ex- 
 tends towards the snows. It is watered by the 
 Karnali river ; and its capital, Chinnachin, stands in 
 a valley somewhat smaller, but of greater elevation 
 above the sea, than the Valley of Nipal. Barley is 
 its staple produce, as rice is that of the Valley of 
 Nipal. 
 
 At the present day Jumla is a place of very little 
 importance. It has a rajah, however, who is a man 
 of considerable wealth, and who married a sister of 
 
 * From Bais, " twenty-two."— (Ed.)
 
 24 PEOVINOES OF NIPAL. 
 
 the present King of Nipal. Previous to the conquest 
 of the western hills by the Gorkhas, Jumla was the 
 chief of the forty-six principalities into which the 
 country lying between the Kali and the province of 
 Gorkha proper was divided, and all of which were 
 tributary to the Jumla Rajah. The tribute was 
 often only nominal, or consisted of fish, game, &c. ; 
 but still it was offered to him as head of the clan, and 
 as a mark of homage and subjection. 
 
 These forty-six principalities — twenty-two lying in 
 the basin of the Kali, and twenty-four in the basin of 
 the Gandak — were all conquered and annexed to 
 Nipal by Bahadur Shah towards the close of the last 
 century. The Rajah of Jumla was confined at Kath- 
 mandu, and the allegiance of all the tributary chief- 
 tains, all of whom were Rajputs, was secured either 
 by hostages at the capital, or by marriages between 
 them and the royal family of the Gorkhas. 
 
 The different rajahs of both Chaubisia* and Baisi 
 are still recognised as of royal blood, and receive royal 
 titles. They are all now jagirdars or pensioners of 
 the Gorkha Government, some of their jagirs being 
 as large as four or five lakhs of rupees, while others 
 are only worth as many thousands. They have fol- 
 lowers of their own, whom they may at any time 
 be called upon to levy and assemble for the public 
 service. Some can collect four hundred or five hun- 
 dred, others only forty or fifty. 
 
 * From Chaubw, " twenty-four." — (Ed.)
 
 DOTI AND SULIANA. 25 
 
 Doti is a large and populous province lying to the 
 south-west of Jumla. It is watered by the Karnali 
 river, and is separated from Oudh by the sandstone 
 range, and from Rohilkand by the Kali river. 
 
 Its capital — named Doti or Dipait — stands on the 
 inner or second range of hills, and is the headquarters 
 of the governor of the province. The town contains 
 between four hundred and five hundred houses, and 
 is on the left bank of the Sweti-Ganga, one of the 
 tributaries of the Karnali river. 
 
 Generally two regiments of infantry and a few guns 
 are stationed at Doti. The town is eighty-five miles 
 N.E. from Bareilly, and about seventy miles S.E. 
 from Almora, and one hundred and sixty-two cos, by 
 the military road, from Kathmandu. 
 
 Suliana. This province, with a capital of the same 
 name, lies to the east of Doti, and is watered by the 
 river Rapti. 
 
 The town of Suliana is a military station or outpost 
 on the Oudh frontier, and is one hundred and twenty 
 miles due north of Lucknow. 
 
 There is an extensive dhun connected with Suliana, 
 and lying to the north of the sandstone range, and 
 watered by a branch of the Rapti river, and called 
 Sulianmari. 
 
 The town of Pentana is situated towards the in- 
 terior, fifty miles N.E. of Suliana, and eighty- six kos 
 west of Kathmandu. It is one of the principal Ni- 
 palese magazines for manufacture of arms and am- 
 munition. Salpetre abounds in the neighbourhood.
 
 26 PROVINCES OP NIPAL. 
 
 The central division or basin of the Gandak river 
 is bounded on the north by that portion of the snowy 
 range which extends from the Dewaligiri to the Gosain- 
 than mountain, and which is crossed by the Mastang 
 and Kerang passes leading into Tibet. It is bounded 
 on the south by the sandstone range of hills, from 
 the borders of Oudh to the pass of the Baghmatti 
 river, and on the west by the lofty ridge of the 
 Dewaligiri, which separates this division from the 
 basin of the Karnali. Its eastern boundary is formed 
 partly by the Gosainthan with the Dhaibung ridge, 
 which runs due south from it, and partly by the ele- 
 vated mountain plateau which lies at the base of the 
 Gosainthan, and in the centre of which is the Valley 
 of Nipal proper. This region has been known among 
 the Nipalese, from time immemorial, by the name of 
 Sapt Gandaki, or the country of the Seven Gandaks, 
 in consequence of its containing within its limits all 
 the seven mountain streams which unite, even before 
 they quit the hills, to form the Gandak river. By 
 means of these seven tributaries the Gandak drains 
 off every drop of water from all the hill country lying 
 between the Dewaligiri and the Gosainthan. 
 
 These seven streams all arise either directly among 
 the snows or in their immediate neighbourhood. They 
 flow in a southerly direction, converging towards each 
 other rapidly as they approach the plains, and finally 
 unite in the dhun or valley which runs on the north 
 side of the sandstone range, into one very large river, 
 which quits the hills at Trebani through a pass called,
 
 THE SAPT GANDAKI. 27 
 
 after it, the Pass of the Gandak, whence it follows a 
 south-easterly course through the British province of 
 Saran, and falls into the Ganges immediately opposite 
 to Patna. 
 
 These seven rivers, which are known collectively as 
 the Sapt Gandaki, are, taking them successively from 
 west to east, 1st, the Barigar; 2nd, the Narayani or 
 Saligrami ; 3rd, the Sweti- Gandaki ; 4th, the Mar- 
 syangdi ; 5th, the Daramdi ; 6th, the Gandi ; and 7th, 
 and most easterly, the Trisulganga. 
 
 1st. The Bharigar river rises from the eastern face 
 of the Dewaligiri mountain and flows in a S.E. direc- 
 tion, separating the province of Khachi and district 
 of Gulmi on its south from Malibum on its north, 
 till it meets with the Narayani river, with which it 
 unites. 
 
 2nd. The Narayani river is also called the Salik- 
 rami or Salegram river, in consequence of the number 
 of the sacred stones called salegrams which are found 
 in its bed, and which are particularly abundant near 
 its origin. 
 
 The Narayani arises from several sources in the 
 Dewaligiri mountain. Its principal and largest feeder 
 arises either at Muktinath or a little to its north, on 
 the road towards Mastang. It flows southward through 
 the province of Malibum,* till it unites with the Bari- 
 
 * It flows close past Bini-Shahr, the capital of Malibum ; at 
 this place the river is thirty yards wide. There is a large fair held 
 annually (on the 1st of the solar month of May, or about middle 
 of January), at Deo Ghat. It is a sacred spot, and numbers resort 
 there at that time to bathe, &c.
 
 28 PROVINCES OP NIPAL. 
 
 gar. Their united waters, under the name of Kali 
 Gandak, follow a S.E. course, forming the northern 
 boundary to the province of Palpa, and separating it 
 from the district of Garrhun, till they reach the Bhun 
 or Valley of Chitaun, where they join the confluence 
 of the other Gandaks at Deo Ghat. 
 
 3rd. The Sweta (or Saita) Gandaki river rises in 
 the snowy range to the east of the Mastang pass at 
 a mountain called Machia Puchar, or the Fish's Tail. 
 It flows nearly due south, having the districts of Sata- 
 hung and Garhung on its western or right bank, and 
 those of Lamjung and Tanhung on its eastern or left 
 bank. It joins the Trisulganga at Kaiphul Ghat near 
 Deo Ghat. 
 
 4th. The Marsiangdi river rises in the Rui Bhot 
 ridge of the snowy range, at Lakwa Bassiari, north 
 of Lamjung and ~N.W. of Gorkha, and follows a 
 southward course, nearly parallel to the Swetiganga, 
 till it falls into the Trisulganga near Deo Ghat. The 
 Marsiangdi forms the western, as the Trisulganga 
 river does the eastern, boundary to the province of 
 Gorkha, which is separated by it from the districts 
 of Lamjung and Tanhung. 
 
 5th. The Daramdi river rises in the snow, on Mount 
 Taku, to the west of Mount Mala, north of Gorkha, 
 and flows southerly through that province till it joins 
 the Gandi river at Dhurbang Ghat. 
 
 6th. The Gandi river rises in the snowy range at 
 Mount Mala, flows through Gorkha, and, after its 
 union with the Daramdi, falls into the Trisulganga.
 
 THE GOSAINTHAN LAKES. 29 
 
 7th. The Trisul or Trisulganga river is the most 
 easterly of the seven branches of the Gandak river. 
 It arises from the largest of twenty-two lakes or 
 kunds which lie embosomed in a hollow or vallev 
 immediately below the highest peaks of the Gosain- 
 than mountain, and at an elevation of not less than 
 thirteen thousand or fourteen thousand feet above the 
 sea. 
 
 On the north side of this gorge the rocks rise pre- 
 cipitously from the edge of the lakes, and their crests 
 are sprinkled with perpetual snow ; while on the oppo- 
 site side is the wide-spreading base of the lofty Jibjibia, 
 the main spur or ridge of which runs due south, 
 acting as a watershed between the most eastern 
 sources of the Gandak and the most western sources 
 of the Kosi river, till it terminates in the bluff and 
 rugged mountain, about fifteen thousand feet in height, 
 which directly overlooks the Valley of Nipal. The 
 largest of these lakes is called Gosain-kund, or 
 sometimes Nilkhiat-kund, after Mahadeo Nilkhiat 
 (Blue neck), to whose honour it is sacred. To wor- 
 ship a rock which is thought by the pious to represent 
 that deity, and to bathe in the sacred lake in which 
 that rock is sunk, many hundreds of pilgrims annually 
 resort to Gosainthan in the months of July, August, 
 and September, at which period the passes are open 
 in consequence of the greater part of the preceding 
 winter's snow having melted away during the summer 
 heats. The journey, however, to Gosainthan is always 
 a difficult, and sometimes a dangerous one. Ava-
 
 30 PROVINCES OF NIPAL. 
 
 lanches are not uncommon from the melting of the 
 snow ; and many a pilgrim has been buried beneath 
 them. The road is narrow, precipitous, and in many 
 places exceedingly slippery. The cold is often intense, 
 and there is no kind of accommodation on which 
 travellers can rely, as the huts of the Bhotiyas who 
 live in these districts are quite insufficient for the 
 numbers who throng towards the sacred lakes. They 
 have to sleep in caves, under trees, or in temporary 
 sheds, and many who are old or infirm either perish 
 during the journey, or die from its effects soon after 
 their return to Nipal. 
 
 The name " Glosainthan " ought to be confined to the 
 rocky gorge or hollow in which the Nilkhiat-kund and 
 other lakes are situated. But it is commonly applied 
 to the whole mass of peaks and ridges, including 
 Dhaibang and Jibjibia, which lie due north of the 
 Valley of Nipal, and which embrace that part of the 
 snowy range which extends between the Kerang and 
 Kuti passes. The highest peak of this vast mountain 
 mass is called Deoralli, and it is twenty-four thousand 
 seven hundred feet above the level of the sea. It is 
 very distinctly visible, not only from Nipal, but from 
 the adjacent plains of India. 
 
 In one of the large rocks on the northern edge of 
 the Gosain-kund are three deep clefts, from each of 
 which a Spring pours its waters in a perpetual cascade 
 into the lake which lies about thirty feet below. The 
 three cascades are called Trisul-dhara (dhara means a 
 small stream or jet of water; chehro a large one).
 
 THE GOSAIN-KUND. 31 
 
 These three springs and the lake beneath them are 
 fabled to have been formed by Shiva Mahadeo, who, 
 when the gods churned the ocean in order to obtain 
 from it the water of immortality, had drunk the 
 poison which arose from the sea during the operation. 
 This made him fall into a swoon, which would have 
 proved fatal had not Durga revived him by the use 
 of certain incantations. 
 
 This poison, though it did not destroy the god, 
 produced the most excessive pain and thirst, and 
 caused a permanent blue discolouration of his neck, 
 whence he received the name of Nilkhiat, or the Blue- 
 throated. Hoping to relieve his sufferings, and allay 
 the burning fever which consumed him, Mahadeo re- 
 paired to the snow in this secluded region, and thrust- 
 ing his trident or trisul into the mountain side, three 
 streams of water immediately gushed forth. 
 
 Their waters collecting in the hollow beneath, pro- 
 duced a lake, which was called, after the god, the 
 Lake of Nilkhiat. Mahadeo stretched himself along 
 its edge, and assuaged his thirst by drinking its 
 waters. 
 
 Near the centre of the Gosain-kund, or Lake of 
 Nilkhiat, is a large, tawny-coloured rock, of an oval 
 shape, the rounded top of which can be seen sunk a 
 foot or more beneath the surface of the tranquil and 
 transparent water. The pious worshippers of Shiva, 
 as they stand on the edge of the sacred lake, look on 
 this unhewn rock as a divinely carved representation 
 of Mahadeo, and fancv they can trace out in it the
 
 32 PEOVINCES OF NIPAL. 
 
 figure of the deity reclining full length upon a bed of 
 serpents. This rock must have been deposited in its 
 present position when the lake was filled by an ancient 
 glacier ; and sunk as it is in the centre of the ice-cold 
 waters, it can never have been touched by mortal 
 hands. 
 
 The only sculptured figures of any kind at Gosain- 
 than are a small figure of Naraga (about eighteen 
 inches high) ; a small bull, kneeling ; and the pillars 
 which originally supported a bell, but the bell itself is 
 gone. These all stand together at the edge of the 
 water on the south side of the lake. There is no kind 
 of carving or representation of Shiva in any part of 
 the whole Gosainthan. On the road, near Chandan- 
 bari, is a small uncarved stone, a foot high, which is 
 worshipped as Ganesha, and is called Lauri-Vinnaik. 
 
 The Betravati river rises from one of the lakes of 
 Gosainthan, to the north of Surajkund ; it flows 
 between Dhaibang and Jibjibia, turns round along 
 the southern base of the former, and falls into the 
 Trisul, opposite its western shoulder, and eight miles 
 above Nayakot. 
 
 In consequence of the tradition that the three 
 springs were caused by Mahadeo's trisul (or trident), 
 the river which rises in the lake is called the Trisul- 
 ganga, or Trisulgandaki. 
 
 From its origin in the Gosainthan the Trisulganga 
 follows generally a south-westerly course, flowing be- 
 tween the province of Gorkha on its right, and the 
 territory of Nipal proper on its left bank. It receives
 
 THE TADI RIVER. 33 
 
 a tributary stream — the Bassua Naddi — from the 
 neighbourhood of the Kerang pass, and is joined by 
 the Bura-Gandak river, just below Ramcha; while 
 three or four miles below that town it is joined by its 
 sister stream, the Tadi. The Tadi, also called the 
 Suryavati, rises in the Surya-kund, or Fountain of the 
 Sun, which is the most easterly of all the twenty-two 
 lakes of Gosainthan, and is between two and three miles 
 distance from the Gosainthan-kund, in which the Trisul 
 has its source. The Tadi follows at first a somewhat 
 easterly course, then turns to the west, washing the 
 southern base of Jibjibia; while by its tributaries — the 
 Likhu andSindura streams — it drains the northern face 
 of Sheopur and Bhirbandi, and winding through the 
 Valley of Nayakot, falls into the Trisulganga at Devi 
 Ghat. Its length, from its source to Devi Ghat, is 
 about thirty miles, and it runs for the greater part of 
 its extent through richly cultivated, though malarious, 
 valleys. The Tadi is a rapid but shallow stream 
 through the greater part of its course, but as it ap- 
 proaches Devi Ghat it becomes confined within a deep 
 and rocky channel, through which it dashes with 
 resistless force. 
 
 A bridge has several times been constructed over 
 the Tadi near its confluence with the Trisul, but it 
 has in every instance been swept away during the 
 rains by the violence of the swollen torrent ; and the 
 attempt is not likely to be renewed. 
 
 In the neighbourhood of Nayakot the Trisulganga 
 is a narrow but deep and very rapid stream. It flows 
 
 3
 
 34 PEOVINCES OP NIPAL. 
 
 in a rocky channel between thickly wooded moun- 
 tains, which rise almost precipitately from its shores, 
 and not, like the Tadi, through wide and cultivated 
 valleys. Three or four miles above its confluence 
 with the Tadi, at Devi Ghat, it is crossed by a sangah 
 or wooden bridge, over which runs the high road 
 from Kathmandu to Gorkha. The bridge, however, 
 is most strictly guarded by a company of sepoys, and 
 no one from Gorkha or Nipal is allowed to cross it 
 without previously obtaining a passport of permission 
 from the Minister. In the rains the waters of the 
 Trisul, as well as of the Tadi, rise very quickly, and 
 the huge boulders and masses of rock, evidently 
 rounded by friction and the action of water, which 
 lie strewed about the shores of both rivers at Devi 
 Ghat, show the enormous power of the swollen torrents 
 which lodged them in their present situation. At Devi 
 Ghat there is a small hamlet, consisting of a powa and 
 a few cottages, which is deserted from April to No- 
 vember by all but a few fishermen and potters (Man- 
 jhis, Kumhars, &c.) who belong to a race that dwells 
 all the year round with perfect impunity in the most 
 malarious valleys of the Himalayas. There is a ferry 
 over the river, but no passengers, travellers, or mer- 
 chants are allowed to cross from one side to the other 
 without a passport from the Minister. A good many 
 people pass backwards and forwards during the day, 
 paying one pice a-piece, both here and over the sangah 
 on the Trisul ; but they are the inhabitants of the 
 little villages in the immediate neighbourhood, going
 
 VALLEY OF NAYAKOT. 35 
 
 on local business, and are all personally known to the 
 master of the ferry. 
 
 Although Devi Ghat is a very holy spot, and is 
 under the special protection of Devi Bhairavi, the 
 guardian deity of the district, yet it contains no 
 temple to the goddess. At the point where the 
 waters of the two rivers unite, there is merely a rude 
 and primitive shrine in her honour, composed of a heap 
 of unhewn stones, which is temporarily walled in 
 each season by some planks of wood, to protect it 
 from the gaze of the profane. The Temple of Bhai- 
 ravi stands in the town of Nayakot, having been 
 erected there instead of at the confluence of the 
 sacred streams, by the express desire of the goddess 
 herself, in order to save her worshippers from being 
 exposed to the violence of the deluge which occa- 
 sionally bursts over Devi Ghat when the Tadi and 
 Trisul overflow their banks. 
 
 The Valley of Nayakot is elevated only two thou- 
 sand feet above the level of the sea, and Devi Ghat 
 must be somewhat lower still. As the lakes from 
 which the Tadi and Trisul arise are situated only just 
 beneath the line of perpetual snow, there must be 
 upwards of ten thousand feet of descent for those 
 rivers in a distance of only thirty miles, from their 
 origin in the snow to their junction at Devi Ghat. 
 This will account for the rapidity of their stream, and 
 for the sudden manner in which they sometimes swell 
 into vast torrents, either from any excess of rain or from 
 the melting of the glaciers beneath which they arise. 
 
 3 *
 
 36 PROVINCES OF NIPAL. 
 
 From Devi Ghat the Trisulganga flows in a south- 
 westerly direction towards the plains, and forms the 
 eastern boundary to the province of Gorkha, from 
 which it receives the Gandi and Marsiangdi rivers ; 
 while it is also joined in its course by several feeders 
 (among others, by the Kulpu and Mahais streams, 
 which arise on the western face of Mount Nayarjun) 
 from the western side of the hills of Nipal proper, 
 which lie along its left or eastern bank. After a 
 course of from eighty to ninety miles from Devi Ghat, 
 the Trisulganga unites at or near Deo Ghat with the 
 Sweta-Gandaki and Narayani in the common con- 
 fluence of all the branches of the Great Gandak river. 
 
 There is a road leading to the plains from Devi Ghat 
 to Deo Ghat, which runs along the left or eastern 
 bank of the Trisulganga. The jealousy of the Ni- 
 palese, and their fear lest in case of war it might be 
 used as a mode of approach to the capital from the 
 Gorakpur direction, makes this road a closed one, 
 and no general traffic is allowed along it. Shikaris, 
 who in the autumn bring quail and other game from 
 the Gorakpur terai for the use of the darbar, travel 
 along this road as being the shortest and most direct. 
 
 From Deo Ghat the Great Gandak river, having 
 united the waters of its seven mountain branches, 
 flows nearly due south, and quits the hills at Trebani 
 through a pass in the sandstone range to the west of 
 the Someshwar ridge. Before reaching the sandstone 
 range it receives tributary feeders from the dhuns or 
 valleys which run east and west between the first and
 
 THE CHAUBISIA RAJ. 37 
 
 second ranges of hills, and which are crossed by the 
 Gandak in its passage towards the plains. 
 
 The most important of these is the little Rapti 
 river, which, rising near Bhamphedi, flows in a 
 westerly direction past Hatowara, through the Valley 
 or Dhun of Chitaun, and falls into the Gandak river 
 nfteen miles north of the Someshwar ridge. 
 
 The hill country watered by these seven branches 
 of the Gandak river occupies the central of the three 
 natural divisions of the kingdom of Nipal. Till to- 
 wards the close of the last century it included within 
 its limits, besides the kingdom of Gorkha proper, 
 twenty -four other independent principalities, collec- 
 tively called the Raj Chaubisia, all ruled over by Raj- 
 put princes, and all tributary to the Rajah of Jumlah. 
 
 The names of the Chaubisia Raj were — 
 
 Lumjung, or Lamjung. Gulmi. 
 
 Tannahung. West Nayakot. 
 
 Gulkot. Khanchi, or Khachi. 
 
 Malibum. Isma. -n On southern 
 
 Safcahung. Dharkot. C or right bank 
 
 Garrhung. Musikot. ) ofBarigarR. 
 
 Pokhra. Thilli. 
 
 Bharkot. Saliana. 
 
 Resing. Wigha. 
 
 Ghering. Paison. 
 
 Dhoar. Lattahun. 
 
 Palpa. Kashki. 
 
 Butul. Dang. 
 
 Tansen. Parthaua.
 
 38 PROVINCES OF NIPAL. 
 
 These petty states were all quickly over-run and 
 absorbed by the Gorkkas shortly after their conquest 
 of the Valley of Nipal. The exact and ancient limits 
 of each principality are now unknown, and the know- 
 ledge, if we possessed it, would not be of either interest 
 or value. 
 
 The Gorkkas have divided the whole tract of country 
 forming the basin of the Gandak into four large pro- 
 vinces, in one or other of which all the ancient prin- 
 cipalities are included. These provinces are — 1st, 
 Malibum, to the north-west ; 2nd, Khachi, to the 
 south-west; 3rd, Palpa, to the south; 4th, Gorkha, 
 to the north and east. 
 
 1st. Malibum is a large province lying close below 
 the snowy range, and overlooked directly by the Daula- 
 giri mountain. It extends southwards to the banks of 
 the Barigar river. Its capital is Bini-Shahr, a large 
 town on the Narayani river, and four days' march 
 from Muktinath in the Mastang pass. Malibum is 
 watered by the Narayani ; towards the east it includes 
 the ancient chief doms of Satahung and Garrhung, 
 which lie on the right or western bank of the 
 Sweta-Gandaki river. 
 
 2nd. Khachi lies to the south-west of this division, 
 between the sandstone range on the south, which 
 separates it from the Nipalese western terai, and the 
 Barigar river on its north, which separates it from 
 Malibum. On the east it adjoins the province of 
 Palpa, and on the west that of Suliana, in the basin 
 of the Gogra river. A considerable portion of Khachi
 
 PROVINCE OF PALPA. 39 
 
 lies in the dhuns or valleys which extend east and 
 west between the first and second ranges of hills. 
 
 3rd. Province of Palpa, the most important, if not 
 the most extensive, district in either of the three 
 great divisions of Nipal. It lies along the borders of 
 the British territory of Gorakpur, and is bounded on 
 the north by the Narayani or Kali Gandak river, 
 which separates it from the districts of Garrhung 
 and Pokhra, which are situated between Palpa and 
 Gorkha. On the south it is bounded by the sand- 
 stone range of hills, from the borders of Oudh to the 
 Pass of the Great Gandak river. On the west it ad- 
 joins Khachi; and on the east it is limited by the 
 Great Gandak river, which separates it from the dis- 
 trict of Chitaun. 
 
 It has a considerable tract of lowland, forming the 
 Terai of Betul, or " Butul Khas," attached to it. This 
 slip of terai is bounded on the north by the sandstone 
 range, and extends from Pali, a few miles to west of 
 the Gandak, eastward to Tulsipur, on the frontier of 
 Oudh. It lies due north of Gorakpur. 
 
 The Sal forest clothes the southern face and foot 
 of the hills ; but beyond it and to south of it the 
 country is comparatively open and swampy, and is 
 covered by extensive plains of long grass and occa- 
 sional large patches of cultivation. It is intersected 
 by numerous nallahs or beds of streams which in the 
 rains flow down from the outer hills and fall into the 
 Rapti. For some miles on each side of the Gandak 
 river after it enters the plains the country is open
 
 40 PEOVINCES OF NIPAL. 
 
 and mostly covered with grass ; its level is low, but 
 there is no continuous forest either upon or below the 
 hills. Patches even of sal forest and bamboo jungle 
 do not appear for several miles either to the east or 
 west. 
 
 The town of Butul is situated in the mouth of a 
 pass leading across the sandstone range, and connect- 
 ing the lowlands of the Terai with the dhuns and lower 
 hills forming the province of Palpa. 
 
 Palpa and Butul were originally two separate 
 principalities ; they were afterwards united under 
 one independent Rajput prince, who, having con- 
 quered Butul, added it to his hereditary possessions 
 of Palpa. The lands of Butul, though conquered and 
 annexed, were yet held in fief, or paid an annual sum, 
 first to Oudh, and afterwards, by transfer, to the 
 British. 
 
 During the regency of Rani Rajendra Lachmi to- 
 wards the close of last century the hill country of Palpa 
 was conquered and annexed to Nipal. The rajah re- 
 treated to Butul, but was subsequently induced, under 
 false promises of redress, to visit Kathmandu, where 
 he was put to death, and his territories in Butul 
 seized and occupied by the Gorkhas. Their illegal 
 occupation from 1804 till 1812 of the Terai of Butul, 
 which was under British protection, was one of the 
 aggressions which led to the Nipal war in 1814. 
 
 Several of the ancient small principalities are in- 
 cluded within the limits of the modern province of 
 Palpa. Of these Gulmi is one. The town of Gulmi
 
 WEST NAYAKOT. 41 
 
 lies seven kos (twenty miles) north-west of the city of 
 Palpa, and is situated on a branch of the Barigar river. 
 On the conquest of Gulmi the daughter of the rajah 
 was married to Ran Bahadur, while Bahadur Shah 
 married a daughter of the conquered Palpa rajah ; in 
 each case the victor making his bride a hostage for 
 the loyalty and allegiance of her father. 
 
 "West Nayakot, a district on the west bank of the 
 G-andak, and so called to distinguish it from East 
 Nayakot on the Trisul and Tadi below Gosainthan, 
 was another of the principalities of the Chaubisia 
 which is now included within the province of Palpa. 
 It is of some historical interest as having been the 
 country in which the Rajput ancestors of the present 
 race of Gorkhas first settled when they were driven 
 by Musalman persecution from the plains of Hindu- 
 stan in the twelfth century. Prom Nayakot they 
 advanced towards Lamjung on the Sweta-Gandaki, 
 whence they swarmed eastward, and spread over and 
 permanently established themselves in the country of 
 Gorkha. The town of Palpa, the capital of the dis- 
 trict, stands on the second or minor range of hills. 
 It is sixty-three kos from Kathmandu, and nine kos 
 N.N.W. of town of Betul. 
 
 Five miles east of Palpa is the city of Tansen, for- 
 merly a petty chief clom, now the chief military station 
 of the province of Palpa. It is the headquarters of 
 three regiments of one thousand five hundred sepoys, 
 who are under the command of the governor of the 
 province. The governorship, being a responsible and
 
 42 PROVINCES OF NIPAL. 
 
 lucrative appointment, is always conferred upon a 
 sirdar of some importance, and generally upon a near 
 relation of the Premier of the day. 
 
 Tansen has a darbar and a market-place, and also a 
 mint, where copper pieces are coined. Cotton cloths 
 of various sorts are made and sold in considerable 
 quantities in this neighbourhood by the Grurangs, a 
 tribe who abound throughout the province of Palpa.
 
 43 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 provinces of nipal (continued). 
 
 The province of Gorkha is situated in the north- 
 eastern portion of the basin of the Gandak. It 
 includes the whole tract of country lying between 
 the MarsiaDgdi and the Trisulganga rivers. These 
 two streams, rising in the snows, a considerable dis- 
 tance apart — one near the Mastang pass, the other 
 near that of Kerang — and converging towards each 
 other in their course through the hills, until they 
 unite with the Kali Gandak near Deo Ghat, enclose 
 between them a delta or triangle, the northern side 
 or base of which is formed by the snowy range, 
 while the Marsiangdi bounds it on the west and sepa- 
 rates it from the districts of Lamjung, Tanhang, and 
 Pokhra, and the Trisulganga on the east flows between 
 it and the territories of Nipal proper. The Daramdi 
 and Gandi rivers both flow through the province of 
 Gorkha in their course to join the Trisulganga. The 
 city of Go?*kha, the capital of the province, is situated
 
 44 PKOVINCES OF NIPAL. 
 
 on the Hanumanbanjang mountain on the eastern or 
 southern or left bank of the Daramdi river. It con- 
 tains about two thousand houses, and is twenty- 
 six kos from Kathmandu by the ordinary or Nayakot 
 road. It has a palace or darbar, but it is just falling 
 into ruins. 
 
 The ancestors of the present race of Gorkhas de- 
 rived their national name of Gorkhali from this pro- 
 vince or district, in which they first established 
 themselves as an independent power. The term 
 Gorhha is not limited to any particular class or caste ; 
 it is applied to all those whose ancestors inhabited the 
 country of Gorkha, and who from it, as a fatherland, 
 subsequently extended their conquests far and wide 
 over the eastern and western hills. 
 
 The men of Doti, Jumlah, Malibum, and other 
 western districts in the Nipal and Kamaon hills are 
 " Parbattiahs " or Highlanders, but they are not 
 Gorkhas. 
 
 Among the Gorkhas, or descendants of those who 
 quitted Gorkha with Prithi Narayan, are men of all 
 castes, and some of no caste at all. Besides Brahmans, 
 Kshatriyas, Magyars and Gurungs, — who constitute the 
 military classes, — the Damais, or tailors and bandmen, 
 the Kamais, or ironmongers, and the Barkis, or shoe- 
 makers, though all outc&stes, are admitted as genuine 
 Gorkhas, because their ancestors were natives of that 
 district. 
 
 The term " Parbattiah " is applied only to the tribes 
 dwelling to the west of the Valley of Nipal ; the
 
 VALLEY OF POKHBA. 45 
 
 Niwars, Kiruts, Limbus, and other eastern tribes are 
 never called Parbattiahs. 
 
 It is a mistake to call the inhabitants of Kamaon, 
 and the other western hills, from whom our Sarmur 
 and other battalions are mostly recruited, Gorkhas. 
 Their fatherlands were parts of the Gorkha dominions, 
 having been annexed by conquest ; but the inhabitants 
 of those hills were Parbattiahs, never Gorkhas. 
 
 To the south-west of the province of Gorkha, in 
 the direction of Palpa, and not far from the foot of 
 the inner range of hills, is the Valley of Pokhra, with 
 a capital city of the same name, which is fourteen 
 marches distant from Kathmandu. 
 
 Pokhra is situated on the Swetagandaki river, and 
 lies between Satahung on its west and Tanhung on 
 its east. Previous to its conquest by the Gorkhas it 
 was one of the twenty-four petty but independent 
 principalities which occupied the greater part of the 
 country of the seven Gandak rivers. 
 
 The city of Pokhra is large and well inhabited ; it 
 is famous for its copper manufactures, and it has a 
 large annual fair, at which these, as well as supplies 
 of grain and all productions of the district, are sold. 
 
 The Valley of Pokhra is much larger than the Valley 
 of Nipal. It contains several large lakes, from which 
 circumstance it derives its name — the term Pokhra, or 
 Pokhri, meaning a tank, or piece of standing water. 
 The largest of these lakes is said to be two days' 
 journey round. Unfortunately the level of the water 
 in these lakes is so much below that of the surface of
 
 46 PROVINCES OF NIPAL. 
 
 the valley (generally from one hundred and fifty feet 
 to two hundred feet) that they cannot be used for 
 purposes of irrigation. The surface of the valley is 
 more level than that of Nipal, and is not so much cut 
 up by ravines or watercourses ; but from the scarcity 
 of water for irrigation these natural advantages cannot 
 be much made use of, and a large part of the valley 
 is under little or no cultivation. 
 
 Jang Bahadur calculated that if, by power of steam 
 in working pumps, &c, the water of these lakes were 
 made available for general irrigation, and the whole 
 valley were brought under regular cultivation, it would 
 yield an annual income of five or six lakhs of rupees. 
 Jang would willingly have incurred the expense of 
 bringing this about ; but it would require an accu- 
 rate survey made by an engineer on the spot, who 
 would have to superintend the entire operations, and 
 this is a measure to which Nipalese jealousy, and their 
 fear of the resources of the country being exposed to 
 foreigners, would never consent. 
 
 The dhuns or valleys at the foot of the hill country 
 of the seven Grandaks are very extensive. 
 
 All these sub-Himalayan valleys or dhu?is, in the 
 western hills as well as in Nipal, lie along the north 
 side of the sandstone range, running parallel to it, 
 and between it and the second or inner range of 
 hills. They have an average breadth of from five to 
 ten miles and an average length of from twenty to 
 forty miles. Each is traversed by a stream which rises 
 generally in the lower hills, winds its way through the
 
 SUB-HIMALAYAN VALLEYS. 47 
 
 centre of the valley during its entire length, and ulti- 
 mately falls into the main river of that mountain 
 district at or a few miles to the north of the pass by 
 which that river quits the hills for the plains. The 
 soil of these dhuns is alluvial and is covered with a 
 rich coating of vegetable mould, which is susceptible 
 of very high cultivation. In Nipal the dhuns have been 
 mostly allowed to fall into a state of jungle, and are 
 consequently clothed with forests of sal and cotton 
 trees, and are inhabited only by wild beasts. The 
 Nipalese are averse to the "clearing" of these forests, 
 as they look upon the malarious jungle at the foot of 
 their hills as the safest and surest barrier against the 
 advance of any army of invasion from the plains of 
 Hindustan. 
 
 To the west of the Great Gandak river, previous to its 
 quitting the hills, is the dhun or valley which lies 
 between Palpa on the inner and Betul on the outer 
 or sandstone range, and which is called Gongtali-mari, 
 from the name of the stream by which it is drained. 
 
 To the east of the Gandak is the dhun of Chitaun 
 (known as Chitaun-mari) ; and still further northward, 
 and continuous with it, is the dhun or valley which 
 lies below Makwanpur, which is called Makwan-mari. 
 Both these maris or dhuns are watered by the Little 
 Rapti river and its tributaries. 
 
 The Little Rapti river (called Little to distinguish it 
 from the Great Rapti to the west, on which Gorakpur 
 is situated) rises from the inner or second range of 
 hills, in a glen below the Sisapani mountain, a little
 
 48 PROVINCES OP NIPAL. 
 
 to the east of Bhimphedi, from which place it is 
 separated by a low ridge of hills. 
 
 It follows a very tortuous course, winding through 
 a narrow valley, having steep and thickly wooded hills 
 on each side, till it reaches Hetowara, where the hills 
 fall back, and the valley, as well as the river, acquires 
 a considerable breadth. From its source to Hetowara 
 — a distance of fifteen miles — it is a shallow, narrow, 
 but very rapid stream, flowing over a rocky bed, and 
 constantly fretted and interrupted by large boulders 
 and masses of stone. During the periodical rains 
 the Rapti quickly swells into a deep and impetuous 
 torrent. 
 
 About a mile and a half below Hetowara, which 
 stands on its left or south-eastern bank, it is joined by 
 the Karrah river. The Karrah is a shallow and narrow 
 stream, which rises in the low range of hills on which 
 the fort of Makwanpur is situated, descends into the 
 valley or dhun which lies below the fort, and which 
 is called Makwan-mari, and winds through the entire 
 length of that valley — a distance of about ten miles — 
 till it joins the Rapti below Hetowara. The Karrah 
 stream contains numbers of fish, but the water, though 
 very clear, is not considered by the natives to be good 
 or wholesome. This, they say, depends partly on its 
 channel lying in an alluvial and not in a rocky soil ; but 
 mainly on its banks being for the most part so over- 
 hung by jungle, that its waters are constantly impreg- 
 nated with decomposing vegetable matter. The 
 waters of the Rapti, which flow in a rocky channel,
 
 CHITAUN. 49 
 
 are remarkable for their coldness, purity, and whole- 
 someness. 
 
 After being joined by the Karrah stream, the Rapti 
 flows due west through the district of Chitaun (Chit- 
 aunmari), and falls into the Gandak river about fifteen 
 miles to the north of the Someshwar ridge of the 
 Cheryaghati range of hills. 
 
 The dhun of Chitaun (Chitaunmari) is of consider- 
 able extent, and derives its name from the town of 
 Chitaun, which is situated on the right bank of 
 the Rapti, about twenty-five to thirty miles below 
 Hetowara, at or near the point where it is joined by 
 the Mantaura river, a tributary stream of consider- 
 able size, which flows through the lower hills to the 
 north-east of Chitaun. 
 
 The district about Chitaun is open, and covered 
 with long grass jungle rather than forest, and is very 
 much infested with rhinoceros. It is the best 
 shooting ground for the rhinoceros in the whole of the 
 Nipalese dhuns. 
 
 Previous to the first NiDal war, the dhuns of 
 Chitaun and Makwanpur were extensively cultivated ; 
 but since the peace of 1816 the Gorkha Government, 
 from motives of policy, have caused the inhabitants to 
 abandon the greater part of them, and they have 
 been allowed to revert to their natural state of forest 
 and grass jungle. 
 
 A continuous high road, along which troops can 
 march and light guns be carried, traverses the whole 
 extent of the central and western provinces of Nipal, 
 
 4
 
 50 PROVINCES OF NIPAL. 
 
 connecting together the principal towns which lie 
 scattered among the hills from the capital to the 
 borders of Kamaon. Starting from Kathmandu, this 
 road runs through 
 
 Nayakot ; 
 
 Gorkha ; 
 
 Tannahung, with branch to Lamjang, on the north ; 
 
 Pokhra ; 
 Satahung ; 
 Tansen ; 
 
 Palpa, with branch to Betul, on the south ; 
 Gulmi ; 
 Pentana ; 
 Saliana ; 
 
 Doti or Dipaet, with a branch to Jagarkot and 
 Jumlah. 
 
 The eastern of the three great natural divisions 
 of Nipal includes the whole of the region watered 
 by the mountain tributaries of the Kosi river. In 
 consequence of its containing within its limits, and 
 having the whole of its waters drained off by, the seven 
 branches of the Kosi, it is called the Sapt Kosiki, or 
 country of the seven Kosis. This division is bounded 
 on the north by that portion of the snowy range which 
 extends from Gosainthan to Kinchin janga, and which 
 is crossed by the Kuti, Hatia, and Wallang passes. 
 Its western boundary is formed by the Dhaibang 
 ridge of the Gosainthan (which acts as a watershed 
 between the basin of the Kosi and that of the Gandak)
 
 THE KOSI RIVEES. 51 
 
 and by the whole of the district of Nipal proper. On 
 the east it is separated from Sikkim by the Singilela 
 ridge of the Kinchin janga, and by the Michi river; 
 and on the south the sandstone range of hills separates 
 it from the Terai and the district of Morung. 
 
 The seven Kosi rivers are the following, taking 
 them successively from west to east : — 
 
 1st, the Milamchi; 2nd, the Bhotia Kosi; 3rd, the 
 Tamba Kosi ; 4th, the Likhu ; 5th, the Dudkosi ; 
 6th, the Aran ; and, 7th, the Tamor. These streams 
 all rise in the neighbourhood of the snows ; in their 
 course through the hills they run nearly parallel to 
 each other, but as they approach the lower range 
 they suddenly converge towards a common point of 
 confluence at Varsha Kshattra or Bara Chattra, 
 from which place their united waters roll on in one 
 large river, which enters the plains through a pass in 
 the sandstone range. On leaving the hills the Kosi 
 separates the Terai proper, which lies on its right 
 bank, from the Nipalese province of the Morung, 
 which lies on its left, and then entering the British 
 territory, it flows through the district of Parniah, and 
 falls into the Granges a little below Baglipur, and 
 opposite to the north-east shoulder of the range of 
 Rajmahal hills. 
 
 1st. The Milamchi, or Indiani river,* rises from 
 the eastern side of Gosainthan and from the Jibjibia 
 
 * It is called by the Groi-khas at present the Indiani. 
 
 4 *
 
 52 PROVINCES OF NIPAL. 
 
 ridge. It flows in a south-easterly direction to the 
 west of Mount Sipa, and washing the base of the hills 
 which form the eastern boundary of the Valley of 
 Nipal, receives a tributary stream from the Banepa 
 valley, and unites with the Bhotia Kosi at Dholat 
 Ghat. 
 
 2nd. The Bhotia Kosi river rises in Tibet, in the plain 
 of Tingri; it flows, first, in a south-west direction 
 through the Kuti pass, whence it turns towards the 
 south, and unites with the Milamchi. The river 
 formed by their union is called the Sankosi ; it flows 
 south-east till it joins in the confluence of the Aran 
 and Tambur at Bara Chattra Ghat. 
 
 3rd. The Tamba Kosi; 4th, the Likhu ; and, 5th, 
 the Dud Kosi, all rise in the snowy range between the 
 Kuti and Hatia passes ; they flow in a south-westerly 
 direction, nearly parallel to each other, and all fall 
 into the Sankosi river, which thus unites into its 
 single stream the waters of five out of the seven Kosis 
 of the country. 
 
 6th. The Aran river is by far the largest of all the 
 rivers in this mountain basin. It rises from several 
 sources, some of which are on the north or Tibetan, 
 as well as on the southern side of the snowy range. 
 
 On the north or Tibetan side of the first range of 
 snowy mountains it has one source in the Valley of 
 Tingri, not far from the origin of the Bhotia Kosi. 
 This branch follows a very circuitous course before it 
 reaches the Hatia pass. It has several other branches, 
 which arise from the wilderness of Damsen, — a wild
 
 THE ARAN EIVER. 53 
 
 and rugged region, which Hooker estimates at from 
 sixteen thousand to eighteen thousand feet above the 
 sea, and which stretches east and west between the 
 first and second ranges of the snowy mountains, and 
 lies to the south, or immediately beneath the Kambela 
 or great range which forms the southern boundary of 
 the vast valley of the Yaru or Sanpu river, on the 
 banks of which Digarchi and Lhassa are situated. 
 
 While still in Tibet these branches unite into one 
 river, — the Aran, — which enters Nipal through the 
 Hatia pass, flows through the hills in a southerly 
 direction, receiving numerous tributaries in its course, 
 and finally, when it approaches the plains, unites with 
 the Sankosi and Tamor rivers at Bara Chattra Ghat, 
 twenty miles north-west of the town of Bijapur. 
 
 7th. The Tamor or Tambur river rises from the 
 western base and the Singilela riclge of the Kinchin- 
 janga mountain. It flows in a south-westerly direction, 
 and unites with the Aran and Sankosi at Bara 
 Chattra Ghat. 
 
 The hill country constituting the basin of the Kosi 
 river, is divided into two provinces or districts by the 
 Aran river. The district lying on the right bank of 
 the Aran, and extending between it and the Dud Kosi, 
 is the country of the Kirantis, — a hill tribe of low- 
 caste Hindus, who once possessed considerable power 
 and territory in these eastern hills, but were speedily 
 reduced to submission by Prithi Narayan after his 
 conquest of Nipal. 
 
 The country of the Kirantis and Limbus at the
 
 54 PROVINCES OF NIPAL. 
 
 present time is divided into fifty-two small subahships ; 
 each subah governing and being responsible for four 
 or five villages, and able to raise generally, if required 
 for the public service, about ten men from each 
 village under his control. 
 
 The district lying on the eastern or left bank of the 
 Aran, and extending from it to Sikkim, is Limbuana, 
 or the country of the Limbus, another tribe of low- 
 caste Hindus. Tt formerly belonged to Sikkim, but 
 it was conquered and permanently annexed to Nipal 
 by Prithi Narayan. Previous to the Gorkha conquest 
 of the Valley of Nipal, the territories of the Niwar 
 kings of Bhatgaon extended eastward to the Dud 
 Kosi river, which formed the boundary between 
 the country of the Niwars and the country of the 
 Kirantis. 
 
 Below the inner hills, and on the northern face of 
 the sandstone range, is the dhun of Bijapur, called 
 Bijapur-mari, from the town of Bijapur, which is 
 situated on its southern border. It is traversed 
 lengthways by a stream which falls into the Kosi 
 before it quits the hills. 
 
 The sandstone hills east of the Kosi river subside in 
 elevation, and are so much interrupted, that they no 
 longer form a continuous range. 
 
 The sandstone range separates the hill country of 
 the seven Kosis from the long narrow strip of forest 
 and lowland which constitutes the Terai of Nipal, and 
 which stretches along the foot of the hills for upwards 
 of two hundred miles.
 
 THE NIPAL TERAI. 55 
 
 This Terai extends from the Oreka Naddi on the 
 west to the Michi on the east, — a distance of about 
 two hundred and twenty miles. It is bounded on the 
 north by the Cheryaghati range of hills, and on the 
 south its limits are marked by a series of eight pillars 
 erected along the whole length of the frontier line 
 which separates the territory of Nipal from the British 
 district of Parniah, Tirhut, and Champaran. Its 
 greatest breadth nowhere exceeds thirty miles ; in its 
 narrowest part, where it is traversed by the Kosi river, 
 it is only twelve miles across ; its average breadth is 
 about twenty miles. The Terai consists throughout 
 its entire length of two very distinct portions, — these 
 are the Sal forest, and the open and cultivated low- 
 land to which the name of Terai proper should be 
 restricted. 
 
 The Bhavar or Sal forest is a long belt of tree- 
 jungle which covers the southern side of the Cherya- 
 ghati range throughout its entire length from the 
 pass of the Grandak to the pass of the Kosi river. It 
 varies in depth in different parts, but has an average 
 width of from five to ten miles. 
 
 Westward of Bissaulia the forest rapidly diminishes 
 in width, until, as it approaches the Gandak river, it 
 disappears for a time altogether. The forest is almost 
 uninhabited. 
 
 Along the foot of the hills, sometimes on the edge, 
 sometimes on banks of streams, in the heart of the 
 forest, small patches of cultivation are scattered about 
 where the jungle has been cleared and little hamlets
 
 56 PROVINCES OF NIPAL. 
 
 or villages have been formed, which are thinly in- 
 habited by certain tribes of low-caste Hindus, who 
 manage to live here throughout the year, and who 
 brave with impunity the deadly malaria and the 
 savage beasts with which these districts are infested. 
 These people follow the calling of agriculturists, of 
 potters, and, where the neighbourhood of rivers allows 
 it, of ferrymen or fishermen. They live " from hand 
 to mouth " ; they grow a little rice and grain, but 
 scarcely enough for their own consumption ; and they 
 get occasional but uncertain supplies of animal food 
 from the carcases of cattle which die, as well as by 
 catching fish, and hunting the wild pigs and deer 
 which abound in the forest. Though they probably 
 belong to the same original stock as the natives of the 
 adjacent plains of Hindustan, yet their continued resi- 
 dence for many successive generations in the most 
 unhealthy and malarious districts, as well as their 
 scanty food and their system of only marrying among 
 themselves, has caused the "breed" to deteriorate 
 most painfully ; and whoever their early ancestors may 
 have been, these aboriginal inhabitants of the Terai 
 are, at the present day, a puny, badly developed, and 
 miserable-looking race. Living almost in a state of 
 nature, they never appear to suffer from any exposure 
 to the weather, and to be entirely exempt from all 
 danger of jungle fever; and though they look half- 
 starved, and as if they were deficient in muscle and 
 bone, yet they are capable of undergoing very con- 
 siderable exertion and fatigue. This is shown by their
 
 THE SAL F0KEST. 57 
 
 supplying not only the class of dale runners, but also 
 the mahouts and others who during the hot and rainy 
 months are employed in the dangerous and difficult 
 business of catching wild elephants. They seem to 
 combine the activity of an animal with the cunning 
 and craftiness so characteristic of the human savage. 
 
 The Sal forest, as its name implies, abounds chiefly 
 in sal trees, but it contains also very many sissu 
 and lemel trees, as well as a considerable number of 
 firs (the pinus longifolia, or civil of the North-West 
 Provinces, and dhup of Nipal), many of large size, 
 along the sides and crest of the Cheryaghati range. 
 
 On the outskirts of the forest portions of jungle 
 are, from time to time, " cleared," and the hitherto 
 uncultivated land becomes absorbed into the open 
 terai. 
 
 By this process of " reclaiming " land, which is 
 constantly going on to a greater or less degree, not 
 only does the forest become gradually diminished in 
 its width, but the amount of land under cultivation 
 in the open terai is steadily but slowly increasing in 
 extent, and consequently in value also. 
 
 Between the Gandak on the west and the Michi on 
 the east, the forest is crossed by several rivers. The 
 Baghmatti, the Kosi, and the Konkayi, or Konki, are 
 the only ones of any considerable size. Except the 
 Kosi, all the rivers which cross the terai are fordable 
 during the dry months of the year. The Kosi is 
 never fordable at any season. Numerous small 
 streams rise in the Cheryaghati range, and flow
 
 58 PROVINCES OF NIPAL. 
 
 through the forest into the open terai, where they 
 fall into one or other of the larger rivers. During the 
 rains these streams often acquire a very considerable 
 volume ; but during the greater part of the year they 
 are either altogether dried up, leaving their channels 
 as mere empty nullahs or ravines, or else their waters 
 are so much reduced in bulk, that, after trickling 
 along the descent of the hills, on reaching the verge 
 of the forest they disappear, and finding their way by 
 subterranean courses, reappear on the inner edge of 
 the open terai. 
 
 This is the case with the Bichaliola Naddi, which 
 rises a little to the west of the principal pass in the 
 Cheryaghati range, trickles down its wide and stony 
 bed, along which the high road to Kathmandu runs 
 for about six miles, and about two miles after it has 
 passed Bichako disappears in the sandy soil, and 
 emerges again at the outer margin of the forest, about 
 a mile's distance to the north-east of Bissaulia, whence 
 it flows on as a rather wide stream, and falls into the 
 Sikrana river. 
 
 During the greater part of the year the open channel 
 of this stream is a mere dry nallah ; no water passes 
 along it, until, from the swelling of the stream during 
 the rains, the underground passage is overflowed, and 
 then the surplus waters flow along the open bed of the 
 river through the forest. 
 
 The Terai proper, consisting of the lowlands lying 
 outside and to the south of the Sal forest, has an 
 average width of from ten to fifteen miles. It is
 
 EXTENT OF THE TEBAI. 59 
 
 widest towards the west, between the Oreka and the 
 Kumla streams ; from the Kumla eastward to the 
 Kosi it gradually becomes narrower ; and in the Mo- 
 rung, from the Kosi to the Michi river, it does not 
 exceed five miles in breadth. 
 
 Strictly speaking there is no open terai in the Mo- 
 rung, — the open land to the south of the forest, and 
 which has now an average width of five miles, origin- 
 ally having formed part of the forest itself, and 
 having been gradually brought under cultivation by 
 steady and constant efforts at clearing and reclaiming 
 the jungle. 
 
 The whole Terai, including the Morung, forms, for 
 administrative purposes, one large " non-regulation ' : 
 province, and is under the government of a single 
 high officer of state — usually a near relative to the 
 Premier — at the present day* a brother of Jang Baha- 
 dur. His residence is at Khatta Banga, a few miles 
 east of Bissaulia, where two regiments of the line are 
 stationed under his command. The Kosi river, which 
 flows from the hills in a direction north and south, 
 divides the Terai into two provinces — a western and 
 an eastern. That portion which lies on the right bank 
 of the river is the Terai proper, and extends from the 
 Kosi westward to the Oreka stream. That which is 
 on the left bank constitutes the Eastern Terai, or the 
 Morung, and extends from the Kosi eastward to 
 
 * Viz. 1858.
 
 60 PROVINCES OP NIPAL. 
 
 the Michi river. With the exception of occasional 
 patches, as around ruins of Simraun, or spurs run- 
 ning out from the forest, the whole Terai west of the 
 Kosi is cleared of jungle. It is thickly inhabited 
 throughout the year by Tharus, &c, and swarms 
 with cattle which are brought there to graze. The 
 majority of its population are migratory ; they dwell 
 in the Terai during the cold months, and retreat either 
 to the hills or to the adjacent plains of Hindustan 
 during the unhealthy period of the year. The Terai 
 west of the Kosi river is divided, for fiscal and 
 judicial purposes, into four zillahs or districts. 
 
 These are, from west to east : — 
 
 1st. Bar ah and Parsa. Through this district the 
 high road runs to Kathmandu from the plains. Parsa, 
 where a detachment under Captain Sibly was defeated 
 with the loss of two guns in January 1815, is close to 
 the present Bissaulia. 
 
 2nd. Bochat extends from the limits of the Barah- 
 Parsa district eastward to the right bank of the Bagh- 
 matti river. 
 
 In the district of Rochat, on the left bank of the 
 Jamni Naddi, and upon the frontier, fifteen miles west 
 of Baghmatti, and the same distance from the foot 
 of the hills, are the ruins of Simraun. At the present 
 day they are very extensive, but are buried among 
 thick jungle, which it is considered sacrilegious to at- 
 tempt to clear away. Simraun was the ancient and 
 fortified capital of the powerful Hindu kingdom of 
 Mithila (modern Tirhut), which extended from the
 
 THE MORUNG. 61 
 
 Grandak to the Kosi, and from the Ganges to the hills 
 of Nipal. 
 
 It is said to have been built a.d. 1097 by Rajah 
 Nanyupa Deva, and his descendants occupied the 
 throne for several generations. The last of his dy- 
 nasty, Rajah Hari Singha Deva, was conquered and 
 driven into the hills, a.d. 1322, by Grhaias-u-din Togh- 
 lak Shah, Emperor of Delhi. The kingdom of Mithila 
 was annexed as a province to the Musalman dominions, 
 and its capital, Simraun, was reduced to ruins. On 
 retiring to the hills Hari Singha Deva conquered 
 Nipal, and his descendants continued on the throne 
 of Nipal till they were displaced by Prithi Narayan. 
 
 On the right bank of Baghraatti, and very near to 
 the frontier, is the village of Baharwar, on a high, dry, 
 and healthy spot. In the first Nipal war, when the 
 division under Major Bradshaw invaded the Terai, 
 their first action was at the outpost of Baharwar, which 
 they attacked and carried, November 1814. 
 
 3rd. Salaya Saptari extends from the Baghmatti 
 eastward to the right bank of the Kumla. In this 
 district, near the frontier, are the ruins of the old city 
 of Janikpur. 
 
 4th. Mohtari extends from the Kumla stream to 
 the right bank of the Kosi river. On the right bank 
 of the river, and close to the frontier, is an outpost 
 named Bhanurwa, on a dry and somewhat elevated 
 spot, well adapted for a military station. 
 
 The Terai east of the Kosi river, and extending 
 thence to the Michi, constitutes the district of Mo-
 
 62 PROVINCES OP NIPAL. 
 
 rung. The Morung is remarkable for its extreme 
 flatness, in many places giving it the character of a 
 swamp, its stiff, clayey soil, and for its pestilent 
 climate. It is the most malarious and unhealthy 
 district in the whole Terai. The water, also, of the 
 streams which run through it is very bad, and often 
 almost of a poisonous quality. 
 
 There is no continuous range of sandstone hills in 
 the Morung. Between the foot of the inner hills 
 and the inner margin of the forest it is quite flat, and 
 is more or less swamped all the year round. 
 
 With the exception of the Morung, the soil of the 
 Terai generally is a rich alluvium consisting of a vary- 
 ing mixture of black loam, clay, and sand, and is well 
 adapted for every kind of crop, including sugar-cane, 
 poppy, and tobacco. 
 
 Elephants are fast disappearing from the Terai to 
 the west of the Kosi; and even in the Morung the 
 numbers are much less than they were formerly.
 
 63 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE VALLEY OP NIPAL. 
 
 Having described the general geographical characters 
 of the western, central, and eastern divisions of Nipal, 
 with the belts of terai which skirt their southern 
 borders, it remains now to notice more particularly 
 the small but important district in which the capital 
 of the kingdom is situated, and which comprises the 
 Valley of Nipal and the hills in its immediate vicinity. 
 This district lies directly to the south of the Gosain- 
 than mountain, and consists of an elevated plateau 
 surrounded by hills, and situated between the country 
 of the seven Gandaks on the west, and that of the 
 seven Kosis on the east. 
 
 It is of a triangular shape ; its apex points towards 
 the north, and rests below the bluff and lofty extremity 
 of the Dhaibang ridge. Its western boundary is 
 formed by the Trisulganga river, which separates it 
 from the province of Gorkha. On the east it over-
 
 64 THE VALLEY OF NIPAL. 
 
 looks the country of the seven Kosis, from which it is 
 divided by the Milamchi or Indiani river. Its base is 
 towards the south, and is formed by the range of 
 Sesapain and other lower hills which lie to the north 
 of the valley and district of Makwanpur. According 
 to the system on which the three great divisions of 
 Nipal were described, and by which their limits were 
 fixed, this district would include only that region 
 which is watered by the Baghmatti and its tributary 
 the Panauni, and would then consist merely of the 
 large valley of Nipal and the small valley of Chitlong, 
 with the hills which form their immediate boundaries. 
 But as the flanks of the mountains which enclose 
 these two valleys are bordered by several smaller 
 valleys which lie in the immediate vicinity of the 
 great valley of Nipal, and are closely connected with 
 it, it will be convenient to look upon the whole series 
 as forming part of the district of Nipal proper, although 
 they are not strictly comprised within its geographical 
 limits, as their waters are drained off by tributaries, 
 not of the Baghmatti, but of the Grandak and Kosi 
 rivers. 
 
 The following valleys are comprised within the dis- 
 trict of Nipal proper, and are all situated around the 
 large central valley of Nipal, from which they are 
 separated by an intermediate range of hills. 
 
 1st. The valley of Chitlong, to the south-west of 
 Nipal, with its subordinate valley of the Panauni river, 
 a tributary of the Baghmatti. 
 
 2nd. The valleys of the Duna and of the Kulpu
 
 VALLEY OF NIPAL. 65 
 
 rivers on the west of Nipal, watered by tributaries of 
 the Trisulganga. 
 
 3rd. The Valley of Nayakot, to the north of Nipal, 
 with its subordinate valleys of the Tadi, Likhu, and 
 Sindura rivers, all tributaries of the Trisulganga. 
 
 4th. The Valley of Banepa, to the east of Nipal, 
 watered by a tributary of the Sankosi river. 
 
 The Valley of Nipal proper, around which these sub- 
 ordinate valleys are collected, is a gently undulating 
 plain, of nearly oval shape, having an average length 
 of about fifteen miles, and encircled by mountains 
 which, rising more or less abruptly from its margins, 
 form its natural boundaries. It lies at an elevation of 
 four thousand seven hundred feet above the level of 
 the sea, and the chain of hills which surrounds it 
 has a varying height of from five hundred to three 
 thousand feet above the surface of the valley, or of 
 from five thousand to eight thousand feet above the 
 level of the sea. 
 
 It is bounded on the north by Mount Sheopuri, the 
 loftiest and most massive of all the mountains by which 
 the valley is enclosed. Its pointed summit, crowned 
 with a forest of sal and oak trees, is elevated fully 
 eight thousand feet above the level of the sea. 
 
 Sheopuri is flanked and supported on the west by 
 Mount Kukanni, with which it is connected by the 
 " Sangla" pass, and on the east by Mount Manichur; 
 each of which hills is about seven thousand feet in 
 height. The eastern boundary of the valley is formed 
 by Mount Mahadeo Pokhra, six thousand seven hun- 
 
 5
 
 66 VALLEY OF NIPAL. 
 
 dred and eighty- six feet in height, and which is joined 
 to Mount Manichur by an intermediate and lower 
 range of hills. 
 
 On the south-east is Mount Phulchoah, a lofty, 
 richly wooded, and widely spreading mountain, about 
 eight thousand feet in elevation. It sends out an arm 
 or spur, called Ranichoah, towards the Mahadeo 
 Pokhra hill, with which it is joined by the pass 
 leading to the Valley of Banepa. Another steep and 
 rugged ridge, called Mount Mahabharat, runs to the 
 south and overhangs the pass of the Baghmatti 
 river. 
 
 The highest peak of Phulchoah consists of a mass 
 of rock, overshadowed by some very fine oaks. In 
 this rock are shrines to Devi Bhairavi and to Mahen- 
 kal, as also a small Buddhist shrine, with small relief of 
 Manjusri (Saraswati), to which the Niwar women flock 
 in spring, taking their girls as soon as they have 
 learnt to use the " kirkha " or thread machine, the 
 handle of which is presented, with fruit, flowers, &c, 
 as an offering to the deity, as Manjusri is considered 
 especially to preside over all kinds of handicraft. 
 The summit of Phulchoah commands a view of the 
 plains as well as of the snowy range. 
 
 Due south is Mount Mahabharat, its western ex- 
 tremity forming one side of the pass through which 
 the Baghmatti river quits the Valley of Nipal. This 
 pass is the only break or gap which occurs in the con- 
 tinuity of the chain of mountains by which the valley 
 is surrounded.
 
 MOUNT INDRA-THAN. 67 
 
 On the south-west of the valley is Mount Chanda- 
 giri, six thousand six hundred feet in height, the 
 eastern shoulder of which, called Hathibun, is washed 
 by the Baghmatti river, and whose south-eastern peak 
 is called Mount Champa Devi. 
 
 Due west of the valley is Mount Indra Than,* a 
 rounded hill not more than one thousand or one thou- 
 sand five hundred feet above the level of the valley. 
 This range of low and rounded hills, continuous on the 
 east with Mahabharat, on the west with Deochoah, and 
 on which are situated the cities of Keshpur and Chabbar, 
 cuts off or detaches from the east of the large valley a 
 small or subordinate valley, which lies below Thankot, 
 and extends east and west along the base of Mount 
 Chandagiri. It is crossed at the village of Narkab 
 by the high road from Thankot to Kathmandu. 
 
 On the north-west is Mount Nagarjun, seven 
 thousand feet in height, a boldly formed and richly 
 
 * " Deochoah " is the name of the mountain. Indra than, or 
 lndrastan, is the name of a small piece of dense ti'ee jungle, near 
 its summit, on its southern face, in the centre of which is a small 
 shallow tank, with a couple of shrines, each containing a figure of 
 Indra and Indriuni, seated on an elephant. Indra is said annually 
 to visit and bathe in this tank, and when this is supposed to take 
 place numbers of the pious bathe there also. At its junction with 
 Mount Nagarjun the Deochoah mountain turns round somewhat 
 upon itself, and sends off a spur in a south-easterly direction, 
 which becomes elongated into a low range of hills which stretches 
 across the valley from west to south, and which is continuous with 
 a similar spur from Mount Mahabharat to the south-west of Mount 
 Phulchoah. 
 
 R *
 
 68 VALLEY OP NIPAL. 
 
 wooded mountain, which, by sending forward two large 
 spurs or arms towards the east — one the hill of Sham- 
 bunath, the other that above Balaji — not only en- 
 croaches considerably upon the extent or area of the 
 valley, but also destroys the regularity of what would 
 otherwise be a nearly oval outline. Towards the 
 south Nagarjun is connected with Mount Deochoah, 
 while on the north a low ridge connects it with a spur 
 from the west of Mount Kukanni, and thus completes 
 the continuity of the girdle or circular chain of moun- 
 tains in whose hollow lies spread out the richly 
 cultivated plain which constitutes the Valley of Nipal. 
 To the north-west of the valley, overlooking it but 
 not forming part of its immediate boundaries, are two 
 mountains— Mount Bhirbandi and Mount Kumhara. 
 The former is the loftiest mountain in the district 
 of Nipal proper; its rounded summit, called Kaulia 
 peak, covered with brushwood jungle of holly oak and 
 rhododendron, is elevated between eight thousand 
 and nine thousand feet above the level of the sea, and 
 full four thousand feet above the surface of the 
 valley. 
 
 It is continuous towards the east with Mount Ku- 
 kanni ; the pass between the two mountains is six 
 thousand feet in height, and over it runs the high road 
 from Nipal to Nayakot, Gorkha, and Tibet. Mount 
 Kumhara is situated to the west of Bhirbandi, with 
 which it is connected by an intervening ridge. 
 
 These two mountains towards the north overhang 
 the Valley of Nayakot ; while on the south and east
 
 NORTHERN HILL-RANGE. 69 
 
 they look towards the Valley of Nipal, from which 
 they are separated by the valley of the Kulpu river 
 and by the low connecting ridge which runs between 
 Mount Kukanni and Nagarjun. 
 
 The six mountains, Mounts Kumhara, Bhirbandi, 
 Kukanni, Sheopuri, Manichur, and Mahadeo Pokhra, 
 stretch as a continuous range from the banks of the 
 Trisulganga on the west to those of the Milamchi 
 river in the country of the Kosis on the east. This 
 range forms the northern boundary to the entire dis- 
 trict of Nipal proper. It runs parallel with, and 
 directly opposite to, the southern face of Mount 
 Jibjibia, whose rugged crest, elevated fifteen thousand 
 feet above the sea, stands as an eternal barrier between 
 the populous and cultivated valleys which lie at its base 
 and the snowy peaks of the Gosainthan which rise im- 
 mediately in its rear. All the mountains immediately 
 surrounding the Valley of Nipal are of secondary 
 formation, but the stratified rocks of which their 
 masses are composed are very rarely exposed to view. 
 Everywhere these mountains are covered with a deep 
 coat of rich soil which gives rise to the most luxuriant 
 vegetation. The Chandagiri, the Phulchoah, Mani- 
 chur, the Sheopuri, the Nagarjun, are clothed with 
 oaks and rhododendrons up to their very summits. 
 Even the most precipitous parts of the northern sides of 
 these mountains are concealed beneath a mass of forest 
 and shrub jungle, which is in many places so dense as 
 to be quite impenetrable to man, while it affords 
 admirable cover for leopards, bears, and wild hogs. In
 
 70 VALLEY OF NIPAL. 
 
 some places, as on the north side of Bhirbancli, on 
 the southern slope and about the base of Sheopuri 
 and Manichur, large masses of naked rock jut out 
 upon the surface, sometimes of a bare hill, sometimes 
 in the heart of a mass of jungle. But these masses 
 are not part of the internal structure of the mountain, 
 but are mere detached and solitary boulders, buried in 
 past ages among the earth on the mountain side, and 
 now accidentally exposed to view in consequence of 
 the denuding influence of the periodical rains. 
 
 All the mountains surrounding the Valley of Nipal 
 are very much steeper on their northern than they are 
 on their southern sides. 
 
 The ascent of the Chandagiri, of the Sheopuri, 
 and of Bhirbandi, on their southern sides, is com- 
 paratively an easy one, in consequence of the slope 
 being long and gradually inclined ; the descent on the 
 north side of all these mountains is abrupt and preci- 
 pitous. This is caused by the layers of rock and softer 
 material, of which these mountains are composed, all 
 trending towards the central ghat line of the snows 
 with a uniform and moderate inclination. The plane 
 surfaces of these layers face towards the south, while 
 their truncated extremities are directed to the north ; 
 and as usually is the case with stratified mountain 
 masses, the declivity of the edges of their strata is 
 abrupt and severe in proportion as the acclivity of their 
 surfaces is gentle and moderate. 
 
 There is another curious characteristic of most of 
 these hills, which is observable more or less through-
 
 NORTHERN AND SOUTHERN SLOPES. 71 
 
 out the whole length of the Himalayas. As a general 
 rule, vegetation is very much more luxuriant on the 
 northern than it is upon the southern side of the 
 mountains. 
 
 In many instances the south side of a mountain is 
 perfectly free from all kinds of jungle, and has merely 
 a thin coating of short grass, while the north side of 
 the same mountain is covered with a mass of forest 
 trees. In such cases, the upper boundary line where 
 the jungle ceases coincides exactly with the crest or 
 watershed of the hill, and is often so abruptly marked 
 that it is difficult at first to believe that it has not 
 been produced by artificial means. 
 
 The same thing occurs even in the subordinate 
 ridges and spurs of these hills; their southern sides 
 are often naked, while their northern faces are clothed 
 with vegetation. 
 
 This does not appear to depend upon any original 
 difference either in the quantity or the quality of the 
 soil with which the opposite sides of the mountains 
 are covered. 
 
 It is caused by the absence of moisture on the 
 southern sides of the mountains, in consequence of 
 their constantly being exposed to the direct and 
 scorching rays of a tropical sun. The thin layer of 
 earth which is strewed over the surface of the moun- 
 tain side is so quickly dried of its waters by the sun, 
 that enough moisture is not left in the soil for the 
 production or support of any considerable extent of 
 vegetation.
 
 72 VALLEY OF NIPAL. 
 
 The north side of the mountains is not exposed to 
 this direct heat, and it consequently retains its 
 moisture sufficiently to make its soil fertile and pro- 
 ductive. 
 
 For the same reason the snows which fall upon the 
 higher hills, during the winter months, disappear on 
 their southern and sunny, much sooner than they do 
 upon their northern and shady sides. 
 
 According to the tradition of all Hindus, what is 
 now the Valley of Nipal was, in the ' early ages of the 
 world, a large and very deep lake, of an oval form, 
 and encircled by lofty mountains, which rose more or 
 less precipitously from its edges. 
 
 Manjusri Bodhisatwa has the credit of having con- 
 verted this lake into a dry valley, by cutting through 
 Mount Kotbar on its southern side with his sword, 
 and so making a passage through which all the waters 
 escaped. The cleft in the mountain, caused by Man- 
 jusri's sword, remains to the present time, and con- 
 stitutes the pass or channel between the Phulchoah 
 and Champadevi hills, through which the Baghmatti 
 river leaves the Valley of Nipal. There is good reason 
 to believe that this legend is based upon truth, and 
 that Nipal was in remote ages a mountain lake, en- 
 closed in the hollow of the same circular range of 
 hills by which the valley is surrounded at the present 
 day. It is probable that in consequence either of 
 one of those subterranean convulsions common to all 
 mountain districts, or of the gradual but continuous 
 elevation of its bottom, or from both causes combined,
 
 NIPAL VALLEY ONCE A LAKE. 73 
 
 the lake burst its boundaries on its southern side, 
 and that a large portion of its waters escaped into 
 the lower hills through the channel which is now the 
 bed of the Baghmatti river. 
 
 At the same time that its waters were being slowly 
 drained off, the hollow of the lake must have been 
 gradually filled up by the soil constantly brought into 
 it by numberless streams from the sides of the sur- 
 rounding mountains. 
 
 These processes of draining off and filling up must 
 have gone on slowly, steadily, and simultaneously, so 
 as to allow of the uniform deposition along the bot- 
 tom of the lake of all the soil and solid ingredients 
 which were contained within its waters. 
 
 In the course of time these deposits became more 
 and more consolidated, until at length, the waters 
 having dried up or drained away, the entire moun- 
 tain hollow became filled up with a mass of alluvial 
 soil, the extent of which corresponded with the 
 limits, as its surface did with the level, of the former 
 lake. 
 
 This view of the formation of the valley is confirmed 
 by numerous facts which can hardly be explained by 
 any other theory. 
 
 At the present day the continuity of the mountain 
 barrier around the valley is so perfect, that were it 
 possible by any means to block up that one pass 
 through which the Baghmatti river flows towards the 
 plains, not one drop of water could escape by any 
 other channel, and, in the course of time, the accu-
 
 74 VALLEY OF NIPAL. 
 
 mulation of its pent-up waters would convert the 
 valley again into a lake. 
 
 Throughout its entire extent the soil of the valley 
 is purely alluvial, and is mostly arranged in strictly con- 
 formable or horizontal strata, such as can only have 
 been formed by gradual deposition from a large mass 
 of standing water. 
 
 This alluvial soil consists almost entirely of clay 
 and sand, and is so evidently formed of debris from 
 the surrounding mountains, that, all around the con- 
 fines of the valley, its composition corresponds in 
 quality and even in colour with that of the nearest 
 adjacent hill. It is remarkable for the utter ab- 
 sence in it of all and every kind of rock formation ; 
 even pebbles are hardly ever seen on the surface, 
 and stone can only be obtained from quarries in 
 the sides or spurs of some of the surrounding moun- 
 tains. 
 
 The abrupt manner in which many of the boundary 
 mountains emerge from under this alluvial soil ; and 
 the almost perfect uniformity of level of all the high 
 lands, not only on the edges but throughout the whole 
 extent of the valley, wherever they have not been sub- 
 jected to the wearing influence of running streams, 
 are additional evidences in favour of the belief that the 
 modern valley now occupies the hollow of an ancient 
 lake. 
 
 The only fact opposed to this belief is the negative 
 one, that fossil aquatic shells have not yet been ob- 
 served in this alluvium ; but as the soil has never yet
 
 SHAPE OF NIPAL VALLEY. 75 
 
 been examined by a geologist, it is very probable that 
 such remains may yet be discovered. 
 
 The shape of the Valley of Nipal is irregularly oval, 
 but its outline is a good deal interrupted by the nume- 
 rous spurs which project into it from the surrounding 
 hills. This is particularly the case on its western side, 
 where the spurs of Mount Nagarjun and of Mount 
 Indra-Than stand forward so boldly that they encroach 
 upon the extent of the valley, and not only diminish 
 its width from east to west, but, by causing its south- 
 west and north-west portions to bend round the pro- 
 jecting bases of these hills, they destroy the regularity 
 of its oval shape, and give to its geueral outline a 
 form closely resembling that of a kidney. 
 
 The long axis of the valley runs from north to south, 
 and its average length is about fifteen miles. 
 
 Thus the distance from Sanku in the north-east to 
 Thankot in the south-west, 
 
 or, from Barranilkhiat at the foot of Mount 
 Sheopuri, in the north, to the pass below 
 Phirphing, through which the Baghmatti 
 leaves the valley ; 
 
 or, from Jaitpur at the foot of Mount Kukanni, 
 in the north-west, to Godaura at the foot of 
 Mount Phulchoah in the south-east, 
 
 is, in all these which are the longest diameters of the 
 valley, as nearly as possible fifteen miles in a direct 
 line. 
 
 The width of the valley is somewhat less, and
 
 76 VALLEY OP NIPAL. 
 
 averages from twelve to fourteen miles. In its nar- 
 rowest or most constricted part, from Balaji at the 
 foot of Nagarjun in the west, to Chargu Narayan, on 
 the south of Lanku, or a spur from Mahadeo Pokhra 
 on the east, the distance is not more than nine or ten 
 miles. The circumference of the valley, at the level 
 of the above-mentioned places, and allowing some- 
 thing for the irregularity of its outline, is probably 
 about fifty miles, and it embraces an area of about two 
 hundred and fifty square miles. 
 
 The valley is most abundantly supplied with water 
 by numberless streams of various sizes, which rise in 
 the sides of the surrounding hills, and in their courses 
 converge more or less directly towards the central 
 long diameter of the valley, where they all terminate 
 by joining the Baghmatti river, which by means of its 
 tributaries drains the whole district of Nipal proper. 
 
 The Baghmatti rises as a small streamlet at a spot 
 called Bhagdwar, from a spring on the northern face 
 of a spur, which forms the eastern shoulder of Sheo- 
 puri, whence, winding its way through the deep 
 gorge or hollow between Sheopuri and Manichur, it 
 descends by a bold cascade into the valley, which it 
 traverses with a serpentine course from north-east to 
 south-west. Having cut a passage by a narrow and 
 precipitous gorge through a spur of Mount Sheopuri 
 at Gaokarran,* it passes to the south of the ancient 
 
 * Before arriving at Gaokarran it receives a considerable tribu- 
 tary — called the Shujalmatti, or Jackal stream — from the southern 
 base of Sheopuri.
 
 THE BAGHMATTI. 77 
 
 Buddhist temple of Keshachait, and skirts three sides 
 of the sacred wood of Pashpatinath, beneath the 
 shrines of which it flows in a narrow channel, which is 
 almost concealed in places by the shade of the trees 
 which overhang it. 
 
 On leaving Pashpatinath, it flows at first in a south- 
 westerly direction, between the cities of Patau on its 
 left, and Kathmandu on its right bank ; then turning 
 towards the south, it passes through a gorge lying below 
 the ancient city of Chabbar, and crossing the south-east 
 portion of the small valley, it extends along the base 
 of the Chandagiri, and quits the valley by the pass 
 below Phirphing, between Mount Champa Devi on 
 the west, and Mount Mahabharat on the east. In its 
 course through the valley, the Baghmatti passes 
 through four different gorges, — first, at Gaoharran ; 
 second, that of Gajeswari at Pashpatti; third, that 
 below Chabbar; fourth, that of Kotbar below Phir- 
 phing. 
 
 Manjusri has the credit of having formed them all 
 with his talwar when he let the waters of the valley 
 escape. The Sheomarghi Niwars and Hindus say 
 that Vishnu was the operator, not Manjusri. 
 
 For the first few miles of its course, the Baghmatti 
 is a very narrow stream, but it soon increases in 
 breadth from the many tributaries which flow into it 
 from all parts of the valley. Its bed is sandy, except 
 in such places as Gaokarran and Pashpatinath, where, 
 having forced its way through the substance of a hill, 
 its channel is strong, and is interrupted by masses of
 
 78 VALLEY OF NIPAL. 
 
 detached rock. Its waters are esteemed to be not 
 only sacred, but peculiarly pure and wholesome. The 
 Baghmatti is always shallow, but, during the rains, it 
 swells into a wide and rapid stream. 
 
 The following legend describes the mode in which 
 the Baghmatti and Bishnmatti rivers were first pro- 
 duced : — 
 
 Kaskat Sand, the fourth mortal Buddha, during a 
 pilgrimage to Nipal, ascended Mount Sheopuri. Some 
 of his followers, struck with the beauty of the place, 
 wished to be initiated into the Buddhist religion, that 
 they might permanently reside in the country ; but no 
 water could be found for the performance of the cere- 
 mony of baptism. Kaskat Sand, having implored Divine 
 guidance, thrust one of his thumbs against the rock, 
 when forthwith the waters gushed forth and his dis- 
 ciples were duly baptised. The spring thus formed 
 gave rise to a river, which he named Varimatti, or 
 Baghmatti. 
 
 The hair which was cut off from the heads of the 
 disciples on being tonsured, he divided into two por- 
 tions ; one part was placed in the stream and became 
 instantly converted into a rock, which he called Kesh- 
 chaitya, which exists to the present day, and from 
 beneath which the sacred source of the Baghmatti 
 issues. 
 
 The other portion of hair was scattered to the 
 winds, and as it fell upon the earth it gave rise to a 
 river, which was named Keshnvati or Bishnmatti. 
 
 The following are the principal tributary streams
 
 THE BISHNMATTI. 79 
 
 which fall into the Baghmatti during its course 
 through the valley. 
 
 The Bishnmatti, the Dhobi-Kola, the Manhaura, 
 and the Ranumanmatti. 
 
 The Bishnmatti or Keshnvati, rises on the southern 
 face of Mount Sheopuri, to the north-west of Bara 
 Nilkhiat. At the point where it leaves the mountain 
 and enters the valley, is a small hamlet named Bishn- 
 nath, to which pilgrimages are annually made. It 
 flows in a southerly direction along the base of Mount 
 Nagarjun, past the village of Balaji, and having the 
 Buddhist temple of Swambhunath on the high land 
 on its right bank. It washes the western side of 
 Kathmandu, which is built upon its left bank, and 
 unites with the Baghmatti river a little to the south 
 of the city. In the north-west of the valley it is 
 joined by the Sanglakola, from the Sanglabanjan or 
 pass between Sheopuri and Kukanni. About half a 
 mile before reaching Balaji, it is joined by the 
 Mahadeokola stream, from the district below Jaitpur. 
 
 Two pucka* bridges connect the city with the right 
 bank of the river ; over one the road leads to Swam- 
 bhunath, over the other to Kirtipur and Thankot. 
 
 At the confluence of the two rivers several temples 
 have been built, and there is an extensive ghat, which 
 is a favourite spot for burning the bodies of the dead. 
 
 The Bishnmatti is joined by several small streams 
 
 * "Pucka" (or paha — from pakana, to cook) refers to kiln- 
 Laked bricks — as opposed to kacha, "raw" or sun-dried ones. — Ed.
 
 80 VALLEY OF NIPAL. 
 
 and feeders from the high land on each side of it ; 
 among them may be named the Badrimatti and the 
 Subanumatti. 
 
 The Badrimatti rises near the foot of Mount Nagar- 
 jun, and falls into the Bishnmatti opposite to Swam- 
 bunath. It is only remarkable as being the stream 
 on the right bank of which, close to its junction with 
 the Bishnmatti, all public executions take place. 
 
 The Subanumatti rises in the hollow between the 
 Nagarjun and Deochoah hills, and falls into the 
 Bishnmatti near its confluence with the Baghmatti. 
 
 The Bishnmatti, by its feeders, drains the northern 
 and western portions of the valley. It flows through 
 a broad and level plain, on the high ground to the left 
 of which stands the British Residency. 
 
 The Dhobikola or Radramatti rises on the south 
 side of Mount Sheopuri, flows in a southerly direction, 
 about one and a half miles to the east of Kathmanclu, 
 and falls into the Baghmatti, about a mile to the east 
 of the junction of that river with the Bishnmatti. 
 
 Between the town of Harigaon, which stands near 
 its right bank, and the high ground on which is the 
 town of Deo Patan, the Dhobi Kola is crossed by a 
 pucka bridge, over which lies the main road from 
 the capital to Pashpatinath and Kastachait. 
 
 The Dhobikola drains the northern and central 
 parts of the valley, its basin lying between the valley 
 of the Bishnmatti on the west and that of the Bagh- 
 matti on the east. 
 
 The Manhaura or Manumatti rises in a glen at the
 
 THE HANUMANMATTI. 81 
 
 north-east base of Mount Manichur, considerably to 
 the north of the town of Sanku, to the east and south 
 of which town it flows, passes round and below the 
 wooded hill of Changu Narain, and then flowing in a 
 south-westerly direction through a rather extensive 
 plain or valley of its own, falls into the Baghmatti 
 river opposite to and north of the city of Patan. It 
 drains the north-eastern portion of the valley. 
 
 The Hanumanmatti rises in a small and sacred tank 
 on the crest or watershed of Mount Mahadeo Pokhra. 
 This tank, from which the hill derives its name, is re- 
 markable as giving rise to two rivers, one of which 
 (the Hanuman) flows westward and falls into the 
 Baghmatti, while the other flows eastward, through 
 the valley of Banepa, and joins the Sankosi river. 
 Descending into the valley, the Hanuman river is 
 joined by several streamlets from the wide-spreading 
 base of the Mahadeo Pokhra hill, it winds round the 
 southern side of the city of Bhatgaon, a little to the 
 west of which it is joined by the Kishn-Kushn, or 
 Kansavati streamlet, from the southern base of the 
 Changu Narain, and then flows due westward till it 
 unites with the Manhaura, a short distance before that 
 stream falls into the Baghmatti. It drains the eastern 
 portion of the valley. 
 
 i. 6
 
 82 
 
 CHAPTER Y. 
 
 the valley op nipal — continued. 
 
 The south and south-eastern portions of the valley 
 are watered by several small streams which rise on 
 the side or in the base of Mount Phulchoah, and flow 
 in a more or less northerly direction to join the Bagh- 
 matti river. Of these may be noted the Tukcha and 
 the Nikhu. 
 
 The Tukcha or Kukhumatti rises near Grodauri, 
 at the foot of Phulchoah, and flows due north to the 
 oast of Patan, and within a quarter of a mile of the 
 city walls; falling into the Manhaura close to its 
 confluence with the Baghmatti. 
 
 The Nikhu is a small stream which rises among the 
 low hills at the foot of Mount Mahabharat, and falls 
 into the Baghmatti just before that river enters the 
 gorge below the city of Chobbar. 
 
 The small or subordinate valley between the base 
 of Mount Ohandagiri and the low range of hills on
 
 THE BAGHMATTI. 83 
 
 which Keshpur and Chobbar are situated, is drained 
 by a stream which rises near Thankot, and, flowing 
 eastward, passes below and to the west of the city of 
 Kirtipur, and then joins the Baghmatti a little below 
 its junction with the Bishnmatti. 
 
 The Baghmatti river having by its numerous tri- 
 butaries collected into one stream the waters from 
 the whole extent of the valley, winds round the base 
 of the eastern shoulder of Mount Chandagiri, passing 
 below Phirphing, and escapes from the valley by the 
 pass or hollow between Mount Ohampadevi on the west, 
 and Mount Mahabharat on the east. After quitting the 
 valley, the Baghmatti is soon joined by the Panauni 
 stream, which waters the valleys of Chitlong, Marko, 
 and Tumbakhana ; it flows in a southerly direction 
 through the lower hills, passing a few miles to the 
 east of Malwanpur, and close to Hariharpur, and then 
 enters the plains through a pass in the sandstone 
 range. 
 
 Crossing the Sal forest and Terai, it pursues a 
 solitary course through Tirhut, where it is joined by 
 the Little Gandak (on which is Mozaffarpur) and 
 falls into the Granges opposite to, and a little below, 
 Monghir. 
 
 Little is known of the character of the country 
 through which the Baghmatti passes after it leaves the 
 valley, until it reappears in the Terai. A road ac- 
 companies it, which is said to be not only the shortest 
 of all the roads leading to the plains, but to be prac- 
 ticable for beasts of burden; to have an easy and 
 
 a *
 
 84 VALLEY OF NIPAL. 
 
 gradual level; and to be free from all formidable ascents 
 or descents. It is, however, and always has been, 
 most strictly closed against foreigners, and it may 
 be fairly inferred that it is in consequence of its 
 being known to be the easiest and most direct of all 
 the roads which lead to the valley, that the Nipalese 
 have adopted such jealous precautions to prevent any 
 European from entering their territory by this route. 
 
 The surface of the plain constituting the Valley of 
 Nipal has a gradual and gentle slope from the higher 
 lands around its circumference towards the central 
 lowlands through which the Baghmatti river winds its 
 serpentine course from north-east to south-west. 
 
 It is, however, rendered irregular and very much 
 cut up by the numerous streams and their attendant 
 valleys, which traverse it in all directions. The broken 
 aud undulating character of its level is probably due 
 to the following causes. 
 
 In those remote times when by the draining off or 
 drying up of its waters the Lake of Nipal was converted 
 into a valley, the surface of the alluvial plain which 
 was then exposed, was, at first, nearly, if not perfectly 
 level. 
 
 The streams, however, which continued to flow 
 into the valley from the surrounding hills must soon 
 have destroyed this uniformity, by cutting through 
 and washing away the rich and soft alluvium of which 
 the soil consisted, and so hollowing out a number of 
 troughs or watercourses considerably below the level 
 of the original surface of the plain.
 
 ACTION OP STREAMS. 85 
 
 The constant action of these streams, continued 
 through a succession of ages, has gradually but 
 steadily carried away a vast quantity of soil ; and as 
 in their course through the valley they became in- 
 creased by numberless little streamlets from the dis- 
 tricts through which they passed, their channels have 
 been constantly increasing in width as the lands on 
 either side of them have been worn away, until at 
 length a series of valleys have been produced, the 
 sides of each of which slope down, more or less 
 abruptly, towards the stream which traverses its 
 centre, and by which all its waters are drained off. 
 These valleys are separated from each other by 
 tracts of higher lands, which retain their original 
 level, in consequence of never having been exposed 
 to the wearing and disintegrating influence of running 
 streams. 
 
 In consequence of a process of this sort constantly 
 going on, each of the numerous streams which traverse 
 the Valley of Nipal now runs in an attendant plain or 
 subordinate valley of its own ; and the general sur- 
 face of the great valley is broken up into a succession 
 of more or less extensive plains, separated from each 
 other by plateaus of high and level land, and each of 
 which is watered by one of the tributary streams of 
 the Baghmatti river. 
 
 As all these streams converge in their courses more 
 or less directly till they unite with the Baghmatti, the 
 attendant plains which accompany them, and which 
 have been formed by the disintegrating action of their
 
 86 VALLEY OF NIPAL. 
 
 waters, also have a general direction from the circum- 
 ference of the valley towards the hollow or lowland 
 plain which runs through its centre from north-east 
 to south-west, and in which is the bed of the Bagh- 
 matti river. 
 
 These different subordinate valleys, like the main 
 streams which flow through them, mostly run from 
 north to south in a direction nearly parallel with that 
 of the Baghmatti, and uniting with that river in the 
 central part of its course where it crosses the valley 
 from east to west. 
 
 Each of these valley streams rises either in a glen 
 or from a spring near the base of one of the sur- 
 rounding hills. Near its source the stream cuts for 
 itself through the highlands a mere shallow channel ; 
 this soon widens until it becomes a deep and broad 
 ravine, which rapidly increases in breadth and depth as 
 it is joined by other ravines bringing down streamlets 
 from the adjacent highlands. As it advances it 
 opens out, and gradually assumes the character 
 of a more or less extensive plain, traversed by a 
 winding river, and bounded on each side by high 
 banks, which in some places terminate abruptly in 
 overhanging cliffs, in others are connected with the 
 plain by a gradual slope. 
 
 Each stream usually follows a serpentine course, 
 winding backwards and forwards from side to side 
 of the valley through which it flows. The size and 
 direction of the stream regulate not only the form 
 and extent of the plain which accompanies it, but the
 
 STREAMS AND PLAINS. 87 
 
 character and slope of the high banks by which its 
 valley is bounded. 
 
 Where the bed of the stream lies at the edge of the 
 plain, and immediately beneath the higher land, its 
 waters slowly but steadily eat away and encroach 
 upon the soft alluvial soil of which these banks are 
 composed. In such places the plain is bounded by 
 precipitous cliffs, which are continually crumbling 
 and breaking down, as their foundations are under- 
 mined and washed away by the river which flows 
 along their base. On the other hand, where the 
 stream flows across or in the middle of its valley, the 
 banks ascend from the plain with a gradual and uni- 
 form slope, which is covered with richly cultivated 
 fields, divided, for purposes of irrigation, into a suc- 
 cession of terraces, rising one above another from the 
 lower to the higher level. 
 
 These plains or valleys which accompany the tribu- 
 tary streams of the Baghmatti river are mostly of 
 considerable extent, but their width varies very much 
 in different parts of their course. In no part do any 
 of them exceed a mile in breadth, and in some places 
 they are not more than from one to two hundred 
 yards across. The plain which accompanies the 
 Bishenmatti, where it spreads out between Balaji at 
 the foot of Mount Nagarjun on the west, and the 
 highlands on which are the British lines on its east, 
 is fully a mile in breadth. Near its confluence with 
 the Baghmatti, where it flows beneath the city of Kath- 
 mandu on its left and the artillery parade ground on
 
 88 VALLEY OF NIPAL. 
 
 its right bank, it is little more than one hundred yards 
 across. 
 
 The Dhobi Kola stream flows at first through a 
 rather wide plain, but where the river is crossed by 
 the bridge and road leading from the capital to Pash- 
 patinath, and flows between the high land on which 
 stands the town of Harigaon on the west, and the 
 hill leading to Deopatan on the east, its valley is not 
 more than two hundred yards in breadth. It spreads 
 out again into a wide plain, fully a mile across, before 
 it joins the Baghmatti river. Where the valley or 
 plain of the Dhobi Kola joins that of the Baghmatti, 
 the high ground on which stands Shappatalli is 
 situated ; it is an isolated plateau, of a triangular 
 form, its apex pointing to the north. On the east and 
 west is the level plain of the Dhobi Kola, while on 
 the south it is washed by the Baghmatti. 
 
 The Baghmatti river, by having to flow through the 
 narrow gorges at Gaokarran and Pashpatti, has its 
 attendant valley divided into three distinct and different 
 portions. 
 
 It flows through a first distinctly defined valley 
 between Baghdwar, where it leaves the Sheopuri 
 mountain, and the pass of Gaokarran. It flows through 
 a second equally distinct valley in its course from 
 Gaokarran to Pashpatti. Here it has the woods of 
 Gaokarran and Pashpatti on its left, and the high 
 land on which are the temples of " Baddhnath " and 
 " Dandeo " on its right bank. After emerging from 
 the wood of Pashpatti, it flows through a third exten- 

 
 THE HANUMAN KOLA. 89 
 
 sive and very circuitous plain before it finally leaves 
 the Valley of Nipal. 
 
 The wood and temples of Pashpatti are situated on 
 a plateau which forms a sort of elevated isthmus, 
 stretching across the valley of the Baghmatti and 
 connecting the high banks of the Dhobi Kola on the 
 east with those of the Manhaura on the west. It is 
 cut right through by the narrow gorge in which the 
 Baghmatti river flows. The valley of the Manhaura 
 river near its commencement is very narrow, where it 
 runs between the high land on which is the town of 
 Sanku on its right, and the hill of Ohangunarain on its 
 left bank. It spreads out afterwards into a plain 
 nearly a mile across, where it has the wood of Pash- 
 patti on the west and the high land of Timmi on the 
 east. 
 
 The valley of the Hanuman Kola is nowhere very 
 wide, nor is that of any of the other smaller streams 
 which converge from all parts of the circumference of 
 the valley towards the Baghmatti, and each of which 
 is accompanied during part of its course by an attend- 
 ant valley of greater or less extent. All these low- 
 land plains or valleys consist of very rich soil, which 
 can at any time be brought under irrigation, either 
 from the main stream or from some of its numerous 
 feeders in their course to join it from the higher land 
 on its sides. These lowlands are mostly appropriated 
 to the cultivation of rice, and but very thinly in- 
 habited — all the cities and towns in Nipal being 
 situated on the higher and drier lands.
 
 90 VALLEY OF NIPAL. 
 
 The highlands by which these plains are separated 
 from each other vary considerably in width, bnt they 
 are all of nearly the same level, and have an average 
 height of from eighty to one hundred and twenty feet 
 above the surface of the plains which lie below them. 
 They appear to have retained the original level of the 
 ancient bed of the lake, as it must have existed when 
 first exposed by the drying up or draining away of its 
 waters, and before it had been cut up into a series of 
 valleys and ravines by the disintegrating action of 
 running streams. The broad plateaus which separate 
 the river plains are promontories of varying extent, 
 which are sent forward, with a general convergence 
 towards the centre of the valley, from the high and 
 level lands which lie along the base of all the sur- 
 rounding mountains. 
 
 Near the edge of the valley these highlands rise 
 with a uniform, but gentle, and often almost imper- 
 ceptible slope towards the foot of the adjacent hills, 
 with which they become continuous. In some few 
 places the high grounds immediately at the foot of the 
 hills (as below Mount Kukanni for instance) are so 
 very much intersected and re-intersected by ravines, 
 each of which during the rains brings down a stream- 
 let to the plain beneath, that the general appearance 
 of the surface becomes so rugged and broken, that 
 unless seen from a considerable distance, all uniformity 
 of level is apparently destroyed. As they sweep up 
 the broad hollows or bays which exist between two 
 projecting spurs, their slope increases, and their sur-
 
 VALLEY LEVELS. 91 
 
 face is divided into tiers of terraces, which, rising one 
 above another, often extend to a considerable height 
 up the mountain side. 
 
 From the above description of the surface of the 
 Valley of Nipal it is evident that it has two distinct 
 and very well marked levels. These are, — 
 
 First, the level of the upper or high lands, which 
 extend round the base of the mountains, and project 
 as promontories towards the centre of the valley. 
 
 Second, the level of the lowlands or plains which 
 lie along the banks of the numerous streams which 
 unite to form the Baghmatti river. 
 
 As a general rule, all the lowlands of the valley, 
 from their facility of irrigation, and certainty of 
 flooding during the rains, are appropriated to the 
 cultivation of rice. Here and there a few cottages, or 
 a powa or a temple may be seen upon them, but 
 usually these lands are very thinly inhabited, as their 
 lowness and dampness make them unhealthy, while 
 their extreme fertility and productiveness cause them 
 to be too valuable to be much used for building pur- 
 poses. Nearly all the inhabitants of the valley live on 
 the high level lands. All the cities, towns, principal 
 villages, &c, are situated upon them, as well as the 
 scattered cottages of the soldiery and other parbat- 
 tiahs, who never congregate together in masses, but 
 always, when they can manage it, have their dwellings 
 separate and detached. 
 
 The surplus high ground which is not required for 
 human habitation is devoted to the cultivation chiefly
 
 92 VALLEY OF NIPAL. 
 
 of cereals, and such dry crops as are independent of 
 irrigation. 
 
 Wherever there is a plateau, however small, there is 
 usually a cottage, or a small cluster of dwellings on its 
 top, while on the slope, or in the plain below it, the 
 ground, where susceptible of irrigation, is laid out in 
 terraces for the cultivation of rice. The high ground 
 round the edge of the valley at the base of the hills, 
 and especially that which runs up between the moun- 
 tain spurs, combines to a considerable extent the 
 advantages and peculiar character both of the upper 
 and lower levels. Its proximity to the streams in 
 their courses from the mountain to the valley enables 
 the inhabitants to command a constant supply of 
 water, which they easily divert into narrow channels 
 for the purposes of irrigation, while the height of the 
 land itself above the river-plain makes it always dry, 
 cool, and healthy. 
 
 These districts round the edge of the valley are, 
 accordingly, very thickly inhabited. Many large 
 villages are situated upon them, and their surface is 
 studded with the picturesque thatched cottages of the 
 soldiery, prettily situated near some spring or temple, 
 or clustered together in small groups around a large 
 and sacred tree. 
 
 These lands round the margin of the valley are 
 granted almost exclusively in jagir to the soldiery, 
 and they are very much coveted, from their pro- 
 ductiveness, healthiness, and proximity to the capital.
 
 93 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 KATHMANDU. 
 
 The principal cities in the Valley of Nipal are Katli- 
 mandu (the present capital of the kingdom), Patan, 
 Bhatgaon, and Kirtipur, which were the capitals of 
 their respective principalities until the Grorkha con- 
 quest in 1767. 
 
 Besides these cities there are several large towns 
 and numberless villages of various sizes, situated in 
 different parts of the valley. Many of these villages 
 are mere hamlets, but some of them possess an interest 
 and importance disproportioned to their size, in conse- 
 quence of their having been built in the immediate 
 neighbourhood of some of the principal temples or 
 most sacred spots within the valley. 
 
 The following list includes all the cities, towns, 
 villages, and hamlets which are deserving of any 
 especial notice : — 
 
 The city of Kathmandu. 
 
 The city of Patan.
 
 94 
 
 KATHMANDU. 
 
 The city of Kirtipur. 
 
 The city of Bhatgaon. 
 
 The hamlet of Bar a Nilkhiat. 
 
 The hamlet of Balaji or Ohota Nilkhiat. 
 
 The hamlet of Shambhunath. 
 
 These are all situated on the high ground watered 
 by the Bishnmatti river. 
 
 The town of Harigaon, on the high land which 
 overhangs the valley of the Dhobikola. 
 
 Both situated on the high 
 
 The village of Chabiar 
 The hamlet of Badhnath 
 
 The town of Gaokarran 
 The village of Deo Patan 
 The town of Chobbar 
 The town of Phirphing 
 
 The town of Sanku 
 The village of Changu 
 
 Narain* 
 The town of Timmi 
 
 land which extends be- 
 tween the Dhobikola 
 and the Baghmatti. 
 Situated above the four 
 gorges or narrow passes 
 through which the Bagh- 
 matti river flows in its 
 course through the 
 valley. 
 
 In the neighbourhood of 
 the Manhaura river. 
 
 * There are four small hainleta, each, containing a shrine sacred 
 to Narayan, in different parts of the valley ; to visit all four in one 
 day is a religious feat often performed. They are, Changu Narayan, 
 Bishanku Narayan, Sikur Narayan, and Echengu Narayan. The 
 circuit from Kathmandu is twenty-two kos, or forty-four miles.
 
 TOWNS AND CITIES OF NIPAL. 95 
 
 The hamlet of Godauri, at the foot of Mount Phul- 
 choah. 
 
 The town of Thankot, at the foot of Mount Ohan- 
 dagiri. 
 
 The following remarks are applicable to each of the 
 four capital cities in Nipal: — Kathmandu, Patan, Kirti- 
 pur,ancl Bhatgaon. During the time of the Niwar Eajahs 
 each city was surrounded by a high wall, in different 
 parts of which were large gateways, which generally 
 remained open, but in times of danger or disturbance 
 could be closed and defended. 
 
 Since the Gorkha conquest of the valley the walls 
 have been allowed to decay, and have now nearly dis- 
 appeared, while many of the gateways are in ruins. 
 The limits of each city are, however, still strictly 
 marked along the line where the ancient walls stood, 
 and no Hindus but those of good caste are allowed 
 to dwell within its precincts. This rule does not 
 apply to Mussalmen, several of whom reside within 
 the city of Kathmandu, but it is strictly enforced 
 against Hindu outcastes, such as sweepers, butchers, 
 executioners, &c, all of whom are obliged to live in 
 the suburbs of the city. It is much more attended to 
 in Kathmandu than it is in the other cities. The 
 number of gateways corresponded exactly with the 
 number of squares (tols) within the city, — each gate- 
 way being associated with a particular square, and 
 placed under the municipal control of the same local 
 .authorities, who were as much responsible for the
 
 96 
 
 KATHMANDU. 
 
 repairs and defence of the gateway as they were for 
 the general management of the square. 
 
 In each city the largest and most important building 
 is the royal palace or darbar. It is situated in a 
 central part of the city, and opposite to its principal 
 front there is an open irregular square, which allows 
 free access to the palace, and round which temples of 
 various kinds are clustered together. 
 
 In all the cities there are a number of small squares 
 irregularly scattered about. There are thirty-two in 
 Kathmandu ; and there ought to be thirty-two gate- 
 ways. The principal public buildings, courts of 
 law, &c, are generally situated on one or more of 
 the sides of these squares. 
 
 In Kathmandu, Patan, and Bhatgaon, most of the 
 principal temples are in the immediate vicinity of the 
 darbar ; many are within its precincts, and many 
 more are crowded around or opposite to its principal 
 facade. At Kirtipur the darbar was on the highest 
 part of the crest of the hill on which the city is built ; 
 it is now completely in ruins, but around its remains 
 several temples more or less decayed are still standing. 
 
 The darbars are usually of an irregular quadran- 
 gular form, one side towards the rear being generally 
 left open, and communicating with the gardens, 
 stables, &c. 
 
 The outer facade of one or more of the other sides 
 is open to the streets. The inner quadrangle is always 
 private, and is usually divided into a number of smaller 
 courts of various sizes with buildings on all four sides.
 
 - 

 
 DAEBAES OE PALACES. 97 
 
 These inner courts communicate one with another by- 
 small doorways only, which can easily be secured, so 
 that, in case of danger or disturbance, by closing them 
 the inmates of the palace may shut themselves into 
 the different parts of the building, and defend them- 
 selves with ease against a large number of assailants. 
 These inner courts are appropriated to different pur- 
 poses ; some contain temples for the private use of the 
 inmates of the palace, some are inhabited by the royal 
 ladies, others are employed for public receptions and 
 spectacles, while one or more are often used as stables 
 for elephants. 
 
 To any person not acquainted with their relative 
 positions and different outlets, the mass of small quad- 
 rangles, detached buildings, temples, &c. within the 
 precincts of any of the palaces would appear to be a 
 confused labyrinth of courts, passages, and doorways. 
 These remarks apply especially to the darbars at Kath- 
 mandu and Bhatgaon. There are from forty to fifty 
 different courts of various sizes, each having a separate 
 name, in the darbar at Kathmandu ; while in that at 
 Bhatgaon there are, or rather originally were, ninety- 
 nine distinct courts within the precincts of the palace. 
 During the dynasty of the Mwars the darbar at 
 Bhatgaon was the largest and most costly of any in 
 Nipal. Since the Grorkha conquest, that of Kath- 
 mandu, as being the residence of the king, has been 
 enlarged in every direction, and kept in thorough re- 
 pair, and it is now accordingly the most extensive, 
 though by no means the most ornamental or pictu- 
 i. 7
 
 98 KATHMANDU. 
 
 resque. The darbar at Patan was never so large as 
 those of Bhatgaon or Kathmandu. The darbar at 
 Patan was of simpler construction, and did not con- 
 tain so many divisions ; while that at Kirtipur, which 
 was very much less extensive than the others, is now 
 in such a state of ruin that it is impossible to tell 
 what was originally the form or even the outline of 
 the building. The streets through the different cities 
 are mostly narrow, crooked, and dirty. In Kath- 
 mandu alone is there a street leading to the darbar 
 along which a four-wheeled carriage can be driven. 
 In the other cities, and through the greater extent of 
 Kathmandu itself, the streets leading to the darbar, 
 as well as those which traverse the towns in all direc- 
 tions are mere lanes, adapted only for foot passengers, 
 horses, and elephants. The streets do not appear to 
 have been laid out on any particular system. Two 
 or three of the principal streets radiate from some of 
 the gateways on the circumference of the city towards 
 the darbar, which is usually situated near its centre, 
 and in their course they pass through some of the 
 small squares (or tols) with which each capital abounds. 
 Other smaller streets connect the different squares 
 and leading thoroughfares together, and these again 
 are intersected by numerous narrow lanes, which 
 ramify about the city in all directions. Even where 
 the streets are wide enough for a carriage, as they are 
 in some places, both at Patan and Bhatgaon, the 
 pavement is so irregular that it is not adapted to 
 wheeled vehicles. The wheels would soon be knocked
 
 TEMPLES AND HOUSES. 99 
 
 off by jolting over gutters and drains ; and where the 
 brick and tile pavement, i which is used throughout 
 all the streets and lanes, has been kept even and in 
 good order, it is too slippery to be safe for draught 
 cattle. 
 
 There is an utter absence in all the cities of any 
 system of drainage ; nearly stagnant gutters on each 
 side of the street, running immediately below the 
 house-fronts, do the duty of sewers, and into them 
 most of the filth and refuse of the adjacent buildings 
 find their way. 
 
 Numerous temples — Buddhist and Hindu — are 
 situated in different parts of the cities. The Hindu 
 temples are generally placed near some of the princi- 
 pal thoroughfares ; but all the important Buddhist 
 temples are situated a little off the road, and stand in 
 the centre of squares or quadrangles which have been 
 built around them, and which are inhabited exclusively 
 by Buddhist Niwars. 
 
 None of the houses consist of less than two floors, 
 and they are mostly three, four, or even five stories 
 high. They are strongly built of red burnt brick, 
 and have overhanging pent tiled roofs, the projecting 
 eaves of which rest upon a number of short wooden 
 supports, which slope upward from the walls of the 
 house, and are often curiously and elaborately carved 
 into the shape of grotesque monsters, &c. The frame- 
 work of the roof consists of wood, and it is covered 
 with red tiles (resting upon a layer of adhesive clay), 
 which are ingeniously curved, so that they mutually 
 
 7 *
 
 100 KATHMANDU. 
 
 overlap and support each other, and are so grooved 
 that when in apposition they form a series of little 
 continuous channels, by which all rain is quickly 
 carried off from the surface of the roof. The ground 
 floor of the house, towards the street, usually consists 
 of an open balcony, which serves either for a shop, or 
 for a convenient lounging and sitting place for the 
 inmates of the house. This balcony communicates 
 in almost all houses, by a low doorway, with a quad- 
 rangle behind, which is open to the sky above, and is 
 closed in on all four sides with buildings, the windows 
 of which look into it. Almost every house of any 
 size, public or private, contains a central quadrangle 
 of this kind, round which the rest of the house is 
 built. The size of the quadrangle of course varies in 
 accordance with the extent of the house. In most 
 cases the lowermost or ground floor is an open sort of 
 verandah running round the court, supported by wooden 
 posts, and having one or more step-ladders on it, 
 which lead, through trap-doors, to the floor above. 
 In this open verandah servants live, in company with 
 the live-stock of the house, such as horses, cows, 
 goats, dogs, &c. In the dwellings of the poor the 
 central court is too often a common receptacle for all 
 the washings and filth of the surrounding buildings, 
 and it is doubtless often a fertile source of fever and 
 disease, especially where, as frequently happens in 
 some of the larger houses, some twelve, twenty, or 
 even more different families of the poorer and working 
 classes, but of the same caste and trade, inhabit the
 
 POSITION OF THE CAPITAL. 101 
 
 same range of buildings running round one single 
 central quadrangle. 
 
 In all houses the ceilings are low and the doorways 
 small, and as the windows (which consist of very 
 massive frames, often beautifully and elaborately 
 carved on the outside) are without glass, and can 
 only be closed by wooden shutters, the rooms are 
 confined and badly lighted. Staircases are unknown, 
 and the communication between the different floors of 
 which a house consists is effected by means of step- 
 ladders leading to narrow trap-doors, which can be 
 quickly closed and easily defended. 
 
 Kathmandu, from being the capital of the kingdom, 
 is the most important city of Nipal.* It is situated 
 towards the western side of the valley, about a mile 
 from the base of Mount Nagarjun, and stands on the 
 east or left bank of the Bishnmatti, near the con- 
 fluence of that river with the Baghmatti. 
 
 It is of an oblong form, and is said by the Budd- 
 hist Niwars to have been built after the shape of the 
 sword of its great founder, Manjusri, while the 
 Hindus profess that it resembles the sword or scimi- 
 tar of Devi. 
 
 The handle or blunt extremity of this traditionary 
 
 * Under the dynasty of the Niwar Rajahs, the principality of 
 which Kathmandu was the capital included within the valley the 
 towns of Sanku, Changunarain, Gaokarran, Harigaon, Deo Patan, 
 and all the villages and hamlets along the northern and western 
 sides of the valley.
 
 1 02 KATHMANDU. 
 
 sword is directed to the south, towards the confluence 
 of the Baghmatti and Bishnmatti rivers, while its 
 apex points to the north, where it terminates in the 
 suburb of Timmale, which stretches round or rests 
 upon it, say the Buddhists, as the chattra of cloth 
 does upon the point of Manjusri's sword. The great- 
 est length of the city from north to south is about a 
 mile, and its breadth varies from one-fourth to one- 
 third of a mile. 
 
 On the west Kathmandu is bounded by the Bishn- 
 matti, and its streets, or those of its suburbs, slope 
 down rather steeply from the higher level on which 
 the greater portion of the city is built, to the very 
 edge of the river, which flows in some places directly 
 below its walls. 
 
 The Bishnmatti is crossed by two pucka bridges, 
 over one of which goes the road from the city to the 
 arsenal, and artillery barracks and parade-ground, and 
 over the other the direct road to the temple of Sham- 
 bunath. 
 
 On the east and south the city overlooks the low- 
 lands which he along the courses of the Dhobikola and 
 Baghmatti rivers. 
 
 The earliest name by which the city was known was 
 Manju Pattan, having been so called after himself 
 by Manjusri, its traditional founder. Its modern 
 name is said to be derived from an ancient building:, 
 which stands in the heart of the city near the darbar, 
 and which was originally and is still known among 
 the Niwars as Kathmandu, from hath " wood " (of
 
 CITY SQUAEES. 103 
 
 which material it is chiefly composed), and mandi, or 
 mandon, "an edifice, house, or temple." 
 
 This building was erected by Rajah Lachminna Sing 
 Mall, a.d. 1596, not as a temple (though there are 
 some figures of Shiva inside it), but as a house of 
 accommodation for fakeers, and it always has been 
 and is still used solely for that purpose. Though 
 old, it is in good preservation, having been always 
 kept in repair by Government. 
 
 In consequence of the extension of the suburbs of 
 the city, especially towards the west and north, the 
 walls of the city have been allowed to fall into decay, 
 and in many places are now hardly distinguishable. 
 Many of the gateways, of which originally there were 
 thirty-two, are still standing, but the gates themselves 
 have long since disappeared. There are said to be 
 thirty-two small squares or tols in the city, but the 
 following are the only squares which are now of any 
 interest or importance. 
 
 Assan Tol, at the northern end of the city (near the 
 Rani Talao). 
 
 Indra Chok, between Assan Tol and the darbar. 
 
 The square in front of the darbar. 
 
 The Kathmandu Tol, to the south-west of the darbar. 
 
 The Toba Tol, in south-west of city, near the bridge 
 over the Baghmatti. 
 
 Laghan Tol, in south-east of city, close to another 
 small square (Laghan Taubian), which has a Buddhist 
 temple in its centre. Two streets, one from gateway 
 to north-east, another from gateway to north of
 
 104 KATHMANDU. 
 
 city, meet at the Assan Tol ; thence one street runs 
 through Indra Chok to the darbar, whence one 
 street runs south-west to the Bishnmatti through 
 Kathmandu Tol and Toba Tol, and another runs 
 south-east to Laghan Tol, and thence on towards 
 the magazine and high road to the Baghmatti and 
 Patan. Several other streets traverse the city, 
 mostly running more or less directly from gate- 
 ways on its circumference towards the neighbour- 
 hood of the darbar. Innumerable lanes, narrow, 
 dirty, and crooked, intersect the city, and connect 
 these different thoroughfares with each other. The 
 pavement throughout the city is of brick tiles; in 
 most places a gutter runs on each side of the street, 
 leaving a narrow space between it and the houses; 
 but as this space, though paved, is not wide enough 
 for a footpath, all the traffic is carried on along the 
 middle of the road. The most important building in 
 the city is the darbar, which is situated in its centre. 
 It is a low, rambling, and by no means imposing- 
 looking structure, its architecture exhibiting a strange 
 mixture of the most discordant styles. The ancient 
 parts were built by the Niwars, and their carved 
 windows and grotesque monsters supporting the roofs 
 have been so disfigured by the Grorkhas with thick 
 coats of paint and plaster, that their primitive and 
 characteristic features are almost destroyed. Modern 
 wings have been added also during the present cen- 
 tury, which are built after the European fashion, with 
 plain glass windows and green Venetian blinds, and
 
 DARBAR OP KATHMANDU. 105 
 
 in which stucco is used instead of stone, and gaudy 
 colours but imperfectly conceal the absence of costly 
 carving. 
 
 The darbar covers a considerable extent of ground, 
 and is of an irregular quadrangle form. To the north 
 it is partly open to the city, and is flanked by the 
 lofty Talliju temple. At the southern end is the 
 council-chamber, the Basantpur, and the long modern 
 darbar or public reception room. On the east it 
 encloses the royal garden and stables, and on the west, 
 which is its principal front, it is open to the street, and 
 forms one side of a rambling irregular square, in 
 which are clustered together a number of Hindu 
 temples, originally built by the Niwars, and which 
 have therefore the usual form and elaborate carvings 
 by which all Niwar temples are distinguished. In 
 consequence of their vicinity to the palace they have 
 been kept in good repair by the Gorkha Government, 
 but their ornamental carvings have been so disguised 
 and daubed over with paint, gilt, and tinsel (a la mode 
 Gorkha), that they have lost all their original beauty, 
 and may almost, without caricature, be compared to 
 those wooden models of Chinese pagodas (which they 
 resemble distantly in form) which are to be found in 
 every London toy-shop. Besides those which are 
 around, there are several temples within the precincts 
 of the darbar; but their lofty gilt roofs rising one 
 above another, and tapering to pinnacles above, are 
 the only parts of them which are visible from the 
 streets.
 
 106 KATHMANDU. 
 
 Opposite the north-west corner of the darbar is the 
 Kot, or military council-chamber, in which was 
 enacted the massacre of 1846. The Kot Ling, 
 Dhunsar, and other courts of law are also situated 
 around the western front of the darbar. 
 
 Near the south-western angle of the darbar is the 
 little square now used as a fruit market, which is 
 called Kathmandu Tol. The old building, Kath- 
 mandu, from which the city derives its name, is situ- 
 ated on its northern side ; the old Dhunsar court of 
 law, now deserted and in ruin, on its eastern ; some 
 fakirs' houses on its south, and some old and half- 
 ruined temples on its west. It is one of the most 
 curious and characteristic places in the whole of the 
 city. 
 
 Several of the sardars have during the last few 
 years built large houses in different parts of the city. 
 The sites on which they stand having been well 
 selected, the ground levelled, and the surrounding 
 buildings cleared away, give to them rather an im- 
 posing appearance, and make them contrast very 
 strongly with the humble and dirty, but still very 
 picturesque exteriors of the mass of the old Niwar 
 dwellings in their neighbourhood. 
 
 Their exteriors are in the pseudo-classic, or carpen- 
 ter's Gothic style of architecture, profusely covered 
 with paint and plaster, instead of with rich carvings 
 and fancifully cut wooden reliefs. 
 
 In their interiors the private apartments retain the 
 low ceilings and doorways, step-ladders, and trap-
 
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 HOUSES OF THE SAEDARS. 107 
 
 doors, which are characteristic of most native houses ; 
 but they have one or more large public reception 
 rooms, built in the English fashion, with lofty ceilings 
 and glass windows, the walls of which are ornamented 
 with mirrors and pictures, and the floors covered with 
 Brussels carpets. These rooms are filled with the 
 most curious medley of useful and ornamental articles 
 of English and French furniture. Steel fire-places, 
 with marble mantlepieces ; sofas, couches, easy chairs, 
 billiard tables, and four-posted beds ; candelabras, 
 pianos, organs, glassware, vases, &c, are crowded 
 together in the most curious confusion, and in a 
 manner which shows that though their present owners 
 may value them as curiosities, they are utterly ignorant 
 of or incapable of appreciating their real use. Still the 
 presence of these European luxuries and ornamental 
 furniture has introduced an appearance at least of 
 elegance and comfort into the interior of the houses of 
 the Gorkha sardars, which was never dreamt of, even 
 by royalty, at the time when the Niwar dynasty was 
 on the throne. 
 
 Numerous as are the different Hindu temples in 
 Kathmandu, there are none of them of any peculiar 
 interest or beauty. The Talliju temple is the most 
 important, and the most imposing in its appearance. 
 
 There are several Buddhist temples in different 
 parts of the city; of these the most interesting are 
 "Kathisambhu," and Buddhmandal, in a square of its 
 own, near the square called Laghan Tol. The number 
 of Buddhist Niwars in Kathmandu is small compared
 
 108 KATHMANDU. 
 
 with that in Patan, and the Buddhist remains and 
 temples are not therefore so numerous in the former 
 as in the latter city. It is believed that the Buddhists 
 in Kathmandu scarcely amount to half of the Niwar 
 population, whereas in Patan fully two-thirds of the 
 Niwars are Buddhists. 
 
 It is almost impossible to estimate the population 
 of Kathmandu or any other large city in Nipal with 
 any accuracy, as no regular or scientific census has 
 ever been taken. In Kathmandu the population is 
 probably not less than sixty thousand nor more than 
 eighty thousand ; of these the great bulk are Niwars, 
 the Grorkhas forming but a very small minority. 
 
 Outside the city, on the east, is a level grassy plain, 
 one-third of a mile long, and from two hundred to three 
 hundred yards wide, which is the grand parade ground, 
 and is called the Thandi Khel.* On its eastern and 
 northern sides are barracks for some of the regiments 
 which are stationed at the capital. In its centre is a 
 peculiarly ugly stone column supporting a gilt figure 
 of Jang Bahadur, which was erected by himself, and 
 inaugurated with great pomp and ceremony in 1853. 
 
 Between the parade-ground and the city is a palace, 
 built and fitted up by General Bhim Sen as his own 
 residence when he was Premier, but which, since the 
 murder of his unfortunate nephew, Martabar Singh, 
 who also lived in it, has been appropriated for the 
 
 * This parade-ground and barracks, as well as the artillery can- 
 tonments and arsenal, were built by deneral Bhim Sen.
 
 BHIM SEN'S FOLLY. ] 09 
 
 use of some of the members of the royal family. 
 Although the house itself is kept in repair, yet the 
 flower-gardens have been neglected, and are now 
 over-run with jungle ; and the fountains can no longer 
 play, in consequence of the fish-ponds from which 
 they sprang having been allowed to dry up. Close 
 to this palace is a lofty stone column, about two 
 hundred feet high, which was erected by Bhim Sen. 
 It gradually tapers from its base to the summit, 
 where it does not support any kind of statue, but 
 ends in a sort of lantern pinnacle, very similar in 
 appearance to the celebrated pepper-boxes of the 
 British National Gallery. It was not raised to com- 
 memorate any particular epoch or event, but appa- 
 rently merely for the purpose of " astonishing the 
 natives," and it well deserves the name of " Bhim 
 Sen's folly." 
 
 i At the south-western angle of the Thandi Khel is 
 the magazine, where is the Government foundry for 
 the manufacture of cannon, as well as of many other 
 articles which are worked in the hard metals. 
 
 Close to the magazine is a temple to Jagannath, 
 built in 1852 by Jang Bahadur. The temple was 
 commenced on a very grand scale by Bhim Sen ; but 
 when little more than the foundations had been laid, 
 that minister died, and the work was abandoned, in 
 consequence of the general belief in Nipal that it is 
 unlucky to carry on or resume an undertaking which 
 has been interrupted by the death of the party who 
 commenced it.
 
 110 KATHMANDU. 
 
 Jang, however, disregarding this prejudice, has 
 completed the present building on the very founda- 
 tions which were left unfinished on the death of his 
 great uncle Bhim Sen. 
 
 It is only to be regretted that he was not as liberal 
 with his money as he was with his religion, and that 
 his good taste did not induce him to erect a building 
 of durability and architectural merit, as Bhim Sen had 
 intended to do, in the national style of the Niwars, 
 instead of constructing a cheap brick-and-plaster 
 imitation of one of the most common and least orna- 
 mental temples of Hindustan. On the high road near 
 the northern end of the Thandi Khel, is a small but 
 richly endowed temple, of great antiquity, and having 
 a larger number of worshippers than any temple in 
 the valley. It is certainly the most popular and fashion- 
 able " chapel-of-ease ' in Nipal, and its votaries are 
 found among the highest as well as the lowest in the 
 land. It is called the Temple of " Mehenkal," 
 under which name the Hindus worship Mahadeo or 
 Shiva ; while the Buddhists maintain that the sacred 
 figure represents, not Mahadeo, but the Bodhisatwa 
 Padma-Pain, and that this is proved by the little stone 
 figure, which they consider to be Amitabha, which is 
 rising out of the forehead of the idol. It is one of 
 those points on which " a great deal may be said on 
 both sides of the question " ; but the result of the 
 
 • 
 
 doubt is very curious, as it has led to the temple be- 
 coming a sort of neutral ground on which the rival 
 Hindus and Buddhists meet to pray before one com-
 
 THE RANI POKHRA. Ill 
 
 mon God, whom the former worship as Shiva, and the 
 latter as Padma-Pain. 
 
 In the north-east outskirts of the city is a large 
 square tank, called the Rani Pokhra, or Queen's Tank, 
 having been constructed by a former queen of Nipal. 
 In its centre is a small temple to Devi, which is con- 
 nected with the western side of the tank by a bridge 
 or viaduct of several arches. The old temple and 
 bridge, being much decayed and partly overgrown by 
 wild ivy, were very picturesque objects, especially if 
 looked at from the southern side of the tank, when 
 the background of the view was formed by the snowy 
 peaks of the Gosainthan, as they glistened in the sun 
 high above the bluff and forest-crowned head of Mount 
 Sheopuri. They were pulled down in 1851 by Jang 
 Bahadur, who replaced them by the present ugly brick- 
 and-plaster structure, while at the same time he de- 
 stroyed the pretty appearance of the tank by sur- 
 rounding it with a high brick wall, which completely 
 shuts it out from the road. Whenever the trial " by 
 ordeal of immersion " takes place, the ceremony is 
 performed in this tank. Close to the north-west and 
 south-west corners of the tank were two of the ancient 
 city gateways ; the former is still standing, but the 
 latter has disappeared. A high road runs from each 
 of these corners of the tank to the Assan Tol. 
 
 Near the north-east angle of the tank is a small 
 temple to Narayan, prettily situated among a group of 
 very fine Nipal elm trees. A spring of water rises 
 close to it, from which the place is called the Narain
 
 112 KATHMANDU. 
 
 Hitti (Hitti meaning a spring or watering-place). 
 Opposite to the temple is a large modern stucco 
 house, which was formerly the residence of Fathi 
 Jang Chauntra. After his death at the Kot massacre 
 in 1846, the house remained unoccupied till 1852, 
 when it was repaired, and is now tenanted by Gul 
 Ranudat Singh. Outside the city, towards the north, 
 are the suburbs of Timmale, which contain two or 
 three large houses belonging to sardars, and formerly 
 occupied by Generals Badrinat Singh and Jai Baha- 
 dur. Timmale extends towards the British Resi- 
 dency, from which it is separated by a parade-ground, 
 attached to which is a building containing the head- 
 quarters of two Gorkka regiments. 
 
 A large powder-magazine formerly stood in the 
 centre of this parade-ground, but it was struck by 
 lightning in 1834, and completely destroyed by the 
 explosion of one hundred and sixty thousand pounds 
 of gunpowder which it contained at the time. Twenty- 
 seven men were killed by the accident, and the British 
 Residency, which was only four hundred yards dis- 
 tant, had a narrow escape, as all its windows, blinds, 
 &c. were smashed by the concussion, but no other 
 injury was sustained. 
 
 Adjoining this parade-ground, on its north side, is 
 the British Residency, with the barracks, occupied by 
 a company of sepoys. The British lines occupy an 
 area of about forty acres, and are situated on the 
 high grounds immediately overlooking the plain of the 
 Bishnmatti river.
 
 CANTONMENTS. 113 
 
 To the west of the city of Kathmandu, and sepa- 
 rated from it by the Bishnmatti river, are the canton- 
 ments and parade-ground for the two regiments of 
 artillery ; they are situated on the high grounds, on 
 a plain immediately beneath the south side of the hill 
 of Sambhunath. 
 
 The barracks are ranged along the north side of the 
 parade-ground ; on the south side are the gun-sheds, 
 in which nearly all the guns in the neighbourhood 
 of the capital are stored, and among them are the two 
 guns captured from the British in 1815, on the defeat 
 of Captain Sibley's detachment at Parsah in the 
 Terai. The arsenal is a large detached building at 
 the south-west angle of the parade; it contains all 
 the musketry, swords, and ammunition which are kept 
 in store by the Nipal Government. It is an exten- 
 sive building running round the four sides of a cen- 
 tral square; the walls are of brick; the roof is tiled, 
 but the floors and a great part of the interior con- 
 sist merely of wood. 
 
 To the south of Kathmandu, a level delta- shaped 
 plain extends from the city walls to the point of con- 
 fluence of the Baghmatti and Bishnmatti. Several 
 Hindu temples are clustered about this sacred spot, 
 and on the right bank of the Baghmatti General Bam 
 Bahadur has recently completed a handsome and use- 
 ful ghat, two or three hundred yards in length, and 
 leading by a flight of stone steps down to the water's 
 edge. 
 
 i. 
 
 8
 
 114 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 PATAN. BHATGAON. — KIRTIPUK. 
 
 Patau, or Lallit Patau, is the largest city in Nipal. 
 It is situated on the high ground to the south of the 
 Baghmatti, about half a mile from the left bank of 
 that river and about one mile and a half to the south- 
 east of Kathmandu. Previous to the Gorkha con- 
 quest, Patan was the capital of one of the three in- 
 dependent principalities into which Nipal was divided ; 
 it was the residence of one of the Niwar kings, and 
 was at that time a wealthy, powerful, and important 
 city.* 
 
 At the surrender of Patan to Prithi Narayan in 
 
 * The King of Patan possessed a larger territory within the 
 valley than belonged to the kings either of Bhatgaon or Kath- 
 mandu. His jurisdiction extended over Kirtipur, Chobbar, Than- 
 kot, Phirphing, Godauri, and all the towns and villages to the 
 south of the Baghmatti and Hanumankola streams.
 
 CITY OF PATAN. 115 
 
 1768, the city was given up to plunder, the nobility 
 and principal men were murdered, and the greatest 
 barbarities were practised on the unfortunate inhabi- 
 tants, who, being mostly Buddhists, received but little 
 mercy at the hands of their Hindu conquerors. 
 
 The royal palace was dismantled ; the dwellings of 
 the wealthy citizens were robbed of everything valu- 
 able that they contained, and even the temples were 
 not spared. Their accumulated wealth was seized, 
 and the revenues of the Church lands which were 
 attached to all temples for their support, and which 
 had from time immemorial been regarded as sacred, 
 were appropriated either wholly or in part by the 
 rapacity of the Gorkha Government. 
 
 Patan has never recovered from the blow it then 
 received. Although still a very populous city, con- 
 taining probably not less than sixty thousand inhabi- 
 tants, it has lost all its social as well as political 
 importance. The spirit of its inhabitants appears 
 to have been completely crushed by the loss of their 
 independence, the overthrow of their royal house, the 
 murder of their leading citizens, and the plunder or 
 destruction of all which they held most sacred. 
 
 The consequence is that the city of Patan has 
 gradually but steadily declined ; its darbar, public 
 buildings, and most of its temples have fallen into a 
 ruinous and dilapidated state ; while the poor Niwars 
 hove not the means to restore them, and seem stricken 
 with a sort of apathy which prevents their attempting 
 even to check the progress of further decay. 
 
 8 *
 
 110 PATAN. 
 
 It is not the Newars who are to blame for the 
 neglected and ruinous condition of so many of their 
 temples and public buildings. Under the Niwar dy- 
 nasty every temple had a liberal jaigir permanently 
 attached to it, the produce of which mainly kept it in 
 repair and paid the expenses of the festivals connected 
 with it. On the Gorkha conquest of the valley such 
 of the temples as the new Government thought it 
 would be desirable to keep in good repair for the 
 use of the Gorkha invaders were allowed to retain 
 a moiety, seldom more, of their church-lands ; these 
 temples are to this day in very fair preservation. But 
 in the majority of cases Prithi Narayan confiscated 
 the entire jaigir; and in many instances, where he 
 had spared the sacred revenues, Ran Bahadur, and 
 afterwards Bhim Sen, appropriated them. Such 
 temples having been left to the precarious support 
 of the " voluntary system " among a people whose 
 poverty is greater even than their piety, have naturally 
 decayed, and are now fast falling into ruin. Although 
 a most curious and interesting city — rich in Buddhist 
 monuments and Hindu temples, and full of r pictu- 
 resque views of buildings once profusely ornamented 
 with elaborate carvings and grotesque sculptures in 
 wood and in stone, but now broken into ruins or 
 overgrown with jungle — yet there is an air of sad 
 solemnity, and almost of gloom, hanging about every- 
 thing connected with the place. 
 
 The city looks much too large for its inhabitants ; 
 its streets as well as its buildings appear to be half
 
 STEEETS OF PATAN. 117 
 
 empty ; there is none of the bustle and activity and 
 palpable prosperity which are visible throughout Kath- 
 mandu and Bhatgaon. Ruined buildings and deserted 
 shrines, broken archways and mutilated sculptures, 
 meet the eye at every turn ; and while these remains 
 are evidences of its former grandeur, they still painfully 
 proclaim the melancholy fact that Patan's " glory has 
 departed." The city is of a circular form, and is said 
 to resemble in shape the wheel or chakra of Buddha. 
 Its ancient walls and gateways in most places are 
 ruinous, and in many have quite disappeared. 
 
 The darbar is situated in the centre of the city, and 
 towards it numerous streets converge, more or less 
 irregularly, from all those sites in the circle of the 
 ancient walls where gateways formerly stood, and 
 where some of them are standing at the present day. 
 
 The streets in Patan, although wider, are much 
 dirtier than those in Kathmandu, and they are not 
 generally kept in such good repair. The darbar 
 originally consisted of three sides of a quadrangle; 
 the side facing to the north is now in ruins ; that 
 facing to the west was the principal front, and forms 
 one side of the large irregular square round which 
 are collected a number of Hindu temples and columns 
 of various ages and in different styles. This side of 
 the darbar is still in very good preservation, and its 
 architectural effect is greatly enhanced by the lofty 
 five-storied temple, named Deo-Talli, which rises 
 from its centre, and which, by its prominence and 
 height, gives an appearance of dignity and elevation
 
 118 PATAN. 
 
 to the whole building, which are very much wanted 
 in many of the principal edifices in Nipal. 
 
 The side of the darbar which faces to the south 
 is now completely destroyed. The fourth or eastern 
 side was open and formed part of a private garden to 
 the palace. Within the precincts of the darbar were 
 several small courts of different sizes, but they were 
 not so numerous as in the darbars of Bhatgaon or 
 Kathmandu. In some of these courts on the western 
 side of the darbar were temples which are now falling 
 into ruin. The courts communicating with these 
 temples were most elaborately ornamented with 
 carvings and sculptures of various mythological sub- 
 jects ; many of these are still in very good preserva- 
 tion, though the temples themselves are crumbling 
 into ruins. 
 
 Although the Niwars of Patan were mostly Bud- 
 dhists, the royal family were Hindus ; and the sym- 
 pathies of the court therefore were in favour of 
 Hindu rather than purely Buddhist worship. Ac- 
 cordingly most of the principal Hindu temples in 
 Patan are clustered together round the immediate 
 vicinity of the palace, while all its Buddhist temples 
 are scattered about in different parts of the city, and 
 some of those that are the most ancient are situated 
 in its outskirts. 
 
 There are several squares in different parts of the 
 city, and some of them are much larger than any 
 either in Kathmandu or Bhatgaon. Some of these 
 hardlv deserve the name of squares, for they are
 
 SQUAEES IN PAT AN. 119 
 
 mainly irregular open spaces formed by the meeting 
 at one point of three or four streets coming from 
 different directions. In the centre of such open 
 places there is commonly either a temple, or a column, 
 or a peepui tree ; or two or three temples or powas 
 are sometimes built around its sides. The most 
 notable of these irregular squares is situated a short 
 distance from the south-east angle of the darbar ; 
 though of but limited extent, it is of importance as 
 being one of the halting-places for the car in the 
 annual festival in honour of Machendranath, and it 
 is besides remarkable for a very ancient hithu or 
 watering-place on its south side. The water issues 
 by three ornamental mouth-pieces, and falls into a 
 stone reservoir. The purity of the water and anti- 
 quity of the spring (the first hithu having been con- 
 structed here a.d. 880) combined with its position in 
 one of the principal thoroughfares in the city, make 
 this watering-place a sort of " Aldgate Pump " of 
 Patan. 
 
 There is a large square in the western part of the 
 city, built round an extensive tank, on the west side 
 of which is an ancient Buddhist chaitya, and on the 
 south side one or two Hindu temples. 
 
 To the north of the darbar is another irregular 
 square, on the east side of which stands a lofty- 
 roofed temple, within the inner quadrangle of which is 
 a sacred tank. 
 
 There are, besides the above, several smaller squares 
 containing Hindu temples sacred to different divini-
 
 120 PAT AN. 
 
 ties ; but they none of them possess any peculiar 
 interest. 
 
 By far the most curious and ancient of these squares 
 are the quadrangular ranges of buildings which are 
 built around the most important of the Buddhist 
 temples with which Patau abounds. These quad- 
 rangles are called " Vihars " (pronounced "Biar"), 
 and in ancient times were monasteries, which were 
 occupied solely by Buddhist monks, their followers, 
 and pupils. In the course of ages, however, as Bud- 
 dhism in Nipal has declined from its primitive purity, 
 the religious character of these institutions has en- 
 tirely passed away. There are no longer monasteries 
 in Nipal, and the establishments formerly devoted 
 exclusively to religious purposes are now mere guilds 
 of trade, occupied to overflowing, not by pious monks 
 and tonsured ascetics, but by families of the prolific 
 Niwars, who hereditarily follow certain avocations 
 which, with their quarters in the vihar, they have 
 inherited from their ancestors. 
 
 This practice of certain families, who follow the 
 same trade, all clustering together into the same 
 ranges of buildings, where they enjoy by inherit- 
 ance peculiar privileges in consideration of their per- 
 forming peculiar duties, has had great influence in 
 encouraging, if it did not help to originate, the 
 system of caste, founded on the exclusive exercise 
 of certain hereditary trades, which has been uni- 
 versally adopted by all the Buddhist Niwars 
 in Nipal, although it is utterly opposed to the
 
 VIHARS. 121 
 
 spirit as well as the law of the orthodox Buddhist 
 scriptures. 
 
 There are in Patau fifteen large and distinct vihars 
 at the present day, and as each of these was origin- 
 ally a monastery, we may imagine how the streets of 
 the city must in bygone ages have swarmed with the 
 teachers and followers of Buddhism, and how great 
 an influence in religious matters the pious monks of 
 Patan must have exercised over the rest of the 
 valley. Patan ever has been, and is still, the strong- 
 hold of Buddhism in Nipal. Two-thirds of its Niwar 
 inhabitants are Buddhists; it abounds in Buddhist 
 monuments and temples ; and by far the most impor- 
 tant and grandest festival in Nipal, that of Machen- 
 dranath, is a purely Buddhist one, and is celebrated in 
 its streets. 
 
 Besides these fifteen principal vihars, there are a 
 large number, more than one hundred, of other 
 smaller vihars, which are mere offshoots from one 
 or other of the fifteen original ones. The inhabi- 
 tants having outgrown the limits of an old vihar, 
 some of its members migrate and found another, 
 which, however, is always looked upon as a colony, 
 closely connected with the parent establishment. 
 
 The same applies to Kathmandu, in which there 
 are not above eight or ten, if so many, of the 
 original vihars ; but there are said to be no less 
 than eighty-eight vihars altogether now in Kath- 
 mandu, including all the subordinate colonies. Some 
 of them are very small ; they vary in size and decora-
 
 1 22 PATAN. 
 
 tion, according to the means of those who founded 
 them. 
 
 All the vihars are inhabited solely by Banhra 
 Niwars, at least as a general rule. The Tafu, 
 Udas, and heterodox Buddhists live scattered about 
 in streets and lanes through the city ; they never 
 congregate in masses as do the Banhras. An indi- 
 vidual Tafu or other Niwar may be allowed to 
 reside in a vihar from charity, or as an exception ; 
 but he has no hereditary right to residence. The 
 Banhras occupying the same vihar usually follow the 
 same avocation. 
 
 One of the most extensive of these fifteen vihars is 
 situated in the western quarter of the city, between 
 the darbar and the large tank square. It contains a 
 number of small Buddhist temples of various sizes, the 
 largest of which stands in the centre of the square. 
 The most important Buddhist square in Patan is that 
 which contains the temple of Machendranath. It is 
 situated in the southern quarter of the city. Perhaps 
 the most interesting vihar is that which is said to be 
 the most ancient building in the city, and which is 
 situated near the much-frequented hithu to the south- 
 east of the darbar. It is called "Unko Vihar." Close 
 to it is another small vihar containing a very curious 
 Buddhist temple, called Maha Buddh, dedicated to 
 Sakya Singa. The other vihars and Buddhist temples 
 within the limits of the city do not require any peculiar 
 mention. 
 
 All these vihars, not only in Patan, but in the
 
 VIHARS. 123 
 
 other capital cities and towns in Nipal, possess the 
 same general architectural characters. 
 
 They are double-storied, and built after the ordinary 
 Nipalese fashion, of burnt red bricks with massive 
 wooden window-frames and doorways, and overhang- 
 ing tiled roofs, the eaves of which rest upon boldly 
 carved wooden supports. The ornamental carvings of 
 their windows and doorways are generally very elabo- 
 rate, and on the stone gateways which form the 
 entrances to some of them, are bold bas-reliefs of 
 various mythological subjects. Although surround- 
 ing Buddhist shrines and containing within their limits 
 many sacred objects of Buddhist worship, yet these 
 vihars must not be mistaken for temples. In former 
 times they were monasteries, inhabited by mendicant 
 monks and ascetics, but they were never temples to 
 the Supreme or any other Deity ; at the present day 
 they are merely secular establishments or corpora- 
 tions, intimately associated with the existing corrupt 
 system of caste, and are maintained s by the Niwars 
 as separate institutions solely for the encouragement 
 of trade and not for the support of religion. 
 
 Although the greater part of every vihar is occu- 
 pied by families of trading Niwars, yet a certain por- 
 tion of the quadrangular range of buildings is set 
 aside for the use and habitation of those priests and 
 their attendants and companions who are in imme- 
 diate charge of the temple or temples to which the 
 vihar is attached. In this part all such supernume- 
 rary ornaments, trappings, &c. connected with the
 
 124 PAT AN. 
 
 temple as are only used on certain occasions, are 
 stowed away ; and in some cases where a locomotive 
 god belongs to a temple, and is only displayed to his 
 worshippers in procession on peculiar high-days and 
 holidays, the image of the deity himself — with the 
 clothes, masks, and paraphernalia worn by those who 
 officiate in such religious festivities — is carefully kept 
 perdu in the vihar under the charge of certain re- 
 sponsible parties. 
 
 Outside the walls of Patan are four large Buddhist 
 temples, one opposite to each of the four cardinal points 
 of the compass. The south-eastern and western are 
 each about a quarter of a mile from the city walls, 
 but the northern one, by the extension of the suburbs 
 around it, has become included apparently within the 
 city itself, although it is really outside the boundary 
 line of the ancient walls. 
 
 These four temples are remarkable from being of a 
 different character to any of the other Buddhist 
 temples in the valley. They have the usual hemi- 
 spherical dome or " garb," and round their bases 
 are the shrines and images of the celestial Buddhas, 
 but they have no kind of spire or pinnacle ; the 
 summit of the dome supporting merely a wooden kind 
 of ladder-scaffolding, which, on certain festive occa- 
 sions, is crowned with a temporary chattra or pinnacle. 
 In their general appearance and architectural charac- 
 ter they much more nearly resemble the ancient Bud- 
 dhist topes of Central India and Afghanistan than the 
 ordinary chaityas or spire-crowned temples of Nipal.
 
 KIRTIPUR. 125 
 
 Outside the city, near the eastern of these topes, 
 is a three-roofed Hindu temple of Devi, having four 
 entrances, each guarded by a pair of lions. It is 
 chiefly remarkable as being a most favourite spot for 
 the incremation of the dead, it being calculated that 
 fully half the corpses of Patan are burnt in its imme- 
 diate vicinity. 
 
 Between the western tope and the city walls is an 
 old and rather pretty tank. Beyond and to the 
 north-west of the western tope is a small conical 
 hill on which is situated a vihar, surrounding several 
 Buddhist temples. 
 
 The southern tope is much the largest of them all ; 
 between it and the city walls is a fine Nipal elm, 
 round the trunk of which the car of Machendranath is 
 dragged at the Ruthjatra, and under the shadow of 
 which the god receives a preliminary washing before 
 the festival commences. 
 
 Kirtipur in the early history of Nipal was the capital 
 of a small independent principality, but it was after- 
 wards annexed, by right of conquest, to the posses- 
 sions of the King of Patan. It stands in a commanding 
 position upon the level crest of one of the low rounded 
 hills which form a continuous range across the south- 
 western quarter of the Valley of Nipal, running parallel 
 to the base of Mount Chandagiri, and connecting a 
 spur from Indra Than in the west with one from 
 Mahabharat in the south. 
 
 Kirtipur is raised between two hundred and three
 
 126 PATAN. 
 
 hundred feet above the level of the surrounding plain. 
 It overlooks the city of Kathmandu on the north, and 
 that of Patan towards the east, from each of which 
 capitals it is distant about three miles. Towards 
 the south it commands the small valley which skirts 
 the base of the Chandagiri from east to west. The 
 stream by which that valley is drained flows round 
 the western shoulder of the hill of Kirtipur in its 
 course to join the Baghmatti. Towards the east it 
 is connected by a low ridge with the hill on which 
 stands the town of Chabbar. 
 
 Kirtipur has never been an extensive city ; but its 
 almost impregnable position gave it an importance, 
 disproportioned to its size, during the early period 
 of Nipal history, while in modern times it has been 
 rendered memorable not only for its gallant resist- 
 ance through three protracted sieges to the invading 
 army of Prithi Narayan, but for the brutal manner in 
 which the G-orkhas, after its fall, wreaked their fury 
 upon the heroic Niwars, who, though exhausted by 
 three years' warfare (1765-67) and with part of their 
 town betrayed into the hands of the enemy, had 
 still refused to surrender their citadel and strong- 
 holds, until they were cajoled by false promises of a 
 general amnesty. 
 
 Having obtained by treachery what they had failed 
 to carry by force of arms, the Gorkhas murdered 
 most of the principal citizens and cut off the noses 
 and lips of all the male inhabitants ; those only being 
 spared who could play on wind instruments, and
 
 DECAY OF KIRTIPUR. 127 
 
 who therefore might be of use as musicians in the 
 army of the conqueror.* 
 
 The name of the town was ordered to be changed 
 from Kirtipur into Naskatapur, or " the City of Cut 
 Noses." 
 
 Since those days the city has rapidly fallen into 
 decay, no attempt having been ever made to restore 
 its temples or repair any of its public buildings. The 
 ancient walls and some of the gateways are still 
 standing, but they are very much dilapidated. The 
 city generally is 'in a melancholy state of ruin and 
 decay. It is inhabited solely by Niwars, and it is 
 doubtful whether it contains five thousand inhabitants. 
 The air is very healthy, and the water is said to be so 
 pure that cases of goitre very rarely are seen among 
 those who dwell in Kirtipur. 
 
 The principal approach to Kirtipur is by a winding 
 road, which ascends the north-eastern face of the hill 
 on which the city stands ; but there are besides several 
 foot-paths leading from the plain below to different 
 parts of the town. The city is traversed throughout 
 its entire length from east to west by a rather narrow, 
 crooked, dirty street, which leads from its eastern 
 entrance to the darbar, which is at the western end 
 of the town. 
 
 The ruins of the darbar and some adjacent temples 
 
 * Father Giuseppe, who was then in the country, wrote an 
 account of this siege — since published in the "Asiatic Eesearches." 
 Thirty years later, Colonel Kirkpatrick saw many of the ill-fated 
 victims. (See Wright's " History of Nepal," ch. i.) — Ed.
 
 128 PATAN. 
 
 are situated on and around a small conical hill, which 
 rises out of the western extremity of the town, 
 whence they overlook and command the whole of 
 the city. In its best estate the darbar was never 
 a large one, but it is now so utterly in ruins that 
 even its form and extent cannot be traced. The 
 body of a ruined temple (built of a peculiar purple 
 or lake-coloured brick, which is not now manufac- 
 tured) still survives, unroofed and overgrown with 
 jungle, on the highest part of the hill, and some of 
 its ornamental stone figures of elephants, lions, &c, 
 are still in very fair preservation in front of its 
 eastern entrance. It appears originally to have stood 
 in the centre of a sort of square or quadrangle (pro- 
 bably part of the Basantpur), with which the level 
 summit of the hill was crowned.* 
 
 The base of this little conical hill was strengthened 
 and supported by terraces built of stone, and running 
 up its sides, one above the other; and the ascent 
 was, and is still, by a steep flight of steps, which 
 in ancient days could easily have been defended 
 against attack. 
 
 Most of the temples in Kirtipur are more or less in 
 ruin, but there are some whose revenues have been 
 partially spared by the Gorkha Government, and these 
 are, therefore, still in good preservation. 
 
 * This temple was built a.d. 1555. It was sacred to Parbati and 
 Maha Deo combined.
 
 SHEINE OF GANESHA. 129 
 
 The principal temple stands upon the edge of the 
 hill, near the centre of the north side of the town. It 
 is a four-roofed temple of Bhairab,* and has a large 
 number of worshippers, many of whom, on certain 
 occasions, come from distant parts of the valley to 
 perform their devotions at the shrine of the most 
 popular deity in Nipal. Inside the temple is a 
 painted image, not of a man, but of a tigerf — that 
 animal being looked on as a symbol of the god. Close 
 to the quadrangle which contains the temple of Bhai- 
 rab is a small square, in the centre of which is a 
 tank of very dirty water, and on the north side of 
 which are two or three ruined temples. 
 
 On the northern edge of the town, at the top of one 
 of the foot-paths by which the hill is ascended, is a 
 small shrine of Ganesha, which has a beautifully carved 
 and very picturesque stone gateway, covered with 
 designs of different mythological subjects. This 
 shrine was built, a.d. 1665, by a Sherista Niwar, 
 a Jaisi by caste. On the toran above is, in the 
 centre, Ganesha; on his right hand, on a peacock, is 
 Kumari|; on his left, on Garuda,§ is Yishnavi; next 
 to Kumari, seated on a buffalo, is Yarahi; next to 
 Varahi, on a demon or man, is Chamunda or Kali; 
 
 # This temple was built by one of the royal family, a.d. 1513. 
 
 f From which the temple is called Bagh Bhairab. 
 
 X The Virgin, Siva's consort, otherwise known as Kali, Durga, 
 &c— (Ed.) 
 
 § A being, half bird, half man, on whom Vishnu is sometimes 
 represented as riding. — (Ed.) 
 
 i. 9
 
 130 BHATGAON. 
 
 next to Vishnavi, seated on an elephant, is Indraini ; 
 next to Indraini, seated on a lion, is Mahalachmi ; 
 above Ganesha, in the centre, is Bhairab, having on 
 his right hand Brahmaini seated on a goose, and on 
 his left Rudraini (consort of Mahadeo) seated on a 
 bull. Below the Gryphons on each side are Kalsas, 
 supporting a Siri Baksh. Above, at the lower angle 
 of the toran, is a double trikon with a binda or point 
 in the centre. The eight female deities represented 
 on this toran are collectively called " Ashtamatrika," 
 or the eight divine mothers. They stand in the fol- 
 lowing order of precedence towards each other : — 
 1st, Brahmaini, on a goose ; 2nd, Rudraini, on a 
 bull ; 3rd, Kumari, on a peacock ; 4th, Vishnavi, on 
 Garuda ; 5th, Varahi, on a buffalo ; 6th, Indraini, on 
 an elephant; 7th, Chamunda or Kali, on a demon 
 (wife of Bhairab); 8th, Mahalachmi, on a lion. Above 
 them all is often placed, as in the present in- 
 stance, Bhairab as lord of all. Ganesha and his 
 brother Kumar being sons of Bhairab or Maha Deo 
 are often, as in this case, introduced into these sculp- 
 tures. 
 
 In the south-eastern quarter of the city there is a 
 Buddhist temple, called Chillandeo, which, though 
 comparatively small, yet on account of the number 
 of sculptured objects of Buddhist worship which it 
 exhibits, and the accuracy with which the various 
 deities and their respective symbols and vehicles are 
 figured, is one of the most perfect and valuable 
 monuments of Buddhism in the whole valley.
 
 BHATGAON. 131 
 
 There are no other buildings of any particular in- 
 terest in Kirtipur. 
 
 The city of Bhatgaon is situated on the eastern side 
 of the valley at a distance of about three miles from 
 the foot of Mount Mahadeo Pokhra, and of between 
 seven and eight miles in a south-eastern direction 
 from Kathmandu. It is built upon the northern or 
 right bank of the Hanuman stream, which flows 
 round its eastern and southern sides. It stands upon 
 a promontory of high table-land which stretches from 
 the base of Mount Mahadeo Pokhra, and extends 
 between the plain of the Hanuman stream on its 
 south and east, and that of Kashn Kushn or 
 Kansavati stream on its north and west ; these two 
 streams, with their attendant plains or valleys, uniting 
 with each other a short distance below or to the west 
 of Bhatgaon. The city is said to resemble in shape 
 the conch or shell of Vishnu Narayan ; the rounded 
 and broader end of the shell being towards the north- 
 east, and having its point directed to the south-west. 
 Bhatgaon is not so extensive as either Kathmandu or 
 Patan ; but its streets are wider and cleaner, its 
 general appearance more imposing, and its temples 
 and public buildings are in better preservation than 
 similar edifices in any of the other cities in the 
 valley. It is supposed to contain about fifty thou- 
 sand inhabitants, and of these the large majority are 
 Hindu Niwars, the Buddhist Niwars hardly amount- 
 ing to one-third of the population. 
 
 For two hundred years previous to the Gorkha con- 
 
 9 *
 
 132 BHATGAON. 
 
 quest of Nipal, the King of Bhatgaon had generally 
 maintained a decided ascendency over the two prin- 
 cipalities of Patan and Kathmandu. 
 
 The three kings of Nipal were independent sove- 
 reigns, but being descendants of the same common 
 ancestor — Jai Ekshah Mall — the two junior branches 
 usually acknowledged the supremacy of the elder 
 House, or that of Bhatgaon. 
 
 The jurisdiction of the King of Bhatgaon, within 
 the valley, was comparatively limited, as — with the ex- 
 ception of Timmi — it extended over no large towns. 
 Beyond the valley, however, his territories spread east- 
 ward to the Dudh Kosi river, and northward to the 
 Kuti pass, and were much more extensive than those 
 of either of his brother sovereigns. His royal resi- 
 dence, although smaller, was always more handsome, 
 costly, and ornamental than either of the other capital 
 cities in Nipal. 
 
 At the time of the Gorkha conquest of the valley, 
 Bhatgaon was surrendered to Prithi Narayan without 
 a struggle, and it escaped in consequence a good deal 
 of the plunder and maltreatment which were expe- 
 rienced by the other cities of Nipal at the hands of 
 the conquerors. 
 
 The great majority of j its inhabitants being Hindus, 
 the Gorkha King — himself a bigoted Hindu — appears 
 to have respected their temples, and to have restrained 
 his followers from committing any flagrant or open 
 violence against the public buildings with which the 
 city abounded. Prithi Narayan may also have felt
 
 BHATOAON. 133 
 
 some sympathy for the fallen fortunes of his former 
 ally, Ranjit Mall, whose applications for assistance 
 against the Kings of Kathmandu and Patan had been 
 the immediate cause of bringing the Gorkhas into the 
 territories of Nipal. 
 
 From these various causes the aged King of Bhat- 
 gaon was treated by Prithi Narayan with consider- 
 able leniency ; his capital was respected, and though 
 the Gorkhas, of course, suo more, appropriated the 
 entire revenues of the state, and the greater portion 
 of those of the church, yet they fortunately spared 
 enough of the latter to enable the Niwars to keep 
 the majority of their temples in a state of very good 
 repair. 
 
 It is in consequence of this unusual moderation on 
 the part of the Gorkhas that, in comparison with 
 Patan or Kirtipur, Bhatgaon still presents a flourish- 
 ing appearance ; its streets and inhabitants have a 
 cheerful aspect, and its religious edifices generally 
 are, even at the present day, in fairly good pre- 
 servation. 
 
 The mass of the Niwars of Bhatgaon being Hindus, 
 most of the religious edifices which adorn the city are 
 sacred to Hindu deities. The Buddhist temples and 
 vihars are but few in number, and are none of them 
 remarkable for either their size or their decoration. 
 For description of darbar and temples, &c, see other 
 note-books. 
 
 The ancient walls and gateways of Bhatgaon, like 
 those of the other capital cities, are fast crumbling
 
 ] 34 BHATGAON. 
 
 into ruin. The principal streets trend from the gate- 
 ways either to the darbar (which is situated on the 
 northern edge of the town), or to the small square 
 called Taumari Tol (containing the temples of Bho- 
 wani and Bhairab), which is a little to the south of 
 the darbar, and which stands in the centre of the 
 city. 
 
 Outside the city, on its western side, is a very large 
 and handsome tank, called Siddha Pokri, three hun- 
 dred yards long and one hundred yards wide, sur- 
 rounded by a stone gateway and enclosing wall with 
 partis at the four corners and in the centre of the 
 four sides. It was built by Rajah Partab Mall, 
 1640-50, and thoroughly repaired and stocked in gold 
 fish, imported from China by General Bhim Sen 
 during his Premiership. 
 
 About a quarter of a mile to the west of this tank 
 is another large tank, of similar shape but smaller 
 dimensions. It was built by Partab Mall at the same 
 time as the other tank. It is now neglected and fast 
 going to ruin. There is also a small tank, called the 
 " Queen's Tank," on the opposite side of the road. 
 Between these two tanks is an open plain, over- 
 looking the valley of Kashn Kushn to the north, and 
 that of the Hanuman stream to the south. It is 
 used as a parade-ground for the troops now quartered 
 in Bhatgaon. 
 
 To the south of the city, at the distance of rather 
 more than a mile, is a very curious shrine of Ganesha
 
 SUBURBS. 135 
 
 — called Ganesha Than,* — very prettily situated, at 
 the summit of a steep flight of stone steps, on one 
 shoulder of a richly wooded hill which runs out into 
 the valley opposite to Bhatgaon. 
 
 There are no other objects of particular interest 
 in the immediate neighbourhood of Bhatgaon. The 
 suburbs of the city, which lie chiefly on its southern 
 and eastern sides towards the river, are very dirty, 
 and infected with pigs and buffaloes and their re- 
 spective herdsmen. 
 
 The Hanuman stream is crossed by three pucka 
 bridges ; over the southern one the road passes 
 towards Ganeshthan; the two other bridges lead 
 towards the east. 
 
 * It is commonly called " Suraj Banaik." There are four 
 favourite banaiks or shrines of Gkinesha in the valley: — 1, " Suraj 
 Banaik," near Bhatgaon ; 2, " Sidhi Banaik, at Sanku ; 3, " Assu 
 Banaik," in Kathmandu; 4, "Bigna Banaik, near Chobbar.
 
 136 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 REMARKS ON THE ROUTES BY WHICH AN INVADING ARMY 
 COULD APPROACH THE VALLEY OF NIPAL.* 
 
 From the Oudh frontier to the old Tenavi Naddi, the 
 country situated between the parallels of Bansi and 
 Sharwa is covered with dense forest jungle and inter- 
 sected by deep nullahs. North of Sharwa and to 
 within ten miles of the lower range of hills it is 
 comparatively open and swampy, and is covered 
 with extensive plains of long grass, and occasional 
 large patches of cultivation. 
 
 Between the old and new Tenavi Naddis is an im- 
 mense swamp, impassable at most places, extending 
 from Irwah to Tilokpur, and from Sipur nearly to 
 Betul. From Tilokpur to Palia the appearance of 
 the country is much the same, but the ground is in 
 
 * Condensed from a Report to Government by Mr. Ross Bell, 
 C.S., dated Delhi, March, 1839.
 
 ROUTES INTO NIPAL. 137 
 
 general lower, and the scenery varied with patches of 
 sal forest and bamboo jungle. Eastward of Pulia, 
 as far as the Gandak, the country alters; it is no 
 longer intersected by nullahs, and the jungle entirely 
 disappears. 
 
 The above tract of country, lying to the north of 
 Gorakpur, is admirably adapted for defensive opera- 
 tions ; but many of the reasons which render it so 
 would deter the Gorkhas from using it as a passage 
 into our provinces, for the following reasons : — 
 
 1st. Because the numerous and deep nullahs, the 
 swamps — many of which are impassable — and the 
 dense and extensive forest jungles, render rapid 
 movements either of advance or retreat impracticable 
 except to a very small party. 
 
 2nd. From the Gorkha custom of never carrying 
 supplies, and the country through which they would 
 be obliged to pass not furnishing grain in any quan- 
 tity. 
 
 3rd. Because to the distance of thirty miles from 
 Betul, in the direction of either Gorakpur or Bansi, 
 the water of the numerous nullahs is of a poisonous 
 quality ; the few wells are far apart, and even their 
 water is unwholesome. 
 
 4th. "Were they to march to Gorakpur, either by 
 Bichaul or Lotan, they would expose themselves not 
 only to be taken in flank by any cavalry sent against 
 them, but also to have their communications cut off 
 even by a small force on the road leading from the 
 Bagha ghat through Nauringhi and Mirrhedia.
 
 138 EOUTES INTO NIPAL. 
 
 5th. Because their most advantageous points from 
 whence to attack our territory in that quarter are the 
 passes of the Gandak and Oherya Ghatti. 
 
 The country stretching under the hills from the 
 Gandak to the Cherya Ghatti pass is uninhabited, 
 and no good water, except from the Rapti, is to be 
 found in it. 
 
 There are three principal passes by which an army 
 may enter within the lower range of hills from the 
 side of Bettiah and Tirhut, viz., in the centre, that 
 of Cherya Ghatti by Bichakoh ; on the left or west, 
 that of the Gandak ; on the right or east, that of the 
 Baghmatti. The route of the Baghmatti is probably 
 the easiest, as it is by this route that crowds of buffa- 
 loes and other cattle come to Nrpal. Some may infer 
 the same from the extreme and jealous precautions 
 taken by the Nipalese to prevent any foreigner ever 
 entering Nipal by that route. 
 
 Mr. Bell would recommend, however, that only a 
 feigned attack be made in that quarter to act as a 
 diversion, the principal attack being made by the 
 Gandak and Rapti. The reasons for this are that 
 we know exactly what difficulties are before us in the 
 latter route, and that we have lots of good guides 
 (the dak runners, Danghars, who came originally 
 from Chota Nagpur), whereas we know nothing of 
 the Baghmatti route, and could not get a single 
 guide. 
 
 The Gandak is navigable for large boats as high up 
 as the Mutabanni, and for small boats within a few
 
 STRATEGIC ROUTES. 139 
 
 miles of its junction with the Rapti, during the whole 
 year. Stores may, therefore, be conveyed to the pass 
 of the G-andak with great facility and little expense. 
 This is not the case with the Baghmatti. 
 
 The army should advance in two divisions, one 
 through the Cherya Ghatti, the other by the Gandak 
 pass.* The effect of this would be to turn the posi- 
 tion of the Cherya Ghatti and to force the Gorkhas 
 to evacuate the lower hills and jungles which are 
 bounded by the Rapti on the north, and by the Ram- 
 nagar and Bettiah districts on the south. The road 
 passes by Bichakoh, a small post situated in the bed 
 of a ravine at the junction of two streams, one of 
 which has its source to the northward, the other to 
 the west. Were opposition offered here, the post 
 might easily be turned by following down the bed of 
 the stream which flows in front of Bichakoh, or by 
 crossing on the left of the post to the Delta which is 
 formed by the junction of the two streams and then 
 ascending the bed of that on the right. From Bicha- 
 koh the road lies up the bed of the stream on the 
 right. 
 
 The Cherya Ghatti pass itself is the first really 
 strong, defensible position. It cnuld not be stormed 
 
 * The approach from our territories to Cheryaghatti lies 
 through Bissaulia, a Nipal village, twelve miles from the frontier, 
 and on the skirts of the Sal Forest ; here the jungle is very thick, 
 from the Nipal Governor never having allowed any timber to be 
 cut. It could offer no effectual resistance.
 
 140 ROUTES INTO NIPAL. 
 
 in front without great loss, but could be turned in 
 flank by the Gandak pass and so rendered indefensible, 
 as it would require to be evacuated by the Nipalese to 
 save themselves from being attacked in rear. The 
 division would then march to Hetowara. 
 
 The division which enters the lower range of hills 
 by the G-andak pass should proceed to the junction 
 of the Gandak and the Rapti, there cross the former 
 stream below the junction, and then proceed up the 
 left bank of the Rapti to Hetowara, where it would 
 join the other division. 
 
 The valley of the Rapti is of considerable extent. 
 Until the commencement of the first Gorkha war it 
 had been extensively cultivated, but the then policy 
 of Nipal led to the inhabitants being removed to the 
 villages on the surrounding hills, since which time the 
 lands have gradually reverted to a state of jungle. 
 
 On the occasion of calling one day at the Residency 
 in 1851, Mr. Erskine rather pressed Jang on the sub- 
 ject of making a good road from the plains to the 
 Valley of Nipal. Jang stated that the prejudices of 
 his countrymen were very strong against it, as they 
 thought that while the roads remained in the present 
 state no invading army could make its way to the 
 valley. For his own part, he said, since he had been 
 to England and seen our railroads and tunnels, &c. 
 he knew our power and skill so well that he was con 
 vinced if we could not make a road over a mountain 
 we should make a tunnel under it, so that no moun 
 tain could stop our progress. "But," added he
 
 STEATEGIO ttOUTES. 141 
 
 " though the cat cannot fight on even terms with 
 the lion, yet if the lion drives him into a corner the 
 cat will scratch his eyes." On another occasion Jang 
 said, " I know my nation is not equal to yours, nor 
 our power to yours ; but there is one thing in which 
 we are and ought ever to be equal, namely — justice, 
 mutual justice ! " 
 
 Proceeding from Hetowara to Bhimphedi, Ross Bell 
 proposes to turn the fort of Chisa Garhi (which is 
 situated north-west of Bhimphedi) by ascending a 
 spur of the mountain which rises from the valley to 
 the east of Bhimphedi, and leads, by a gradual ascent, 
 to the top of the ridge, arriving at the top of the 
 range about four miles to the east of Chisapani. 
 Then turning westward, they would march upon 
 Chisapani (where a spring is), along the crest of 
 the hill, and from that spot command the fort and 
 destroy it by shells in half an hour. Having sur- 
 mounted this mountain, he anticipates no more diffi- 
 culties, as there are no more defensible positions. The 
 water of the Rapti is perfectly wholesome along its 
 whole course; with the exception of the spring at 
 Chisapani, there is no water between Bhimphedi and 
 Tumbha Khana ; from Tumbha Khana to Kathmandu 
 there is no scarcity.
 
 142 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 ON THE NIPAL TEEAI.* 
 
 Theee are two routes by which the Terai may be 
 traversed from Bissaulia to the Mechi or Machi 
 river. One runs through the Cachar, i.e. for the 
 most part close to the foot of the outer range (Oherya- 
 ghatti), rarely leaving it for a greater distance than 
 four miles. This rock, generally speaking, is through 
 thick forest without under- jungle ; it is but thinly 
 inhabited by a few Tharus, Dhanwars, and Manjis 
 (Masahis), who, having cleared a few spots along 
 the road, grow rice and bajra, and eke out a rather 
 scanty subsistence by hunting pigs and eating carrion 
 and vermin. The road is fit for elephants and ponies 
 only ; and as supplies are not produced on it, only a 
 small party could travel by it. 
 
 * Abridged from Report by Dr. Campbell, July 1841.
 
 ROUTES THROUGH THE TERM. 143 
 
 The second route lies for the most part between 
 and equi-distant from the forest and our frontier, say- 
 five miles apart from either. In some places, as at 
 the crossing of the Baghmatti, Kumla, and Kosi 
 rivers it is on the frontier. It is travelled easily by 
 elephants and ponies, and very little pioneering would 
 enable horse artillery to pass along it. Hackeries 
 are not useful, except occasionally between large 
 villages, and that only to the west of the Kosi. In 
 no part of the Morung (i.e. country to the east of the 
 Kosi) except about Rangeli would hackeries be of 
 use. It would be very difficult to bring guns through 
 the Morung. The country immediately under the 
 hills (there is no continuous outer range east of the 
 Kosi) is quite flat, swamped all the year, and the soil 
 a stiff, tenacious clay, which, when exposed without 
 sward, is not passable ; with sward, it is broken into 
 ruts and ravines which render travelling slow and 
 irksome. 
 
 The whole of this route, to the Kosi, is peopled, 
 and, with exception to a few spurs from the forest, 
 is cleared and open. Supplies abundant, and cattle 
 swarm in it. All the rivers fordable except the Kosi, 
 which is nowhere fordable at any season. 
 
 The route lies by the following stages, distant ten 
 to twelve miles on the average : — Bissaulia; Banurwa; 
 Olyan Patarwa ; Burhurwa ; cross the Baghmatti ; 
 Ingurwa ; Gurhara ; Dhasali ; Jalesar, six miles from 
 Janikpur; Dhanuji; Balaha-Arai; cross the Kum- 
 laji; Thari-Naraha ; Sakarpur; Hanumanganj ; Bha-
 
 144 THE NIPAL TBEAI. 
 
 nurwa; cross the Kosi (in six feet of water on the 
 18th of January) ; Dewanganj ; Kolya ; Eangeli ; 
 cross Balan river ; Athmonza ; Nazarpur ; cross the 
 Konki ; Kalikaghar, on the Mechi ; Nagal Bandi, 
 right bank of Mechi ; Mechigola, confluence of Mechi 
 and Siddhi rivers and within the hills. From Bis- 
 saulia to the Mechi, say two hundred and fifty miles. 
 
 The extreme breadth of the Nipal Terai is not above 
 thirty miles ; its narrowest part, at Bhanurwa on the 
 Kosi, about twelve miles ; its average breadth about 
 twenty miles. 
 
 The Terai, in its breadth, may be divided into four 
 regions : 
 
 1st. The open Terai averages ten miles in width, 
 as far as the Kumla river, and five miles from thence 
 to the Kosi, beyond which river it does not exist. 
 
 2nd. The outer Cachar, or outskirts of forest. Always 
 varying in extent, as after ten years' clearing and 
 cultivation, it is absorbed into the open Terai. It 
 averages perhaps five miles all the way to the Kosi 
 and throughout the Morung. 
 
 3rd. Bhabar, Bhaver, or Sal Forest. Five to ten 
 miles in width. 
 
 4th. The inner Gachar, consisting of detached oases 
 along the foot of the hills between the latter and the 
 forest. 
 
 The Terai, in length, is divided into two provinces 
 or regions : 
 
 1st. The Morung \ or Terai east of the Kosi. This
 
 DIVISIONS OF THE TERAT. 145 
 
 district is distinguished by its extreme flatness, stiff 
 clay soil, and horribly pestilent climate. 
 
 2nd. The Terai Proper. Lying to the west of the 
 Kosi, and marked by a gentle slope to the plains. 
 Varied soil of a black loam, clay, and sand, fit to 
 grow all crops, including sugar-cane, the poppy, and 
 tobacco. 
 
 East of Bissaulia the administrative divisions of the 
 Terai are five, from west to east : — 1st, Bara and 
 Parsa; 2nd, Rochat ; 3rd, Sarlaya Sapturi, on the left 
 bank of the Baghmatti ; 4th, Mahturi, on the right 
 bank of the Kosi ; 5th, the Morung, on the left bank 
 of the Kosi, and extending thence to Michi. 
 
 The Kosi river is navigable up to Bhanurwa, from 
 which Hanumanganj is fifteen miles distant. 
 
 Bhanurwa is a very desirable locality for stationing 
 troops. There is a fine grassy, hard plain for horse 
 artillery and cavalry, with the river for the transport 
 of ordnance and ammunition. 
 
 In the Morung, Rangeli is decidedly the safest and 
 most healthy place. Here the river-water is good, and 
 there is a slight elevation of ground. Everywhere 
 else in the Morung the water is bad, and the country 
 a pestilent swamp. 
 
 In Rochat is Burhurwa, high and dry on the right 
 bank of the Baghmatti. 
 
 In Sarlaya Sapturi is Jalesar. 
 
 In Mohturi are both Hanumanganj and Bhanurwa, 
 both well raised above the surrounding country and 
 having a light and fertile soil. 
 
 i. 10
 
 146 THE N1PAL TERAI. 
 
 The above-mentioned civil and military stations, 
 with reference to salubrity, are greatly superior to the 
 ancient cities of Janikpur and Samraun. 
 
 Elephants are fast disappearing to the west of the 
 Kosi, and the Morung is not now able to supply the 
 usual number required by the usage of the darbar, 
 viz. five hundred per annum. The subahs and catchers 
 import largely from the Botanis on the Eangpur and 
 Assam frontiers. 
 
 The police arrangements throughout the Terai are 
 excellent in all respects, contrasting favourably with 
 those in our own territory, being more efficient and 
 much less extortionate. 
 
 The annual receipts from the Terai (east of Bis- 
 saulia) at that time were four lakhs of rupees ; but it 
 was confidently expected that when the land measure- 
 ments and assessments then in progress were com- 
 pleted, the results would give six lakhs. 
 
 Many of the middle class, and all the upper class, 
 of people in the Terai — except the Khus officers — 
 have property in our provinces, and at least a moiety 
 of their savings in money is carried across the frontier 
 to our territory, in which their families very generally 
 reside. Accumulated wealth was felt to be a source 
 of danger and uneasiness to the holder from the great 
 liability of its being rapaciously dealt with by the 
 extra-judicial authorities in Nipal.
 
 u; 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 DESCRIPTION OF THE TOWN AND VALLEY OP NAYAKOT.* 
 
 Nayakot is the name of a pretty town and district 
 lying west-north-west seventeen miles from Kath- 
 mandu, by the high road to Gorkha. The town is 
 situated at the northern extremity of the district, 
 upon a spur descending south-westerly from Mount 
 Dhaibung or Jibjibia, and at about a mile's distance 
 from the river Trisul on the west, and the same dis- 
 tance from the river Tadi or Surajmatti on the south 
 and east. 
 
 The town consists of from sixty to one hundred 
 pucka three-storied houses in the Chinese style of 
 Kathmandu (chiefly owned by the court and chiefs of 
 Nipal) ; of a darbar, called the upper to distinguish 
 it from the lower on the banks of the Tadi ; and of 
 
 * Condensed from a Report by Mr. Hodgson. 
 
 10 *
 
 148 NAYAKOT. 
 
 a temple to Bhairavi ; all in the same style. The 
 town consists of a single street, lying in an indenta- 
 tion or crest of the ridge, and is consequently not 
 visible from either side, though the darbar and temple, 
 from being placed higher, are so partially. 
 
 Up to the last British war Nayakot was the winter 
 residence of the present dynasty ; but as the situa- 
 tion of the town is bleak and uncomfortable at that 
 season, the court and chiefs then usually resided in 
 mansions still standing at the base of the hill towards 
 the Tadi. Like the town residences, these are now 
 much dilapidated owing to the court having been 
 stationary at Kathmandu since 1813. 
 
 The town of Nayakot is situated above the level of 
 the Trisul from eight hundred to one thousand feet. 
 On the side towards the Tadi is a fine sal forest, 
 occupying the whole declivity; elsewhere the sal 
 trees, indigenous to the district, are reduced to 
 scrubby brushwood by constant cutting and defolia- 
 tion. The leaves, being used as plates to eat from, 
 are being constantly carried to Kathmandu for sale. 
 
 The ridge on which the town stands is generally of 
 a rounded form, but broken by ruts and ravines, with 
 a soil of a deep red clay. Towards the Trisul on the 
 west, and the Tadi on the south and east, the declivi- 
 ties are precipitous ; but towards the junction of these 
 two streams in the south-west the hill falls off more 
 gently, and about a mile and a half below the town 
 spreads into an undulating plain which occupies 
 nearly the whole space between the rivers to the
 
 DISTRICT OF NAYAKOT. 149 
 
 junction at Devi ghat. The plain forms a sort of 
 triangular delta ; sides bounded by the rivers, base 
 formed by the ridge. This delta is an elevated plain 
 from one hundred to four hundred feet above the 
 level of the rivers, and it constitutes the chief part of 
 the lowland district of Nayakot. At its north-eastern 
 angle the plain slopes down to the Tadi, on both sides 
 of which the ground is open and level with that river. 
 The whole district of Nayakot is encircled by moun- 
 tains, forming a distinct valley. The length of the 
 level plain is four miles. The maximum breadth of 
 the entire district or valley is at the base of the 
 triangle and is here four miles. The mean maximum 
 breadth is not above three miles ; that of the plateau 
 alone between the two rivers is two miles. 
 
 The plateau, in consequence of its elevation, cannot 
 be watered from the Trisul or the Tadi ; and as the 
 Nayakot ridge above it, and whence it is derived, 
 yields no efficient springs of water, the plain is de- 
 pendent exclusively on the rain for its supply of 
 water. Every such plateau or plain in Nipal is 
 called a tar, whereas the low and waterable tracts 
 are called byasi; the latter are generally low and 
 swampy rice-beds on the level of the streams that 
 water them. 
 
 These tars are rather more healthy and habitable 
 than the byasis, and are capable of more varied cul- 
 tivation, but chiefly of trees, since they alone can 
 flourish where they get only raiu-water. Hence the 
 predominance of mangoes and other groves over fields
 
 150 NAYAKOT. 
 
 and agriculture on the tars of Nayakot. Despite the 
 high temperature of Nayakot, it has no winter or 
 spring crops, the tars being too dry and the byasis 
 too wet for such crops, though they are common in 
 the much colder Valley of Nipal. 
 
 While the Yalley of Nipal is four thousand seven 
 hundred feet above the sea, that of Nayakot is only 
 two thousand four hundred and fifty feet, whence its 
 heat and its being subject to malarious fever (awal) 
 from March to November. 
 
 The Nipalese profess that awal sets in in Nayakot 
 at the same time as it does in the Terai, viz. 15th of 
 March. It probably commences about a month later. 
 The great festival in honour of Devi at Devi ghat 
 does not take place till the middle of April (beginning 
 of Baisakh), and at it thousands of persons from Nipal 
 are always present, and with impunity. The Nipalese 
 account for this by saying that through the interven- 
 tion of the deity, the awal is " suspended " to all 
 who go to worship her during the time the festival 
 lasts ; but that it sets in again as soon as the festival 
 is over. The real fact being that the unhealthy 
 season does not set in until the middle of April, 
 and that the festival has been fixed at the end of 
 the cold or healthy season as a sort of " finish " to it, 
 and simultaneously with the Ashbami and Rammoma 
 and Jambahadeo festivals in the Valley of Nipal. 
 Bhairab, as a form of the Destroyer, is worshipped 
 often under the form of a tiger. They say that the 
 day after the festival closes the goddess lets out the
 
 THE LOWLANDERS. 151 
 
 spirit of the savage and destroying monarch of the 
 forests, who, disguised as the "awal" fever, seizes 
 and feeds upon all those whom he finds trespassing 
 upon his domains — the jungles. 
 
 The lowlands or byasis are thinly inhabited by a 
 peculiar race of men, who affect to be hill-men and 
 speak Parbattia ; but their dark skins, slender forms, 
 oval faces, elevated features, and peculiar barbarous 
 patois, clearly indicate a southern origin. They are 
 exceedingly ignorant and cunning. They certainly 
 do not belong to the Tartaric stock of the moun- 
 taineers of Nipal, but either to the ordinary Indo- 
 Germanic stock of the Indian population, or to some 
 of those fragmentary branches which still represent, 
 in various parts of Hindustan, a preceding aboriginal 
 race. These peculiar tribes of Nayakot are Darris, 
 Kumhals or potters, Manjhis, Bramus, and Denwars. 
 The Tharus of the Nipalese Terai, as well as these 
 peculiar tribes of Nayakot and of many other similar 
 low and malarious valleys within the hills, probably 
 all belong to the aboriginal stock of the Indians of 
 Hindustan. They are certainly all closely connected 
 among themselves, and are very different from the 
 Tartar blood of the highland races. Those in the 
 valleys among the hills were probably emigrants from 
 the plains of North Bahar several generations back. 
 Though these hill tribes affect a great distinctness 
 among themselves, and will not usually intermarry 
 among themselves or with any of the races around 
 them, and though they allege that their several Ian-
 
 152 NAYAK0T. 
 
 guages (dialects) are distinct, yet the differences are 
 but really slight, and probably depend either on the 
 different dates at which the successive emigrations 
 from the plains took place, or on the different parts of 
 the plains from which the ancestors of the respective 
 tribes originally came. They all call themselves 
 Hindus, though they neither believe in the sacred 
 scriptures of the Hindu, nor accept the sacerdotal 
 offices of the Brahmans. 
 
 These tribes inhabit with impunity the lowest and 
 hottest valleys in Nipal, just as the Thar us do the 
 Terai of Nipal. The Mundas and Urans, originally 
 emigrants from Chota Nagpur, now reside in the 
 Terai and enjoy the same immunity. Wherever ma- 
 laria rages from March or April to November beyond 
 the sal forest or within these hill valleys, there these 
 tribes, and these tribes alone, dwell and thrive. Some- 
 times they collect in small villages, more usually live 
 in scattered cottages built of unhewn stone with a 
 front and overhanging roof of grass or rice-straw. 
 
 They follow the vocations of agriculturists, potters, 
 fishermen, and ferrymen, and at all these crafts, and 
 more especially pottery, they are very expert. The 
 Kumhals of Nayakot in particular are renowned for 
 their skill and workmanship in pottery. 
 
 While the byasis or lowlands of Nayakot are ex- 
 clusively occupied by these peculiar tribes, the tars or 
 highlands are occupied by the Niwars, who dwell and 
 build solely in them. The Parbattias seldom ven- 
 ture even so far down as the tars, but usually have
 
 SOIL OF NAYAKOT. 153 
 
 their houses on the hills around; and they never 
 suffer themselves to sleep in any part of the low- 
 lands for a single night between April and November. 
 
 In neither tars nor byasis do the clusters of cot- 
 tages ever reach the size of a village ; and the dwell- 
 ings stand, for the most part single. The whole 
 district is said to contain seven hundred houses, but 
 this is probably much exaggerated. 
 
 The soil of Nayakot contains a greater proportion 
 of clay to silex and calx than the soil of the Valley 
 of Nipal, which latter is derived principally from the 
 debris of granite formation. Hence the reputed 
 fertility and the celebrity of the potteries of 
 Nayakot. 
 
 The heights round the valley are not very con- 
 siderable ; they consist, on the north especially, of 
 iron clay of a very deep red tint, and the superficial 
 soil of the tars is for the most part of the same 
 kind, the substratum being usually gravel, whence 
 the dryness of the tars is increased. The soil of the 
 byasis is also clayey, but untinted; and where un- 
 mixed with silex or other ingredients, is even more 
 tenacious than the red clay. The pottery clays are 
 exclusively of the red sort. Mica, so common in the 
 Valley of Nipal, is here never met with. 
 
 The high temperature of Nayakot admits of the 
 trees — forest and field — as well as of the superior 
 cerealia of North Bahar and the Terai, being culti- 
 vated with success, though they cannot be raised in 
 the Valley of Nipal.
 
 154 NAYAKOT. 
 
 Nayakot has also productions of its own — first-rate 
 oranges and pine-apples — which are not found, or only 
 of inferior quality, in the plains of Bahar. The forest 
 trees found in Nayakot and not in Nipal, and iden- 
 tifying it with the Terai and plains, are the sal tree, 
 (shorea robust®), burr and peepul (ficus indica et 
 religiosa), semel or cotton tree, and many others. The 
 pinus longifolia and other mountainous trees are fre- 
 quently found mixed with them on the declivities 
 around. 
 
 The chief of the fruit-trees is the mangoe, of 
 various sorts and great excellence; the tamarind; 
 the bel or jack-fruit; guava ; custard apple or sherifa; 
 in fact, most of the ordinary fruit-trees of the plains 
 of India. None of which, however, flourish in the 
 Valley of Nipal. Pears, apples, apricots, plums, plan- 
 tains, and melons also abound; but no grapes nor 
 peaches. The Nayakot range is very far snperior to 
 that of Nipal. 
 
 The agricultural products of Nayakot resemble 
 generally those of Nipal, but whereas there are two 
 annual crops in Nipal there is only one in Nayakot, 
 because of the excess of moisture in the byasis and 
 the total want of artificial irrigation in the tars. The 
 byasis yield only rice, which is not planted nor reaped 
 at the early seasons of Nipal, but at the late ones of 
 the plains of India. 
 
 The rice harvest in Nayakot is not over till the 
 beginning, and often the middle, of December; and 
 then there are no means of drying the fields rapidly
 
 RIVEES IN NATAKOT. 155 
 
 enough for a second crop. In Nipal the crops are 
 more than six weeks earlier. 
 
 The uk or sugar-cane of Nayakot is superior to 
 that of most parts of India. It is grown on the skirts 
 of the byasis as well as on the declivities of the hills 
 near them. 
 
 Of the surface of the tars of Nayakot one-half pro- 
 bably is devoted to gardens and orchards, now much 
 neglected and in sad repair ; one-quarter to fields of 
 dry produce ; one-eighth to rice or wet produce ; and 
 the remaining one- eighth is probably barren. 
 
 In the cold months many traders and craftsmen 
 from Nipal visit Nayakot, exchanging grain for rock- 
 salt with the Cis- and Trans-Himalayan Bhotias, dying 
 the homespun clothes of the neighbouring hill tribes 
 with madder supplied by them, or with Indigo from 
 Tirhut. It amounts almost to a little fair from the 
 amount of bargaining and pedlary done there. 
 
 The principal rivers in Nayakot are the Tadi and 
 the Trisul. The Tadi (classically termed Suryavatti 
 from its arising at Surya kund, or the sun's fount, 
 which is the most easterly of the twenty-two little 
 lakes of Gosainthan) is thrown off towards the east, 
 as is the Trisul towards the west, from one of the 
 little lakes which lie at the foot of the snowy peaks 
 which rise from the mass of the Gosainthan. The 
 Tadi soon turns to the west and falls into the Trisul, 
 passing in its course below, and forming the southern 
 boundary of the ridge and plateau of Nayakot. Its 
 course may be thirty miles ; it is a shallow stream.
 
 156 NAYAKOT. 
 
 Its glen is cultivated nearly throughout ; and on its 
 upper course is said not to be malarious. The Trisul 
 is the most easterly of the seven Gandaks of Nipal, 
 and rises from the largest of twenty-two small lakes 
 which occupy the hollows of a series of narrow 
 gorge-like valleys at the foot of the precipitous rocks 
 which run up into the snow peaks of Gosainthan. 
 The largest of these lakes is called Gosain kund, or 
 Nilkhiat kund, and is about half a mile in circuit ; 
 and from a rock on its northern side issues, by 
 three principal clefts (hence the name Trisul), the 
 river Trisul or Trisul Gandaki. Its course is westerly 
 to JSTayakot, beneath which the Tadi falls into it. It 
 is a deep greenish-blue, and very rapid stream, con- 
 ducting not only the pilgrim to Gosainthan, but the 
 trader and traveller to Thibet. The valley of the 
 Trisul is narrow and without any byasi on the level 
 of its waters. 
 
 At Dhaibung, a considerable village half-way up the 
 ascent of the mountain of the same name, above 
 Nayakot, the Parbattia population begin to yield to 
 the race called Kachari Bhotias, or Cis-Himalayan 
 Bhotias, to distinguish them from the proper or 
 Trans -Himalayan Bhotias. 
 
 At Devi ghat, below Nayakot, the Trisul is crossed 
 by a ferry, which is most jealously guarded, and no 
 transport of any sort of goods allowed over it. 
 
 During the winter the lakes are thickly frozen over, 
 but the stream of the Trisul continues to run, and the 
 communication between one lake and another is never
 
 LAKES IN THE HILLS. 157 
 
 interrupted, showing that the waters are never frozen 
 right through to the bottom of the lake. The whole 
 district is deeply covered in snow, which melts during 
 the hot weather and rains, so that at the time of 
 the annual pilgrimage — August — in general only the 
 crests of the surrounding hills are covered with snow, 
 though sometimes patches of snow in shady spots 
 may be seen as low as the margins of the lakes. 
 
 These lakes lie below the level of perpetual snow, 
 probably at an elevation of twelve thousand to four- 
 teen thousand feet. They have evidently been pro- 
 duced by glacial action. In remote times the series 
 of valleys which surround the base of the highest 
 peaks of Grosainthan must have been filled up by 
 glaciers, which have now entirely disappeared, but 
 whose moraines have dammed up the valleys at all 
 their narrowest parts. In this way a series of deep 
 hollows was formed, which were enclosed between the 
 precipitous sides of the valleys and the moraines at 
 either end by which these valleys were obstructed. 
 These rocky hollows having become filled up with 
 water now form a succession of small lakes, clustered 
 together in groups of four or five, and arranged in 
 tiers one above the other. Each lake is separated 
 from its immediate neighbours by a massive wall of 
 immense boulders heaped confusedly together, over or 
 between which the water from the lake above either 
 falls in cascades or finds its way, by many small and 
 devious streams, into the bosom of the lake below it. 
 
 Each lake is situated about fifty or sixty feet above
 
 158 NAYAKOT. 
 
 the level of the lake below it ; and it is probable that 
 this terracing of the lakes is dependent on the ori- 
 ginal slope of the bottom of the valley, before its 
 continuity was destroyed not only by the obstruction 
 of a moraine filling up its outlet, but by the deposi- 
 tion across it, from side to side, of vast masses of 
 boulders at every narrow bend or angle of the gorge 
 in which the glacier was lodged. 
 
 Most of these lakes are very deep ; their waters are 
 exceedingly cold, and they contain no fish nor aquatic 
 plants. A few small plants and grasses grow on 
 patches of mould near their edges or between the 
 rocks which are strewed around them.
 
 159 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 NOTES OF A ROUTE FROM KATHMANDU THROUGH GORKHA, 
 WEST TOWARDS KAMAON. 
 
 Kathmandu. 
 
 Thankot. Here the road leaves the Khalta or 
 Valley of Nipal Proper, and proceeds west to the 
 junction of the Trisulganga and Maheshkhola rivers 
 at a place called 
 
 Maheshdobang, ten kos from Kathmandu. 
 
 Ghat of Bhangkot, twenty kos from Kathmandu. 
 Here are some stone temples built by Bhim Sen. 
 
 City of Gorkha, on the southern or eastern shore of 
 the Dharamcli river. It is situated on the Hunu- 
 manbanjang mountain and has a high hill covered 
 with jungle on its north-west. It is twenty-six kos 
 from Kathmandu by the road of Nayakot, and twenty- 
 three kos by this route. It was the original capital 
 of the present dynasty of Nipal. It contains about 
 two thousand houses. 
 
 City of Tanahung (Tanhung). One of the petty
 
 160 KATHMANDU TO KAMAON. 
 
 chiefdoms conquered by the present dynasty. Thirty- 
 four kos from Kathmandu. Its darbar is in ruins. 
 
 City of PoJchra, on Setuganja river. A quondam 
 independent chiefship. The city is large, well in- 
 habited, and contains plenty of supplies and grain of 
 all sorts. Famous for its copper manufactures. There 
 is a large annual fair held here. 
 
 City of Satahung. Another quondam chiefdom. 
 Has a darbar. 
 
 City of Tansen. A quondam petty chiefdom. It 
 is now the military station of the province of Palpa. 
 A kazi and one thousand five hundred sepoys reside 
 here. There is a new darbar and a market-place. 
 Cotton cloths in abundance, made by the Grurungs 
 who abound in the district ; also a mint, where copper 
 pice pieces are struck. Tansen is sixty-one kos west 
 from Kathmandu. 
 
 City of Palpa, sixty-three kos from Kathmandu. 
 Has a darbar and temple of Bhairunath. 
 
 Town of Hirdaghat, two kos from Palpa and sixty- 
 five kos from Kathmandu. At the junction of the 
 Kalaganja flowing from the north and the Hirdakhula 
 from the west. Has plenty of supplies. 
 
 Butival, seven kos south of Tansen, in the Terai of 
 Palpa and opposite G-orakpur. Has a large market, 
 where cloths of all sorts and cotton are very cheap. 
 Darbar is in ruins. 
 
 Gulmi. Another quondam principality. Has a 
 darbar. It is five kos west from Hirdighat, or seventy 
 kos from Kathmandu.
 
 ROUTES FROM KATHMANDU. 161 
 
 Village of Nayakot, seventy-seven kos west from 
 Kathmandu. 
 
 Magazine of Pentana, eighty-six kos west of Kath- 
 mandu. Three hundred and sixty workmen constantly 
 employed here in the manufacture of muskets, under the 
 superintendence of a captain and company of sepoys. 
 
 Village of Musinia Bhanjang, ninety-five kos from 
 Kathmandu. Abounds in saltpetre, which is taken 
 from here to Pentana. 
 
 Toivn of Saliana, one hundred and ten kos west of 
 Kathmandu. A quondam chiefship on the Irwala 
 Khola. The town has a darbar and temples, and in 
 the cold weather a sirdar and a company of sepoys 
 reside here. North from Saliana twelve kos, and on 
 the northern side of the Bheriganga river. Crossing 
 that river at the Kohenpani ghat is — 
 
 Jajurkot, another small quondam principality. Like 
 all the others, conquered and absorbed by the Gorkha 
 dynasty. It is half a cos from the northern shores 
 of the Bheriganga river. It has the ruins of a darbar, 
 a temple of Devi, and a small Mwar village. It is 
 one hundred and twenty-two kos from Kathmandu. 
 
 The road by this route is generally bad ; through a 
 mountainous district ; over successive ridges, running 
 generally north and south; across or along the interven- 
 ing valleys, which are watered by streams, though none 
 of the latter appear to be of considerable size. The 
 country is more or less cultivated, and mostly thinly 
 inhabited, with small and distantly scattered villages. 
 
 I, 
 
 11
 
 162 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 ROUTE FROM NAYAKOT TO GOSAINTHAN.* 
 
 Nayahot. 
 
 Along the eastern bank of the Trisnl to the con- 
 fluence of the Betravati or Betruilli stream with the 
 Trisul eight miles above Nayakot. Betravati rises 
 in one of the lakes of Grosainthan (to the north and 
 east of Suraj kuncl), passes between Jibjibia and 
 Dhaibung, flows along the southern base of the latter, 
 to its western extremity, where it falls into the 
 Trisul. About one hundred yards before uniting 
 with the Trisul, it is crossed by a wooden suspen- 
 sion bridge. There is here a small hamlet of three 
 or four houses. 
 
 Ascend the western shoulder of Mount Dhaibuno- to 
 village of Dhaibung, situated about two-thirds up the 
 
 * Compiled from description and notes by Kajmun Sing, Chi- 
 wallar, August 1854.
 
 KABHRIA G ABB AN TABIA. 163 
 
 mountain on its southern face.* Consists of twenty- 
 eight houses, inhabited by Botias, Niwars, and Par- 
 battias. Over the crest of Dhaibung, descend to 
 the pass between it and Jibjibia; thence to Kabhria 
 or Kafria, two miles from Dhaibung — faces towards 
 north. Village consists of fifteen houses, occupied 
 by Niwars. Near Kabhria the Nipalese were worsted 
 in an action with Chinese. 
 
 From Kabhria ascend to Ramchak, about three 
 miles, situated on a hill apparently detached from 
 Jibjibia, and intervening between that mountain and 
 Gosainthan. It is probably a large spur either of 
 Dhaibung or Jibjibia. Hamlet of twelve Botia houses. 
 
 About a mile further on, on the same hill, is Gar- 
 ran or Garram, a large Botia village, consisting of 
 thirty-six houses. The Trisul may be seen flowing 
 beneath the hill, along its northern base. 
 
 Two miles further on, still on the same hill, is 
 Taria, a Botia village, consisting of fifteen houses. 
 
 Near Taria is a large natural cavern capable of 
 covering between two hundred and three hundred 
 persons, formed by an immense rock which over- 
 hangs the road. Pilorims to Gosainthan avail them- 
 selves of its shelter as a halting-place. It is called 
 Bhimal-parku by the Niwars, or Bhimal Gupa by the 
 Parbattiahs. The Trisul flows in the valley below it. 
 
 * At the invasion of Nipal by the Chinese in 1790, the Chinese 
 general Thoong Thang did nut descend below the town of Dhai- 
 bung, though part of his army did. — Kirkpatrick. 
 
 11 *
 
 164 NAYAKOT TO GOSAINTHAN. 
 
 Tradition says that Bhimal, a Niwar Oaji, led an 
 army to invade Thibet. A lama threw this rock 
 down to crush him and his men. Bhimal, however, 
 raised his hand, and arresting its downward progress, 
 left it standing in its present position. 
 
 A mile further on is the Botia village of Bakku- 
 janda, consisting of twelve houses. Thence to Dum- 
 chah is about two miles. It is a large Botia village, 
 consisting of sixty or seventy houses, and contains a 
 large Buddhist temple built of stone. On the southern 
 side of its base are three circular slabs, on which are 
 sculptured, by the Botias, " Om Mani paclma om." 
 On each of the other three sides is a niche containing 
 a rudely carved figure of a Buddhist deity, apparently 
 the Buddhist Trinity, Buddha, Dharma, Sangha — one 
 in each niche. The summit is surmounted by two 
 circular slabs of stone, roughly carved, and intended 
 to represent " chattras." * 
 
 Three roads meet at Dumchah — one from Nayakot, 
 one from Gosainthan, and one from the Kerung pass. 
 In other words, the road from Nayakot here divides, 
 one branch leading north-east to Gosainthan, the other 
 north-west to the Kerung pass ; on the latter is a 
 large village named Safrutimria. 
 
 From Dumchah there is a slight descent at first 
 to the bed of the Trisul, thence a very gradual ascent 
 to Kundi ; whence, to the lakes, the ascent is very pre- 
 cipitous and the cold very severe. 
 
 * Umbrellas.
 
 DIMCHAH CHANDANBARI. 165 
 
 Four miles from Dumchah is Kundi, a halting-place 
 of merely two Botia houses, with a small Buddhist 
 temple. 
 
 Four miles further is Dimchah, a Botia village of 
 eight houses. From Dimchah it is about three miles 
 to the first cluster of the lakes of Gosainthan. 
 
 Near Dimchah, between it and Gosainthan, is a 
 small rounded hill called Chandanbari. It was quite 
 covered with numbers of wild flowers of various 
 kinds, forming a natural garden. Snow falls on 
 it during the cold weather, but soon melts again. 
 The superstition of the people, of course, attributes 
 the growth of these flowers to the cherishing care of 
 the deity of the district. 
 
 Near Chandanbari, a little above it by the road- 
 side, is a small uncarved stone, about a foot high, 
 which is worshipped as Ganesha, and the spot is called 
 Lauri-Vinnaik — from Lauri, a stick — in consequence 
 of its being the practice for all travellers to deposit 
 their sticks, if they have any, at the shrine of the 
 deity, whose severe anger will be incurred if any 
 one should proceed beyond this spot towards the 
 sacred lakes with a stick in his hand. It appears 
 to be a practice similar to the common one of deposit- 
 ing a stone or pebble on the cairn at the top of any 
 stiff pass. 
 
 The man from whose account the above itinerary 
 was made says that during no time of his journey, 
 neither during the ascent nor during his two days' 
 stay at the lakes, did he experience the slightest in-
 
 166 NAYAKOT TO GOSAINTHAN. 
 
 convenience or oppression in his breathing, pains in 
 his head, dizziness, &c. The only peculiarity he ob- 
 served was that after ascending from Kundi his 
 sense of taste was impaired ; his appetite was very 
 good, but he could hardly distinguish the taste of one 
 thing from another. Even a bottle of Exshaw's 
 brandy and some cheroots, with which I furnished 
 him, were no exception, as he says they seemed to 
 have lost all their flavour as long as he was above 
 Kundi.
 
 167 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 ORIGIN AND CLASSIFICATION OF THE MILITARY TRIBES 
 OF NIPAL. TABULAR VIEW OF THE TRIBES.* 
 
 1st. Brahmans. 
 
 2nd. Khus, of which there are twelve subdivisions : 
 1st, Thapa; 2nd, Bishnyat ; 3rd, Bhandari ; 4th, 
 Karki ; 5th, Khangka; 6th, Adhikari; 7th, Bisht; 
 8th, Kunwar; 9th, Banian; 10th, Dani ; 11th, Gharti; 
 12th, Khattri. 
 
 The EMharya are insulated tribes, ranking with 
 Khus. 
 
 The Thakuri are the royal lineages, ranking with 
 Khus. 
 
 3rd. Magars, of which there are three subdivisions : 
 1st, Rana; 2nd, Thapa; 3rd, Alaya. 
 
 4th. Gurungs, of which there are no subdivisions. 
 The Brahmans of Nipal are much less generally ad- 
 
 * Condensed from a paper by Mr. Brian Hodgson, dated 
 October 1832.
 
 168 MILITARY TRIBES. 
 
 dieted to arms than the Brahmans of the plains ; they 
 do not, therefore, properly belong to the present sub- 
 ject. They are now introduced as necessary to eluci- 
 date the lineage and connections of the military tribes, 
 and especially of the Khus. 
 
 The proper martial classes of Nipal are the Khus, 
 the Magars, and the Grurungs. 
 
 The great aboriginal stock of the inhabitants of the 
 mountains of Nipal, east of the river Kali, is Mon- 
 golian. 
 
 From the twelfth century downwards the tide of 
 Musulman conquest continued to drive multitudes of 
 the Brahmans of the plains of Hindustan into the 
 neighbouring hills, which now compose the western 
 territories of the kingdom of Nipal. There the Brah- 
 mans soon located themselves. They found the 
 natives illiterate and almost without a creed, proud, 
 and fierce. To confirm the influence derived from 
 their own learning, they determined to convert these 
 Parbattiahs to Hinduism. 
 
 Khus. — To the earliest and most distinguished of 
 their converts they communicated (in defiance of the 
 principles of the Hindu faith) the rank and honours 
 of the Kshatriya order. The same rank was also com- 
 municated to the offspring of Brahman intercourse 
 with the hill women. From these two roots (the con- 
 verted Khus, and the illegitimate offspring of a Plain 
 Brahman with a Khus woman) sprang the now nume- 
 rous and powerful tribe of the Khus, originally the 
 name of a small class of creedless barbarians, now the
 
 THE KHUS TRIBES. 169 
 
 title of the Ksliatriya or military order of the king- 
 dom of Nipal. The offspring of the original Khus 
 females by the Brahmans received, with the honours 
 and rank of the second order of Hinduism (Kshat- 
 riya), the patronymic title of the first order (Brah- 
 man). 
 
 To the present day (despite all the opposition of 
 the Brahmans to a custom so opposed to the principles 
 of their creed ) the proud Khus race insist that their 
 children by Brahman fathers shall be ranked as 
 Kshatriyas, but wear the sacred thread, and assume 
 the patronymic of Brahman. The original Khus, thus 
 favoured, naturally became entirely devoted to the 
 Brahmanical system. They agreed to put away their 
 old gods, and take the new ones ; to have Brahmans 
 for gurus, and not to kill the cow. For the rest they 
 made, and still make, but little of the ceremonial law 
 in whatever respects food and sexual relations. Their 
 active habits and vigorous characters could not brook 
 the restraints of the ritual law ; moreover, they had 
 the example of licentious Brahmans to excuse their 
 neglect. The few prejudices of the Khus are useful 
 rather than otherwise, inasmuch as they favour 
 sobriety and cleanliness. 
 
 Almost all the officers of the army are of the Khus 
 tribe. Magars and Gurungs combined compose less 
 than one-half of the privates and non-commissioned 
 officers. The Khus is generally slighter, more active, 
 and less fleshy than either the Magar or the Gurung ; 
 more arrogant, passionately fond of arms ; averse to
 
 170 MILITARY TRIBES. 
 
 all labour in arts, but will enter into agricultural and 
 pastoral pursuits. 
 
 The progress of Mohammadanism in Hindustan 
 daily drove fresh refugees to the Nipalese mountains. 
 The Khus tribes availed themselves of the superior 
 knowledge of the strangers to subdue the neighbour- 
 ing aboriginal tribes. They were almost uniformly 
 successful ; and in such a career, continued for ages, 
 they gradually merged the greater part of their own 
 habits, ideas, and language (but not physiognomy) in 
 those of the Hindus. The Khus language became, 
 and still is, a corrupt dialect of Hindi, retaining not 
 many traces of primitive barbarism. 
 
 Ekthariah. — The Ekthariah are the descendants, 
 more or less pure, not of the Brahmans by a Khus 
 female, but of Rajputs and other Kshatriyas of the 
 plains, who either sought refuge in Nipal from the 
 Musulman, or voluntarily sought military service as 
 adventurers. Not having the same inducements as 
 the Brahmans had to degrade their proud race by 
 union with Parbattiah females, they mixed much less 
 with the Khus than the Brahmans had done. Hence, 
 to this day, they claim a vague superiority over the 
 Khus, although in all essentials the two races have 
 long been confounded. 
 
 Those among the Kshatriyas of the plains who 
 were more lax in their alliances with Khus females 
 were permitted to give their children the patronymic 
 title only, but not the rank, of Kshatriya. But their 
 children, again, if they married for two generations
 
 EKTHARIAHS THAKURIS. ] 71 
 
 into the Khus, became pure Khus, and at the same 
 time re-acquired all the privileges and rank, though 
 they no longer retained the name, of Kshatriya. 
 While in Nipal they were Khus, not Kshatriya ; but 
 if they revisited the plains, they bore the name and 
 were entitled to every privilege attached to Kshatriya 
 birth in Hindustan. The Ekthariah is the third and 
 less fruitful root of the Khus race. 
 
 Thakuris. — The Thakuris, similar in extraction, 
 differ only from the Ekthariahs by the circumstance of 
 their lineage being royal. At some former period, and in 
 some unimportant state or other, their progenitors were 
 princes. The present royal family are of the Sahi dynasty. 
 
 The Kirats are natives of the Kiranti district, a 
 tract to the east, towards Sikkim. Till 1847 they 
 were looked down upon as being an inferior race, and 
 were not admitted into the army. In 1847 they were 
 enlisted for the first time as sepoys by Jang Bahadur. 
 There is now one regiment of the campon (term con- 
 fined to the regular army) almost entirely composed 
 of them, and several are scattered among other corps. 
 They rank considerably below Gurungs. 
 
 Limbu is the name of another eastern tribe who are 
 also now enlisted as sepoys; they are low caste, like 
 Kirats. They are remarkably good sportsmen; the 
 district they inhabit (Limbuana ?) lying near snow, 
 where provisions are scarce, they hunt for the pot.* 
 
 * Limbuanah, — the country of the Limbus, — is the tract lying 
 between Sikkim and the Arun river, below the snows. It formerly
 
 172 MILITARY TRIBES. 
 
 The Lepchas are, properly, the aborigines of Sik- 
 kim ; but a few are scattered through the Kiranti 
 country. 
 
 Magar. — The Magar and Gurung military tribes 
 supply a large number of the soldiers of the Nipal 
 army. 
 
 Gurung. — From lending themselves less early and 
 heartily to Brahmanical influences, they have retained 
 to a much greater extent than the Khus tribe their 
 national peculiarities of language, physiognomy, and — 
 in a less degree — of habits. In stature the Gurungs 
 are generally larger and more powerful than either 
 the Magar or the Khus. 
 
 Gurungs and Magars, being excluded from political 
 employ and military commands, have less community 
 of interest and sympathy with government than have 
 the Khus ; but they are still very loyal, and, like all 
 Parbattiahs, very national in their feelings. In the 
 Gurung and Magar corps the officers (up to captains) 
 are all Gurungs and Magars. 
 
 The language of the Magar differs from that of 
 the Gurung only as remote dialects of one great 
 tongue, the type of which is the language of Tibet. 
 Their physiognomies have peculiarities proper to 
 each, but with the general Galmuk caste and cha- 
 racter in both. The Gurungs are less generally and 
 more recently redeemed from Lamaism and primitive 
 
 belonged to Sikkini, but it was early conquered and permanently 
 annexed by the Gorkhas.
 
 GURUNGS — MAGARS — GORKHAS. 173 
 
 impurity than the Magars, and are considered much 
 below them in point of caste. Gurungs eat buffalo 
 meat and village pigs' meat also. Magars eat neither 
 the one nor the other. But though both Magars 
 and Gurungs still retain their own vernacular tongues, 
 Tartar faces, and careless manners, yet from constant 
 intercourse with, and military service under, the pre- 
 dominant Khus, they have acquired the Khus lan- 
 guage — but not to the oblivion of their own — and 
 adopted, with, however, several reservations, the 
 Khus habits and sentiments. 
 
 As they have submitted themselves to the cere- 
 monial law of purity and to Brahman supremacy, 
 they have been adopted as Hindus ; but they have 
 been denied the sacred thread, and take rank as a 
 doubtful order below the Kshatriya — not Vaisya nor 
 Sudra, but a something superior to both of the latter 
 grades. 
 
 The offspring of a Khus male and a Magar or 
 Gurung mother is a titular Khus, but a real Magar 
 or Gurung ; the descendants fall into the rank of 
 their mothers, retaining only the patronymic, as in 
 other cases above mentioned. 
 
 Gorhha. — The original seat of the Khus is ordinarily 
 said to be Gorkha, because it was thence immediately 
 that they issued, ninety years ago, under Prithi Nara- 
 yan, on their conquering excursions into Nipal. But 
 the Khus race was, long previously to the age of 
 Prithi Narayan, extensively spread over the whole 
 of the Chaubissia ; and they are now found in every
 
 174 MILITARY TRIBES. 
 
 part of the existing kingdom of Nipal. The Khus 
 are rather more devoted to the house of Gorkha, as 
 well as more under Brahmanical influence, than the 
 Magars or Gurungs. On both accounts they are less 
 desirable as soldiers for the British service ; although, 
 from having a good deal of lowland blood in their 
 veins, the Khus race would probably bear the heat of 
 the plains better than the Magars or Gurungs. 
 
 The original seat of the Magars is most of the cen- 
 tral and lower parts of the mountains between the 
 Jingruk (Rapti of Gorakpur) and the Marsayangdi 
 (or Marichangdi of our maps) rivers.* 
 
 The original seat of the Gurungs is in the line of 
 country parallel to that occupied by the Magars, and 
 to the north of it and extending to the snow in that 
 direction. 
 
 Modern events have spread both Magars and Gu- 
 rungs over most parts of the modern kingdom of 
 Nipal. 
 
 The Magars and Gurungs are Hindus only because 
 it is the fashion. The Hinduism of the Khus is not 
 very strict. These highland soldiers,f of all three 
 races, who despatch their meal in half an hour and 
 
 * " The Bora-Mungraunthor Satahung, Payang, Bliiskot, Dhor, 
 Garahung, Bisung, Ghirung, Gulmi, Argha, Khachi, Musikot, and 
 Isnia." — Hodgson. 
 
 f After the Nipal war Ochterlony expressed an opinion (con- 
 fidentially to Lord Hastings), "that the Company's sepoys could 
 never be brought to resist the shock of these energetic moun- 
 taineers in their own ground.
 
 MILITARY SERVICE. 175 
 
 satisfy the ceremonial law by merely washing their 
 hands and faces and taking off their head-dress before 
 cooking, laugh at the strictness of the Hindustani 
 sepoy, who must bathe from head to foot and make 
 puja ere they can begin to dress their dinner, must 
 eat it nearly naked in the coldest weather, and cannot 
 be in marching trim again in less than three hours. 
 In war the Gorkha sepoy carries several days' provi- 
 sions on his back ; the Hindustani would consider 
 such an act degrading. 
 
 In Nipal all service, but especially all military ser- 
 vice, is by annual tenure, and all tenure of lands 
 attached only to actual service*; and the usage is to 
 change a considerable number of the men annually in 
 order to have a larger available body of trained men 
 scattered over the country than the State can afford 
 to pay at once. A man off the roll of employ is 
 termed Dakhriah ; one in employ is Jaghriah. 
 
 Prior to the reign of Ran Bahadur, who died in 
 
 * An exception to this rule, is in the case of the so-called Rajah 
 of Mustang, a Bhotia, who holds a small tract iu perpetuity 
 around Muktinath ; it is, however, rather a farm than a jagir. 
 
 Even the Raj Guru holds his appointment subject to annual 
 renewal. He is appointed by the King, and may at any time be 
 removed for misconduct, political intrigue, &c. As a general rule, 
 or except in case of revolution, where his party may be displaced, 
 the Guru holds his office for life ; and if he has given general 
 satisfaction, the probability is that his son or nearest relative will 
 succeed him ; but there is no necessity for this, as the office is not 
 hereditary. Should a Guru be displaced, he at once loses his 
 sacred character, and becomes a mere Brahman pandit.
 
 176 MILITARY TRIBES. 
 
 1805, the lands of the State were assigned in jaigir to 
 a class of chiefs called Omran, whose followers, called 
 Omeria, constituted the feudal array and sole military 
 force of the country. This system was abolished 
 before the chiefs could ground any territorial con- 
 nection upon it. The whole military force now 
 directly belongs to, and is in the pay of, the State ; 
 and this has been the case since the beginning' of the 
 present century. Before that time the recent origin 
 of the kingdom and vigorous central administration 
 prevented the jaigirs from becoming hereditary. Per- 
 manent assignments of land to the Church were 
 numerous, but small, before the same era ; but Ran 
 Bahadur swept much of its revenues into the ex- 
 chequer, and Bhim Sen still more afterwards.
 
 177 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 DIVISIONS OF CASTE AMONG THE NIWARS. 
 
 The grand division of the Niwars is into — 
 
 1st. The Sheo-margi Niwars, who are worshippers 
 of Shiva, and are, in fact, Brahmanical Hindus ; and 
 
 2nd. The Buddha-margi Niwars, who are worship- 
 pers of Buddha. 
 
 Of the whole Niwar population one-third is probably 
 purely Hindu in its religion, the remaining two- 
 thirds being Buddhist. 
 
 The Sheo-margi Niwars consist of the following 
 divisions or classes : — 
 
 1st. Upadea, priests, Brahmans of the highest class, 
 and admitted into the Talleju temples. 
 
 2nd. Lawarju, also Brahmans and priests, but in- 
 ferior to Upadea. 
 
 3rd. Bhaju, Brahmans who give spiritual, but never 
 medical, advice in cases of sickness. 
 
 4th. Thakuju or Mallah, Kshatriyas of the original 
 I. 12
 
 178 NIWAR CASTES. 
 
 royal or Rajah caste. Some of them are sepoys in 
 the Gorkha army ; but they do not enter into trade, 
 nor private service. 
 
 5th. Nikhu, Kshatriyas, painters of certain religious 
 subjects. They paint the figure, eyes, &c. on the 
 image of Machendra and on the wheels of his car ; 
 also the figures inside the temples of Talleju ; but 
 they do not do ordinary painters' work. The Nikhu 
 officiate at the Machendragatra ; they bring the 
 figure of the god out of his temple at the beginning 
 of Baisakh, and carry it to the large tree, where they 
 wash it with their own hands. They cover the god 
 up in clothing for eight days ; on the ninth they put 
 him in the sun, paint him, robe him, and put him to 
 rights for the grand festival; and having done so, 
 their work is over, and the god is made over to the 
 Banhras, who take charge of him throughout the 
 festival exclusively. At the close, when the god is 
 unclothed"and his shirt shown to the people, only the 
 Banhras officiate as priests and touch the god; but 
 men of the eleventh Sheo-margi caste, Sheristas, are 
 on the car to manage the secular part of the tamasha.* 
 But the Banhras unrobe the god, and they exhibit the 
 shirt. They also receive the fees on that occasion. 
 
 6th. Josi, Yaisyas, neither Brahmans nor priests ; 
 but their business is to expound the Shastras. 
 
 7th. Achar, Yaisyas, priests of Talleju temples of 
 Kathmandu and Bhatgaon, but not Brahmans. 
 
 * Tamasha — a show or spectacle. — (Ed.)
 
 CLASSES OF NIWARS. 179 
 
 8th. Bhanni, Vaisyas, cooks for the gods of the 
 Talleju temples. 
 
 9th. Gaoku Achar, Vaisyas, priests for small temples 
 only. They superintend at such temples the rites con- 
 nected with deaths, but have nothing to do with actual 
 funeral ceremonies. 
 
 10th. Sheashu, Chatriyas.* 
 
 11th. Sherista, Chatriyas. 
 
 Both supply sepoys to the army. They intermarry 
 and eat together. 
 
 12th. Makhi. Sudras, ordinary cooks and table at- 
 tendants. 
 
 13th. Lahhipar, Sudras, ordinary cooks and table 
 attendants, but of inferior standing ; rather assistants 
 to the former. The two are like our Khitmatgar and 
 Masalchi. Both are domestic servants, and all the 
 above classes of Hindus will eat from their hands. 
 
 14th. Bagho Shashu, Sudras, domestic servants of 
 all ordinary work, but not cooks. 
 
 The above fourteen divisions are genuine worship- 
 pers of Shiva in the Hindu style. They never wor- 
 ship Buddha in any form, nor visit his temples for 
 religious purposes. They are distinct classes, and will 
 not eat together, nor intermarry. 
 
 The above classes may be grouped into the four 
 regular Hindu castes : — 
 
 Brahmans, first, second, and third. 
 
 Kshatriyas, fourth, fifth, tenth, and eleventh. 
 
 Vaisyas, sixth, seventh, eighth, and ninth. 
 
 * Same as Kshatriyas. 
 
 12 *
 
 180 NIWAE CASTES. 
 
 Sudras, twelfth, thirteenth, and fourteenth. 
 
 The Buddha-margi, or Buddhist Niwars, are di- 
 visible into three principal classes : — 
 
 1st. Orthodox Bandyas, or "Banhras," whose heads 
 are closely shorn. 
 
 2nd. Orthodox Buddhists, but not Banhras, who 
 wear a top-knot of hair upon their crowns, and are 
 collectively called " Udas." 
 
 3rd. Inferior or heterodox Buddhists, who combine 
 Hinduism with Buddhism ; who are Sheo-margi as 
 well as Buddha-margi; who are Buddhists byname, 
 but are more or less of Hindus in reality. 
 
 Each of the above three orders consists of a cer- 
 tain number of classes or divisions, each of which 
 represents and inherits a certain trade or profession. 
 Many of these hereditary occupations are not suffi- 
 ciently important to afford entire support or sub- 
 sistence to the members of the craft. In such cases 
 the members of these crafts practise other avocations 
 of a general character, such as agriculture, tailoring, 
 &c. ; but the member of one craft never interferes 
 with, or encroaches upon, the technical duties and 
 rights of another. Thus a carpenter will not do the 
 work of a stone-mason, nor a brick-layer that of a 
 painter. But any man may be an agriculturist, though 
 there are certain classes whose especial hereditary 
 duty is the attending to the crops.* Any man may 
 
 * Any man may be a Banya; there is no distinct caste of 
 Banyas.
 
 THE BANHRAS. 181 
 
 be a tailor, as there is no hereditary class of tailors ; 
 or any man may do cooly's work, carry burdens, or 
 make himself generally useful as a means of gaining 
 his daily bread. But whatever his present occupation 
 may be, every Niwar, whether Sheo-margi or Buddha- 
 margi, belongs to some hereditary craft or profession, 
 though circumstances may prevent his devoting him- 
 self to it exclusively. 
 
 The orthodox Bandyas, or Banhras, are divided 
 into the following nine classes, the duties of which 
 are strictly hereditary : — 
 
 1st. Gubharju. To this class all priests of the 
 highest order, called the " Vajra acharya," belong. 
 But Gubharjus are not limited to priestly duties ; 
 some of them are Pandits. The present Residency 
 Pandit is a G-ubharju ; his grandfather, Amirla Nanda, 
 a great friend of Mr. Hodgson's, was a Vajra acharya, 
 and officiated as such on suitable occasions.* Some 
 Gubharjus, who are poor or uneducated, attend to 
 
 * The hereditary calling of the Gubhal or Gubarju is that of 
 priest. The Vajra Acharya, like all other professions, is heredi- 
 tary ; but a Yajra acharya by birth, need not exercise priestly duties, 
 unless qualified to do so ; he may, as the pandit in the office does, 
 devote himself to some other calling. Every Vajra acharya is a 
 Gubharju; but only a few Gubharjus are Vajra acharyas. The 
 Gubharjus apparently hold the same relation to other Banhras 
 which Brahmans do to Hindus. Among the Banhras and Udas 
 the Vajra acharya alone does all duties of a priest ; but among 
 the Jaffus and superior Buddhists, a Hindu Punhonir is called in 
 to co-operate with the Vajra acharya.
 
 182 N1WAII CASTES. 
 
 agriculture ; some who are poor become Bhikshus or 
 inferior priests ; and some take to other avocations. 
 My tailor is a Gubharju. 
 
 2nd. Barrhaju. 
 
 3rd. Bikhu. 
 
 4th. Bhikshu* 
 
 5th. Nebhar. 
 
 These four are gold and silver smiths, but they only 
 make ornaments. 
 
 6th. Nibharbharhi, workers in brass and iron. They 
 make metal images of the gods, also cooking utensils, 
 " kalai "f our dishes, &c. 
 
 7th. Tankarmi, make guns and cannons in iron, 
 brass, or other metal. 
 
 8th. Gangsabharhi. 
 
 9th. Chiwarbharhi. 
 
 These two are carpenters and workers in wood of 
 all sorts ; also plasterers, white- washers, &c. 
 
 The above nine classes of Banhras will eat together 
 and intermarry among each other, but not with those 
 below them. 
 
 * The hereditary calling of a Bhikshu is that of a gold or silver 
 smith ; but many of them exercise priestly duties of an inferior 
 kind ; all superior priests are Vajra acharyas ; all inferior ones are 
 Bhikshus. A Vajra acharya from poverty or want of learning 
 may sink to become a Bhikshu ; but a Bhikshu, however wealthy 
 or learned, cannot become a Vajra acharya. In figures of Buddha, 
 inferior attendants upon him are often represented ; they are called 
 Bhikshus. 
 
 f That is, line them with tin. — (Ed.)
 
 THE UDAS. 183 
 
 The orthodox Buddhists, who are not Banhras, are 
 called collectively Udas ; they wear top-knots of hair 
 on their crowns, and are divided into the following 
 seven classes : — 
 
 1st. Udas, Mahajans and foreign merchants, who 
 deal chiefly with Tibet and Bhutan. 
 
 The Udas Niwars are distinctly inferior as a class 
 to the Banhras. A Banhra may let his hair grow, 
 and become one of the Udas ; but a Udas Niwar can 
 never rise and become a Banhra. In the same way, a 
 Udas Niwar may sink and become a Jaffu ; but a Jaffu 
 cannot become an Udas. 
 
 The Udas Niwars, till of late years, were the most 
 wealthy and influential class in the country ; of late 
 years their wealth has diminished, and with it their 
 importance. 
 
 The Jaffu, or agricultural Niwars, are by far the 
 most numerous class ; they probably constitute half 
 the Niwar population. 
 
 At the present day the " Sarmis," or oil extractors, 
 though not a very numerous, are by far the most 
 wealthy class of Niwars. 
 
 2nd. Eassar, workers in metallic alloys. 
 
 3rd. Loharkarmi, stone-masons. They make images 
 of the gods, and temples, chaityas, &c, as well as work 
 in stone for private houses. 
 
 4th. Sikarmi, carpenters. 
 
 5th. lhambat, makers of vessels and general workers 
 in brass, copper, and zinc.
 
 184 NIWAR CASTES. 
 
 6th. Awar, tile-makers. They not only make tiles, 
 but they put them on to the roofs of houses. 
 
 7th. Maddikarmi, bakers. 
 
 The above seven classes will eat together and inter- 
 marry ; they will eat from the hands of a Banhra, he 
 being, as a Banhra, their superior. But a Banhra 
 will not eat from the hands of any of them. Of 
 course, therefore, there can be no intermarriage be- 
 tween these six classes and the Banhras. 
 
 These seven classes of Udas Niwars are orthodox 
 Buddhists, but are not Banhras. They wear top-knots 
 of hair on their crowns, but are in no way Sheo-margi. 
 They never frequent or worship at Hindu temples, 
 though they may privately, or in the course of their 
 Buddhist devotions in their own houses, do puja 
 to some of those deities who are common objects 
 of worship to Hindus and Buddhists, as Ganesha, 
 Devi, &c. 
 
 The inferior or heterodox Buddhists, who openly 
 worship at Hindu temples and are thus Sheo-margi 
 as well as Buddha-margi, consist of the following 
 classes : — 
 
 1st. Mu, men who cultivate the aromatic herb, 
 mussa, which is sold in large quantities; it is used 
 as an offering to the gods, and is also much worn in 
 the hair. This class have nothing to do with other 
 flowers, nor vegetables, &c. 
 
 2nd. Danghu, land-surveyors and measurers.
 
 JAFFU N1WARS. 185 
 
 3rd. Kumliar, makers of clay vessels of all sorts, 
 potters. 
 
 4th. Karbujha. Their hereditary duty is as musi- 
 cians who play a particular instrument at funerals, 
 not at any festivities ; but they are mostly employed 
 in agriculture. 
 
 5th. Jaffu or Kissini. 
 
 6th. Boni, 
 
 Cultivators of the fields. 
 
 These six classes are all more or less connected with 
 agriculture and land, and are collectively called Jaffu, 
 as the seven preceding classes are collectively called 
 Udas ; in each case the collective name being taken 
 for the whole from the one class who greatly predomi- 
 nates among them. 
 
 The six classes of Jaffu Niwars rank next below 
 the Udas, and decidedly above all those whose names 
 follow them in the list. All these classes eat together 
 and marry among each other. 
 
 7th. Chittrakar, painters of all sorts ; house painters 
 as well as picture and portrait painters. 
 
 8th. Bhat, dyers of red colours to all sorts of hair 
 or woollen cloths, but not to linen. 
 
 9th. Chippah, dyers of blue colour to any and 
 every kind of texture. 
 
 10th. Kaua or Nekarmi, workers in iron of all sorts, 
 blacksmiths ; will make horse-shoes, tulwars, knives, 
 or anything. 
 
 11th. Norn, barbers and barber-surgeons.
 
 186 NIWAE, CASTES. 
 
 12th. Sarmi, extractors of oil from mustard or any 
 vegetables. 
 
 The Sarmis are the most wealthy class at the pre- 
 sent day ; they have encroached upon the Udas, and 
 made their money as Mahajans or merchants, and as 
 Banyas. Any man may be a Banya. There are 
 B any as of any and all castes. 
 
 13th. Tippah, cultivators of vegetables. 
 
 14th. Pulpul, men who carry lanterns and lights on 
 the occasion of funerals. 
 
 15th. Kaussa, inoculators for small-pox. 
 
 16th. Konar, carpenters who make the chirka and 
 other machines with which the women make thread ; 
 they do not do general carpentering, nor will general 
 carpenters make these machines. 
 
 17th. Garhtho, gardeners. 
 
 18th. Katthar, wound dressers. 
 
 19th. Tatti, workers in cotton wool (rui) for cloth- 
 ing for the dead, and for night-caps for infants' heads 
 when their hair is first cut off. 
 
 20th. Balhaiji, men who make the wheels for the 
 car of Machendra ; they occasionally do a little other 
 carpentering. 
 
 21st. Yung war, men who make the car of Ma- 
 chendra. 
 
 22nd. Ballah. 
 
 23rd. Lamu. 
 
 Palki- bearers for the royal family and for some of 
 the wealthy sirdars. 
 
 24th. J) alii, a class of sepoys.
 
 HETERODOX BUDDHISTS. 187 
 
 25th. Pihi, makers of wickerwork baskets, dhokahs,* 
 karmus, and wicker chattahsf such as the poor use in 
 the rain when working in the fields. 
 
 26th. Gaowah. 
 
 27th. Nanda-Gaoivah. 
 
 Cowherds, eat together and intermarry. 
 
 28th. Ballahmi, wood-cutters ; bring wood for 
 house use. 
 
 29th. Gaukau, men who drag the car at Machendra 
 and Indra and Bhairab jatras. 
 
 30th. Nalli, men who paint the eyes of the golden 
 figure of Bhairab on the Machendra car. 
 
 The men who dance, wear masks, do the buffoonery 
 in fact, at the Indra jatra and other Niwar festivals, 
 are of any and all castes ; there is no rule for them. 
 The majority are Jaffu. Those who live in the vihars 
 round the temples, and attend and take care of the 
 god and his property, are Banhras. 
 
 There is no class or caste of Baids, or doctors ; any 
 one possessing the necessary knowledge may be a 
 doctor. 
 
 The above thirty classes of heterodox Buddhists, 
 though of inferior status to the Banhras and other 
 orthodox Buddhists, are yet all " caste ' : men, and 
 from their hands any Hindu will, or may, drink water. 
 
 The following eight classes of mixed Buddha-margi 
 
 * Measures holding ten haudfuls of corn. — (Ed.) 
 f Umbrellas.— (Ed.)
 
 188 NIWAE CASTES. 
 
 and Sheo-margi Niwars are " out-castes," i.e. Hindus 
 will not take water from them : — 
 
 31st. Nai or Kassais, butchers, killers and sellers of 
 buffaloes' meat. 
 
 32nd. Joghi, musicians at Niwar festivals. 
 
 33rd. Dhunt, musicians at Niwar festivals. 
 
 34th. Dhauwi, wood-cutters and makers of charcoal. 
 
 35. Kullu, workers in leather. 
 
 36th. Puriya, fish-catchers, executioners, and dog- 
 killers. 
 
 37th. Chamukallak, sweepers. 
 
 38th. Sanghar, washermen. 
 
 By the above classification the Niwars would appear 
 to be divided into sixty- eight distinct hereditary 
 classes : — 
 
 Sheo-margi Niwars ... 14 classes. 
 Bandy a or Banhra Niwars . . 9 
 Orthodox Buddhists, but not 
 
 Banhras, called collectively Udas 7 
 Heterodox Buddhists, or mixed 
 Sheo-margi and Buddha-margi 38 
 
 j> 
 
 JJ 
 
 JJ 
 
 Total . 68 classes.
 
 189 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 CATHOLIC MISSION IN N1PAL.* 
 
 The Capuchins had an establishment in the valley, at 
 Patan ; the only remaining trace of their presence is 
 the part of the Polyglot inscription attributable to 
 them, and which still exists. They came originally 
 from Pekin to Lassa, where they had large establish- 
 ments and a good library. Some years ago I was 
 enabled to pick up the fragments of this library at 
 Lassa, and lately I presented it to the Pope. No such 
 or other trace of them was discovered by me in Nipal. 
 The Chinese Emperor drove them from Pekin, and 
 then from Lassa, seizing and confiscating their all, and 
 expelling them across the snows. The Niwar dynasty 
 of Patan received them kindly and gave them lands. 
 But before they could make any great progress in con- 
 
 * Extract from a letter by Mr. Hodgson to Mr. Erskine, Sept. 
 1850.
 
 190 CATHOLIC MISSION IN NIPAL. 
 
 version, came the Gorkhas, who expelled them from the 
 country. They retired to the plains, and were afforded 
 an asylum by the Rajah of Bettiah, and in his lands, 
 at and about the village of Ohuri, they still dwell with 
 their Niwar flock, which has increased, but nob 
 greatly, and only by fresh births at Ohuri, and not by 
 any additional incomers from the valley, whence pro- 
 bably not above one hundred to two hundred souls 
 proceeded with the original emigrant fathers. In 
 the " Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society " for 1848 
 are the translations by Mr. Hodgson of the " grants 
 of land," by virtue of which the mission was esta- 
 blished at Patan. The original deeds are inscribed on 
 copper, and are or were in the possession of the Roman 
 Catholic bishop at Patan. They are in the Niwari 
 language, interlarded with a good deal of Sanskrit. 
 " Jay a Rajya Prakas Malla Deva," Prince of Nipal, 
 was the grantee.
 
 191 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 LEOPARDS. — DOGS. — BUFFALOES. 
 
 Leopards abound in the jungles in all the hills sur- 
 rounding the valley. They often come down into the 
 villages on the edges of the valley, and sometimes 
 even into the centre of the valley, and commit great 
 depredations. They occasionally attack men, oftener 
 children, but most usually confine their attacks to 
 cattle, sheep, goats, &c. In 1852, Jang had a number 
 of deer of different breeds in an inclosure, with high 
 walls, of some thirty or forty acres. This inclosure is 
 about two hundred or three hundred yards only from 
 the Hospital and Residency compound. A leopard, in 
 the autumn of 1852, having found out this preserve, 
 used to come down about every second night and kill 
 and eat one or more deer. These leopards are very 
 vicious, often killing apparently for the mere ex- 
 citement of it. One night this leopard killed three 
 deer, of which he ate the half of one and merely
 
 192 LEOPARDS. 
 
 sucked the blood from the throats of the others. On 
 his way back to the Nagarjun mountain, where he had 
 taken up his abode, and to which we tracked him, he 
 fell in with a Brahmany Bull, asleep probably on the 
 ground. The leopard, although his hunger had been 
 sated by the deer, killed the bull too, and sucked the 
 blood from his throat. Probably he was thirsty, and 
 wished for a draught of something toothy ! I accom- 
 panied Jang one morning on foot in following the 
 track of this brute. He had a number of attendants 
 with him and some shikaries. It was wonderful to see 
 how the latter followed the track by his footsteps, 
 where it was often quite imperceptible, not only to me, 
 but even to Jung. We tracked him nearly half up 
 the mountain, when the j ungle became so thick that we 
 were obliged to give up the pursuit. 
 
 On our way I had incidentally informed Jang that 
 I had not yet had breakfast, and was very hungry. 
 He said nothing, but, without informing me, instantly 
 sent off an express to Thappatalli for breakfast to be 
 sent to meet him. On our way back we met the car- 
 riage coming at full gallop ; it stopped at once ; out 
 got a jemadar, and produced, to my surprise, an ex- 
 cellent still warm breakfast. Jang and his companions 
 squatted down on the road-side, and directed me to do 
 the same, about two or three yards from them. Out 
 came fowls, stewed, curried, &c. ; goat's meat, grilled, 
 stewed ; cutlets of pork ; pilaued pheasant ; eggs in 
 different forms ; some very nice crisp sort of cracknell ; 
 chapatis of different kinds; with some fruits, &c.
 
 A TROUBLESOME LEOPARD. 193 
 
 On this we all made a most hearty meal, Jang always 
 helping me first with his own hands ; no knives, forks, 
 or spoons, or plates had been brought, so I used the 
 knife and fork which Nature had given me, and ate my 
 food off a plate made of leaves of the sal tree sewn 
 together. After breakfast I distributed cheroots, of 
 which the Nipalese are very fond, especially when they 
 do not have to pay for them. I returned home. 
 
 Two or three days after, this identical leopard was 
 caught in a trap* which had been set for him in the 
 course of his " run " on the Nagarjun mountain. He 
 was taken to Thappatalli, and in the afternoon of the 
 same day I went down to see him killed. Jang pro- 
 posed turning him out into a " bear-pit," constructed 
 after the model of the pits in our English Zoological 
 Gardens, in which were seven or eight bears. The 
 trap was accordingly placed on the parapet surround- 
 ing the edge of the pit, and which was about fifteen 
 feet in diameter. An old bear clambered to the top 
 of the pole to watch the proceedings, and we stood 
 round the parapet expecting to see the beast fall or 
 
 * Their traps for wild beasts are very ingeniously constructed. 
 It is a long box, like a mouse-trap witb a small chamber at the 
 end, in which a live goat is tied. This chamber is separated from 
 the principal one by a hanging door, supported by a string, con- 
 nected with the principal door of the trap. When the beast 
 enters, and puts his foot on a little bit of stick to which the 
 strings are tied, both doors fall at the same moment. He is 
 caught, and the goat is saved, being separated from him in a dif- 
 ferent chamber. 
 
 i. 13
 
 194 LEOPARDS. 
 
 spring into the pit among the bears. The door of the 
 trap was raised, when in a moment, with a horrid and 
 peculiar noise, between a roar and a growl, the leopard 
 made a tremendous bound out of the trap, right across 
 the pit, just clearing the old bear on the pole, touched 
 the opposite parapet with his feet, close by two men 
 who were standing there, and sprung down into the 
 garden. Finding himself once again free, he crouched 
 down on a little bit of lawn about twenty yards off, 
 and began to reconnoitre; looking up coolly at us, 
 and evidently waiting to see our intentions. On our 
 making no demonstrations of hostility, he sneaked off 
 into a thick hedge, about eight feet high, close behind 
 which was the wall of the garden. This was about 
 3 p.m. Jang, who thoroughly knows the habits of these 
 beasts, said he would remain there perdu till night 
 without straying, so we might safely leave him for an 
 hour or two, while we went to see a boar-fight, and he 
 could send for his dogs. In the course of an hour or 
 two we returned, and, as he had foretold, found our 
 friend still in the same place. We could not see him, 
 as the hedge was too thick, but the rustling told us his 
 whereabouts. Jang, who was very inveterate against 
 this particular leopard, in consequence of the number of 
 his deer which he had killed, determined to try and have 
 a cut at him with his talwar. Telling me to keep close 
 to him, and rather behind, we went down to the gravel 
 walk, in front of the hedge where the brute was con- 
 cealed. Jang stood about ten yards from the hedge, 
 with his talwar raised; I close behind him. Captain
 
 THE LEOPARD AND THE DOGS. 195 
 
 Sutaram threw a number of stones into the hedge. 
 Disturbed and irritated, out rushed the beast with a 
 roar, straight at where we were standing. The great 
 majority of the spectators made rather a hasty retreat. 
 Jang stood like a rock ; up went the talwar, forward 
 came the leopard ; another instant, and I thought it 
 was all up with him. He seemed, however, daunted 
 by Jang's steady bearing, and seeing the glittering 
 talwar commence its descent, he suddenly made a 
 backward spring, when he was only about a yard from 
 Jang, and disappeared again in the hedge. 
 
 Jang now sent for the dogs. About twenty Nipal 
 hunting-dogs were brought, but were at once set aside 
 as useless. He then sent for his imported Highland 
 deer-hounds, " Pearl " and " Diamond," with their three 
 young ones, the latter being twenty months old. The 
 dogs were brought down to the gravel walk, taken up 
 to the edge of the hedge, where the brute was, and 
 then all together loosed with an encouraging "hist." 
 Then was seen the superiority of the pluck and blood 
 and breeding of the British dog. Without a sound, 
 no barking, yelping, or even growling, and without 
 one second's hesitation, in they all went with a rush. 
 There was a tremendous scuffle, some fierce growling 
 from the leopard, and the shaking of the bushes told 
 us what a scrimmage was going on ; but the dogs 
 never gave tongue. We could see nothing, from the 
 thickness of the hedge. In about half a minute they 
 emerged, dragging the leopard with them on to the 
 gravel walk. The two old dogs had him firmly, one 
 
 13 * "
 
 196 LEOPARDS. 
 
 by the throat, the other by the side of the head ; the 
 three others were fixed on his shoulders and neck. 
 They were all throttling him ; he struggled hard, but 
 could do nothing, except scratch somewhat with his 
 claws. The dogs shook him repeatedly till he was 
 apparently dead, when they were taken away. 
 However, by throwing some water over him, he re- 
 vived a little again, and then all the Nipal shikari 
 dogs were loosed on him, about twenty in number ; 
 the majority, however, were afraid to touch him even 
 then, helpless as he was ; a few shook him and bit 
 him about the head. The life appearing at last out of 
 him, he was suspended by his neck against a post, with 
 his belly to the post, the body hanging loose, steadied 
 only by its weight. With a talwar, a Korassan blade, 
 Jang then with one blow, about the centre of the back, 
 cut the body in two ; the lower half being prevented 
 from dropping to the ground only by a small portion 
 of the loose skin of the belly which remained uncut. 
 The Nipal dogs were then brought up and blooded ; 
 they devoured the entrails, liver, &c, with great 
 avidity, poor beasts, as if they were half-starved. 
 
 On another occasion, when I was at Thappatalli, a 
 large leopard was loosed from a trap on a small lawn 
 where Jang, myself, and a few others were standing. 
 Jang and his attendants were armed with talwars or 
 kookeries.* With a stifled roar the beast rushed towards 
 an open walk close by, at which a sepoy was standing 
 
 * Kookery (or kukri), the short sword or knife used l>v the 
 Ghorkas, whether in hunting or in war. — Ed.
 
 W0THER LEOPARD KILLED. 197 
 
 with his kookery ready in his right hand and his turban 
 wrapped round his left arm, which he used as a shield. 
 The beast raised himself on his hind legs, and endea- 
 voured to strike down the man with his fore-paws, but 
 at the moment of contact the man caught him a blow 
 with his kookery which cut his jaw in half and his head 
 open, and as he staggered back he caught him another 
 backhander over the other side of the head, which cut 
 through his eye into the skull. The beast fell to the 
 ground, roaring horribly. Jang rushed in, and with 
 his talwar cut his body open, so that the liver and 
 entrails protruded (breaking his talwar by the force of 
 the blow), and after a blow or two more the brute was 
 dead. A few days afterwards I met a common wood- 
 cutter on the road bringing in on his back the skin of 
 a large leopard, stuffed with straw, but cut about a 
 good deal on the head, otherwise uninjured. It ap- 
 peared that the leopard had attacked the man while 
 alone in the jungle cutting wood ; the man repulsed 
 and finally killed the brute with blows of his kookery, 
 sustaining no injury himself. He was bringing in the 
 skin as evidence to enable him to claim the five rupees 
 which is always given by the Nipal Grovernment as a 
 reward to anyone who kills a leopard in the jungles. 
 The man did not seem to think he had performed any 
 remarkable feat. 
 
 Jang is very fond of getting up "buffalo fights." 
 
 * If any sepoy, or Government servant, sees or hears of a leo- 
 pard or other wild beast in or about the valley, and fails to report 
 it to the minister, he is fined Jive rupees.
 
 198 LEOPARDS. 
 
 A large well-fed bull buffalo is kept in a paddock ; 
 another bull is then driven into the same paddock. 
 The two rivals approach each other cautiously, occa- 
 sionally stopping and pawing the ground ; after a short 
 time they close, but without any rush. Forehead 
 to forehead they stand, and lock their horns together. 
 Then they begin to get excited; their tales lash their 
 sides, and they push away, each trying to gore his 
 opponent's head and neck with his horns. Sometimes 
 they get down on their knees, and if one's head slips, 
 so as to unlock their horns, one or both generally get 
 severely gored on the neck or shoulders ; but as long 
 as their horns remain locked it is a mere pushing 
 match and no damage is done. They continue in this 
 way sometimes for half-an-hour, neither one giving 
 way. At length one feels himself overmatched, and 
 suddenly giving way, bolts off as hard as he can go, 
 the other pursuing. If the victorious one can come 
 up with the beaten one, he gores him and endeavours 
 to upset him from behind. He rarely succeeds, how- 
 ever, as both are two much winded to run either far or 
 fast ; and fear makes the beaten one run faster than 
 the other. 
 
 At this time, while in retreat from a contest, the 
 buffalo is a very dangerous animal to meet ; he will 
 gore anybody who stands in his way. During the 
 fight, while horns are interlocked, they seem so ab- 
 sorbed in the excitement of the fight as to be unaware 
 of the approach of anyone or of anything going on 
 around them. In one case, I saw a sepoy ap-
 
 FTOHT BETWEEN TIOER AND BUFFALO. 199 
 
 proach two who were fighting (either of whom would 
 have attacked him had he been disengaged), and with 
 a kookery hack away for five minutes at a log of wood 
 which had been secured to the fore leg of one of the 
 buffaloes, to prevent his doing harm, and which now 
 fettered his movements in the fight. The man after 
 some trouble cut through it and took it off from the 
 chain. Neither buffalo took the slightest notice of 
 him, nor of one of Jang's English dogs who had 
 come up and stood barking and yelling at them within 
 a yard or two of their heads. 
 
 At Thappatalli I saw a young cow buffalo, about 
 two years old, with horns not more than a foot long, 
 turned into a pit in which was a full-grown though 
 rather young tiger, who had never had so large an 
 animal given him before. This was the same tiger 
 who was brought up into the room, led by one man 
 holding him by a chain, to see Lord Grosvenor and 
 party when they visited Thappatalli. 
 
 The tiger flew at the buffalo and seized her by the 
 head, bringing her down on her knees. With a violent 
 effort the buffalo threw him off. The tiger returned 
 to the charge, but the buffalo planted so well-delivered 
 a blow with her horns in the tiger's belly that it 
 threw him some yards across the pit against the wall. 
 The tiger on this retreated to his den, a sort of cavern, 
 about three feet high and four feet deep, constructed 
 to protect him from the weather, &c. In this he 
 crouched down, and would not come out again. The 
 buffalo by this time was so excited and infuriated,
 
 200 LEOPARDS. 
 
 that she actually went down on her knees at the 
 mouth of the den, and endeavoured to get hold of the 
 tiger with her teeth and drag him out. The tiger 
 howled and roared, but would not come out ; so the 
 buffalo was eventually shot in the pit. In the jungles, 
 a tiger will never attack a herd of wild buffaloes, and 
 very rarely a single one unless he can spring on him 
 unawares.
 
 201 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 WILD ELEPHANTS. 
 
 In December 1851 I accompanied for a few days the 
 camp of the Maharajah and Jang Bahadur on a 
 shooting excursion in the Terai. The rendezvous 
 was at Hetowara, where we all arrived on the morn- 
 ing of the 19th. In the afternoon the King, Jang, 
 myself, and some of his brothers made a circuit of 
 a few miles, on elephants through the jungles, to see 
 if we could pick up any game. 
 
 In the course of an hour or two, Jang came upon fresh 
 tracks of elephants, and prepared for a dour* after them. 
 Three or four staunch fast elephants were selected, 
 their howdahs and trappings removed on to others, so 
 that they were quite free from any gear which could 
 embarrass them in passing rapidly through the tree 
 jungle. Besides his mahaut each elephant had one 
 other man on his back. On this occasion there were 
 only four or five elephants, Jang, Captain Sutaram, 
 and three or four others accompanying them. The 
 
 * Dour, or daur, a chase. — Ed.
 
 202 WILD ELEPHANTS. 
 
 riders wear almost as little clothing as the elephants, 
 and take off their turbans, shoes, kummnrbunds, &c, 
 so as to be quite free to use their limbs. Each ma- 
 haut was provided with a set of ropes, to act as 
 lassos to secure the wild elephants if they came up 
 with them. Jang and his party started off in pur- 
 suit ; the King, myself, and the bulk of the party 
 returning to camp. On our way back Ranudat Sing 
 shot a large male sambar deer, which we had some 
 difficulty in hoisting up on to an elephant's back. 
 
 Shortly before sunset, as I was sitting outside my 
 tent smoking a cheroot with General Ranudat Sing, 
 Jang returned to camp, bringing with him in triumph 
 a fine female elephant, which he had caught after we 
 left him. He had come upon a small herd of them, 
 but only succeeded in separating and securing this 
 one. The lasso having been well secured round her 
 throat, one end of the long rope was fastened to one 
 large tame elephant, who went before, leading the 
 way, while the other was, in the same way, fastened 
 to another large tame elephant (Jang's own, on which 
 he was seated), who followed behind in order to ad- 
 minister a push or prod with his tusks as a reminder 
 in case the newly captured one jibbed or objected to 
 go on. 
 
 These two tame elephants were very fine ones, 
 thoroughly broken in to their work, and had been 
 both engaged in the capture of the new one. It was 
 very curious to see the skilful way in which they 
 guided their prize safely through the camp, close to
 
 A CAPTURED ELEPHANT. 203 
 
 my tent, despite all her resistance, without swerving 
 from the line, or coming in contact with a single 
 tent-peg. 
 
 The new one, much frightened, tried once or twice 
 on entering the camp to throw herself down, so as to 
 prevent her further progress. Immediately Jang's 
 elephant, behind, touched her up in the quarter with 
 his tusks, not fiercely so as to do any harm, but with 
 sufficient energy to show what she would get in case 
 of further resistance. She jumped up, and tried to 
 bolt off forward or to one side. The leading elephant's 
 rope kept her steady, and prevented her swerving. 
 Jang waited a minute or so outside my tent to get a 
 cheroot. The leading and the following elephants, by 
 tightening their respective ropes, kept the new one 
 fixed in one spot, as she could neither advance nor 
 recede. The tame ones went through their parts 
 with the greatest docility and gravity, perfectly under- 
 standing their respective duties. After a minute's 
 delay, on they went through the camp to the ground 
 where all the tame elephants were picketed under a 
 large group of trees, about two hundred in number. 
 The two tame elephants guided the new one with the 
 greatest skill through the trees, ropes, &c, till they 
 brought her up to a large stake about fifteen feet 
 high and firmly fixed in the ground, to which she was 
 to be secured. The leading elephant led her straight 
 up to it ; and when her neck, round which the rope 
 was fastened, came up to the post, the two tame ones 
 making a turn with their respective ropes, she was
 
 204 WILD ELEPHANTS. 
 
 fairly secured from moving away. The tame ones 
 immediately (Jang continuing on the back of his 
 elephant, with his " once " white kid gloves and 
 patent leather boots still on) closed on her, one 
 standing on each side, and leaning rather against 
 her. Her head being fixed, this kept her quite steady. 
 The mahauts then firmly secured the ropes in knots 
 around her neck, so that there was no danger of her 
 slipping them during the night. They now had to 
 secure her feet ; no easy matter, as she kept kicking 
 and struggling most violently. However, the tame 
 elephants kept up the pressure on her sides, and with 
 their trunks played with her trunk and head so skil- 
 fully to divert her attention from her front feet, and 
 prevent her seeing what was going on, that two men 
 succeeded in crawling under the tame ones' bellies 
 (who kept their own feet steady so as not to hurt 
 them), and fastening a figure-of-eight knot firmly 
 round her two front legs just above the feet. 
 
 They now had to put a noose round one of her hind 
 legs to keep her steady and prevent her slewing her 
 body round too much. She plunged so violently at 
 first, and afterwards, apparently knowing what they 
 were about, kept her hind feet so firmly on the 
 ground, that this was a matter of difficulty. How- 
 ever, at last, by putting a rope round the other foot, 
 and pulling it, at the same time knocking it with a 
 stick, they induced her to raise her foot and make 
 the attempt to slip off the rope; immediately they 
 threw the noose over her raised foot. However, she
 
 STKUGGLES TO ESCAPE. 205 
 
 mannged to push it off with the other several times 
 before it was securely fixed. She was now firmly 
 bound head and foot. The tame ones were withdrawn, 
 and she was alone for the first minute since her cap- 
 ture. It was wonderful to see the prodigious efforts 
 she made to loose herself; but the ropes were too 
 strong, and the post too firmly fixed. The rope 
 round her neck prevented her rolling or throwing 
 herself on the ground, which she tried to do, and 
 which, had she succeeded in doing, she would pro- 
 bably have strangled herself. After a little — when it 
 was seen that the ropes to her neck and fore feet 
 were sufficient — the noose to her hind feet was let 
 go. She renewed her struggles, crying most piteously 
 all the while : she kicked most tremendously, and 
 actually repeatedly raised her hind foot right up to 
 her neck, scratching most violently at the rope round 
 her throat to get it off. In these attempts she fre- 
 quently struck her own ear, so high did she lift her 
 foot. She was now left for the night. No food was 
 to be given to her for three or four days, as the con- 
 tinued hunger would wear her strength and her spirit 
 too, so as to make her more tameable. In the course 
 of three or four days, when she became less violent, 
 they would give her a little food, and then move 
 her about, secured by ropes, in company with tame 
 elephants. In about ten days or a fortnight she 
 would be sufficiently tamed to cease all resistance, to 
 let a mahaut ride her, and only to require teaching to 
 make her obedient and tractable.
 
 206 WILD ELEPHANTS. 
 
 When an elephant is to be broken for howdah work, 
 his education, of course, is more protracted, as he 
 requires to be so perfectly obedient. 
 
 There was a very large elephant caught by Jang in 
 the Terai, which he had brought up to Nipal and 
 broken in at Thappatalli. After the brute had re- 
 covered his footsoreness from the journey, and the 
 wounds round his neck and feet, caused by the tight- 
 ness of the ropes cutting through the skin during his 
 early struggles, his education commenced. Two tame 
 elephants, standing side by side his neck and feet, 
 were firmly secured by ropes; then a network of 
 rope was put all over his head, trunk, and body, 
 and a crowd of boys and men clambered up these 
 ropes and stood and sat upon him, some on his back, 
 some on his neck, head, trunk, everywhere in fact 
 where — with the assistance of ropes and mutual sup- 
 port — they could get a footing. Numbers more stood 
 all round him, patting and coaxing him. There must 
 have been at least twenty men standing on him at 
 one time. These all kept pounding on him with their 
 bare feet ; at the same time a band played and with 
 drums, &c. made the most discordant noises. (runs, 
 too, were constantly fired off before him, and after- 
 wards from off his back, to accustom him to hear or 
 see the discharge without flinching. 
 
 At first he was much frightened, but was quite 
 helpless, so firmly was he bound. Gradually he be- 
 came more accustomed to it ; then nicely made cakes, 
 &c. were given to him. This state of things was
 
 THE TAMING PROCESSES. 207 
 
 kept up with relays of men and boys for several days 
 and nights, the elephant never being allowed to sleep 
 nor to rest. The pounding on his skin with their 
 feet must, without bruising him, have greatly fatigued 
 him and tended to reduce his powers of resistance. 
 After a few days, as he became more docile, the ropes 
 were loosened and gradually removed, the numbers of 
 men on him reduced, food more plentifully given 
 him ; then his trunk being secured, they kept playing 
 with clothes, &c. on or about his head, made men 
 continually climb up and down by his trunk, petting 
 and feeding him all the time, so as to accustom him 
 to the practice of men climbing about his head and 
 neck. This system went on, its severity gradually 
 relaxing, for two or three weeks, when he was so 
 docile that he would allow his mahaut to stand by 
 and play with him, to mount him when he liked, and 
 dismount by his trunk ; and would let Jang, who 
 superintended the operations in person, feed him with 
 cakes. This was about two months after his capture. 
 He had now to be taught to go out on the roads 
 quietly with his mahout, and to be accustomed to the 
 different objects he might meet on the roads. For 
 the first few days, for the sake of security to prevent 
 his bolting in case of getting frightened, he had two 
 elephants with him with leading ropes to his neck. 
 However, in a few days he went so quietly that the 
 ropes were dispensed with ; and I met him frequently 
 taking his airing, sometimes with Jang on his back, 
 without any kind of restriction.
 
 208 WILD ELEPHANTS. 
 
 His education was now all but completed as far as 
 docility and safety were concerned. He would kneel 
 down, rise up, &c. at the word of command; stop, 
 turn, &c. when in motion. They only now had to 
 teach him to carry the howdah, when, about four 
 months after his capture, he was taken ill, refused 
 his food, lingered evidently in great pain for a few 
 days, and then died. Jang, myself, and the " elephant 
 doctor " tried different remedies, which he made no 
 resistance to our doing, but with no effect. 
 
 The next morning there was a post-mortem exami- 
 nation, which I was requested to superintend. The 
 poor brute had died of internal obstruction and in- 
 flammation. It was a curious sight to see. An ele- 
 phant is so large and heavy that it would be quite 
 impossible to drag away his body for burial. It has, 
 therefore, to be divided into portions, and taken 
 away piecemeal. In this case his head was taken off 
 and cleaned, as Jang wished to keep the skull. His 
 internals were all taken out very neatly, washed, and 
 laid out for my inspection. Jang examined them 
 closely, and seemed thoroughly to understand the 
 cause of his death. This over, the body was cut into 
 numberless bits and taken away ; some of them were 
 buried, others thrown into the river. 
 
 Jang seemed quite to be able to recognise the diffe- 
 rent appearances of the healthy and the diseased 
 parts, so as to be able to distinguish one from the 
 other. He is very much interested in anatomy, though 
 of course his knowledge is chiefly theoretical, as his
 
 DEER-SHOOTING. 209 
 
 religion would not allow him to dissect. On one 
 occasion, when one of his servants had injured his 
 skull from a fall, Jang explained to me his view of 
 the nature of the internal injury. To do so he 
 sketched, with a pencil on a bit of paper, a map of 
 the course and distribution of the arteries of the brain 
 and base of the skull, pointing out which went to the 
 ears, which to the eyes, nose, &c. Of course it was 
 not quite so correct anatomically as to secure his 
 "passing" at the College of Surgeons, but it was 
 correct in the main, and showed that he had a very 
 fairly clear idea of the parts he was demonstrating, 
 and of the injuries to which, from their position, they 
 were most liable. 
 
 December 19th. — We spent the night at Hetowara, 
 our rest only disturbed by the bellowing and trumpet- 
 ings of the elephants, and especially the distressing 
 cries of the new captive. The next morning (20th) 
 we were ready to start at daybreak, the King, 
 Jang, and myself heading the party, with about one 
 hundred and fifty other elephants following, carry- 
 ing, some of them, sirdars, &c, and many of them 
 merely carrying their mahauts. Jang proposed that 
 he would shoot at any male deer we should meet, 
 while I was to take the females, as he objected to 
 shooting the latter. The cortege followed the course 
 of the Rapti river westward for about a mile, when 
 we came to the point where the Kara Naddi stream 
 falls into the Rapti; crossing the Kara Naddi, we 
 struck off towards south into the jungle in quest of 
 i. 14
 
 210 WILD ELEPHANTS. 
 
 game. The jungle here consists of rather stunted sal 
 trees, with semel or cotton trees. The trees being 
 all very close together and each struggling towards 
 the light, their trunks have run up to a considerable 
 height before they give off their boughs, which over- 
 head form a very dense canopy of leaves, and are an 
 excellent protection from the sun.* The grass, which 
 in the rains grows luxuriantly and to a great height, 
 had been burnt at the commencement of the cold 
 weather ; the ground, therefore, was blackish in colour 
 and open, many of the trunks seared, charred, and 
 some quite burnt and dead. Here and there a 
 trunk, uprooted or broken by storm, lying across 
 the road, gave a very gloomy character to the land- 
 scape ; but, from the absence of grass, the elephants 
 were able to go on quickly and without any difficulty 
 or danger of falling into holes or inequalities. The 
 absence generally of lower or horizontal boughs re- 
 moved all necessity for care for our own heads or 
 howdahs. The mahaut, however, always had his 
 kukery ready to strike off any projecting bough or 
 creeper which came in the way, the elephants them- 
 
 * " The vaulted arches beneath are filled with thousands of high 
 unbroken columns, which sustain one vast and trembling canopy 
 of leaves." ..." A pleasing gloom and an imposing silence 
 have their interminable reign below, an outer and different atmo- 
 sphere seeming to rest on the cloud of foliage ; while the light 
 plays on the varying surface of the tops, a sombre hue covers the 
 earth." — Cooper's " Description of American Forests."
 
 DEER-SHOOTING. 211 
 
 selves also exhibiting wonderful skill in removing all 
 obstacles out of their own path. We formed a long 
 and tolerably regular line, which marched steadily on 
 in hopes of driving any game before it. The King's 
 elephant was in the centre, Jang's on one flank, mine 
 on the other. We proceeded some miles, however, 
 without seeing a single head of game. The jungle 
 gradually changed, became more open, grassy, and 
 the trees better grown and branched. Silence was 
 throughout strictly enjoined by Jang. Presently 
 Jang sighted a female sambar deer in advance of the 
 line. Bringing up his howdah close to mine, rifle in 
 hand, he jumped into my howdah, and without a 
 word, but by motion of his hand, signalling the line 
 to halt, he pointed out to the mahaut the deer's 
 whereabouts, as I could not see her. So silent was 
 the party, and so carefully did my elephant advance, 
 that we came within forty yards of a fine deer grazing, 
 without her seeing us, in the midst of some long grass. 
 Jang handed me the rifle, and I took a steady pot at 
 the shoulder, but did not make a very good shot, as 
 I ought to have killed her on the spot. However, she 
 fell wounded and struggling furiously. The dogs 
 were sent for ; there was a few minutes' delay, during 
 which her struggles ceased, and all was still. We 
 thought her dead, as we could not see her from the 
 length of the grass. However, the moment the dogs 
 arrived, up she jumped and went off, though not very 
 fast. The dogs followed close, each with his own 
 man or keeper on foot. We soon lost sight of thorn 
 
 14 *
 
 212 WILD ELEPHANTS. 
 
 owing to the length of the grass and the thickness of 
 the jungle; but for some time we could hear the 
 shouts of the men and the barking of the dogs. This 
 deer was shot through the chest, and managed to 
 keep ahead of the dogs all the day. She ran towards 
 Hetowara by a circuit of some miles, the men and 
 dogs all on her track, which they never lost through 
 the thickest jungle. Towards sunset she became 
 quite exhausted, and the dogs coming up, she was 
 despatched and skinned, and the meat sent off to 
 our camp, where it arrived about midnight, and was 
 rather acceptable to all, as our supplies were always 
 difficult to obtain. 
 
 The track or spoor is very unmistakable ; the grass 
 is beaten down and flattened by the large feet, the 
 separate footsteps being often distinct ; the bushes, 
 &c, and often large boughs broken off, mark their 
 line of march. The skill in tracking is shown in dis- 
 tinguishing the fresh from the older marks, and in 
 some cases singling out, when there are many, the 
 freshest of all, and following it alone to the exclusion 
 of the rest. At this tracking Jang is a great adept, 
 and as we went along frequently pointed out the 
 marks of elephants, which he knew at a glance were 
 old, though they appeared fresh to me, but which, 
 had he followed, would only have led him a wild-goose 
 chase. 
 
 We saw glimpses of two or three other deer bound- 
 ing in the distance through the long grass, but we 
 did not get another shot. About noon Jang came
 
 IN THE JUNGLES. 213 
 
 upon the track of wild elephants ; he and a party 
 immediately started off in pursuit. They never came 
 up with them, however, and did not return to camp 
 at Dardara till after dark. 
 
 The King and myself, finding it was a "no-day," 
 left Jang and the rest of the party, and started for 
 camp. For three or four miles we went through the 
 tree- jungle, occasionally crossing the deep and dry 
 bed of a nalla, where it was astonishing to see how 
 cleverly the elephants picked their way up and down 
 the steep banks, often overgrown with jungle. At 
 length we came down again on the left bank of the 
 Rapti river, along which the road from Hetowara to 
 Dardara goes. It is a mere footpath, which follows 
 closely the course of that river, sometimes on one 
 side, sometimes on the other. Here we fell in with 
 the stream of coolies carrying the baggage, tents, 
 supplies, &c. of the camp, broken here and there by 
 parties of sepoys of the two regiments (Rifle and 
 Light) which were in attendance on the King and 
 Jang. Marching in this way, no order is attempted 
 to be kept. They are present for morning and even- 
 ing call, and those on duty never leave sight of their 
 charge, whether it be one of Jang's horses, his dogs, his 
 luggage, or his wife's palki. But those off duty straggle 
 on, stopping to eat, drink, or smoke when inclined, and 
 only anxious to get to camp in time to prepare their 
 evening meal and their quarters for the night. 
 
 The grass jungle and reeds on either side of the 
 path were so impenetrably thick and high that those
 
 214 WILD ELEPHANTS. 
 
 on foot, almost the whole way, had to go in single file, 
 occasioning much delay in their arrival in camp, and 
 causing much and often amusing confusion as the 
 King's elephant, which led, closely followed by mine, 
 came upon a long line of sepoys, servants, coolies, &c. 
 who had to get out of the road as best they could, 
 often in a very higgledy-piggledy manner, pushing 
 each other into, and often tumbling over each other 
 in, the long grass. This reedy grass was so high 
 that it frequently, as the elephant pushed through 
 it, met on either side over the top of the howdah. 
 Frequently, when the King's elephant was not ten 
 or twelve yards from mine, I could hear his voice 
 calling to me, but could not see the least portion of 
 either his elephant or his howdah, a sea of this dense 
 grass intervening between us. Here and there the 
 grass had been either burnt, or, from the stony cha- 
 racter of the soil, had not grown. From these open 
 patches we could see something of the surrounding 
 scenery, which was very picturesque. The Rapti was 
 close to us ; a broad but mostly shallow stream, with 
 rough stony bed, its water brilliantly clear. On the 
 opposite or right side of the Rapti were ranges of 
 hills all densely covered with almost impenetrable 
 tree- jungle, and mostly sloping down to the side of 
 the stream. Here and there we could see up a vista 
 or valley between two such hills, down the centre 
 of which, or winding round successive spurs thrown 
 off from the hills on its sides, came a small stream 
 or feeder to the Rapti. Such streams, though very
 
 SHELTER-HUTS. 215 
 
 slight in the cold weather, are in the rains often 
 tumultuous and violent torrents, and quite impass- 
 able either for man or beast. 
 
 We crossed and recrossed the Rapti three or four 
 times, in some of the fords the water coming up 
 nearly to the elephants' bellies ; and at about eight 
 miles from Hetowara came upon a little temporary 
 village, called Dardara, consisting of about twenty 
 huts formed of grass and bamboo, in which reside 
 a few of the natives of the Terai, and others who are 
 in attendance on the crowds of cattle which come in 
 thousands from all parts of India to pasture in the 
 Terai. 
 
 We passed Dardara and encamped, about one mile 
 beyond it, on an open spot on the left bank of the 
 river. The tents and traps were late in coming up. 
 The sepoys in camp, immediately they arrived, set to 
 work at building, first for the big- wigs, myself in- 
 cluded, and afterwards for themselves, small tempo- 
 rary huts, which they quickly constructed of strong 
 sticks and stakes stuck into the ground, and then 
 boughs, with leaves on them, interwoven upon and 
 between them. They made them generally three-sided, 
 with roof, and open only on one side. Of course these 
 would not protect against heavy rains, but they answer 
 capitally against the cold and the dew. A range of 
 them, in about half an hour, were constructed on my 
 piece of ground, in which I put my servants, &c. 
 
 21 st December. — Before daybreak the camp was 
 awake and preparing to start. On joining the ren-
 
 216 WILT) ELEPHANTS. 
 
 dezvous in front of Jang's tent, I found an immense 
 fire, round which Jang and his brethren were stand- 
 ing, the King on an elephant being also present. 
 
 About a mile from our encamping-ground we crossed 
 the river, and, quitting the valley of the Rapti, directed 
 our course through some low ground, covered with 
 tremendous grass-jungle for three or four miles, 
 when we came down on another stream, the Man- 
 hauri, which, rising among the hills to the north, 
 follows a long and winding course, and at last falls 
 into the Rapti near Chitaun. The stream is a con- 
 siderable one ; in some places its channel is upwards 
 of one hundred yards wide; in others, where the 
 channel is narrowed by rocks or adjacent hills, the 
 stream is strong and the volume of water consider- 
 able. Like all these mountain streams, its bed is 
 rocky and the water brilliantly clear ; immense boul- 
 ders lie about in all directions, indicating the power 
 of the torrent when swollen by the rains. The hills 
 on either side are richly covered with thick jungle, and 
 there was no trace visible of any attempt at cultiva- 
 tion ; all was wild, grand, and very picturesque. 
 
 We followed up the course of this stream for five 
 or six miles, fording it frequently ; occasionally, where 
 the river made an abrupt bend, cutting across the 
 little promontories, so as to save distance, but never 
 leaving the bed of the river for any time. We saw 
 no game of any sort save a few wild ducks. The 
 ground was so rough and stony that our progress 
 was but slow. About noon we arrived at the ground
 
 A STOCKADE. 217 
 
 where it was proposed we should halt for three or 
 four days in order to catch the elephants of which 
 intelligence had been brought to Jang that they were 
 in the immediate neighbourhood. The river here, 
 after bending abruptly round the base of a small but 
 almost precipitously conical rocky hill about one hun- 
 dred feet high, emerged by a narrow channel through 
 a sort of gorge, on one side of which the rock was 
 quite precipitous, to the water's edge ; on the other 
 was the aforesaid little steep hill, its sides sloping 
 very steeply down to the river. Across this gorge or 
 pass, which was here about forty yards wide, a very 
 high and strong stockade had been constructed of 
 stones and rocks as a foundation, from either side of 
 which sprang stakes, some twenty feet high, which 
 were inclined at an angle towards each other so as to 
 meet and cross at the tops, enclosing a triangular 
 space inside, where they were fastened by rope. These 
 again were crossed in all directions by bamboos, 
 placed horizontally and firmly secured, strong stakes 
 in many places being driven into the ground as extra 
 security, with their points sticking out like a chevaux 
 de frise. The inside of this stockade was hollow and 
 could hold a number of men, who, armed with mus- 
 kets and protected by the woodwork and bamboo, 
 could make a formidable resistance in such a gorge 
 to the passage either of men or elephants. Tho 
 rocks which formed its foundation, and the stakes 
 driven in between them, allowed the waters to pass 
 without difficulty at this time of the year ; but in the
 
 218 WILD ELEPHANTS. 
 
 rains the whole structure, which had been only just 
 made, would rapidly be swept away by the swollen 
 waters of the torrent. A doorway of wood, large 
 enough to let pass through it a mounted elephant, 
 was formed in the centre ; but having bamboos 
 placed crossways before and behind it, it did not 
 catch the eye, nor appear a weak point. In fact, part 
 of the stockade required to be removed to open the 
 door, the object of which was to allow the tame ele- 
 phants, or the wild ones after they were caught and 
 secured, to be led through it into our camp. The 
 ground was a very bad one for encamping upon, being 
 confined and stony. However, the sepoys were set to 
 work, and they soon cleared away the loose rocks, 
 stones, &c, levelled the ground where practicable, 
 and pitched our tents ; the ground, being the dry bed 
 of the river, was too hard to admit of tent-pegs being 
 used, so the ropes were all secured to heavy stones, 
 which did just as well. 
 
 All our tents were pitched close to the stockade. 
 The sepoys then set to work to cut boughs and sticks 
 from the jungle for their own quarters, and soon, on 
 the opposite side of the river, a little colony of huts 
 arose on a piece of open ground. They constructed, 
 too, of stones, a very fair temporary bridge connecting 
 the two camps on the opposite sides of the river, so that 
 we could walk dry-footed from one camp to the other. 
 
 The rest of the day was spent in moving about the 
 camp, smoking and talking with Bam Bahadur and 
 Ranudat Sing, both of whom, towards evening, be-
 
 jang's love of sport. 219 
 
 came musical, and, sending for their English flutes, 
 played me " God save the Queen," " Rule Britannia," 
 &c. They had learnt a little from Mr. Ventnon, a 
 Frenchman who was employed for some time by the 
 darbar as bandmaster, and having practised a good 
 deal since, and having good ears naturally, they now 
 played very fairly; at least, understandably, as I was 
 able to make out and distinguish the tunes. I retired to 
 bed early as it was bitterly cold at night, and the cold 
 wind whistled along the bed of the river most unmerci- 
 fully. Jang, who had gone out to reconnoitre for the 
 elephants, did not return to camp till near midnight. 
 He was off again at daybreak, having heard of a large 
 " must "* male elephant, whom he was determined 
 either to catch or to kill for the sake of his horns. 
 He is most indefatigable in pursuit of his game. All 
 day long, and night too if necessary, he will follow a 
 track over the worst ground, often on foot, and where 
 he is obliged to fast the greater part of the time, or 
 take merely any fruit, &c. which may be procurable. 
 
 22nd December. — Early in the morning all the tame 
 elephants, with beaters, &c. were taken away some 
 miles up the valley of the Manhauri to come up, if 
 possible, with the wild ones and drive them towards 
 the stockade at our camp, where it was proposed to 
 catch them. 
 
 After breakfast we all went up to the top of the 
 
 * M%ist (or more correctly mast) means here "mad with sexual 
 longing." — (Ed.)
 
 220 WILD ELEPHANTS. 
 
 little conical hill on one side of the stockade, from 
 which we commanded an exceedingly good view of 
 the surrounding country ; and in perfect safety our- 
 selves, we should be able to see all that went on 
 below, in consequence of the precipitous sides of the 
 hill, which were scarcely practicable for a man, quite 
 impracticable for an elephant to climb. Bam here 
 explained to me the nature of the campaign. For 
 about eight miles from where we were the Manhauri 
 river flowed through a narrow valley, bounded on 
 either side with high, often nearly precipitous, hills, 
 densely wooded, and covered with jungle from top to 
 bottom. Here and there, as the river flowed round 
 a shoulder of a hill, the valley widened for two or 
 three hundred yards; but generally the hills came 
 down almost to the water's edge. The only good 
 approaches into or exits from this valley were at 
 the two ends, either where the river entered it, 
 eight miles from our camp, or where it quitted it 
 through the narrow gorge now blocked up by the 
 stockade. There were a few narrow passes here and 
 there on the sides, either between adjoining mountains 
 or at the top over the shoulders of them ; but the 
 jungle in their neighbourhood was so thick, and the 
 approaches so steep, that no elephant, unless driven 
 to them, would attempt to quit the valley by such 
 bad roads, but would naturally keep near the river at 
 the bottom of the valley where they could move 
 rapidly 'and freely, rather than venture up the sides of 
 mountains so steep and thickly wooded that their
 
 MODE OF CAPTURING ELEPHANTS. 221 
 
 footing would become insecure and their progress 
 consequently very slow. 
 
 The stockade at our camp having been completed 
 about six weeks before, and made so strong that no 
 elephant could force it, the valley was converted into 
 a cul de sac. The other end was open, and through 
 it a herd of elephants, — consisting of a large male, 
 with several females and some young ones — who for 
 some time had been known to be in the neighbour- 
 hood, had been cautiously watched, and insensibly 
 guided by men well up to the work, rather than 
 driven, into the valley. Once in it, a strong stockade 
 had been rapidly thrown up across its mouth, and a 
 number of sepoys and others stationed there con- 
 stantly to frighten by their muskets, &c. the elephants 
 from making any attempt to force it. The herd was 
 now enclosed in a valley eight miles long, with either 
 end stockaded to prevent their escape. Strong 
 guards were stationed at each stockade, and also at 
 each of the little passes before alluded to, at which it 
 was possible, but not probable, the elephants might 
 try to escape. In case of any elephants approaching 
 any of these points the sepoys would discharge their 
 muskets, and the others would shout, strike stones 
 together, and by their noise endeavour to frighten 
 them back. 
 
 As elephants are, generally speaking, very timid 
 animals, and as they had plenty of room to range in, 
 through a thickly wooded valley of eight miles long, 
 there was not much danger of their trying to force
 
 222 WILD ELEPHANTS. 
 
 the passes, unless they were molested and frightened 
 so as to become desperate; and strict orders had 
 been given that no molestation should be offered to 
 them. Accordingly we found on our arrival that these 
 orders had been so strictly obeyed, and the passes, 
 &c. so strictly watched, that the whole herd, be- 
 lieved to consist of about twelve, exclusive of young 
 ones, were in the valley, though a good deal scat- 
 tered about among the jungle, as their supply of the 
 particular food they liked was pretty well exhausted 
 from their having been shut up (in prison, as Bam 
 called it) in a confined valley for some weeks. The 
 elephants must have been on short commons for some 
 time. This, of course, would make them less strong 
 and courageous, and so render them more easy to 
 secure. This is all part of the system. 
 
 The object now was, by means of tame elephants, 
 beaters, &c, to collect the herd together, and drive 
 them down to the end of the valley where our camp 
 was. Here, driven into a corner, with the road of 
 exit in front shut up by the stockade, on either 
 side steep and almost impracticable mountains, well 
 occupied too by crowds of sepoys, &c, and in their 
 rear the tame elephants and beaters, they would be 
 completely hemmed in, and so be secured alive without 
 difficulty. The two regiments in camp were used as 
 beaters, and splendidly they did their work. It is 
 part of the agreement with every sepoy, on being en- 
 listed, that he is to be ready at any time to assist in 
 operations in the sporting field.
 
 PREPARATIONS FOE THE CAPTURE. 223 
 
 The little round hill from which we were to see the 
 spectacle commanded an admirable view of the ground 
 where the scrimmage of the capture was to take place. 
 The river flowed round two sides of its base, the 
 third side looked up the valley and commanded a view 
 for about half a mile, when the river disappeared 
 round a shoulder of one of the hills. In its rear 
 our little hill was connected by a narrow neck or 
 isthmus with a large steep mountain which lay behind 
 us, and formed one of the boundaries of the valley. 
 From this isthmus a steep, narrow footpath led down 
 to our camp, and was the only road of approach 
 either for man or beast to the summit of our little 
 hill. The half mile of the valley which was open to 
 our view, and down which the elephants were to be 
 driven towards the stockade, was about two hundred 
 to three hundred yards in width, on either side flanked 
 by the mountains covered with very thick jungle, 
 and having the river winding through its centre, 
 between sandy and rocky banks, for the most part 
 very shallow and fordable. In one or two places, 
 where it made a sudden turn either round or beiu v aili 
 precipitous rock, the river was very deep. Just oppo- 
 site where we were, and about forty yards before it 
 reached the stockade, it flowed beneath a precipitous 
 face of the hill, whose base it had partly undermined, 
 and was here deep enough for an elephant to swim 
 with his whole body beneath the water. 
 
 This day (the 22nd) was spent idly waiting for the 
 approach of the elephants. Two or three false alarms
 
 224 WILD ELEPHANTS. 
 
 were given ; the elephants were so scattered that the 
 beaters were unable to collect them. We smoked, 
 laughed, played chess, cards, flute, &c. till sunset, 
 when, instead of wild elephants, I was delighted by 
 the arrival of two tame ones bringing Law and Clif- 
 ford, who had come on from Sigauli to see the sport. 
 
 About 9 p.m. Jang returned to camp pretty well 
 knocked up. He had come to close quarters at last 
 with a remarkably fine " must " tusker. He had 
 been on his track nearly all day, and at length had 
 sent several balls into his head and shoulders, but 
 without apparently much effect. He did not part 
 company with him till after dark, and intended re- 
 turning to the fight early next morning. 
 
 December 23rd. — Early in the morning, after haviug 
 had a cheroot and seeing a " nautch," Jang started. 
 We spent the morning on the top of the little hill, 
 talking and smoking with Bam, his brothers, and 
 other sirdars. The King came up for an hour or so, 
 as he had done the preceding day ; but his presence 
 did not add much to the liveliness of the party.* 
 
 * Bam and his brothers appeared to treat the king most un- 
 ceremoniously, as if they considered him a mere nonentity. They 
 went on talking, laughing, and smoking, just as freely before him 
 as when he was not there. The other Sirdars (Hendah Thappa, 
 &c.) treated him with much marked respect. He was much de- 
 lighted with my spectacles and eye-glass, especially the former, 
 which I lent him, and which he wore throughout the afternoon. 
 From the extraordinary prominence, and convexity of his eyes, I 
 have no doubt he is very short-sighted, and therefore found my 
 concave glasses materially assist his vision.
 
 ELEPHANTS AT HAND. 225 
 
 He was very affable to us, and Law tried to make 
 hirn understand the distinguishing characteristics of 
 Walers* and Arabs. The King listened, but I do not 
 think he understood half, or was interested in any of 
 the conversation. 
 
 As we were getting rather tired of waiting, we 
 heard the distant rattle of musketry up the valley, 
 the echo reverberating from side to side. There was 
 an instant exclamation of delight, as this firing 
 showed the elephants were approaching. It pro- 
 ceeded from parties of sepoys stationed at various 
 points in the jungle wherever there was a path which 
 seemed likely to afford a line of retreat or escape 
 to elephants. They were accompanied by numbers of 
 villagers and others with sticks and stones, which 
 they rattled so as to increase the noise whenever the 
 elephants came near. The sepoys were ordered always 
 to reserve their fire till the elephant was close on 
 them, then to fire blank cartridge in a volley in his 
 face ; at the same time the stones and sticks were 
 rattled and knocked together so as to add to the 
 noise. This was always sufficient ; and the elephant 
 retreated, generally much faster than he had come. 
 At every turn, on either side, whenever they at- 
 tempted to quit the valley and get into the jungle, 
 a volley of musketry met them and frightened them 
 back, at the same time that a crowd of tame ele- 
 phants, with an army of beaters, &c, were driving 
 
 * Anglo-Indian for horses from New South Wales. — (Ed.) 
 i. 15
 
 226 WILD ELEPHANTS. 
 
 them on from behind. Thus their only course was 
 forward, along the course of the valley towards our 
 stockade. As they came nearer and nearer the 
 reports of musketry became more frequent ; some- 
 times on one side, sometimes on another. Then all 
 was silent for some time, when musketry was heard 
 again, but unfortunately in the distance ; the ele- 
 phants had evidently doubled back. The excitement 
 now became very great. Presently the reports were 
 again heard coming nearer and nearer, and more 
 frequent ; still nothing was seen. At last, after one 
 very near report, a cloud of white smoke rising from 
 the jungle about a mile from us showed us the exact 
 whereabouts of the herd; they had charged in that 
 spot and been met by a volley. Another report and 
 another in rapid succession, each accompanied, or 
 rather preceded, by a cloud of white smoke. Then 
 silence for a few minutes. Suddenly a succession 
 of rapid discharges of musketry on the opposite side 
 of the valley, but still among the jungle, showed that 
 the elephants were trying to force their way in that 
 direction. They were, however, so steadily met by 
 the sepoys, who never flinched, that they were always 
 driven back. Still nothing, save the clouds of white 
 smoke rising from different spots on the hill-sides, 
 could be seen. Presently the discharges became more 
 frequent and much nearer, and at last a white column 
 of smoke was seen to emerge from the trees, only 
 about half a mile from us, close to the point where 
 the valley opened out to our view. We knew that the
 
 ADVANCE OP THE HEED. 227 
 
 herd must be at that point. As the beaters came on 
 behind them, we could now distinguish the distant 
 voices and shouting of the men ; discharge rapidly 
 succeeded discharge. Suddenly all was silence again, 
 and we shortly heard the firing again, but at some 
 distance; the elephants had evidently made good a 
 charge and broken through the line of beaters. Pre- 
 sently, however, the smoke, the rapid firing, and the 
 shout of the beaters showed us again that the herd 
 was approaching, and ere long, at the edge of the 
 jungle, half hidden by the bushes, we descried the 
 head and neck of an elephant peering round to see if 
 the ground were clear for her to emerge into the 
 open. Apparently satisfied by seeing no one in front, 
 and hearing the firing, &c. behind, she came out, fol- 
 lowed by a young one ; then another female with 
 her young one ; then two or three more, following 
 each other at short intervals, each one always stop- 
 ping a little to reconnoitre before she left the protec- 
 tion of the jungle. On they came in single file at a 
 good trot across the open ground on the side of the 
 stream, which latter they forded two or three times, 
 the young ones cantering on by their mothers' sides. 
 They passed close under the hill where we all were, 
 evidently not aware of our presence, as we kept strict 
 silence. On seeing the stockade stopping their fur- 
 ther progress, they were at fault. Collected together, 
 apparently to deliberate, and then following the 
 largest, they turned and tried to enter the woods 
 on the hill opposite to us by a pathway which \vd 
 
 15 *
 
 228 WILD ELEPHANTS. 
 
 into the jungle. They were, however, all of a sudden, 
 on nearing it, assailed with such a discharge of mus- 
 ketry from men concealed there that they again re- 
 coiled into the open ground ; they then turned, with 
 a view of returning again to the jungle they had first 
 quitted ; but at this moment from it emerged a large 
 party of tame elephants, with two large " must " ones 
 accompanying them. In all directions the firing 
 continued, closing gradually in on them, so as to 
 confuse and frighten them still more. In a minute 
 the tame elephants, each with two mahauts on it, 
 were mixed up in a mass with the wild ones, firing 
 and shouting going on all the time. The hustling 
 and pushing were tremendous, and it was impossible 
 to make out the exact mode of throwing the lasso, 
 or, in fact, often to distinguish the tame from 
 the wild ones. All of a sudden a wild one burst 
 from the crowd. We thought it had escaped, but 
 were delighted at seeing that the lasso was fixed 
 round her neck, and two large elephants were in 
 close attendance upon her ; they were evidently let- 
 ting her tire herself by running and pulling against 
 the ropes, as an angler lets a large fish play and run 
 off with the line before he attempts to land him. 
 
 Out came presently another wild one, similarly 
 accompanied, from the confused mass, in which 
 elephants wild and tame — mahauts hopping about 
 like mad monkeys on their backs and vociferating 
 violently as they were hurling ropes and picking 
 them up again — were all blended together in the
 
 THEIR DESPERATE STRUGGLES. 229 
 
 centre; while in a sort of outer ring were the two 
 large "must" elephants standing as still as pos- 
 sible, stationed at points to cut off all retreat into 
 the jungle in case a wild one should succeed in de- 
 taching herself from the mob. This elephantine mass 
 kept swaying backwards and forwards till they came 
 close on the edge of the river, where, overhung by 
 precipitous rock, it was very deep. In rushed the wild 
 ones closely pursued and accompanied by the tame 
 ones, as well as by their own young ones. The 
 water was soon over their heads, but still the scrim- 
 maging went on; the mahauts clung, like leeches, 
 with wonderful tenacity to their elephants, as the 
 water deepened each mahaut raising himself into a 
 standing position on the elephant's back ; so that as 
 the elephant swam along you could see the tip of 
 his trunk only above the water, and about a yard 
 behind it the black head and shoulders of the mahaut, 
 all of whom, partly by treading, partly by swimming, 
 managed to keep to their own elephants. 
 
 There must have been altogether about twenty ele- 
 phants in the water together, all pushing, wallowing, 
 fighting, trumpeting, rolling like a party of hippopotami 
 having a frolic, and the little mahauts popping up and 
 down here and there among them, busy in taking ad- 
 vantage of the confusion to secure the ropes round the 
 wild ones' necks. After a few minutes in the water, 
 the wild ones, probably finding themselves fatigued 
 by the struggle, made a rush towards the shore, 
 hoping to gain the jungle again. But it was too
 
 230 WILD ELEPHANTS. 
 
 late. During the melee the mahauts had managed to 
 secure the lasso round the neck of every one of the wild 
 elephants, seven in all ; so that there was no chance of 
 escape. However, the knot in the lasso of one of them 
 had unfortunately in some way got wrong and be- 
 come a mere noose or running knot. As the elephant 
 plunged violently on reaching the shore, the mahauts, 
 unaware of this, gave her her head, with a view of 
 letting her run a little and so tire herself out. She 
 suddenly stopped, staggered for a moment, and fall- 
 ing heavily forward, rolled over on her side quite 
 dead. The noose had evidently suddenly tightened 
 during her struggles, and she was strangled. Seeing 
 what had happened, the mahauts instantly cut the 
 rope ; but it was too late, she was quite dead. It 
 was a great pity, as she was the finest elephant of the 
 batch. She had a young one with her, a few months 
 old, and about as large as a small heifer. This young 
 one, despite the confusion and noise around it, would 
 not abandon its mother ; but, uttering moans and 
 whines, kept trying to coax her to rise, lifting up 
 her trunk, stroking her about the head, pushing 
 her gently, and whenever any of the tame elephants 
 were brought up to the spot the little thing charged 
 them with the greatest fury. It was curious to see 
 the quiet way in which its charges were received 
 by the tame ones, who, with their trunks, gently put 
 the youngster aside, taking no more notice of her than 
 a mastiff or a bloodhound would of a lap-dog's puppy. 
 While the above scrimmage was going on in the
 
 DURING THE SCRIMMAGE. 231 
 
 water, one of the captives, a female, was being led 
 off by two large tame male elephants. The sight of 
 the others fighting in the water appeared to excite 
 greatly one of the tame ones. He became unman- 
 ageable, and charged with the greatest fury on his 
 tame colleague, who did not seem to understand 
 what he was after. Despite the efforts of the ma- 
 hauts, they began hustling and pushing. Meantime 
 the captured one, who was secured by a rope to each 
 of these tame ones, taking advantage of the confu- 
 sion, endeavoured to bolt, and in doing so drew tight 
 the ropes ; the unmanageable and larger of the male 
 elephants at the same moment charging on his col- 
 league, embarrassed somewhat by this tightening of 
 the rope, fairly knocked him over, and he fell heavily 
 on his side. One of his mahauts managed to scramble 
 off, the other was thrown some distance over his 
 head ; fortunately neither was hurt. The victor then 
 furiously charged the vanquished while lying on the 
 ground, trampling and kneeling on him and trying 
 to gore him with his tusks ; the captive elephant 
 meantime pulling away with all her might in her 
 endeavours to escape. Fortunately there were lots 
 of sepoys about, who immediately formed round and 
 kept up a continued fire to try and distract his atten- 
 tion ; but all to no purpose. However, the mahaut, 
 who kept his seat on him all the time, rapidly taking 
 off the little clothing he had wrapped round his per- 
 son, very cleverly managed to throw it over his eyes 
 and so blind him for the time; the others imme-
 
 232 WILD ELHPHANTS. 
 
 diately cut the rope connecting him with his colleague 
 and the captive, and he was, by dint of coaxing and 
 beating about the head, led off, still blindfolded, 
 through the stockade to his own ground in camp, 
 where he was secured apart from the others, as 
 he was evidently becoming " must." When he was 
 gone, his colleague, who had been sadly mauled, 
 managed with difficulty to rise, his mahaut getting 
 on him again, still secured by a rope to the captive. 
 
 But matters were now changed. After the pommel- 
 ling he had, he was quite knocked up, and was no 
 longer capable of leading off his captive in triumph. 
 The captive accordingly trotted off towards the jungle, 
 dragging him after her. Two others, however, were 
 despatched after them, who, without much trouble, 
 fairly secured again the fugitive captive and led her 
 off to camp, relieving the other, who came back very 
 slowly, being evidently a good deal hurt. He died a 
 few days afterwards from the effects of the pounding 
 he had received ; probably he had some internal frac- 
 ture or severe injury. 
 
 The captives were now all led off to camp, and 
 secured firmly to posts prepared for them. Including 
 the one which had been strangled, they had secured 
 seven elephants, all females ; of these, one managed 
 to twist the rope fastening her to the post in such 
 a way during the night that she was strangled, and 
 was found dead in a kneeling position next morn- 
 ing ; so that they had only five live wild elephants as 
 the result of the day's sport.
 
 CAPTIVE ELEPHANTS. 233 
 
 Jang returned to camp in the course of the even- 
 ing and told us that, after a hard running sort of 
 fight all clay with the large " must " elephant, in 
 which an immense number of balls had been sent 
 into his body, they had at last brought him on to his 
 knees, and despatched him by a volley into his head. 
 He was a very fine animal, but too fierce to capture 
 alive. They sent the next morning and cut out his 
 tusks, which were very fine and perfect ones. 
 
 During the night we were several times waked by 
 the piteous cries of the captured elephants, but espe- 
 cially by those of the little young one, who still kept 
 guard by her mother's corpse, which was lying not 
 more than one hundred yards from our tents. The 
 cry of an elephant in distress is particularly mournful 
 and expressive. During the night Jang had the 
 young one secured and brought into camp, where 
 she was tied up at a distance from our tents. 
 
 The following morning (24th December), after 
 breakfast, another elephant was reported to be in 
 the neighbouring jungle, having escaped or got sepa- 
 rated from the herd yesterday. The same system was 
 observed of driving her, by volley-firing and crowds 
 of beaters, out of the wood. Being alone, she was 
 very shy, and there was considerable delay in getting 
 her out of the wood just opposite to where we were 
 seated. Jang went in on foot with the other beaters. 
 Presently she was driven to the edge, and on emerg- 
 ing with a loud bellow, two large tame elephants who 
 were there stationed with ropes to secure her were
 
 234 WILD ELEPHANTS. 
 
 so frightened that they turned round and fled as fast 
 as they could, and at a tremendous pace the wild one, 
 trunk erect, loudly bellowing, charged after them. 
 It was the only really good charge I saw, and con- 
 tinued for about two hundred yards across and along 
 the open ground, when the wild one gave up the pur- 
 suit and turned into some thick jungle. She was, 
 after some hours' beating, driven out of this and cap- 
 tured without any accident. We did not see the cap- 
 ture, as after her escape into the second wood we 
 quitted camp to return towards Sigauli. 
 
 Jang lent us elephants, which took us that after- 
 noon to Derdera, where we slept; and on the 25th 
 marched to Hetowara, where we slept, and ate our 
 Christmas dinner. Thence we went, by regular 
 marches, on to Sigauli. 
 
 The King and Jung remained two days longer, 
 during which they caught two or three more ele- 
 phants ; their camp then proceeded westwards to 
 Ohitaun (at the junction of the Manhauri with the 
 Rapti) in quest of rhinoceroses. 
 
 The road back from camp to Hetowara was by the 
 same route as that by which I had come ; but the 
 whole camp, &c. having marched over it, the jungle, 
 grass, &c. was so beaten down, that there was no 
 difficulty now in getting along, nor did we run any 
 risk of losing our road in the jungle (which we might 
 easily have done in coming), our track being very 
 clear wherever our elephants had marched.
 
 235 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 RHINOCEROS-HUNTING. 
 
 The great beat for rhinoceroses is along the valley of 
 the Rapti river, in the neighbourhood of Chitaun, a 
 largish village or small town situated at or near the 
 confluence of the Rapti and the Manhauri rivers. 
 There are large tracts of level country here, covered 
 with dense high grass jungle ; in this the rhinoceros 
 lives, constructing runs or burrows in the grass, 
 along which he moves, the grass meeting over his 
 head, so that he is not seen by one out of the run, 
 although he may be very near. 
 
 Jang was very successful this year ; they killed 
 several, and wounded a large number of rhinoceroses. 
 Generally the elephants are afraid of them, and were 
 it not that the long grass screens the rhinoceros 
 from the elephant's eye, there are very few would 
 stand the charge. The elephants are stationed in 
 different " runs " along which the rhinoceros is ex-
 
 236 BHINOCEEOS-HUNTING. 
 
 pected ; when lie gets very near, if he sees his way 
 blocked up, he makes a peculiar grunt like a boar 
 and charges straight ahead. The elephant almost in- 
 variably bolts when he hears this grunt ; the great 
 thing is to get a good shot at the brute's head as he 
 comes slowly along his run, before he utters the grunt 
 and before he commences his charge. 
 
 Bam Bahadur shot one, at Ohitaun, just at this 
 moment, the ball entering through one eye and smash- 
 ing his brain ; so that the brute rolled over dead with 
 only one ball in him. The skull and skin were sent 
 up to Nipal, and are now at Thappatalli. Out of the 
 skin, after being cleaned and cured, they make capital 
 water-buckets ; these are immensely strong, never 
 break, and are impervious to water. Out of the 
 horns they manufacture various articles : from the 
 spreading base they make richly carved cups or 
 urgas, which are susceptible of high finish and polish ; 
 from the thinner upright part they make handles for 
 kookeries. 
 
 Midway between the eye and the ear is a good and 
 almost certainly fatal spot to hit if you get a side shot 
 at his head ; but as he is usually coming down towards 
 the elephant at the time of firing, you generally fire 
 straight at his front, and then you ought to aim at 
 the spot just between the eyes. Random shots about 
 his head and body may ultimately prove fatal from 
 internal injury or haemorrhage, but make no obvious 
 impression at the time. 
 
 Of the rhinoceroses shot on this excursion very few
 
 RHINOCEROSES. 237 
 
 were killed outright ; they escaped into the jungle 
 severely wounded and died, some of them almost im- 
 mediately, others not for two or three weeks. Their 
 bodies were found by men sent to look after them, 
 and their skulls and skins sent up to Nipal. 
 
 Though the rhinoceroses abound in greater numbers 
 in the western Terai, especially about Chitaun, the 
 horns of those found in the eastern Terai and those 
 which are imported from Chittagong are much the 
 longer, finer in texture, and better coloured, having 
 little or no white in them, and, from being harder, 
 take a finer polish. The Chittagong rhinoceros has 
 two horns, a long one (two feet or more in length) in 
 front, a short one (a few inches only) immediately 
 behind it. The horn of the male rhinoceros is larger 
 and rougher at the base, but is not generally so long 
 as that of the female. The male uses his horn much 
 more than the female in fighting, rubbing against 
 trees, &c, and generally manages to break or wear 
 the end off so as to shorten it.
 
 238 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 AN EXECUTION. 
 
 Saturday, 26th March, 1853. — A sepoy, a Khatri, 
 having committed a murder under aggravated cir- 
 cumstances, was sentenced to have his head cut off ; 
 this day was fixed, about ten days after the crime. 
 Executions always take place either on Tuesdays or 
 Saturdays, as unlucky days. The place always used 
 on these occasions is a small level piece of ground on 
 the right bank of a small stream which falls into the 
 Bishnmatti at the ghat on the road to Sambhunath. 
 The stream making an abrupt bend at this point, 
 there is a small level ground left between its banks 
 and a steep hill, round which it is winding, and over 
 which the road passes. The sides of this hill form 
 an amphitheatre, and afford a capital site for viewing 
 the"tamasha" beneath. 
 
 The officiating minister having heard from Kusbur 
 that I was anxious to be present at the execution,
 
 THE CONDEMNED CEIMINAL. 239 
 
 with great courtesy and consideration for my con- 
 venience rather than the prisoner's feelings, sent to 
 say that at whatever hour I liked the man's head 
 should be taken off, and that it should not be done 
 till I arrived on the ground ! 
 
 The afternoon — two hours before sunset — being 
 fixed, I was at the place of execution punctually at 
 the appointed time, 4 p.m. Some mistake, however, as 
 to the hour occurring, I had to wait nearly two hours. 
 A few, perhaps a dozen, people were waiting also. The 
 majority of the passers-by, however, of whom there 
 were many, did not seem to think it worth the trouble 
 of waiting for. Just about sunset a crowd in the 
 distance indicated the approach of the prisoner, whom 
 they were accompanying. The man had left the 
 prison at 4 p.m. and been conducted on foot, with 
 his arms pinioned behind by a cord, all through the 
 principal thoroughfares of the city, a crier proclaim- 
 ing the nature of his crime and of his punishment. 
 This had collected about three hundred persons, who 
 came with him. The crowd took their seats on the 
 ground around overlooking the place ; the officer of 
 adaulat came with a general's salaam to me and 
 apologised for having kept me (not the prisoner) 
 waiting so long. The prisoner walked to the ap- 
 pointed spot, surrounded by about twenty men of 
 Paurya caste (low caste, who always perforin the duty 
 of executioners — a grade above Mihtars). They se- 
 lected a smooth spot, a few yards from the stream, 
 for him to kneel upon, the ground being covered
 
 240 AN EXECUTION. 
 
 with the bones of previous criminals who had been 
 executed in the same place. The man seemed in- 
 different to all about him. He had a sulky, scowling 
 look, but said nothing. Except a rag round his loins, 
 all his clothes had been removed. He was directed 
 to kneel, which he accordingly did ; his arms were 
 firmly tied behind his back, his hair gathered up 
 into a knot and tied at the top of his head. Two or 
 three of the executioner-men examined his position 
 and moved his head about, according to their respec- 
 tive fancies, evidently looking at it in a professional 
 light, and calculating at what particular angle, or in 
 what spot they would, were it their duty, make their 
 blow, so as best to exhibit their skill. The man 
 seemed to take their manipulations with great non- 
 chalance. 
 
 All was now ready, and I expected the poor devil 
 would be at once put out of his misery and suspense. 
 But a rather important omission had occurred ; 
 " what is everybody's business is," proverbially, 
 "nobody's," and among the twenty or more execu- 
 tioners present not one had brought with him a 
 kookery or sword with which to take off the man's 
 head ! None of the spectators were willing to lend 
 their kookeries. After a little delay, two or three 
 were pressed from the crowd ; then followed a dis- 
 cussion as to whether they were sharp enough. One 
 was selected, and the executioner said he could, with 
 a little sharpening, " make it do " {i.e. hack off the 
 head in three or four blows) ; and he forthwith began
 
 DELAY AT THE LAST MOMENT. 241 
 
 to sharpen it on a stone, every now and then trying 
 the edge on his finger, and talking and laughing all 
 the time. 
 
 All this time the condemned was kneeling, pinioned, 
 close by, hearing, of course, all that passed. Mean- 
 time the crowd began to get impatient, not at the 
 brutal indifference to the prisoner's feelings mani- 
 fested in these preparations, &c. before him, but from 
 fear that it would soon be too dark for them to see 
 the spectacle clearly. The kookery having been shar- 
 pened as far as that was possible (being a very 
 bad one), was submitted to the sort of sheriff of the 
 adaulat who was superintending the proceedings. 
 Acting, I fancy, under orders of the general, who 
 had probably told him to take care that, as a Euro- 
 pean officer would be present as spectator, everything 
 should be done in a correct way, the sheriff con- 
 demned the kookery as unfit for service. A further 
 delay occurred, greatly to the disgust of the spec- 
 tators, who kept calling out to them to make haste, 
 " or it would be dark." At last one of the Gorkha 
 sepoys in attendance upon me volunteered his " tal- 
 war," amid loud applause for this disinterested offer. 
 The talwar was handed to the executioner, who, feel- 
 ing its edge in the most artistic style, pronounced it 
 a first-rate one; and with an air of pride, like a 
 child with a new toy, at using so superior an in- 
 strument, he went to the side of the poor wretch, who 
 was still kneeling bound, and had been so for at 
 least a quarter of an hour, which had been wasted 
 i. 16
 
 242 AN EXECUTION. 
 
 in getting the instrument ready.* A cord, two or 
 three yards long, was then fastened to that already 
 binding his arms above the elbows behind his back ; 
 this was held firmly by two men, to support the body 
 and prevent the man losing his balance in leaning 
 forward. This being secured, the man still kneeling, 
 his body was brought somewhat forward, supported 
 by this rope from behind; his head was adjusted in 
 a convenient position so as to render the neck 
 straight, the edge of the talwar was lightly laid for 
 a moment on the neck for the executioner to take 
 
 * I have often seen very much more care, in the preliminaries, 
 taken on occasion of a buffalo's head being cut off by one blow 
 with a kora, by a general or Sirdar, as a display before a crowd of 
 their skill and strength, than was shown on this occasion as to 
 removing a man's head. 
 
 So careless are the authorities on the matter of arranging that 
 the executioner should always be provided with a good weapon, 
 that it is always left to chance, — the executioners being left to bring 
 their own instruments. Sometimes, in consequence, either from 
 the badness of the blade, or the want of skill in the performer 
 (generally from the former cause), the condemned is hacked fear- 
 fully before his head comes off — three, four, or more blows occa- 
 sionally being struck. When the Pandees were executed, on the 
 restoration to power of Martabar Singh, some of them brought 
 with them their own kookeries (good ones and sharp), to ensure the 
 operation being skilfully performed. On that occasion they (the 
 Pandees) were attended by many attached followers. A curious 
 ceremony was performed with some of them : a follower held the 
 head of the condemned steady between his hands at the moment 
 of decapitation, they having a belief that when an innocent man 
 suffers death unjustly in this way, any friend who holds his head 
 for him at the moment of death ensures for himself eternal salva- 
 tion in the future world.
 
 THE DEATH-STROKE AT LAST. 243 
 
 his aim, the talwar raised in the air, and descend- 
 ing like lightning, the man's head was instantan- 
 eously severed from his body; at the same moment 
 the cord supporting the body was let go from be- 
 hind, and the headless corpse fell heavily forward, 
 falling upon its own head, in a tremendous jet of 
 blood from the neck. Two or three convulsive 
 twitches there were of the extremities, and also of 
 the eyelids and brows, when the eyes assumed a 
 ghastly upward-turned squint, and all was over. 
 
 The surgical part of the operation was certainly 
 beautifully performed ; but the delay, want of con- 
 sideration to the man's feelings, and utter indifference 
 of the spectators, were disgusting. There were about 
 three hundred or four hundred spectators ; but, cu- 
 riously, among them I did not see one single woman. 
 
 The moment the head was severed there was a cry 
 of ■" Wah ! wah ! " of applause from the spectators 
 at the skill shown by the executioner, who turned 
 round with the air of a hero, evidently proud of the 
 exploit. The sword was cleaned and returned to the 
 sepoy, who refused to part with it, as he said he had 
 inherited it from his father, who had used it much 
 in the late war with, the English. It was a very good 
 blade, and very sharp. No one touched or went near 
 the corpse, which, according to custom, was left on 
 the ground as food for jackals, vultures, dogs, &c.* 
 
 * The body is not allowed to be burned or buried ; it is very 
 quickly eaten by the jackals, &c; the bones alone, many of them 
 
 16 *
 
 244 AN EXECUTION. 
 
 The crowd immediately dispersed, evidently well 
 pleased with the tamasha. 
 
 Since Jang's return from England executions have 
 become comparatively rare. Capital punishments are 
 now confined to cases of murder and culpable homi- 
 cide. He has greatly mitigated the severity of the 
 criminal code ; and has altogether done away with 
 " mutilation " as a punishment. The only case of 
 mutilation of which I have heard since Jang's return 
 occurred in 1852, and was richly deserved. A man 
 went about the country giving out that Jang was 
 intending to sacrifice one hundred and fifty infants 
 as a propitiation to the deities, and that he (the pri- 
 soner) was commissioned by Jang to select the vic- 
 tims. Of course this produced a great sensation 
 in the rural districts through which the man went, 
 and mothers hastened to offer him large sums as 
 bribes for him to pass their children and take others. 
 The man was arrested, a grand parade assembled on 
 the Tunakhal, the culprit's offence explained to the 
 troops, and his tongue (the offending organ) cut out 
 before them. He was then, minus his tongue, led 
 away through all the districts where he had pre- 
 viously been, as a warning to show the people not 
 only the falsity of his previous statements, but the 
 consequences of so gross and wicked a lie against 
 the powers that be. 
 
 gnawed and broken, remaining strewed about. The ground is 
 almost white from them, and the place a regular Golgotha.
 
 PUNISHMENT OF WOMEN. 245 
 
 " Capital " punishment is never carried into effect 
 against a Brahman. He has his head shaved, is made 
 to eat pork, offal, drink wine, and, his caste having 
 thus been taken from him, he is taken to the fron- 
 tiers and expelled the country. Women also are 
 never executed ; they are imprisoned, branded, caste 
 taken, sold as slaves, or expelled the country, or be- 
 nosed, but never executed. The cutting off the nose 
 is not, however, generally done by Government ; but 
 is a private punishment, usually summarily performed 
 by the injured husband on detecting a wife's in- 
 fidelity ; he takes off her nose with a kookery, and 
 then turns her out of his house. 
 
 Kali Sing, havildar of the Residency guard, showed 
 me one day the kookery with which he had cut down 
 a man who had seduced his wife. He was at the time 
 using it to cut and pare some radishes, which he was 
 eating with great gusto. I asked him, " And what 
 did you do to the woman?" "Oh," says he, "I 
 cut off her nose and turned her out of doors ; I gave 
 her five rupees to prevent her from starving." He had 
 kept possession, as in such cases the fathers always 
 do, of the children. The woman loses caste, children, 
 rank, home, nose, and all.
 
 246 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 PROFESSIONAL VISITS TO JANG BAHADUR. 
 
 November, 1852. — Jang asked me to see professionally 
 a " lady of rank " who was staying at his house. He 
 at first made some mystery as to who she was, but 
 afterwards told me that she was own sister to the 
 present Maharajah. She was eighteen years old, and 
 married to the Rajah of Jumlah. She had been con- 
 fined eight months before, at her husband's home, 
 and had never since been well. She had gradually 
 been emaciating, had a terrible cough, with constant 
 expectoration, besides some internal disease. Her 
 husband had brought her to Kathmandu as a dernier 
 ressort for advice. 
 
 Jang told me that all the Nipal doctors had given 
 up her case as hopeless ; but he wished me to see 
 her. If, on seeing her, I was of opinion that I could 
 cure her, I might undertake the treatment of the
 
 A PEOFESSIONAL VISIT. 247 
 
 case ; and if I succeeded, I should receive fifteen thou- 
 sand rupees (one thousand five hundred pounds) as a 
 fee. But that if I thought I could not cure her, he 
 advised me to have nothing to do with the case ; as, 
 in the event of her death after my attending her, I 
 should get the credit of having killed her. 
 
 He led me through several small rooms in the pri- 
 vate apartments at Thappatalli to a small apartment, 
 or rather passage with one window, in which the lady 
 was. Her bed or mattrass was on the floor, and she her- 
 self, and the bed also, covered with a number of rich 
 and handsome shawls. She made no objection to ray 
 seeing or speaking to her. She sat up in bed, and 
 answered the few questions I put to her willingly, 
 showed me her tongue, and held out her arm for me 
 to feel her pulse. She bared her arm to the shoulder, 
 and her feet to the ankles, to show me how emaciated 
 she had become. Poor girl, her case was evidently 
 hopeless, as she was in the later stages of consump- 
 tion, besides other local affections. She was striking 
 in her appearance, and singularly like her brother the 
 King. Her skin looked very sallow and rather dark, 
 but Jang says, when she was in good health, that she 
 was remarkably fair for a native. I made a salaam 
 to her, and retired ; and explained to Jang that as I 
 thought her case hopeless, I would have nothing to 
 do with it. He said I was quite right,* and then 
 
 * She died about four months afterwards.
 
 248 PEOFESSIONAL VISITS. 
 
 hurried me into his garden to see a wild boar fight 
 with some Nipal hunting-dogs. 
 
 A wild boar, which had been caught in the jungles 
 several months before, and since kept in a paddock 
 and fattened up till he was quite unwieldy, was turned 
 into the gardens. About a dozen Nipal dogs (Buansi) 
 trained for hog-hunting, were turned out, and soon 
 took up the scent, giving tongue loudly. They fol- 
 lowed on his track for about one hundred yards, 
 when sighting piggy, they all collected, barking and 
 snarling, around him, piggy standing at bay, and 
 none of them daring to attack him. Jang, his 
 brothers, myself, with a number of others, running 
 up, piggy turned tail. This was a signal for an im- 
 mediate attack from the dogs, who, however, all flew 
 at him from behind, seizing him by the hind leg, 
 quarter, or tail, anywhere in fact out of reach of his 
 tushes ; very different from English dogs, who would 
 have gone straight at his head and neck. The mo- 
 ment piggy felt their teeth, he faced about ; off went 
 the dogs in all directions ; off went piggy again ; 
 again the dogs were at him from behind. This went 
 on, a sort of running fight, for some time, piggy fre- 
 quently facing about and setting his pursuers at bay, 
 but only once getting hold of one of them, whom he 
 shook most viciously, till the pig was so worried and 
 winded that he lay down in a bush and could make 
 no further resistance. The dogs were then pulled off, 
 and a bullet sent through piggy's heart. Next day 
 a large piece of his loin, covered with a layer of fat
 
 ANOTHER VISIT. 249 
 
 nearly two inches thick, was sent to me. I had it 
 dressed, and its flavour was most delicious, the flesh 
 white in colour, and tender. 
 
 The hills round the valley abound in these wild 
 pigs. They are caught, when young, in numbers, 
 brought into Kathmandu, and then fattened on the 
 cleanest food. Their flesh is very delicious, and the 
 Nipalese, of all ranks and castes, are exceedingly fond 
 of it. Of course they would never eat pork from a 
 common village pig. In fact, they will not eat the 
 flesh of any pigs born in captivity, even though sire 
 and dam are genuine wild ones. 
 
 November, 1851. — I was summoned in haste by Jang 
 Bahadur to go to his brother Bam Bahadur's house, 
 in order to attend Barn's youngest wife, who had that 
 morning 1 been confined of a live child, but the mother 
 was considered in a dangerous state. 
 
 On arriving at the house I found Jung, Bam, and 
 two of the other brothers. They explained to me the 
 nature of the case, and asked me to explain to them 
 what I should do if admitted to see her. The Raj 
 Guru who then came in stated that there was not 
 the slightest objection, as a matter of caste, to my 
 seeing her if she herself had no scruples. Jang then 
 went up to see the ladies, and arrange for my going 
 up too. His mother and several of the female mem- 
 bers of his family were there. He explained to them 
 my opinion that medical interference was necessary, 
 and that if she did not receive some assistance she 
 would certainly die. The patient, however, said she
 
 250 PROFESSIONAL VISITS. 
 
 felt sure that she should die if nothing were done ; 
 but she did not fear death, and would much sooner 
 die than allow me to see and treat her,* as, should 
 she do so, all other women would point at and taunt 
 her with having allowed me, a European man, to see 
 or have anything to do with her. She was supported 
 strongly in these views by her mother-in-law and the 
 other ladies. All Jang's persuasions failed, and on 
 his pressing the matter he got well abused by the 
 ladies for his pains. 
 
 He returned and told us the result of his visit, 
 adding, " What can you expect from such a set of 
 fools ? when you attempt to reason with them, they 
 answer you with abuse." 
 
 Nipalese ladies do not seem to differ widely from 
 their sisters in other parts of the world, and Jang 
 seems to have met with the usual fate of sensible 
 men who endeavour to oppose by argument or reason 
 the prejudices of women. 
 
 Bam and the Eaj Guru then went up to see if 
 they could do anything, but they were no more suc- 
 cessful than Jang had been. Bam apologised for the 
 unnecessary trouble he had given me, and presented 
 me with a fee of one hundred rupees. f 
 
 * She died eight days afterwards. 
 
 f This was an unusual piece of courtesy and liberality. As a 
 general rule, they never give a fee, either to me, or to their own 
 native doctors, unless the case treated turns out successfully. 
 Thus, I may vaccinate a child twenty times, but I get no fee unless
 
 DISCOURAGEMENT OF SATTI. 251 
 
 In cases of this sort, of course, Jang cannot force or 
 oblige his wives or females to submit. Any violence 
 done to their prejudices would create a storm of 
 odium, &c. against him and me too. His attempts, 
 however, have been successful, in several cases, in 
 preventing satti. This very day, when I was at 
 Barn's, Jang's own sister's husband (son of Kaji 
 Delhi Sing) had died of a lingering illness. The 
 widow was very anxious to perform satti. Jang sent 
 the guru to her to dissuade her. After considerable 
 discussion she yielded, and consented that her hus- 
 band's corpse should be burnt alone. 
 
 Since that time Jang has uniformly set himself 
 against satti ; he cannot prohibit it, but he does 
 everything to discourage it. In October 1852, when 
 the " Barra Captain Sahib" (Jang's most intimate 
 and attached friend), who had been with him from 
 infancy, and accompanied him to England) died of 
 dropsy, Jang, by his efforts and persuasions, suc- 
 ceeded in preventing either of his widows from per- 
 forming satti. He says, and probably truly, that 
 when the common people get accustomed to see that 
 men of rank die and their bodies are burnt without 
 satti, they will, of their own accord, gradually give up 
 such an inhuman and unreasonable practice. There 
 is already a considerable diminution in the number 
 
 it "takes." They will not pay for mere "medical attendance" 
 unless that attendance is followed by decided advantage to them- 
 selves.
 
 252 PROFESSIONAL VISITS. 
 
 of sattis ; they do occasionally take place, but very 
 rarely. 
 
 Jang has great faith in European surgical skill, 
 and is, indeed, very fond of surgery, at which he 
 often does a little himself. I remember his excising 
 a small fatty tumour from a man's neck very suc- 
 cessfully; and in any cases of slight injuries among 
 his followers he generally doctors them himself. He 
 has a sort of laboratory in his garden where he pre- 
 pares constantly a large quantity of a particular sort 
 of medicine, in which he has great faith.* Its com- 
 position is a profound secret ; he says it contains the 
 precious metals, even diamonds and pearls. He con- 
 siders it very valuable, and, I suspect, drives a profit- 
 able trade by selling it in small quantities to his 
 brethren and family and others when sick. As a 
 compliment to him, and to please him, they will wil- 
 lingly take it, and pay well for it too, whatever faith 
 they may have in its real efficacy. 
 
 I have seen it applied in some cases, where certainly 
 it did no harm, though I do not think it did much 
 good. I remember a couple of sepoys getting a good 
 deal mauled about the face, neck, and arms by a bear 
 whom Jang was in pursuit of, and they came to the 
 rescue. The wounds were not serious, though very 
 
 * In medical cases, Jang says his own country doctors under- 
 stand their treatment better than Europeans do. When he 
 himself is indisposed he never consults me medically, but does 
 invariably in everything surgical.
 
 A PRINCESS VACCINATED. 253 
 
 painful, skin-deep. Jang said, as they were slight, he 
 could cure them with his own medicine. 
 
 I have often found it exceedingly convenient to be 
 able to borrow some of his instruments when our 
 hospital was deficient in them. 
 
 Jang has great faith in vaccination, and has had 
 all his children, most of his brothers', and those of 
 the royal family vaccinated. I received five hundred 
 rupees for vaccinating his eldest boy in L850, when 
 he was in England. 
 
 In 1851, shortly after the detection of the con- 
 spiracy against him and the removal to Allahabad of 
 the State prisoners, he took me to the house of the 
 " Mihla " Sahib (the King's brother, and one of the 
 prisoners) to vaccinate his little girl, the King's niece. 
 As Jang was suspicious that there might be some 
 treachery against him in this the house of his enemy, 
 he took a brace of Purdey's pistols, loaded, with him, 
 concealed in his dress, and a talwar under a loose 
 robe, which he wrapped round him. When the child 
 was brought in, Jang had our chairs brought to the 
 table, and rather surprised me by drawing out his 
 pistols, putting them on full cock and laying one down 
 on the table before me, another before himself. He 
 did not say a word, but gave me a look which I under- 
 stood fully. It was the first time I ever vaccinated a 
 patient, and a princess too, under protection of a 
 cocked pistol. When it was over, putting the pistols in 
 his belt, and wrapping his robe round him, he retired 
 for a few minutes into the private apartments of the
 
 254 PROFESSIONAL VISITS. 
 
 child's mother, just to pay his respects. Fortunately, 
 nothing untoward occurred to him ; and we left the 
 house without having any " scene." I received two 
 hundred rupees as a fee. Jang occasionally amused 
 himself by vaccinating patients, but rarely succeeded 
 with them. 
 
 In August 1854 Jang asked me to prescribe for one 
 of his wives, daughter of the ex-Raja of Coorg, who was 
 very ill. I declined doing so, unless I saw the patient. 
 He then allowed me to see her. Her apartments are 
 low, narrow, passage rooms, and she was lying on a 
 mattrass-bed on the floor, with a slave-girl using a 
 hand-punkah over her. Her hair was unconfined, 
 and loose over her shoulders. 
 
 On the second visit I opened a large abscess on her 
 right side, much to Jang's delight and the astonish- 
 ment of his own two native doctors, who were present. 
 On her being a little faint, I told them to give her a 
 little water ; while she drank it, I had to stand up in 
 the sill of an open window, looking into the Court, so 
 that my feet might not touch the drugget, or any part 
 of the furniture directly or indirectly connected with 
 her bed, although two minutes before there was no 
 objection to my feeling her pulse, &c. &c, examining 
 and lancing her side — a regular case of swallowing 
 the camel and straining at the gnat. 
 
 This, however, is a common practice even among 
 themselves ; when a lady is sitting on a couch or a 
 sofa, any male relations who may be admitted to see 
 her and talk to her, must keep at such a distance
 
 SOCTAL ETIQUETTE. 255 
 
 that they do not touch the carpet on which her seat 
 is placed; of course they may not sit on the same 
 couch. The elder brother, as a general rule, is not 
 allowed to see the faces of his younger brothers' 
 wives ; but the younger brothers may see the faces of 
 the wives of all those brothers who are older than 
 themselves. Before an elder brother, the wife of his 
 junior, if in the room, keeps her face veiled as a mark 
 of respect. This rule is pretty strictly observed among 
 people of rank and position.
 
 256 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 EARLY HISTORY OP NIPA.L. 
 
 The kingdom of Nipal, until towards the close of 
 the eighteenth century, was of very limited extent. 
 It consisted of three small principalities, whose united 
 jurisdiction extended over the Valley of Nipal Proper, 
 as well as over the adjacent lands, as far eastward as 
 the Dudh Khosi River (beyond which was the indepen- 
 dent country of the Kirantis) and westward to the 
 Trisalganga river which formed the boundary between 
 the territories of Nipal and those of the Gorkhas. 
 The Gosain Than mountain shut them in towards 
 the north,* while the Medina Mall forest (south of 
 
 * The northern boundary, in the time of the Niwar dynasty, 
 extended up to the passes of Kerang and Kuti. On the Chinese 
 invasion in 1792, the Chinese took from the Gorkhas a consider- 
 able tract of land to the south side of those passes, and these 
 districts, inhabited by Tibetans, have continued subject to China 
 up to the present day. The Nipalese boundary, therefore, at pre- 
 sent does not extend to the snow, but stops short of it (a little on 
 the north side of Mount Dhaibung).
 
 THE NA1MANI DYNASTY. 257 
 
 Chitlung) formed their southern boundary and sepa- 
 rated them from the hill country of the Rajah of 
 Makwanpur. This secluded region was inhabited by 
 a race of Hindus called Niwars. They were a quiet, 
 industrious, and unwarlike people; but, when cir- 
 cumstances required, they proved themselves, on 
 various occasions, not to be wanting in courage 
 or determination. 
 
 The dynasty which ruled over this country was one 
 of great antiquity, having occupied the throne of 
 Nipal, without interruption, since the commencement 
 of the fourteenth century. 
 
 The traditions of the Niwars represent that the first 
 dynasty established in the country was that of Nai- 
 mani, which lasted for four hundred and ninety-one 
 years, at the end of which time Bhal Singh, a Rajput, 
 of the posterity of Mehip Gopal, at the head of an 
 army, invaded and subdued Nipal. He and his 
 sons reigned for one hundred and eleven years. The 
 Mehip Gopal dynasty was put an end to by Yellang 
 Kirant, who conquered the country at the head of 
 an army of Kirantis. 
 
 The Kirant dynasty continued, under twenty-seven 
 kings, for about eight hundred years, when they were in 
 their turn dispossessed of the kingdom of Nipal by 
 Nevesit, a Chattri of the Suraj Bansi race, and whose 
 family name was Barmah. In the reign of the thirty- 
 third king of this race, one of the descendants of the 
 original Naimani or Gapti family conquered Nipal, 
 and established a dynasty winch lasted for one hundred 
 i. 17
 
 258 HISTOEY OF NIPAL. 
 
 and seventy-five years, when the country was again 
 invaded and subdued by one of the Chattri of the 
 posterity of Nevesit, who expelled the Graptis, and 
 re-established the Chattri dynasty of the Barmahs, 
 which lasted, under forty-five kings, for upwards of 
 two thousand years. 
 
 The last but three of these kings left three sons, 
 who reigned successively after their father, but they 
 all died without leaving any male issue. One of them, 
 however, left a daughter named Satti Naik Devi, who 
 was crowned Queen of Nipal. She married Haris 
 C bandar Deo, Rajah of Benares, by whom she had an 
 only child, a daughter, named Raj Lachmi, who 
 succeeded to the throne on the death of her mother. 
 She was deposed by a kinsman, named Jai Dab, who 
 had only reigned a few days when Harh Singh 
 Deo, or Hari Singha Deva, Rajah of Simraun Garh, 
 capital of Mathila, or North Bahar, or Tirhut, and of 
 the posterity of the Suraj-Bansi princes of Oudh, 
 having been driven from his kingdom by the Mussul- 
 mans of Delhi, and his capital destroyed, took refuge 
 in Nipal, conquered it, and put an end to the dynasty 
 of the Barmahs- This occurred ad. 1322. 
 
 Harh Sing Deo had no difficulty in conquering Nipal, 
 and the crown continued in his family until the extinc- 
 tion of the Niwar dynasty of Simraun Chattris through 
 the final conquest of Nipal by Prithi Narayan in 1769. 
 
 Harh Singh Deo's ancestors are believed to have 
 acquired, some generations back, and to have main- 
 tained a footing in Nipal, by the possession of some
 
 JAI EKSHAH MAL. 259 
 
 territory. This would account for the facility with 
 which, when he and his followers had been compelled 
 to abandon the Terai and his capital, Simraun, he 
 speedily reduced the whole of Nipal to subjection to 
 his authority. 
 
 The seventh successor of Harh Singh Deo, was Jai 
 Ekshah Mai, who died about a.d. 1568. He much 
 enlarged the city of Bhatgaon, in which was his 
 principal seat of residence.* At his death he left 
 three sons and one daughter, among whom he dis- 
 tributed his dominions as follows : — 
 
 To Rai Mai, the eldest, he gave the principality of 
 Bhatgaon f ; which at this period was bounded on the 
 
 * Jai Ekshah Mai completely subdued the rival Rajahs of Patan 
 and Kathmaudu, and annexed their territories to his own. 
 
 From this date the three principalities, though they remained 
 distinct, and were ruled over by separate kings, yet continued all 
 to be governed by princes of the same family, the Simraun Chat- 
 tris. None of the Niwar kings, therefore, could from this date 
 have been Buddhists, though tliey undoubtedly were very tolerant 
 to their Buddhist subjects, and very liberal in their support of 
 Buddhist temples and institutions. 
 
 f The territories of the King of Bhatgaon extended chiefly 
 towards the east, where the Dudh-Kosi separated his kingdom 
 from the country of the Kirantis. Within the valley his posses- 
 sions were the smallest ; but beyond the valley they were the most 
 extensive of any of the three kings. 
 
 The successors of Rai Mai on the throne of Bhatgaon were : 
 Bhu Bhin Mai ; Besson Mai, who took Banepa from the house of 
 Ran Mai ; Triloke Mai, from whom the house of Rattan or Ratni 
 Mai of Kathmandu took Banepa, Changhu Narayan, Sanku, and 
 Kuti ; Jaggat Johi Mai ; Jai Jeta Metro Mai ; Bhopat Indra Mai ; 
 Ranjit Mai. 
 
 17 *
 
 260 HISTORY OF NIPAL. 
 
 west by the Baghmatti, on the east by the Kosi river, 
 on the north by Kuti, and on the south by the forest 
 of Medina Mai. 
 
 To Ran Mai, the second son, he gave the territory 
 and valley of Banepa, lying to the east of the Valley 
 of Nipal, and bounded on the north by Sangahchuk, 
 on the south by the forest of Medina Mai, on the 
 west by Sangah, and on the east by the Dudh Kosi. 
 
 To Ratni, or Rattan Mai, the third son, he left 
 the principality of Kathmandu ; bounded on the east by 
 the Baghmatti, on the west by the Trisulgunga, on the 
 north by the mountain of Grosain Than and by the 
 Kerang Pass, and on the south by the northern boun- 
 dary of Patau. 
 
 To his daughter he gave the principality of Patan* 
 (the refractory Rajah of which city had been subdued 
 by Jai Ekshah Mai). Its limits were to the south 
 the forest of Medina Mai, to the west the mountains 
 of Lamadanda, to the north the southern line of 
 Kathmandu, and to the east the Baghmatti. 
 
 During the two hundred years which elapsed from 
 this division of the kingdom into three principalities, 
 till its conquest and reunion by Prithi JSTarayan in 
 1769, although the power of the respective branches 
 
 * The territories of Patan were the most extensive within the 
 valley, as they also included Kirtipur and Thankot, besides Chit- 
 long, Pherfig, and Sisapani. Kirtipur at one time was the seat 
 of an independent prince, but it was afterwards included within 
 the possessions of the King of Patan.
 
 NIWAE KINGS. 261 
 
 was constantly fluctuating, yet ascendency for the 
 most part appears to have been maintained by the 
 elder one, that of Bhatgaon. 
 
 Ranjit Mai (who reigned forty years) succeeded his 
 father Bhopat Indra Mai as King of Bhatgaon, and 
 was the last of the Niwar kings who reigned over 
 Nipal. 
 
 But little authentic or important is known of the 
 events which occurred during the respective reigns 
 of these Niwar kings. The principal facts recorded 
 concerning any of them chiefly refer to the building of 
 temples, darbars, powas, &c. Jait Mai, father of Jai 
 Ekshah Mai, established weights and measures, and 
 considerably enlarged the city of Bhatgaon. Bhopat 
 Indra Mai also added largely to Bhatgaon and to 
 Thimi. 
 
 The want of information is not confined to our 
 knowledge of the kingdom of Nipal alone, but applies 
 still more strongly to all the other numerous states 
 which at that time extended through the whole length 
 of the Himalayas, from Bhotan to the Satlaj. 
 
 In the middle of the eighteenth century, when the 
 British under Lord Clive were with difficulty esta- 
 blishing a firm footing in Bengal, that portion of the 
 Himalayas which is now consolidated into the com- 
 pact kingdom of Nipal was broken up into a number 
 of petty principalities and small independent states, 
 which, though constantly warring among themselves, 
 had little or no connection with the plains of Hindu- 
 stan. The vast tract of forest, and of marshy ma-
 
 262 HISTORY OP NIPAL. 
 
 larious land which skirts, almost uninterruptedly, the 
 southern face of the Himalayas, from Assam in the 
 far east almost to the Satlaj in the north-west, 
 formed an insuperable bar to any regular intercourse 
 between the nations of the plains and those of the 
 hills. 
 
 Thus isolated from connection with Hindustan, the 
 hill Rajahs and their subjects became, as it were, 
 " a peculiar people." Absorbed in their own in- 
 ternal affairs — at one time warring with neighbouring 
 chiefs, at another occupied in pastoral pursuits, or in 
 hunting expeditions within their own territories — they 
 knew little and cared less about the political changes 
 and revolutions which were occurring in Bengal. 
 Inhabiting a cool and bracing climate, they were 
 physically far superior to the languid and enervated 
 Bengalees. The virgin purity of their native soil had 
 never been sullied by the foot of the foreign invader ; 
 they were the only Hindu states which had not been de- 
 graded by Mohammadan conquest. Morally, therefore, 
 as well as physically, they looked, and they still look, 
 upon themselves as superior to any of the Hindus in 
 the plains. These feelings induced a proud indepen- 
 dence and energy of character, almost unknown in 
 other parts of India. These mountaineers, one and all, 
 were Hindus on principle and by descent ; but they 
 refused to be hampered by all the bigotry and preju- 
 dices of Brahmanical law. While they retained the sub- 
 stance, they rejected much of the shadow of Hinduism, 
 and openly disregarded many observances which were
 
 THE HINDUS OF NIPAL. 263 
 
 and are considered as essential by the more orthodox 
 professors of that religion in the plains. Such conduct 
 naturally gave great offence. The Hindu of the Him- 
 alayas began to be looked on by the Hindu of the 
 plains very much in the same light that the Protes- 
 tant is looked upon by the Roman Catholic. As the 
 orthodox Roman Catholic calls the Protestant a 
 " heretic," so the orthodox Brahman of Benares calls 
 his brother Hindu of Nipal a " Pariah." These various 
 differences in religion, in customs, in occupations, 
 and in language engendered great bitterness of feel- 
 ing between the races of the plains, and the races of 
 the hills. The bigoted Hindus of Bengal held very 
 little intercourse with the proud independent moun- 
 taineers whom they regarded as " aliens in religion, 
 aliens in language, and aliens in blood." The hill 
 tribes throughout the Himalayas — the natives of 
 Sikkim, of Kiranti, of Nipal, of Gorkha, of Palpa, of 
 Doti, of Kamaon, of Garkwal, and of Sarmur — saw 
 their Hindu countrymen of the plains one after 
 another subdued by a handful of British soldiery ; 
 but, undisturbed in the seclusion of their own moun- 
 tain fastnesses, they were indifferent spectators to the 
 struggles which were going on, and never directly or 
 indirectly interfered or offered to assist, in stemming 
 the tide of European conquest. This neutrality on 
 their part with respect to the general politics of India 
 was the result, not of any system of policy, but of 
 their feeling that they were so shut out by natural 
 and, as they considered, impenetrable, barriers from
 
 264 HISTORY OF NIPAL. 
 
 the rest of the world, that they felt no interest in the 
 momentous struggle which was revolutionizing Hindu- 
 stan. 
 
 The people of the plains regarded the hill tribes 
 in the same manner. They felt no interest in their 
 movements. They looked on the sturdy mountaineers 
 as formidable in their own hills, but as not dangerous 
 elsewhere. The vast forests and the malarious tarai 
 beyond which they lived would, they knew, prevent 
 the hillmen from making incursions, beyond mere 
 border forays, into the plains. They knew that the vast 
 mountain regions extending from the Brahmaputra 
 to the Satlaj were as inhospitable as they were exten- 
 sive ; that the towns were but few, the population 
 poor, but yet such as were to be dreaded when fight- 
 ing in defence of their hearths and homes ; in fact, 
 they were fully aware that there was nothing in the 
 whole tract to tempt their cupidity, to gratify their 
 love of plunder, or to repay them for the dangers 
 and hardships of mountain warfare. 
 
 The natives of the plains, therefore, although they 
 could not altogether ignore the existence of the hill 
 tribes, yet looked on them politically as hors de com- 
 bat. The indifference which the hillmen displayed 
 towards the politics of Hindustan was, therefore, 
 abundantly returned by the natives of the plains, 
 who felt utterly unconcerned in the fierce contests 
 which were constantly occurring, especially towards 
 the middle and close of the eighteenth century, between 
 rival hill Rajahs of whose names even they were
 
 HISTOEICAL OBSCUEITIES. 265 
 
 ignorant, or between petty principalities of whose 
 existence they were hardly aware. 
 
 It is in a great measure owing to this feeling of 
 indifference that we now know so little of the sepa- 
 rate and individual states of which this vast mountain 
 republic, extending over territory upwards of eight 
 hundred miles in length, was composed. The names 
 even of many of them are forgotten ; the origin of the 
 state of Gorkha, the most warlike and powerful among 
 them, is little better than conjectural; and of the 
 Niwar kingdom of Nipal itself — the most important, 
 the most populous, and the most highly civilized of 
 them all, and the only one which had any regular 
 intercourse with the plains — we cannot say we know 
 with certainty anything of its annals, or of its people, 
 until towards the close of the eighteenth century, when, 
 the British power being firmly established in Bengal, 
 the last prince of the Niwar dynasty, in his last efforts 
 against Gorkha aggressions, appealed to our arms for 
 ' aid in expelling the Gorkha invader from the Valley 
 of JNTipal. 
 
 The circumstances which led to this appeal are 
 curious and interesting. It is from this date (1767) that 
 our political relations with Nipal commence.* For 
 
 * The first political transaction between the British and the 
 Nipalese after the Gorkha conqiiest was the following one : — The 
 hill country of the Eajah of Makwanpur having come into the 
 possession of the Nipalese by right of concpiest in 1772, they 
 claimed also the Makwanpur lowlands in the Terai, for which the 
 Makwanpur Eajah had been accustomed to pay to the British, as
 
 266 HISTORY OF NIPAL. 
 
 some years previous the British had carried on a 
 rather extensive trade with the Niwars, but no 
 Treaties, or political connections with the country or 
 people, had been formed. The British had always 
 looked on the reigning Rajah of Kathmandu as neces- 
 sarily ruler of Nipal, although the contemporary 
 Rajahs of Bhatgaon and Patan held territory equal to 
 and sometimes exceeding that of the former prince. 
 The slight intercourse which had existed between the 
 British and the Niwars had been purely of a commer- 
 cial character, and no occasion had offered, nor indeed 
 had been desired, for contracting political obligations 
 between the two Governments. The invasion of the 
 Valley of Nipal by Prithi Narayan at the head of a 
 Gorkha army, led to our taking a more decided in- 
 terest in the affairs of that country. 
 
 From the published account of Father Guiseppe, 
 who was in the valley at the period of the invasion and 
 was an eye-witness of many of the scenes which he 
 describes, it appears that the Sardars of Patan had 
 placed on the throne Gainprejas, a man of courage as 
 well as great influence through the country. He was 
 
 tribute, one elephant annually. The Nipalese agreed to do the 
 same, and actually paid us an elephant annually as tribute until 
 1801, when we relinquished it in the Treaty of Commerce and 
 Alliance. Thus, within three years of the conquest of Nipal, 
 Gorkha shrewdness and desire for gain induced them to pocket 
 their pride, and enabled them to acquire a large tract of cultivated 
 land on the easy condition of paying one elephant a year into the 
 Company's commissariat.
 
 DALMADAN SAH. 267 
 
 afterwards deposed, and, after some years of conten- 
 tion, they made an offer of the throne to Prithi Narayan, 
 King of Gorkka. Pritki Narayan deputed kis youngest 
 brotker, Dalmadan Sah, to govern tke kingdom of 
 Patan for kim. Dalmadan Sak,* once establisked on 
 tke tkrone, refused to acknowledge tke authority of 
 his brother, and he was supported by the people and 
 Sardars for some time in carrying on war against him. 
 
 After a time Dalmadan Sah in his turn was de- 
 posed, and Taiz Ner Sing, a poor man, but of the 
 royal blood, was placed upon the throne by the Sardars 
 and people of Patan. 
 
 Meantime Ranjit Mai, King of Bhatgaon, became en- 
 gaged in war with the kings both of Patan and Kath- 
 mandu ; and applied for assistance to Prithi Narayan, 
 who readily afforded it, hoping by this means to 
 recover the throne of Patan, which had already some 
 years before been voluntarily offered to him by the 
 
 * This Dalmadan Sah left one son, whose eye-sight was de- 
 stroyed by Ean Bahadur (Swanii as he was called after his abdi- 
 cation) in order to disqualify him from the throne, and prevent 
 him from ever gaining it. On Ran Bahadur's death without a 
 legitimate heir (and both his children were illegitimate) the 
 crown would have reverted to this lad, by name Kula Chandra 
 Sah, as the legitimate heir to the throne, being own nephew to 
 Prithi Narayan. Kan Bahadur destroyed his eye-sight when a 
 child by pouring the milky juice of the cactus into his eyes. 
 
 February, 1854. — Kula Chandra Sah is now alive, very old, and 
 stone blind. I met him at Thappatalli, where he had gone to pay 
 his respects to Jang Bahadur. He has been, in his day, a mis- 
 chievous intriguer against the Thappas, he himself having always 
 been a warm ally of the Pandis.
 
 268 HISTORY OF NIPAL. 
 
 nobles of that principality, and from which his own 
 brother Dalmadan Sah had been deposed and driven 
 into exile. Ranjit Mai, however, soon discovered 
 that his new ally, taking advantage of the dissensions 
 which existed among the kings and nobles of the 
 different principalities, was intriguing to possess him- 
 self, supported as he was by an army of Gorkhas, of the 
 whole country of Nipal. The King of Bhatgaon, there- 
 fore, came to friendly terms with the sovereigns of 
 Patan and Kathmandu, and the three princes united 
 their arms to defend their own possessions and to en- 
 deavour to expel Prithi Narayan and his army from the 
 country. Prithi Narayan succeeded in securing in his 
 interest many of the mountain chiefs, especially those 
 connected with or feudatory to the principality of 
 Patan, by promises to keep them in possession of their 
 jagiers and largely to augment their authority and im- 
 portance. By their assistance chiefly he gained pos- 
 session of all the mountains which surround the Valley 
 of Nipal, and built numerous small forts upon their 
 summits, in which his troops were stationed, and from 
 which they were able to command all the approaches to 
 the valley. Then collecting his forces, he entered the 
 valley and laid siege to the city of Kirtipur, antici- 
 pating little or no opposition. Kirtipur is situated in 
 the south-west quarter of the valley, and stands alone 
 upon and around the level crest of a hill, about two 
 or three hundred feet above the surrounding plain. 
 It was strengthened on all sides by a wall which en- 
 circled the whole town, having in it a few gates which
 
 GAINPREJAS. 269 
 
 were strongly fortified * ; while within were several 
 buildings which acted as fortresses, especially in the 
 upper part of the town, around and supporting the 
 durbar, which was situated at the highest point of 
 the hill. Considering the rude materials with which 
 war was then carried on, Kirtipur may be said to have 
 been a very strong, if not an impregnable, post of 
 defence. At this time Kirtipur was subject to the 
 King of Patan, and to him the inhabitants naturally 
 looked for support ; but none being afforded to them, 
 they applied for assistance to Gainprejas, the deposed 
 king of Patan. He promptly inarched with an army 
 to their relief, fought a pitched battle with the forces 
 of the King of Gorkha, and gained a complete victory. 
 A brother of the King of Gorkha was killed on the 
 field of battle, and Prithi Narayan himself narrowly 
 escaped with his life by fleeing to the mountains. 
 
 The people of Kirtipur then elected Gainprejas as 
 their king. Having failed in this attack, Prithi Narayan 
 attempted to starve the country into submission by 
 causing a famine. With this object he posted troops 
 at all the passes of the mountains, to prevent any 
 provisions being supplied to the inhabitants of the 
 
 * The ruins of these forts still exist on several hills. On " Deo- 
 choak " there are four, the branches of which are very distinct. 
 On the low range of hill connecting Nagarjun with Kukanni there 
 are three or four others. On the east side of the valley, on the 
 hill of Changu Narayan, there are rather extensive remains of 
 fortified forts, which were probably occupied by the Gorkhas 
 during their operations against Bhatgaon.
 
 270 HISTORY OF NIPAL. 
 
 valley. Every man, woman, or child detected or sus- 
 pected of violating the orders he issued on this sub- 
 ject, was hanged immediately, and Father Guiseppe 
 saw the bodies of many such offenders hanging on 
 the trees by the road-side. 
 
 Not gaining his object by these means, he had 
 recourse to the assistance of that ever-intriguing class, 
 the Brahmans, and by their means fomented dissen- 
 sions among the leading nobles of Nipal, and attached 
 many of them to his party by holding forth liberal and 
 enticing promises. When he thought he had a party 
 sufficiently strong he again advanced with his army 
 to Kirtipur, and laid siege to it on the north-west 
 quarter, that he might avoid exposing his army 
 between the two cities of Patan and Kathmandu. 
 After the siege had lasted several months, Prithi 
 Narayan sent a message demanding the regency of 
 the town. An insulting and exasperating answer was 
 returned to him, fastened to an arrow. Enraged at 
 their still holding out, he ordered an immediate 
 attempt to storm the town on every side ; but the 
 bravery of the inhabitants defeated all the efforts of 
 the Gorkhas, who, after losing a large number of their 
 men, retreated, and, raising the siege a second time, 
 withdrew their army to the hills. A brother of the 
 King of Gorkha, named Suru Partab, was wounded 
 by an arrow during the attempt to storm the town, 
 but was afterwards cured of his wound by a member 
 of Father Guiseppe's mission. 
 
 After some months, Prithi Narayan, collecting all his
 
 GAINPEEJAS. 271 
 
 forces, sent them for the third time to besiege Kirtipur. 
 The inhabitants defended themselves with their usual 
 bravery for six or seven months ; at the end of which 
 time the three kings of Nipal assembled with their 
 forces at Kathmandu, and determined to march a body 
 of troops to the relief of Kirtipur. At this critical time 
 a noble of Patau, a personal enemy of Gainprejas, went 
 over to the Gorkhas, and treacherously led their army 
 into the lower part of the town. The gallant inhabi- 
 tants might, and would, still have defended them- 
 selves, having many fortresses and strongholds in the 
 upper part of the town to which they could retreat 
 if necessary. But the wily Gorkha proclaimed a gene- 
 ral amnesty, and the inhabitants, greatly exhausted 
 by the length of the siege, surrendered themselves 
 prisoners upon the faith of it. The Gorkhas imme- 
 diately seized all the gates and fortresses within 
 the town ; and two days afterwards, by order of Prithi 
 Narayan, some of the principal inhabitants were put 
 to death, and the noses and lips of every one, even of 
 the infants who were not actually found in the arms 
 of their mothers, were cut off ; none escaping except 
 the few who could play on wind instruments, and 
 who might be of use, therefore, as musicians in the 
 army of the conqueror. Gainprejas himself, with a 
 few followers, escaped to Patan. The name of the 
 town was ordered to be changed into Naskatapur, or 
 the City of Cut Noses. 
 
 Immediately after these brutal orders had been 
 most fully executed, Prithi Narayan marched his army
 
 272 HISTORY OF NIPAL. 
 
 against Patan, and laid siege to the town on its 
 western side. After several engagements, in which 
 much blood was shed on both sides, the courage of 
 the townsmen began to fail, the Gorkkas having 
 threatened that, unless they surrendered within five 
 days, they should not only have their noses cut off, but 
 also their right hands, — a barbarity which, no doubt, 
 would have been practised without compunction. 
 
 Just as the men of Patan were on the point of sur- 
 rendering, the siege was one night suddenly raised, 
 and the Gorkha army led off towards the plains, 
 in consequence of Prithi Narayan having become 
 aware of the unexpected appearance in the Terai of a 
 body of British troops, under Captain Kinloch, who 
 were marching to the assistance of the King of Nipal. 
 
 It appears that in the beginning of 1 767, during the 
 third and last siege of Kirtipur, the Niwar Rajah 
 had appealed to the British for aid against the King 
 of Gorkha. Anxious to maintain the advantageous 
 trade, by which gold and many other valuable com- 
 modities were imported from Tibet and Nipal into 
 Bengal, the British Government despatched Captain 
 Kinloch, with a small force, to the assistance of the 
 Niwar Rajah. Although we do not know the amount 
 or value of this trade with Nipal and Tibet, it must 
 have been considerable to have warranted a direct 
 interference on our part, to the extent of arms, for 
 its protection. 
 
 Captain Kinloch reached the foot of the Nipal hills 
 in the middle of the rains of 1767, after suffering
 
 TRMFLK OT 8AKTA 8INOHA, AT PATAK.
 
 SIEGE OP PATAN. 273 
 
 much from sickness and want of provisions, he was 
 obliged to return from before the fort of Harihar- 
 pur, in the district of Makwanpur, beyond which 
 point he was unable to penetrate. Though the result 
 of this expedition was most unfortunate, as far as the 
 prestige of the British name at the time was con- 
 cerned, yet it had the good effect of creating a suc- 
 cessful diversion, which drew off the Gorkha army 
 from before Patan, and so postponed the fall of that 
 city for nearly a year. 
 
 Finding that Kinloch's force had retreated, the 
 Gorkha army returned to Nipal, and ascertaining that 
 Gainprejas, who had applied to the British for aid, 
 had left Patan and was in Kathmandu, they at once 
 proceeded to the latter city and laid siege to it. By 
 means of the intriguing Brahmans, the Gorkhas 
 succeeded in cajoling Gainprejas and his followers 
 by false promises and assertions, and one night in 
 September 1768, during the celebration of the Niwar 
 festival of " Indra Jatra," they introduced secretly a 
 large body of troops into the city. Gainprejas, with 
 three hundred of his best troops, with difficulty 
 escaped to Patan on the same night. Having thus 
 gained possession of Kathmandu, Prithi Narayan again 
 laid siege to Patan. Knowing that he had no chance 
 of reducing the city by fair means, he again had re- 
 course to the agency of the Brahmans. The King of 
 Patan (Tez Ner Sing) and Gainprejas did all in their 
 power to keep up the courage of their troops, and of 
 the townsmen; but finding that their nobles and 
 I. 18
 
 274 HISTORY OF NIPAL. 
 
 followers, fearful of Prithi Narayan's vengeance and 
 cajoled by the false promises of the Brahmans, were 
 inclined to surrender, the two gallant princes retired to 
 Bhatgaon ; and Patan, without a struggle, was surren- 
 dered to the Gorkhas. A general plunder of the city 
 followed, the nobles were all massacred, and every kind 
 of brutality practised on the wretched inhabitants. 
 
 Amidst these scenes of cruelty it is gratifying to be 
 able to record that, through the interest of one of 
 the sons of Prithi Narayan, Father Guiseppe and the 
 Catholic mission were allowed to retire with all the 
 Christians into the possessions of the English. They 
 settled at Puri, about six miles from Bettia, and at that 
 village the little colony of Roman Catholic Christians 
 has remained until the present day. At the commence- 
 ment of 1769 Prithi Narayan acquired possession of 
 the city of Bhatgaon, by means of the same treachery 
 and intrigue which had previously gained for him 
 Kathmandu and Patan. Gainprejas, with a few 
 followers, in a gallant attempt to escape, was wounded 
 in the foot, and died a few days afterwards. Ran jit 
 Mai, being very old and infirm, was treated with 
 kindness and respect and obtained permission to retire 
 to Benares, where he soon afterwards died. Tez Ner 
 Sing, the King of Patan, appears to have rendered 
 himself in some way personally obnoxious to Prithi 
 Narayan; he was certainly confined in irons until his 
 death, if he was not actually put to death by order of 
 the conqueror. The mother of Gainprejas, who was 
 blind from old age, was allowed to retire to Benares ;
 
 PRITHT VATMYAX's CONQUESTS. 275 
 
 but before she started she was deprived of nil her 
 jewels. Jai Prakash, Rajah of Kathmandu, was im- 
 prisoned after the fall of his capital; and he did not 
 long survive the loss of his liberty and of his throne. 
 
 The fall of the three capitals, Kathmandu, Patau, 
 and Bhatgaon, was at once followed by the submission 
 to the conqueror of the whole country of Nipal. 
 Prithi Narayan was a cowardly, cunning, and in- 
 human prince, and on gaining the throne of Nipal he 
 perpetrated the greatest atrocities, and massicred 
 almost every person of distinction connected with 
 the late Niwar dynasty. On the conquest of the 
 valley, he dropped the title, though he retained the 
 crown of Grorkha, and ho assumed, and his descen- 
 dants have ever since borne, the simple title of King of 
 Nipal. The conquest of the valley, from the first 
 siege of Kirtipur in 1765, till the fall of Bhatgaon in 
 the commencement of 1709, occupied four years. We 
 are quite ignorant of the details connected with the 
 several sieges and engagements, nor are we in any 
 single case informed of the numbers of troops engaged, 
 either on the Niwar or the G-orkha side. No one can 
 deny to the Niwars, especially to the men of Kirtipur, 
 the credit of having displayed the most heroic bravery 
 in defence of their capital; while the G-orkhas have 
 earned eternal disgrace by the savage barbarity witli 
 which they signalized all their triumphs. It is said 
 that the Grorkha army which accompanied Prithi 
 Narayan to Nipal, was very weak in numbers, that the 
 men were ill-accoutred, ill-armed, and undisciplined, 
 
 18 *
 
 276 HISTOKY OF NIPAL. 
 
 and that their chief had not the means either of 
 recruiting their numbers or rendering them more 
 efficient. This is assigned as a reason by the Gor- 
 khas for the length of time it took them to reduce the 
 valley to submission. It may very probably be true 
 that their army was, in every way, in a most inefficient 
 state, but this fact does not detract from the gallant 
 patriotic spirit shown by the Niwars, under the high- 
 spirited and heroic Gainprejas, but only makes it still 
 more evident that, had it not been for the unfortunate 
 failure of Kinloch's expedition, the timely assistance 
 of the British would have maintained the Niwar 
 dynasty on the throne of Nipal.
 
 277 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 THE GORKHAS IN NIPAL. 
 
 Previous to their invasion of ISTipal, very little is 
 known of the Gorkhas as a nation, or of the dynasty 
 which ruled over them. Their royal family claims to 
 be lineally descended from the Rajput princes of Udai- 
 pur. It is stated that on the Mohammadan invasion 
 of Rajputana in the twelfth century, when several 
 branches of the reigning family of that country, pre- 
 ferring exile to slavery, dispersed themselves over 
 Hindustan, one branch, from which the present dynasty 
 of Nipal is descended, migrated towards the Hima- 
 layas, and settled themselves and their followers in 
 the lower range of hills, constituting the country of 
 Palpa. From Palpa they advanced into the adjacent 
 hills, and ultimately gained possession of the kingdom 
 of Gorkha, over the whole of which country they 
 firmly established their authority, and from its capital 
 city they derived their national name of Gorkhali. Not
 
 278 HISTOM' OP NIPAL. 
 
 contented with the original limits of the hill state of 
 Gorkha, they gradually encroached upon the lands of 
 the neighbouring Rajahs, until, in the course of some 
 generations, they had rendered subject to their sway 
 the greater part of the country watered by the seven 
 mountain streams which unite, near the plains, to form 
 the river Gandak. This region is known, in their 
 own language as the " Sapt Gandaki," or country of 
 the seven Gandaks. The most eastern of these seven 
 rivers is the Trisulganga, and it formed the boundary 
 between the kingdoms of Gorkha and Nipal. For 
 some six generations the Gorkhas appear to have 
 occupied themselves chiefly in consolidating their 
 power and arranging the internal government of their 
 newly acquired territories. When, however, Prithi Na- 
 rayan, son and successor of Ner Bhopal Sah, ascended 
 the throne, the national feeling was again directed 
 towards foreign conquest. This ambitious prince 
 invaded, subdued, and annexed to the Gorkha crown 
 the whole of the dominions of the three kings of 
 Nipal. The two countries of Gorkha and Nipal 
 were united into one kingdom, under one name, 
 and ruled over by one prince ; and from that date 
 (1769) to the present time no attempt has ever been 
 made by the Niwars, or any other party, to dispute 
 the authority, or to disturb the uninterrupted succes- 
 sion, of the Gorkhnli dynasty to the throne of Nipal. 
 
 Having established his power in Nipal, Prithi 
 Narayan crossed the Dudli Kosi river, the eastern 
 boundary of bis new dominions, over-ran with his
 
 PBITHI NAEAVAx's SUCCESSOES. 279 
 
 army the countries of the Kirantis and of the Lim- 
 bus, annexed them to his own, and extended the 
 frontier of Nipal to the Michi river, which separated 
 it from Sikkim. 
 
 Prithi Narayan did not long enjoy his newly acquired 
 honours. This active and energetic prince died in 
 1771, leaving two sons, the elder of whom, Singh 
 Partab, ascended the throne on his father's death. 
 Soon becoming jealous of his younger brother, Baha- 
 dur Sah, he imprisoned him, and it was not without 
 considerable difficulty that Gusraj Misr (the Royal 
 Guru) obtained his release on condition of his going 
 into exile. Singh Partab added to the conquests of 
 his father some districts lying to the Bouth-wesl 
 of Nipal (Tannahung, Someshwar, Upadrong, and 
 others). He died in 1775, leaving one legitimate son 
 Pan Bahadur Sah, who succeeded to the throne, 
 being at the time an infant in arms. He left also 
 an illegitimate sou, by a Niwar woman, named Sher 
 Bahadur. On Singh Partab's death, his brother Sah 
 Bahadur returned at once to Kathmandu from his 
 exile at Bettiah, placed his infant nephew on the 
 throne, and himself assumed the government oi' ; 
 country as Regent. Constant quarrels, however, took 
 place between him and the child's mother. He was 
 after a time imprisoned, and then driven into exile \'<>v 
 the second time. The infant king's mother, Rani 
 Rajendra Lakshmi, a woman of remarkable enei 
 and talent, then assumed the reins of government. 
 During her regency she introduced many improve-
 
 280 HISTORY OF NIPAL. 
 
 ments into the army, and subdued and annexed several 
 petty states, among them Palpa and Kashki, all lying 
 to the westward of Gorkha. 
 
 On her death Bahadur Sah returned to Nipal, re- 
 assumed the Regency, and exercised unlimited power. 
 While Regent, he either absolutely annexed, or ren- 
 dered tributary to Nipal, all the estates lying between 
 Kashki and Sirinagar, including the territories of 
 the Chaubisia and of the Baisia Rajahs, or the 
 dominions of forty-six petty princes, all of whom were 
 Rajputs and were previously tributary to the Rajah of 
 Jumla. The Chaubisia principalities lay immediately 
 to the west of Gorkha ; and the Baisia states are 
 still further west, lying between Chaubisia and Doti. 
 The allegiance of all these different chiefs was secured 
 either by hostages retained at Kathmandu, or by mar- 
 riages contracted between them and the reigning 
 family of Nipal. Ran Bahadur, the young king, still a 
 minor, was married to a daughter of the Gulmi Rajah. 
 
 On the conquest of the Valley of Nipal, the British 
 Government had acknowledged the King of Gorkha as 
 Sovereign of Nipal, and, as such, had restored to him 
 the lands which had been seized by Captain Kinloch in 
 the Terai of Bettiah in 1767. With the exception of 
 this recognition there is no trace of any connection 
 between the British and Nipal Governments from the 
 period of the Gorkha conquest until the administration 
 of Lord Cornwallis, when a treaty of commerce was 
 made by Mr. Duncan, then Resident at Benares, 
 between Nipal and the Company, dated March 1792.
 
 COMMERCIAL TREATY. 281 
 
 This treaty was a purely commercial one, and regu- 
 lated the duties on imports and exports between the 
 territories of the Company and those of Nipal.* The 
 articles of this treaty were not fairly carried out by 
 the Nipal Government, and the treaty became a dead 
 letter. At the time when this treaty was negotiated, 
 Nipal was threatened with invasion by the forces of 
 the Emperor of China. The hope of securing our 
 
 * The principle of this treaty was that a duty of two and a half 
 per cent, ad valorem should be reciprocally levied by either Go- 
 vernment on all articles of trade transported froai the dominions 
 of one State into or through the dominions of the other. 
 
 In November 1834, various discussions having taken place be- 
 tween the two Governments concerning their commercial relations, 
 the British Government determined to set the matter of the Treaty 
 of 1792 at rest, and they officially referred it to the Darbar, stating 
 that they attached no importance to the question, and would 
 leave the Darbar to settle the validity or not of the past com- 
 mercial treaties, the Darbar being at liberty to consull its own 
 ideas as to what was best for its own interests. The Darbar for- 
 mally and officially deny the existence of the Treaty of L792, or 
 that it is binding on either parts ; but express a wish to make a 
 new engagement de novo. In March 18o5 the Darbar accord- 
 ingly proposed a draft of a new commercial treaty, having for its 
 object the levy, once for all, at one time and in one place, of an 
 ad valorem duty of four per cent, by both Governments, and at 
 the same time formally rescinding past treaties of 1/'.'- and 1801, 
 and substituting the new one for them. 
 
 The Governor-General, in reply, wished to encourage Nipalese 
 commerce and exempt it from all duty by establishing entire Eree 
 trade between the two countries. The Darbar, suspicious of our 
 having ulterior objects in thus foregoing all present advantages 
 of taxation, reject the proposal, abandon their own new treats, 
 and formally and officially fall back on the status quo ante.
 
 282 HISTORY OP NIPAL. 
 
 neutrality, if not our actual assistance, was the real 
 motive for their apparent willingness to form a treaty 
 with us. 
 
 For many years previous to 1792 the Nipalese had 
 encroached on the territories beyond the Himalaya, 
 and into the plains of eastern Thibet. The Llama of 
 Digarchi, spiritual father to the Emperor of China, 
 applied to the Chinese for assistance, but his appli- 
 cation was unattended to. The Nipalese, becoming 
 emboldened by the apparent indifference of the 
 Chinese, advanced by the Kuti pass to Digarchi, and 
 plundered the sacred temples of that town. The 
 Emperor of China then despatched an army of seventy 
 thousand men, in order to inflict signal punishment on 
 " the robber," as he styled the King of Nipal. This 
 army advanced steadily, and, easily overcoming any 
 resistance the Grorkhas attempted to make, reached 
 Nayakot, only twenty miles from Kathmandu, in Sep- 
 tember 1792. The Nipal Darbar, in despair, submitted 
 to make a hasty and degrading treaty, the exact terms 
 of which are not known to us, with the Chinese 
 authorities. On the approach of the Chinese army the 
 Nipalese applied to Lord Cornwallis for assistance by 
 our arms.* This Lord Cornwallis (15th September 
 
 * The Chinese came by the Kerang pass. The Chinese general, 
 Thung Than, did not descend below the town of Dhaibung or 
 mountain of that name ; but part of his army came to the valley 
 of the Trisulganga. There was an obstinate action at Khatria 
 between the Chinese and the Nipalese, a day's march from Dhai- 
 bung. The Nipalese were beaten.
 
 KIRKI'ATKICJC'S MISSION. 283 
 
 1792) declined to afford, on account of the peace then 
 existing between the British and Chinese, and the 
 danger to our trade with Canton which would ensue 
 should that peace be interrupted. Be, however, 
 offered, as soon as the Tarai opened, to send a British 
 envoy to mediate a peace between China and Nipal. 
 Meantime the Nipalese had succumbed to the Chinese, 
 and the Imperial army had been withdrawn beyond the 
 Himalayas. 
 
 As several subjects of discussion, however, between 
 the British and Nipal Governments, still remained 
 unadjusted, Major Kirkpatrick, the appointed envoy, 
 though the ostensible object of his mission was now 
 over, was allowed to proceed to Kathmandu, where he 
 arrived on the 1st of March 179-3, being the firsl 
 Englishman who had ever visited Nipal. 
 
 The chief objects he had orders to carry out were 
 of a commercial nature; he was to try and induce 
 the Nipalese to act up to the Treaty of L792, for the 
 encouragement of trade and traders, especially the 
 woollen trade with Tibet, through Nipal; and as a 
 means of protecting such trade, as well as improv- 
 ing the friendship between the two nations, he was 
 
 At Rassoa, midway in Dhaibung and the K rang pass, is 
 
 a stream with a bridge over it- and the N sputed the 
 
 passage of the bridge with the Chinese for thre • days. 
 
 There was an obstinate action immediately below the Deorali 
 (Gosainthan Mount). The Nipalese were driven back to Dhunehu j 
 thence to Khabora.
 
 284 HIST0EY OF NIPAL. 
 
 to urge on them the establishment of a resident 
 British officer at the Court of Nipal. Unable to effect 
 any of these objects, — the semblance even of coin- 
 ciding with our views not being kept up by the Darbar, 
 now that the exigency which had induced them to 
 apply to us was passed, — Kirkpatrick returned to 
 Bengal; and so terminated our first mission to the 
 Gorkha Court. 
 
 The Government of Nipal remained in the hands of 
 Bahadur Sah as Eegent until 1795, when his nephew 
 Ran Bahadur, who during his minority was purposely 
 kept in a state of profligacy and ignorance, suspecting 
 a design on the part of his uncle to keep him in per- 
 petual pupilage, if not actually to usurp the crown, 
 suddenly threw him into prison, and in prison he died 
 a few days afterwards, it is supposed by his nephew's 
 hand. Ran Bahadur ascended the throne, and assumed 
 the management of the State, at the age of twenty, 
 in 1795. He had two wives. His first and senior, the 
 Maharani, was a daughter of the Gulmi Rajah. She 
 was a virtuous and high-minded princess, but unfortu- 
 nately was childless. She was soon neglected by the 
 King, and her bed deserted. His second wife was the 
 daughter not of a Rajput, but of a Parbattiah Chatri, 
 and she bore him one son only, Ranudat Sah, who 
 was the legitimate heir to the throne.* In addition 
 
 * His legitimacy is questionable, in consequence of his mother 
 not being a .Rajput, and. the royal family can marry only Rajputs. 
 In this view, both Kan Bahadur's children — Ranudat Sah, as well 
 as Uarwan Jodh Bahrain Sah — were illegitimate; and it was in
 
 ABDICATION OF RAN BAHADUR. 285 
 
 to these two Ranis, Ran Bahadur had an amour 
 with a girl, the daughter of a Brahman, but to 
 whom he was not, and by the laws of caste could not 
 be, married; by her he had a son in 1795, necessarily 
 illegitimate, but whom he afterwards adopted as his 
 heir, in exclusion of his legitimate son by his junior 
 wife. 
 
 Ran Bahadur remained on the throne, ruling with 
 great tyranny and guilty often of the most violent and 
 atrocious acts, until 1800, when, as he was decidedly 
 insane, he was compelled to abdicate, by his all- 
 powerful and able minister Damudar Pandi, backed by 
 the whole of the priesthood, who were bitterly hostile 
 to the King, in consequence of various outrages 
 which he had perpetrated against their sacred body 
 and religion, on the occasion of his Brahman paramour 
 having poisoned herself, after recovering from an 
 attack of smallpox, when she found that she had 
 lost her beauty, and with it her influence over the 
 King.* Having adopted his illegitimate son, Garwan 
 
 consequence of fearing that, after his death, both of them might 
 be set aside in favour of Dalmadan Sah's child (who, as Prithi 
 Naxayan's own nephew, was unquestionably the legitimate heir to 
 the throne), that Ean Bahadur destroyed the eye-sighl of this 
 young child by pouring the milky juice of the cactus into his 
 eyes. 
 
 * On this occasion Ean Bahadur vented his rage on the temples 
 and images of Devi, or Parvati, in several parts of the valley. 
 Some small temples to the goddess in the neighbourhood of Sam- 
 bhunath, one or two near, but not in, Pashpatinath, and the 
 large temple to Devi, known as Talleju, adjoining the darbar in
 
 286 HISTORY OF NIPAL. 
 
 Joclli Bikrara Sah, Han Bahadur abdicated in his favour 
 and retired to Benares. The bastard prince, then aged 
 between four and five, was placed on the throne, and 
 all ranks swore allegiance to him. To reconcile the 
 younger Rani to the supersession of her own son, 
 Ranudat Sah, who was considered by many to be the 
 only legitimate heir to the throne, she herself was 
 appointed Regent, and her child, the young prince, 
 aged six, was nominated Chauntra, or head adviser 
 to the Crown. Chauntra Sher Bahadur Sah (illegiti- 
 mate son of Parfcab Singh, by a Niwar woman, and 
 consequently half-brother to Ran Bahadur) was also 
 appointed guardian and Regent for this juvenile 
 minister (the Rani and Sher Bahadur being joint- 
 Regfents). Damudar Pandi and Bim Sah Chauntra were 
 the leading ministers. The Maharani, or senior, but 
 childless, Rani, accompanied Ran Bahadur to Benares 
 and remained with him there for some time, but she 
 was so insulted and maltreated by him that she soon 
 became anxious to return to Nipal, not only to escape 
 
 Kathmandu, were desecrated and defiled by him in every conceiv- 
 able way. The shrines were covered with human excrement and 
 all sorts of filth, and worship in these temples forbidden. No 
 one dared oppose the violence of the King, and the shrines and 
 temples remained defiled and imworshipped till after his abdica- 
 tion, when they were purified and reopened for general worship. 
 
 The story about his battering down the temples at Pashpati 
 with artillery, &c, as given by Smith, is mere fiction. The temple 
 at Pashpatinath is devoted to Siva ; the King's fury was wreaked 
 solely upon those in honour of Devi,
 
 A NEW TREATY WTTH XIPAL. 287 
 
 from the tyranny of her husband, but that she might 
 establish her lawful right of being Regent for the 
 young Rajah, in place of the younger Hani who had 
 usurped that office. The ex-Rajah in retiring was 
 accompanied by young Bhim Sen, who at that time 
 occupied almost a menial appointment about the royal 
 person, and several chiefs and followers of the Thappa 
 party. The Rajah was very well treated by the 
 British Government, who appointed Captain Knox as 
 his Political Agent, and advanced considerable sums 
 of money at different times to defray the expenses of 
 himself and his attendants. 
 
 The presence of the ex-Rajah in our territories 
 made the Nipalese once more willing to enter into 
 terms of alliance with the British Government. They 
 were apprehensive that, without the restraint of a 
 treaty on our part, we might seize the first occasion 
 to employ oar power in reinstating Rajah Ran Baha- 
 dur on the throne. A " Treaty of Commerce and 
 Alliance" was accordingly formed in 1801, and by the 
 terms of it the Darbar agreed to receive a permanenl 
 British Resident at Kathmandu. In this treaty, as in 
 that of 1792, political considerations were made sub- 
 ordinate to those of commerce. The chief points 
 insisted on were — first, the encouragement and prol - 
 tion of the trade through Nipal, between fadia and 
 Tibet; secondly, the repayment by the Darbar of the 
 sums of mo. icy which the British Govern i enl had ad- 
 vancedtoRan Bahadur, when at Benares ; and thirdly, 
 an arrangement for the settlement of boundary dis-
 
 288 HISTORY OP NIPAL. 
 
 putes, and the surrender of Dacoits, Thugs, and other 
 fugitives whom we were unable to secure in conse- 
 quence of their having hitherto always found an 
 asylum in the territories of Nipal. In accordance 
 with this treaty Captain Knox was appointed as 
 British Resident at the Court of Nipal. Considerable 
 delay occurred between the time of Knox's leaving 
 Patna and his arrival at Nipal, in consequence of the 
 constant quarrels and jealousies which arose among 
 the deputies who were sent to meet him and escort 
 him to the capital. At last, through the efforts of 
 Damudar Pandi, these obstacles were removed, and 
 Captain Knox arrived at Kathmandu in April 1802. 
 He was accompanied by Dr. Buchanan Hamilton and 
 two other officers. 
 
 Lachman Sah, son of Bim Sah Chauntria, and 
 Karbir Pandi, son of Damudar Pandi, with a third 
 Sardar, a son of a Nipal chief, were sent to Patna, to 
 remain there as hostages for the proper treatment of 
 the British mission, and as pledges of the sincerity of 
 the Nipalese Government. While at Patna all their 
 expenses were defrayed by the British Government, 
 and they were treated with every mark of respect and 
 consideration. At the time when Knox was despatched 
 to Nipal by Lord Wellesley, the Nipalese had not com- 
 pleted the conquest of Kamaon or the more westerly 
 hills ; the possessions of Nipal then were very nearly 
 the same as they are now, except that at present she 
 holds Doti, which at that time was an independent 
 state. Knox was accredited to the junior Rani as
 
 KNOX'S MISSION TO NIPAL. 289 
 
 Regent, and on his arrival, Damudar Pandi was the 
 First Minister of State. He was a man of talent, 
 firmness, and moderation ; these qualities, added to 
 the reputation of personal courage and gallantry as a 
 soldier, gave him great influence, not only over the 
 Eani, but in the councils of the State. His col- 
 leagues — Bim Sah Chauntria, who was Governor of 
 Kamaon in the war of 1814-15, and G-ujraj Misr — 
 were able and moderate men. These three ministers 
 were all openly in favour of the British alliance ; yet 
 their characters for honesty stood so high that they 
 were never suspected, even by the Nipalese, of any 
 political corruption. Captain Knox wished to take 
 all three ministers into the pay of the British ; but 
 they set too high a value on their own, as well as 
 their country's, independence to be induced to consent 
 to the proposal. 
 
 For some months after his arrival, all Knox's efforts 
 to obtain the signing of the treaty were unsuccessful. 
 He was treated with courtesy, but not with confi- 
 dence or cordiality, by the Darbar, who showed itself 
 on that, as it always has on every other, occasion to 
 be averse to actual treaties, or intimate connections 
 with the British, looking on such relations as the 
 first step to the loss of national independence. At 
 last, however, news arrived that the senior Maharani 
 had left the ex-king at Benares, and was actually 
 on the frontier. This brought matters to a crisis ; 
 for, as the Maharani was known to have a strong 
 party, among the Thappas, in her favour at the 
 I. 19
 
 290 HISTORY OF NIPAL. 
 
 capital, the Regent Rani was fearful that the British 
 might espouse her cause if any slight were shown 
 to Captain Knox; she, therefore, at length formally 
 received and ratified the treaty of alliance which Knox 
 had brought to Nipal. 
 
 The Regent Rani was also apprehensive that the 
 return of the Maharani would lead to the restoration 
 of Ran Bahadur, as the Maharani would naturally do 
 all in her power to recommend herself to the favour 
 of the ex-Rajah, in hopes of bearing him a son, who 
 should succeed to the throne, and displace the bastard 
 Garwan Jodh Bikram Sah, who then occupied it. 
 
 In November 1802 the Maharani crossed the fron- 
 tier, and was reported to be en route for Kathmandu. 
 An armed force was sent against her, who made 
 prisoners of all her male attendants, but allowed the 
 Queen herself to escape, with her female escort, to 
 the plains. 
 
 Having ascertained that the feelings of the soldiery 
 generally were in her favour, the Maharani, in Feb- 
 ruary 1803, again crossed the frontier, and advanced 
 towards the capital. The troops sent to oppose her 
 progress everywhere espoused her cause. She entered 
 the valley in triumph ; and as she approached Kath- 
 mandu, the Regent Rani, in alarm, fled to Pashpati- 
 nath, taking the young Rajah with her. The junior 
 Rani was deposed, and the young Prince brought 
 back and placed on the throne under the charge of 
 the Maharani as Regent. Damudar Pandi was con- 
 tinued in full power as sole Minister, and the Pandi
 
 WITHDRAWAL OF THE BRITISH MISSION. 201. 
 
 party generally were installed in office.* The de- 
 posed Rani, after executing a deed of formal surrender 
 of her late office as Regent, was, through the mild- 
 ness of the Maharani's temper, allowed a full pardon 
 and exemption for all past transactions. This revo- 
 lution is remarkable as having been the only one 
 recorded in Nipalese history which was unattended 
 with any bloodshed. 
 
 Although the new Regent at first made friendly 
 professions, yet it was well known that she was 
 thoroughly averse to the British alliance; and Danm- 
 dar Pandi, who was in favour of acting up to the 
 recent treaty, and was opposed to the restoration of 
 Ran Bahadur, was daily losing his influence over the 
 Maharani. About this time Umar Singh Thappa 
 (the Hero of Malaun) was taken into the Cabinet. 
 Under these circumstances, finding that all his efforts 
 to induce the Nipalese Government to fulfil the terms 
 of the treaty of alliance were unavailing, and that the 
 Darbar was gradually resuming its former unfriendly 
 tone, and manifesting more and more clearly its 
 strong repugnance to his continuance as Resident at 
 Kathmandu, Captain Knox and party withdrew from 
 Nipal and returned to the British provinces in March 
 1803. 
 
 * In Knox's time, as now, the chiefs were possessors of autho- 
 rity derived directly from the Eajah, and continued to them ;it his 
 discretion; they were not then, nor are they now, hereditary 
 holders of tracts of country, with annexed powers of government 
 therein, on condition of feudal service to the State. 
 
 19 *
 
 292 HISTORY OF NTPAL. 
 
 Thus ended the second British mission to the 
 Court of Nipal. In January 1804 Lord "Wellesley 
 addressed a letter to the Rajah of Nipal, in which, 
 after adverting to the fact that the Nipalese hostages 
 at Benares " had been treated with every degree of 
 respect and attention, and entertained at the public 
 expense, while the British Resident at Kathmandu 
 had been repeatedly treated with indignity by the 
 members of the Nipal Government, and was ulti- 
 mately compelled, by their misconduct and violation of 
 public faith, to abandon their capital and enter within 
 the Company's territories," he formally renounced and 
 dissolved the alliance between the two States. At 
 the same time he expressed himself as anxious to 
 remain on terms of " amity and peace," but added 
 that, as the alliance was dissolved between the two 
 Governments, he had no reason for keeping the ex- 
 Rajah of Nipal, against his own will, within our terri- 
 tories; and he should, therefore, now yield to the 
 constant wishes of Ran Bahadur to return to Kath- 
 mandu by giving him leave to quit Benares. 
 
 This dissolution of the alliance, involving an abro- 
 gation of the old commercial treaty, left us, with the 
 Nipalese, in the same negative state that we occupied 
 previous to 1792.* 
 
 * Although the two treaties of 1792 and 1801 were thus for- 
 mally abrogated, yet the operation of the treaty of 1 792 practically 
 has continued ever since, only it has been strictly unilateral, or 
 observed only by the British. Nipal goods have been, and still
 
 RETURN OP RAN BAHADUR. 993 
 
 Ran Bahadur immediately availed himself of his 
 liberty, and returned to Nipal, where he was well 
 received by his faithful wife, the Regent Maharani. 
 On his approach to the capital he was met by Damu- 
 dar Pandi, at the head of a large body of troops, who 
 had come out apparently with the intention of oppos- 
 ing his advance. Bim Sen Thappa, who was with 
 the King, and exercised much influence over him, 
 urged his master to seize that favourable opportunitv 
 to at once overthrow the Pandi, and secure the 
 allegiance of the troops who were with him. Ran 
 Bahadur, well knowing the loyalty of the Gorkha 
 soldiery, advanced fearlessly to meet them, and toss- 
 ing his cap into the air, exclaimed, "Now, my brave 
 Gorkhas, who 's for the Sah, and who for the Pandi?" 
 The appeal was successful. The soldiers crowded 
 round the King with acclamations and cries of devo- 
 
 are, charged only two and a half per cent, ad valorem duty l»y 
 us; whilst our merchandise has been, and is, Bubjecl in Nipal, 
 under various forms one way or the other, to treble and quad- 
 ruple of the treaty rates. In all other respects but rate of cus- 
 toms duty, as observed by us only, both treaties after L8(M became 
 a dead letter. The Nipalese profess only to levy two and a half 
 per cent, on British goods ; but tolls are not levied in one lump, 
 nor at onetime; they are collected piecemeal, and repeatedly in 
 different places and under different forms. The merchant has 
 no means of ascertaining the actual authority for these various 
 charges, nor of calculating beforehand their percentage pressure 
 on his profits. In this way the duties levied in Nipal on British 
 articles of trade are swollen easily to from seven to ten per cent, 
 instead of remaining at two and a half per cent.
 
 294 HISTORY OF NIPAL. 
 
 tion ; Damudar Pandi and Ms son, abandoned by 
 their own troops, were seized, put in irons, and car- 
 ried to the rear of the royal procession, which ad- 
 vanced, without further opposition, to Kathmandu ; 
 and Ran Bahadur entered his capital in triumph at 
 the head of the very troops who had been sent to 
 oppose him. 
 
 Damudar Pandi, his son, and a large number of the 
 Pandi party were beheaded at the instigation, it is 
 generally believed, of young Bhim Sen Thappa, who 
 was appointed sole Minister,* who was at that time 
 described by Hamilton as " being as vigorous, ambi- 
 tious, and unprincipled as his savage master." Ran 
 Bahadur, finding that the oath of fidelity to his in- 
 fant, though illegitimate, son, GJ-arwan Jodh Bikram 
 Sah, was considered by the soldiery as still binding 
 upon them, contented himself with the title of Regent, 
 and under that name assumed the government of the 
 country, though, in reality, he exercised the full 
 powers of royalty until his death. 
 
 During his Regency he was guilty of many acts of 
 tyranny, and his violent conduct soon drove a number 
 
 * The conclusion of a Lai Mohur from Ran Bahadur to Bhim 
 Sen, on appointing him Minister, is in these terms : — " If I violate 
 this solemn pledge, may one hundred and twenty grades of my 
 ancestral relations be turned into filth-born insects of hell by 
 the wrath of all the gods and goddesses. If, on the contrary, I 
 keep this pledge, may the gods, in reward, give so many of my 
 ancestors a place in heaven."
 
 MURDER OF RAX n.UTADUB. 295 
 
 of chiefs, who were fearful lest their past connection 
 with the Pandis might bring them to ruin now that 
 Thappa influence was predominant at Court, into a 
 conspiracy with Sher Bahadur (illegitimate half- 
 brother of Ran Bahadur) for the purpose of again 
 getting rid of him. 
 
 Ran Bahadur, having learnt of the existence of the 
 plot, by the advice of Bhim Sen suddenly sent for 
 Sher Bahadur, and suggested to him to quit the 
 capital and join the army then engaged in the con- 
 quest of the western hills. Sher Bahadur, having 
 given an insulting reply, was ordered for immediate 
 execution; instantly drawing his sword, he mortally 
 wounded the Regent, but was the next instant him- 
 self cut down by Bal Nur Singh Konwar, a Thappa 
 chief, who, for that act of gallantry in defence of his 
 Sovereign, was permitted ever after to wear his shield 
 in Court in the Rajah's presence.* 
 
 General Bhim Sen Thappa immediately obtained 
 possession of the person of the young Rajah, then 
 only ten years old, and had him proclaimed King, 
 
 * This Bal Nur Sing Konwa was the father of Genera] Jang B i- 
 hadur. For this act of loyalty he was made a Kaji, and the 
 title and rank of Kaji made hereditary in his family. Jang him- 
 self, in accordance with this privilege, became a Kaji on his 
 father's death about 1840. Bal Nur Sing was wounded Beverely 
 in the left shoulder at the Biege of Kot Kangra, where his father 
 was killed. Jang has in his possession the broken talwar (broken 
 by the violence of the blow) with which his father almost cut 
 Sher Bahadur's body in two.
 
 296 HISTORY OF NIPAL. 
 
 with the Maharani as Regent, and himself as Premier. 
 He forced the junior Rani, who had opposed his 
 claims to Premiership, and always leaned towards the 
 Pandis, to perform satti with her husband's (Ran 
 Bahadur's) corpse ; and under pretext of their having 
 been concerned in Sher Bahadur's conspiracy, caused 
 a large number of chiefs and sardars, opposed to him 
 and his party, to be put to death. Bhim Sen con- 
 tinued as sole Minister of Nipal from this date until 
 1837.* The Maharani Tripur Sundari, who was his 
 firm ally, and is believed to have been bound to him 
 by more tender ties than those of politics, lived until 
 1832, and maintained her influence in the Court and 
 in the country undiminished until her death. She 
 was a legitimate, but left-handed, wife of Ran Baha- 
 dur, having been the daughter of a Thappa jemadar 
 of the troops at the capital. Her death, in 1832, was 
 the first material blow to the power of Bhim Sen. 
 
 * The Nipal chiefs might, and may, quarrel among themselves 
 for the possession of official dignities under the Crown, but there 
 is not an instance on record of a Gorkka chief setting himself in 
 open defiance of the Crown for the purpose of establishing inde- 
 pendent authority. Nor is there an instance of a Nipal chief 
 taking bribes from, or selling himself for money to, the British 
 or any other foreign State. 
 
 In 1801 Captain Knox wished to take Damudar Pandi and some 
 of his colleagues into our pay ; but they would not listen to the 
 proposal. In 1816, as before in 1801, our Government offered 
 pensions to certain Nipalese sirdars, but the Darbar had foresight 
 enough to reject the offer.
 
 OCR RELATIONS WITH NIPAL. 297 
 
 After the dissolution of the alliance in 1804, until 
 1812, the British intercourse with Nipal was of a de- 
 sultory and unsatisfactory character. It consisted 
 almost entirely of fruitless attempts to induce the 
 Darbar to assist our border officers in the suppression 
 of Dacoity and robbery in the Terai, and of unavail- 
 ing remonstrances against the aggressions of the 
 Nipalese on our frontier throughout its entire length. 
 These aggressions appear to have been part of a 
 regular system of determined, but stealthy, encroach- 
 ment upon our territories, which had commenced in 
 1787, and was continued, without intermission, until 
 1814, when it became the immediate cause of the 
 Nipal War. 
 
 After the death of Ran Bahadur, General Umar 
 Singh Thappa, at the head of a Gorkha army, 
 advanced through the western hills, conquered and 
 annexed Kamaon and Garhwal, and established tin- 
 authority of the Nipalese over the western hill states, 
 almost to the banks of the Satlaj.
 
 298 HISTORY OF NIPAL. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 AFTER THE NIPAL WAR. 
 ***** 
 
 The permanent political connection of the British 
 with Nipal commenced in 1816, when, in accordance 
 with the Treaty of Sigauli, the Hon. E. Gardiner was 
 appointed Resident at the Court of Kathmandu. On 
 his arrival Maharajah Gar wan Jodh Bikram Sah was 
 on the throne, and General Bhim Sen Thappa as sole 
 and all-powerful Minister, ably supported by the 
 Maharani, administered all the affairs of the State. 
 
 Six months after Mr. Gardiner's arrival, the Maha- 
 rajah died of small-pox, aged twenty-one, and was 
 succeeded by his only son, Rajindra Bikram Sah, an 
 infant of two years old. Bhim Sen retained his office 
 of sole Minister, and strongly supported by his friend 
 the Maharani, enjoyed, during the long minority* 
 
 * The long succession of minorities from 1775 until 1830 
 favoured the rise of eminent military ministers, such as Bahadur
 
 BHIM SEN'S PACIFIC POLICY. 209 
 
 which ensued, uninterrupted and unlimited power. 
 He always used all his influence in favour of peace 
 with the British, "a Power," as he said, "that crushed 
 thrones like potsherds." He had been forced into the 
 war of 1815-16, against his own better judgment, by 
 the eagerness of the army and the excited feelings of 
 the nation. The war being over, it was owing to his 
 skill in negotiation that two lakhs of rupees annually 
 were first assigned by the British Government to the 
 JSTipalese chiefs as compensation for the loss of their 
 jagirs in the Terai ; and it was entirely due to his 
 tact and skill in dissimulation that the British Go- 
 vernment were subsequently cajoled into restoring to 
 the Nipalese the whole of the Terai, in lieu of these 
 two lakhs. 
 
 Although Bhim Sen was always averse to war with 
 the British, his pacific policy was the result of no 
 cordiality for us, but merely of a full appreciation of 
 our superior strength. Nothing was nearer or dearer 
 to his heart than the independence of his country \ 
 and he was too sagacious not to perceive that a 
 second war with the British would almost certainly 
 be followed by the reduction of Nipal, even under the 
 most favourable circumstances, to the condition of 
 one of the "protected states." While, therefore, he 
 
 Sah, Damudar Pandi, and Bhim Sen Thappa. Ran Bahadur waa 
 an infant on his accession to the throne in 1775. Jcxlh Bihram 
 Sah (1805) and Eajindra Bikram Sah (1816) were also infants on 
 their accession to the throne.
 
 300 HISTOEY OP NIPAL. 
 
 studiously avoided every act that might lead to a 
 rupture of the existing peace — which peace he looked 
 upon as the best guarantee of Nipal's independence 
 — he as steadily resisted every overture on our part 
 to render the connection between the two nations 
 closer, and, with great foresight, most successfully 
 prevented our ever having any pecuniary or other 
 direct or indirect control over the internal affairs of 
 the State. 
 
 Now, equally as in the days of Bhim Sen, the 
 Nipalese Darbar wish to have nothing to do with us. 
 At the point of the bayonet they were forced to yield 
 to the establishment of a British Resident at their 
 Court*; but they would be as delighted now as they 
 would have been immediately after the war, if they 
 could dispense with the presence of that functionary 
 among them. They know, however, that the with- 
 drawal of the Resident would be immediately followed 
 by the resumption of the Terai lands, and the prob- 
 able conquest and annexation of their country. They 
 submit, therefore, without further complaint, to a 
 state of things which they cannot alter. Although 
 they are still as insuperably averse as ever to any 
 kind of intimate connection with the British Govern- 
 
 * At Makwanpur, General Ochterlony, by Lord Hastings' ex- 
 press commands, told the Gorkha Vakils that all other points of 
 the treaty were more or less open to subsequent discussion, but 
 that " they must take either the Resident or war." They yielded, 
 and Lieutenant Boileau was sent as locum tenens until the arrival 
 of the Eesident.
 
 JEALOUSY OF BRITISH INTERFERENCE. 301 
 
 ment, yet this aversion does not depend on any actual 
 feeling of hostility towards us. But they look on us 
 as dangerous and encroaching neighbours, and judg- 
 ing from the experience and fate of other states 
 throughout India, they are firmly convinced that if 
 once the British gain a footing (even though it be of 
 a friendly character) within the Valley of Nipal, from 
 that time the knell of their national independence 
 will have struck. Acting on these principles, they 
 distrust, and ever have distrusted, every friendly over- 
 ture that is made to them; they throw obstacles in 
 the way of anything like extensive intercourse between 
 the two nations, and they carry their suspicions of 
 our interested motives to such a degree, thai they will 
 not even allow a single European to travel through 
 their hills for the purpose of collecting purely scien- 
 tific information. Nothing will ever disabuse them 
 of the belief that the British are anxious to conquer 
 and annex Nipal. They acknowledge our supremacy 
 in the plains, and they think thai the only way to 
 prevent that supremacy from being established in 
 Nipal as well as in Hindustan is to keep lis at a dis- 
 tance, and by isolating themselves from all intimate 
 connection with us, avoid giving us the opportunity 
 of gratifying, what they consider, the national love of 
 foreign aggrandisement. These considerations form 
 the real and only key to the very exclusive policy 
 which Nipal has systematically adopted towards the 
 British Government from the date of the last war up 
 to the present time.
 
 302 HISTORY OF NIPAL. 
 
 On Mr. Gardiner's assuming the position of Resi- 
 dent in Nipal he had rather a difficult duty to perform. 
 Although the Nipalese had just been deprived of one- 
 third of their dominions, they were far from being 
 humiliated by their late defeat. On the contrary, 
 they seemed as proud and overbearing, and as jealous 
 of British interference, as they had been before the 
 war. 
 
 Gardiner, however, combined in an eminent degree 
 those qualities of firmness, courtesy, and temper 
 which are indispensable to the success of any political 
 officer among the natives of India. He personally 
 won their respect ; and by uniformly treating them as 
 a perfectly independent state, he, to a certain extent, 
 disarmed their suspicions of the policy of the British 
 Government. 
 
 For several years after the peace of 1816 no events 
 occurred of any importance either in the internal 
 history or foreign policy of Nipal. Bhirn Sen's family 
 monopolised all the great offices of the State ; the 
 Rajah, being a minor, was entirely in the hands of 
 the Minister and of his ally, the Regent Maharani, 
 the King's step-mother. Bhim Sen, who was pos- 
 sessed of great perseverance as well as determination, 
 devoted almost exclusively his time and talents to the 
 services of the State. During the minority of the 
 King he raised Nipal, although deprived of nearly 
 one-third of her dominions, to nearly as strong a 
 military position on our frontier as she had occupied 
 before the war. He nearly doubled her internal re-
 
 BHIM SEN'S ADMINISTRATION. 303 
 
 sources by careful attention to the state of her 
 finances, and by a judicious re-adjustment of the 
 national taxes. Among other changes, he resumed, 
 on the part of Government, to a great extent the 
 rent-free tenures of the Brahmans, as well as the 
 grants of land which had been made at various times 
 to the temples and other religious establishments. 
 This system had been commenced during the war by 
 Bhim Sen, who called on all Brahmans holding such 
 lands to come forward and assist the State, promising, 
 when the exigency was passed, to put them again in 
 possession of their tenures. Some few, perhaps, of 
 the holy orders were influenced by patriotic motives, 
 and, of their own accord, poured the contents of their 
 coffers into the public treasury ; the vast majority de- 
 murred, but were compelled by the strong arm of 
 secular authority to disgorge their wealth, and to 
 place the copyrights of their own and of the Church 
 lands at the disposal of the State. These lands were 
 never restored to the Church, but were devoted solely 
 to defray the expenses of the army ; and as a large 
 portion of these were in the most fertile parts of the 
 country, the addition to the State revenue was very 
 considerable. 
 
 Bhim Sen also added a good deal to the public 
 revenue by increasing the customs duties.* The 
 
 * In 1816 the customs duties only produced eighty thousand 
 rupees ; in 1833 they produced two and a half lakhs of rupees. 
 This was owing to the increased commerce resulting from the in-
 
 304 HISTORY OF NIPAL. 
 
 long minority of the King, too, was favourable to the 
 economy of the public money by enabling the State to 
 avoid all the expenses of a Court. Among the other 
 means by which Nipal was enabled to repair the 
 heavy loss consequent on our taking Kamaon, and to 
 recover from the pecuniary involvements necessary 
 to the late war, may be mentioned the increased value 
 of the Terai lands as restored by us after the war. 
 
 After the war, and when our Resident was fairly 
 settled at Kathmandu, the British Government made 
 over the western Terai lands to Oudh, and restored 
 the eastern Terai to Nipal. By the treaty after the 
 war we were bound to pay two lakhs a year in pen- 
 sions to the chiefs of Nipal as compensation for the 
 loss of their jagirs in the Terai. This agreement 
 was annulled on consideration of our giving back 
 the Terai lands to Nipal.* Government distinctly 
 
 creased intercourse held by the Mpalese, now that peace was 
 established, with the plains. It especially a ff ected the importa- 
 tion of English and European articles to the exclusion of those of 
 China and Tibet. Bhim Seen, and the chiefs generally, showed a 
 growing inclination for British luxuries and customs. 
 
 * From the Kali river to the Eapti river (on which is Gorakh- 
 pur) the lowlands constituting the western Terai were wholly ex- 
 acted from Nipal, and were made over by treaty to Oudh in 1817. 
 Possession, however, was kept by Nipal under various pretences 
 and evasions, and their final evacuation and the demarcation of 
 the frontier line was not completed till 1820. 
 
 The Terai between the Rapti on the west and the Kosi on the 
 east constitutes the eastern Terai, and was restored by us to the 
 Nipalese.
 
 VALUE OF TERAI LANDS. 305 
 
 and officially informed the Nipalese Darbar that the 
 lands so restored were to be received by them " as 
 a gratuitous boon from our Government, admitting 
 of no discussion." In making this restoration, our 
 Government were very much deceived as to the real 
 value of the Terai lands. Our officers reported that 
 the Terai only produced two lakhs a year ; whereas 
 it has been computed subsequently that (independent 
 of the large assignments in land as jaigirs to the 
 Sardars) the amount of Terai revenue cannot bring in 
 less than ten or twelve lakhs annually to the Nipal 
 treasury. In 1834 Mr. Hodgson estimated it as 
 follows : — 
 
 Net revenue of land . . Rs. 6,00,000 
 
 Elephants and ivory . . 71,000 
 
 Timber 3,00,000 
 
 Pasturage, and sundries, as 
 
 drugs, dyes, &c. . . . 20,000 
 
 Total . Rs. 9,91,000 
 
 A good deal of correspondence ensued between the 
 two Governments with reference to the restoration of 
 
 In 1819 Government directed the Resident to demand from the 
 Rajah the immediate recall of the Gorkha troops then occupying 
 the disputed lands which ought to have been already ceded to 
 Oudh, threatening, if the recpuest were not complied with at once, 
 that they would withdraw the Resident and resume the whole of 
 the eastern Terai. The mere threat sufficed, and in 1820 the lands 
 were ceded to Oudh. 
 
 i. 20
 
 306 HISTORY OF NIPAL. 
 
 these lands, and subsequently as to the fixing of the 
 exact boundary between the lands belonging to the 
 two States. The boundary between Nipal and Oudh 
 was not finally adjusted until 1830; and that between 
 Nipal and the British territories remained as a matter 
 of discussion between the two Governments for several 
 years later. 
 
 Bhim Sen took advantage of the continuance of 
 peace, not only to improve the finances of the country, 
 but to render the army more efficient both in numbers 
 and in discipline. The martial feelings of the soldiery 
 were every way encouraged ; their rights and privi- 
 leges were jealously preserved ; but they were at the 
 same time kept from that idleness which is so favour- 
 able to mutiny and intrigue, by strict attention to 
 drill and discipline and by being employed in the con- 
 struction of magazines, arsenals, cannon foundry, 
 &c, and by the establishment of two large canton- 
 ments — one for the artillery and one for the line — at 
 Kathmandu. He had numbers of cannon founded, 
 and manufactured extensively muskets, powder, shot, 
 and the munitions of war. 
 
 By these and other means, by consulting their pre- 
 judices as well as flattering their pride, Bhim Sen not 
 only acquired, but retained to the last, the affections 
 of the soldiery and of the army generally. In 1816 
 Mr. Gardiner estimated the standing regular army at 
 ten thousand men; in 1819 it was calculated at 
 twelve thousand ; and from that date it gradually 
 increased up to 1831, when it was estimated at fifteen
 
 MAHARANI TRIPUR. 307 
 
 thousand men. At that time the military stores and 
 arsenals, which were kept in a constant state of 
 activity, could furnish arms and accoutrements for 
 forty-five thousand men. 
 
 On the 1st of April 1832 Maharani Tripur (or Tri- 
 puri) Sundari, widow of Kan Bahadur, died. She 
 had played a very important part in the politics of 
 Nipal, and throughout a long life had preserved the 
 character of being not only an able, but an honest 
 and virtuous woman. She accompanied her husband 
 in his exile to Benares ; when she returned to Nipal, 
 she upset the Regency to which Captain Knox had 
 been accredited, had herself proclaimed Regent, in- 
 duced Knox to withdraw, and succeeded in bringing 
 about the restoration of her husband to the throne. 
 After her husband's death in 1805, she became joint 
 Regent with Bhim Sen, and in conjunction with that 
 great man, to whom she ever continued a firm ally, 
 had ruled the country up to the time of her death, in 
 a manner that reflects the greatest credit upon their 
 united firmness, talent, and sagacity. Her death was 
 the first serious blow that Bhim Sen's power received. 
 She had always supported him against the jealousy 
 and rivalry of his brother Ranbir Singh Thappa, at 
 that time commander-in-chief of the Nipal army, who 
 was gaining undue influence over the young Rajah, 
 then aged eighteen years, and was doing his best to 
 set the young King against both Bhim Sen and his 
 nephew Martabar Singh. Martabar Singh was then 
 but a young man, but his talent, energy, and grasping 
 
 20 *
 
 308 HISTORY OP NIPAL. 
 
 ambition made him, as well as his uncle, an object 
 of hatred to Ranbir Singh and his party, who were 
 jealous of the almost unlimited power of Bhim Sen. 
 The young King himself, being of a frivolous cha- 
 racter, took little part in the affairs of the State; 
 he gave himself up to pleasure, leaving everything 
 connected with business to be directed by his able 
 Minister. 
 
 The party, however, opposed to Bhim Sen, and 
 headed by his brother, steadily increased in power ; 
 but they were unable to do much against a Minister 
 in the hands of whose family were almost all the im- 
 portant offices of State, both at the capital and in 
 the provinces, and whose personal popularity with the 
 army was extreme. 
 
 In 1833 a new battalion was raised (Singh Nath), 
 and placed under the command of Martabar Singh ; 
 and in the following year, 1834, he was appointed to 
 the government of Grorkha, with three thousand troops 
 under his command. About this time the Pandi 
 party, at the head of whom was Ranjang, son of 
 Damodar Pandi, began to recover their influence in 
 the State. They succeeded in prejudicing the Rajah 
 against Bhim Sen ; and from this time may be dated 
 the commencement of the counter revolution against 
 the Thappas, whose power had been supreme ever 
 since the restoration of Ran Bahadur. 
 
 On the 19th of June 1834, a powder magazine, four 
 hundred yards from the British Residency, was struck 
 by lightning in a storm and exploded. It contained
 
 MAHARANI TRIPUR. 309 
 
 at the time two thousand maunds (one hundred and 
 sixty thousand pounds) of gunpowder. Of the guard 
 on the spot, twenty-one in number, all were killed ; 
 and of a small guard of eight men at the parti near, 
 six were killed and two miserably mutilated. Almost 
 every window, frame, Venetian, &c., in the Residency 
 were smashed by the concussion. Damage, C. R. 1,627. 
 
 In November 1835 Martabar Singh was sent to 
 Calcutta at the head of a complimentary mission to 
 the Governor-General. The Rajah wished to send 
 him to England, on an embassy to the King; but he 
 abandoned the idea on hearing that he would be 
 treated merely as a traveller, and would not be 
 allowed to be the vehicle of political communication. 
 Martabar returned to Nipal in March 1836, having 
 been received in Calcutta with marked courtesy. 
 
 Ever since the death of the Queen Tripur Sundari 
 in 1832, Bhiui Sen's power had been on the wane. 
 In the spring of 1837 the Rajah turned out of office 
 some of Bhim Sen's favourites, and deprived Marta- 
 bar Singh of his command of Gorkha in consequence 
 of his refusing to hold it on reduced allowances. 
 Martabar was succeeded by Ranjang Pandi's brother. 
 The King at this time had a sudden fit of economy, 
 and directed a great part of his attention to financial 
 matters. He made the increase of his family (he 
 had now six children), and the consequently increased 
 household expenses of Darbar, an excuse for general 
 retrenchments. The office of Ditha or Chief Justice, 
 hitherto always held by an officer of the army, was
 
 310 HISTORY OF NIPAL. 
 
 given to a Brahman of legal knowledge and talent. 
 Up to this time Bhim Sen had succeeded in excluding 
 all civilians from appointments under Government. 
 In the beginning of July 1837 Ranjang Pandi was 
 restored by the Rajah to all the lands and honours 
 formerly held by his father Damodar Pandi, and which 
 had been confiscated in 1803. 
 
 A few days afterwards the Rajah's youngest son,* 
 an infant of one year, died suddenly ; and it was at 
 once given out that the child had died of poison, in- 
 tended for its mother the Maharani, and given at the 
 instigation of Bhim Sen, or some of his party. There 
 is every reason to believe that the infant was killed 
 by its own father, in order to obtain a basis of pro- 
 ceedings against Bhim Sen. On this charge, Bhim 
 Sen, his brother Ranbir Singh, his nephew Martabar 
 Singh, their families, the Court physician and his 
 deputy, with a number more of the nearest relations 
 of the Thappas, were incarcerated (the heads of the 
 family in irons), proclaimed outcastes, and their pro- 
 perty confiscated. They were fearfully tortured to 
 induce them to confess, but not a syllable to criminate 
 anyone was elicited. 
 
 * The Maharajah had two wives : 1st. The Maharani, an ad- 
 herent of the Pandis ; she had three sons, the eldest of whom is 
 the present King, the second is in prison at Allahabad for the 
 conspiracy of 1851, and the third was the child whom Bhim Sen 
 was falsely accused of poisoning. 2nd. The Junior Rani, an ad- 
 herent of the Thappas, who also bore him two sons ; they and their 
 mother are now residing in exile at Benares.
 
 RAGHUNATH PANDIT. 311 
 
 Ranjang Pandi was suddenly appointed Minister. 
 Fearful, from this appointment, of the establishment 
 of the Pandis in power, Fatti Jang Chauntria, 
 Raghunath Pandit, and the junior Rani obtained from 
 the King the liberation of Bhim Sen, Martabar, and 
 the rest of the party. Pardon was given to the old 
 man, who fell on his face at the Rajah's feet, in full 
 Darbar ; and public audiences were granted, and 
 dresses of honour and caparisoned horses given to 
 him, to Martabar, and to Bhim Sen's adopted son 
 Shamsher Jang. Their confiscated property .was re- 
 turned, and they were brought back by the soldiery 
 and people in triumph to their respective houses. 
 Ranjang, the recognised leader of the now powerful 
 Pandi party, was removed from the office of Minister, 
 and Raghunath Pandit,* who was favourably inclined 
 towards the Thappas, was elected Premier. He and 
 his brother, Krishna Ram, were clever, well-informed 
 men, of moderate and liberal views, but had long 
 been living in retirement in consequence of all ap- 
 pointments having hitherto been conferred only on 
 military men. Raghunath continued as ostensible 
 Minister, but the Rajah assumed himself the imme- 
 diate control and patronage of the army, which, at 
 this time, having been increased by the raising of 
 another battalion, now consisted of nineteen thousand 
 
 * He was a Brahman, and at one time filled the office of Raj 
 Guru.
 
 312 HISTORY OP NIPAL. 
 
 rank and file. The strength of the army at the capital 
 was somewhat diminished, three thousand troops being 
 marched from it to various stations in the interior and 
 on the frontier. 
 
 In the beginning of 1838 Ranjang Pandi, through 
 the influence of the Maharani, was appointed Com- 
 mander-in-Chief ; an appointment popular with the 
 army on the whole, in consequence of the fame of 
 his father Damodar Pandi. His brother Ramdul 
 Pandi was made Governor of Palpa, and another 
 brother, Karbir Pandi, Keeper of the King's Ward- 
 robe. Bhim Sen and Martabar Singh continued at 
 large, but out of employ. They were still very popular 
 with the army, as was shown by the fact that many of 
 the officers and men took their discharge from their 
 regiments and attached themselves as private fol- 
 lowers to their suites. The dissensions in the Palace 
 became very violent, owing to differences between the 
 two Queens ; the Maharani insisting on the appoint- 
 ment of Ranjang to be Premier, while the junior Rani 
 as warmly advocated the restoration of Bhim Sen to 
 power. 
 
 In March 1838 Martabar Singh was sent into a 
 sort of honourable exile, being deputed on a secret or 
 confidential mission to Ranjit Singh, the nature of 
 which mission was never accurately known. In May 
 he was arrested by the British authorities as he was 
 attempting to cross the Satlaj at night. At the end 
 of the year he was released by the British and allowed 
 to proceed on his journey to Labor. As, however,
 
 RESTORATION OP THE PAND1S. 313 
 
 he was suspected of intriguing against us, lie was 
 surrendered to our authorities by Ranjit Singh, who 
 openly and indignantly disavowed all negotiations with 
 Nipal, and for some years he lived within our terri- 
 tories, at Simla and elsewhere, under our surveillance. 
 Ragunath Pandit, finding himself unsupported by 
 the King, resigned the Premiership, which was con- 
 ferred nominally on Pushkar Sah Chauntria (who had 
 just returned from the embassy to Pekin), but ac- 
 tually upon his colleague, Eanjang Pandi, in whom 
 all real authority was vested. 
 
 The Pandis* were now in the full possession of 
 power; they had gained over the King to their side 
 by flattering his weaknesses. The Maharani had ever 
 been a firm supporter of their party ; and they en- 
 deavoured to secure popularity in the army by pro- 
 mises of war and plunder. Their accession to power 
 — after a thirty years' banishment to their hill estates, 
 
 * Euujung Pandi. 
 Karbir Pandi. 
 Kulraj Pandi. 
 Jagat Bum Pandi. 
 Dal Bahadur Pandi. 
 The Raj Guru. 
 Kul Chand Sahi. 
 Amir Sahi. 
 These were the leading members of the Pandi party. 
 Eaj Guru, who was of course a Brahman, was named Misr (at 
 least that was the name of the division or class of Brahmans to 
 which he belonged), and he was therefore commonly called Misr 
 Guru.
 
 314 HISTORY OY NIPAL. 
 
 or exile at Benares — occurred just at the time when 
 British power in the plains was in a most disturbed 
 state. It appeared not unlikely that the British were 
 over-matched in their contests in China and Afghan- 
 istan, and the Darbar naturally felt inclined to take 
 advantage of our supposed difficulties in order to 
 advance their own interests. 
 
 Secret communications were accordingly kept up 
 with various parts of India, especially with the Courts 
 of Ava, Pekin, and Labor. At the same time the 
 Darbar appeared to be preparing for hostilities ; and 
 now that the Pandis were in the full possession of 
 power, they greatly strengthened all the frontier posts 
 with supplies of soldiers, guns, and ammunition. Al- 
 though these apparently hostile preparations had pro- 
 bably no definite object, beyond that of placing the 
 Nipalese on good vantage ground in case of any mis- 
 fortune or important reverse befalling the British 
 power in the plains, yet the British Government 
 deemed it prudent to form a corps of observation on 
 the frontier, as well to show the Nipalese that we 
 were always prepared and had spare troops at our 
 disposal, as to protect our subjects on the border in 
 case of any actual aggression. A corps of observa- 
 tion was accordingly ordered in 1838 to assemble, 
 under Colonel Oglander, to watch the Nipal frontier. 
 This decisive measure at once brought the Darbar to 
 a sense of their real position, and for a short time 
 they assumed a more courteous and friendly bearing 
 towards us.
 
 PLOTS AGAINST BHIM SEN. 315 
 
 At the beginning of 1839 Ranjang Pandi was made 
 sole Minister, to the great disgust of the Chaun- 
 trias and other influential chiefs, as well as of the 
 people generally, by whom he was detested. The 
 persecutions of the Thappas were again revived, and 
 the charge of poisoning the young prince in 1837 was 
 brought forward against Bhim Sen. This veteran 
 statesman, who was the only remaining obstacle in 
 the path of the Pandis, would have been at once cut 
 off; but the Rajah and the Pandis were afraid that, 
 in that case, Martabar Singh would openly go over to 
 the English, in whose power he was. Ranjang accord- 
 ingly tried to hire back Martabar Singh by specious 
 promises, in order that, once having him in his power, 
 both uncle and nephew might be destroyed together. 
 Foiled in this scheme by Martabar' s sagacity, who 
 detected the plot against him, Ranjang had the charge 
 of poisoning the young prince openly revived against 
 Bhim Sen, and forged papers and evidence were pro- 
 duced professing to criminate him. The old man 
 defended himself, in open Darbar, with great spirit, 
 asking why, if this evidence were really true, it had 
 not been produced m 1837 ; and denouncing the 
 papers as forgeries, he demanded to be confronted 
 with his accusers. His appeal was of no use ; he 
 was surrounded by enemies. The few chiefs who 
 were in his favour, or convinced of his innocence, sat 
 by in silence and in fear. The Rajah denounced him 
 as a traitor, and sent him back in chains to prison. 
 Threats of every indignity to himself and the female
 
 316 HISTORY OF NIPAL. 
 
 members of his house were constantly made to him, 
 with a view to induce him to commit suicide. The 
 Court physician, who had attended the child (a 
 Brahman, and whose life was therefore sacred), was 
 burnt on the forehead and cheeks till his brain and 
 jaws were exposed. The under-physician, a Niwar, 
 was impaled alive, and his heart extracted while 
 he was yet living. Still no evidence against Bhim 
 Sen or any of the accused could be extorted even 
 by these horrible atrocities, which were perpetrated 
 not only by the order, but in the presence of the 
 Rajah. 
 
 On the 20th of July 1839, driven to desperation, 
 Bhim Sen attempted suicide by cutting his throat with 
 a kukri, of which wound he died nine days afterwards. 
 His savage enemies refused even to his corpse the ordi- 
 nary funeral rites ; it was dismembered and exposed 
 about the city, and afterwards the mangled remains 
 were thrown on the river-side as food for vultures 
 and jackals. His very bones were not allowed to be 
 removed that they might be buried. His family and 
 relatives were imprisoned, and their property confis- 
 cated. A decree was also issued that none of the 
 Thappa class should receive public employ for seven 
 generations. 
 
 It was upon the party who perpetrated all these 
 atrocities against the Thappas that Jang Bahadur re- 
 venged himself and them in " the massacre " of 1846. 
 Bhim Sen being removed, no check now remained 
 upon the conduct or policy of the Maharani and her
 
 GRIEVANCES OF THE TROOPS. 317 
 
 ally, Ran jang Pandi, who was now possessed of un- 
 limited power. A general system of extortion, in- 
 justice, and retrenchment was adopted with a view 
 to replenish the public treasury. Ranjang and the 
 Maharani threw all the odium of these measures 
 upon the Rajah, hoping that, by making him un- 
 popular, they would induce him to abdicate. 
 
 Among other means contemplated for retrenchment 
 by the Maharani and Ranjang Pandi was a general 
 reduction in the pay of the troops. In order to an- 
 nounce this to the army, a general parade of the 
 troops was ordered on the Tandi Khel, by command 
 of the Maharajah, on the 21st of June 1840. 
 
 On assembling, the troops, who, from private sources, 
 were aware of the nature of the proclamation and had 
 concerted measures accordingly, grounded their arms, 
 and insisted on the redress of their grievances. These 
 consisted in the fact that, for two years past, the 
 soldiery, instead of being either re-enlisted at the 
 Panjanni (or termination of the year for which they 
 had been entertained) or else paid up and discharged, 
 had instead been kept on in service for eight or ten 
 months beyond the annual term, with perpetual 
 liability to be ousted by fresh recruits coming into 
 their places near the end of the second year, and who 
 were yet entitled, by the usage of Nipal, to draw the 
 entire year's pay ; while the original occupant of the 
 office, who had served his extra eight or ten months, 
 received no pay for that broken period. In addition 
 to this real grievance, the soldiery had been much
 
 HISTORY OP NIPAL. 
 
 irritated by constant rumours of contemplated reduc- 
 tion in their pay. Receiving no promises of redress, 
 the troops proceeded to the house of Chauntria Pash- 
 kar Sah, the nominal Minister, situated near the 
 British Residency, and gutted it completely. Then 
 returning to the city, they gutted the houses of five 
 other principal chiefs, members of the Ministry, and 
 supposed to be connected with the authors of their 
 grievances. 
 
 On the 22nd the Rajah himself, after repeated sum- 
 monses, appeared before them and promised them full 
 redress in every way. Shouldering their arms, the 
 troops at once returned to their quarters without com- 
 mitting any further excesses. 
 
 The excitement still continuing, on the 23rd the 
 following message was conveyed to the assembled 
 troops from the Rajah and Rani : — 
 
 " The English Government is powerful, abounding 
 in wealth and in all other resources for war. I have 
 kept well with the English so long, because I am un- 
 able to cope with them. Besides, I am bound by a 
 treaty of amity, and have now no excuse to break it; 
 nor have I money to support a war. Troops I have, 
 and arms and ammunition in plenty, but no money. 
 This is the reason why I have reduced your pay. I 
 want treasure to fight the English. Take lower pay 
 for a year or two, and when I have some money in 
 hand, then I will throw off the mask and indulge you 
 with, war." 
 
 To this the troops replied, by their deputies, at a
 
 DEMANDS OF THE TROOPS. 319 
 
 parade at which the Maharajah in person was pre- 
 sent : 
 
 " True, the English Government is great ; but care 
 the wild dogs of Nipal (Buansu) how large is the herd 
 they attack ? They are sure to get their bellies filled. 
 You want no money for making war ; for the war 
 shall support itself. We will plunder Lucknow and 
 Patna. But first we must get rid of the Resident, 
 who sees and forestalls all. We must be able, unseen, 
 to watch the moment of attack. It will soon come ; 
 it is come. Give the word, and we will destroy the 
 Resident, and then war will follow of course. You 
 want an excuse for war ; there is one ready made. 
 Let us act without being watched by the Resident, 
 and we will soon make the Ganges your boundary. 
 Or if the English, as they say, are your friends and 
 want peace, why do they keep possession of half your 
 dominions (Kamaon) ? Let them restore Kamaon 
 and Sikkim. These are yours, demand them back; 
 and if they refuse, drive out the Resident, and let us 
 have war." 
 
 To this the Rajah asked time to consider ; and so 
 the matter dropped. The irregularities concerning 
 their period of service were reformed, and no reduc- 
 tion in their pay was made. Their real grievances 
 being thus redressed, their demands for war were not 
 revived by the army. In this mutiny only the troops 
 in and around the capital (about six thousand) were 
 engaged ; those in the provinces knew nothing about 
 it. It commenced in the Sri Nath and Latur Bat-
 
 320 HISTORY OF NIPAL. 
 
 talions. It is believed that the real instigators of this 
 mutiny, as well as the authors of all the wrongs of 
 the soldiery, were the Maharani and her favourite 
 the Prime Minister. By making the King and other 
 chiefs unpopular with the army, at the same time that 
 they excited a revolt among the soldiery, they hoped 
 not only to frighten the King into abdicating in favour 
 of the Heir- Apparent — in which case they, the Rani 
 and the Minister, would have obtained the whole go- 
 vernment of the country during his minority — but 
 also to have the opportunity of ingratiating themselves 
 with the army by coming forward to redress the very 
 wrongs of which they themselves were the authors. 
 
 Their plans were defeated, partly by the moderation 
 and loyalty of the troops, and partly by the Rajah 
 having sufficient sagacity to avoid bringing matters to 
 extremities by making them in time the full and 
 liberal concessions which they demanded. 
 
 At the same time, Colonel Oglander's corps of ob- 
 servation having been removed, the Darbar recom- 
 menced their hostile intrigues against us ; and emis- 
 saries were despatched throughout Rajputana and 
 many parts of India, foretelling the coming downfall 
 of the British power.* The attention of the Darbar 
 
 * Captain Karbar Khatri was arrested in Benares, in October 
 1840, in the act of conducting a secret mission from ISTipal to 
 Labor, contrary to existing treaties. A quantity of jewels, in- 
 tended as a present for Ranjit Sing, were found on bim : they were 
 confiscated by order of the Governor-General, and the emissary 
 himself kept in confinement. He was subsequently released, and
 
 ILL-WILL TO THE ENGLISH. 321 
 
 was in particular directed towards Burrnah, and the 
 example set it by that State, whose insolent treatment 
 of the British Resident at the Court of Ava had been 
 perpetrated with impunity, suggested for a while a 
 similar procedure at Kathmandu. Placards were 
 posted outside the Palace, exaggerating our reverses 
 in Afghanistan. The Darbar believed that the mag- 
 nitude of our operations in Afghanistan had with- 
 drawn our troops and crippled our power in Bengal 
 and in the north-west. Acting on this belief, they 
 used every means of affront, and even of intimidation, 
 to get rid of the British Residency as being a con- 
 stant check on their schemes of secret encroachment 
 on our provinces, and of hostile intrigue against us 
 among their and our allies. At the same time the 
 greatest activity was maintained in the public arsenals 
 and in the manufacture of guns and ammunition ; and 
 a census of the population fit to carry arms, i.e. be- 
 tween the ages of twelve and sixty, was made, and 
 produced a return of four hundred thousand souls. 
 No actual increase, however, to the strength of the 
 army, which amounted to nineteen thousand men, 
 occurred at this period. 
 
 In the midst of all these hostile preparations, while 
 our traders were being oppressed, and justice denied 
 to them in the Nipalese courts of law ; while Dacoits 
 
 accompanied Jang Bahadur to England in 1849. He is the 
 man who originated the conspiracy against Jang in 1851, having 
 given out that Jang had lost his caste in England. 
 
 i. 21
 
 322 HISTORY OP NIPAL. 
 
 and Thugs were openly harboured in the Nipalese 
 territories, and while systematic intrigue against us 
 with powers in the plains was being adopted by the 
 Darbar, the King, in order to blind the British Go- 
 vernment as to his real intentions, sent a most friendly 
 letter to the Governor-General, tendering the services 
 of the Gorkha army in any such way as his Lordship 
 might approve. 
 
 This state of things could not last lone; without 
 coming: to a crisis. In the commencement of 1840 
 the Darbar took forcible possession of part of the 
 district of Ramnagar, then belonging to the British.* 
 Friendly remonstrances were made, but were unat- 
 tended to ; and at last, October 1840, Government 
 ordered the advance of a brigade, consisting of one 
 squadron 6th Light Cavalry, 12th, 40th, and 56th 
 Native Infantry, a detail of artillery, and a detach- 
 ment of irregular cavalry, under Colonel Oliver, to- 
 
 * A party of about forty or fifty Gorkha sepoys, under the 
 command of an officer, entered the Ramnagar territory, on the 
 occasion of a large fair, at which most of the inhabitants were 
 present, and issued a proclamation notifying that the tract of land 
 in question (seven or eight miles wide, and twenty-five to twenty- 
 six miles in length, lying to the south of the Someshwar range, 
 which formed the boundary between two states), which had 
 formerly belonged to Nipal, but had been given to Ramnagar 
 Rajah on the occasion of his marrying a Nipalese princess, had 
 now, on the death of that princess, been resumed by Nipal, and 
 directing all the local authorities, on pain of severe punishment, 
 in future not only to acknowledge the authority of the Darbar, 
 but to pay their taxes and revenue into the treasury of Nipal.
 
 A TIMELY CHANGE FOR THE BETTER. 323 
 
 wards the frontier to enforce, if necessary, the im- 
 mediate evacuation of our territories by the Gorkha 
 troops, and to watch the movements of the Nipalese, 
 and protect our subjects in case of any further aggres- 
 sions being made. Our force at Gorakpur was at the 
 same time strengthened. 
 
 This had the desired effect. Seeing that we were 
 in earnest in our demands, the Darbar reluctantly, but 
 completely, yielded. The Gorkha troops were re- 
 called, and ninety-one villages, which they had occu- 
 pied, were restored to their rightful and original 
 owners. At the same time the Governor- General 
 strongly advised the Rajah, as the only means of 
 averting war, to dismiss the Pandi Ministry, and take 
 into his counsels men who, if not favourable, should 
 at least not be, like the Pandis, notoriously averse to 
 all friendly connection with the British. 
 
 Feeling how unequal the State of Nipal was to 
 cope with the power of the British in open hostilities, 
 the Rajah made a virtue of necessity, and, dismissing 
 the Pandi Ministry from office, formed a kind of 
 "coalition" cabinet, consisting of four chiefs of 
 moderate opinions, viz. Ragunath Pandit and his 
 brother the Raj Guru Krishna Ram, with Fath 
 Jang Chauntria and his brother Guru Parsad. To 
 these were afterwards added Dalbhanjan Pandi and 
 Abhiman Rana. Guru Parsad received the name 
 Guru as an infant; it did not imply that he had 
 ever held, or could hold, office as a Guru. He was 
 not a Brahman, but a Chauntra, and therefore not 
 
 21 *
 
 324 HISTORY OF NIPAL. 
 
 eligible for the sacred office. Of this ministry Fath 
 Jang acted as Premier. 
 
 At the request of the King, supported by the advice 
 of the Resident, Oliver's brigade was kept on the 
 frontier in order to give encouragement to the party 
 in the Darbar who were supposed to be favourable to 
 the British alliance, until February 1842, when they 
 were withdrawn, as their presence was no longer 
 required. 
 
 In October 1841 the Maharani, mother of the Heir- 
 Apparent, and the lady whom Bhim Sen had so un- 
 justly been accused of attempting to poison, died at 
 Hitaunda, on her way to the plains. She had for 
 several months been suffering from serious internal 
 organic disease, but the immediate cause of her death 
 was an attack of the severe jungle-fever, commonly 
 called "awal." She had always been friendly to the 
 Pandis, and opposed to the Thappas, whom she ac- 
 cused of having poisoned not only her own infant, 
 but her husband's father, the late King G-arwan Jodh 
 Bikram Sah, as well as some other members of the 
 royal family. It is now known that these charges were 
 utterly unfounded ; but it is a striking proof of the 
 unsettled state of society at that time, of the low 
 tone of morality and want of protection to life which 
 existed even in the highest circles, that such accusa- 
 tions should have been bandied about between the 
 rival parties, and that they should apparently have 
 been believed as readily as they were circulated. 
 
 No sooner was it known that the Maharani was
 
 DEATH OF THE MAHARANI. 325 
 
 dead than rumours were, as a matter of course, spread 
 about, attributing her death to poison. The junior 
 Rani (who was an adherent of the Thappas) was sus- 
 pected by some; the King himself was believed by 
 others to have been instrumental in bringing abont 
 her death. It is now known that she died naturally ; 
 but if anyone had anything to do with accelerating 
 her death, it was most probably the Rajah himself. 
 " Qui s'excuse, s'accuse " ; and the extreme violence 
 which he exhibited in defending himself from the 
 charge raises some suspicion as to his innocence. 
 
 Some months afterwards, it came to his knowledge 
 that he had been spoken of in one of the newspapers 
 in the plains as having poisoned his wife. Immediately 
 coming to the Residency with the Heir-Apparent, 
 he demanded, in the most violent manner, that our 
 Government should find out the writer of the libel, 
 and insisted on his receiving the most barbarous 
 punishments, adding that, if the British Government 
 failed to do so, "he would go to war with them." 
 (He subsequently apologised to the Resident for his 
 intemperate conduct and language.) Then, turning on 
 the Heir-Apparent, the two princes began to quarrel 
 in the most outrageous way ; and not content with 
 using offensive epithets, actually came to blows. The 
 King then sent a letter to the Governor-General, pro- 
 testing his innocence of the murder of his Queen, 
 but adding, "I took all the care I could of her; but 
 if some villain, unknown to me, mixed poison with 
 her food, I know nothing about it." Then follows,
 
 326 HISTORY OP NIPAL. 
 
 " Should the man be discovered, I will have him 
 skinned alive, and rubbed over with salt and limes 
 until he dies." 
 
 After the appointment of Fath Jang Ohauntria as 
 Premier in 1841, affairs continued in a very unsettled 
 state, and were greatly complicated by the imbecility 
 of the King, who, nevertheless, insisted upon med- 
 dling with, if not controlling, every department of 
 the State, the ambitious intrigues of the Maharani, 
 and the violent and extravagant conduct of the Heir- 
 Apparent, then a lad of twelve or thirteen years of age. 
 This young prince, who appeared to have a most un- 
 governable temper, as well as a most inhuman dis- 
 position, amused his leisure hours by acts of the 
 grossest cruelty performed not only upon animals, 
 but upon men, who were tortured and mutilated in 
 his presence upon the slightest and often most un- 
 just grounds, for no other object than to gratify his 
 brutal passions. The Rajah, instead of exercising 
 any restraint upon these excesses of his son, con- 
 stantly tried to evade all responsibility for his own 
 acts under cover of pretended coercion on the part 
 of the Prince, of whose violence he professed to be 
 afraid. 
 
 Although out of office, the private and confidential 
 intercourse of the leaders of the Paudi party con- 
 tinued with the King, and many of them reappeared 
 at the Darbar in open attendance upon the Heir- 
 Apparent, who, as he advanced in age, appeared to 
 gain more and more influence over his father, whom
 
 AMUSEMENTS FOR THE YOUNG PEINOE. 327 
 
 he was, at the same time, most anxious to induce to 
 abdicate in his favour. 
 
 As evidence of the warlike feelings against the 
 British which the Pandis endeavoured to excite in the 
 mind of the Heir- Apparent in their private intercourse 
 with him, it may be mentioned that, in 1842, Kulraj 
 Pancli was daily amusing the young Prince with mock 
 fights between the English and Gorkhas. The Eng- 
 lish were represented by a set of low-caste raga- 
 muffins dressed in British uniform, and with faces 
 painted white, and under the command of some 
 " Pariah," who was attired in the full-dress uniform 
 of an Eng-lish general. The Gorkhas were commanded 
 by a son of the late Premier and by Kulraj Pandi 
 himself. Of course these actions were all made to 
 end in the ignominious defeat of the supposed British 
 forces ; and the poor devils who represented them 
 were in the end often seriously, and even cruelly, 
 maltreated by the victorious Gorkhas in order to add 
 a little more life and piquancy to the burlesque. A 
 little real blood being shed would be sure to make the 
 exhibition more attractive to His Royal Highness. 
 
 The very unsatisfactory way in which the Govern- 
 ment of the country was being conducted, resulting as 
 much from the weakness of the Rajah as from the 
 extravagant conduct of the Heir-Apparent, at last 
 induced the chiefs of all parties to combine in an 
 effort to secure not only a more effective administra- 
 tion of the affairs of the State, but some guarantee 
 for the rights and liberties of themselves and of the
 
 328 HISTOET OF NIPAL. 
 
 people at large. The chiefs generally, as well as the 
 army, were anxious that without actually deposing the 
 King or his son, the younger and now sole surviving 
 Rani* should be invested with full power as Regent. 
 This proposal was vehemently opposed by the Chaun- 
 trias, and especially by Guru Parsad, who, as a branch 
 of the royal family, thought such a step might lead 
 to a change in the succession to the throne, and, as 
 a party, were anxious to circumscribe, rather than 
 enlarge, the powers of the Queen. Ragunath Pandit, 
 brother to the Raj Guru Krishna Ram, was the 
 chief and ablest supporter of the Queen, as Chauntria 
 Guru Parsad was her chief opponent. 
 
 In December 1842 a general meeting of the prin- 
 cipal chiefs and of the officers of the army was held 
 to consider the present state of affairs, with a view to 
 their reform. A full, free, and rather stormy discus- 
 sion took place. The assembled chiefs and officers 
 declared that they would no longer obey two masters, 
 meaning the King and his son. They complained of 
 the gross cruelties practised by the Heir-Apparent, 
 which the King had apparently made no efforts to 
 check ; and of the Prince's constant acts of violence 
 and injustice, for which the sufferers had always been 
 refused either compensation or redress. They de- 
 
 * This Rani, Lakshmi Devi, had herself two sons by the King ; 
 and it was feared that, in case of her becoming Regent, she might 
 endeavour to put aside, in favour of her own sons, the two elder 
 princes, whose mother had died in 1841.
 
 THE " PETITION OP EIGHT." 329 
 
 nounced the excessive influence of the Chauntrias over 
 the King, and declared that it was always exerted to 
 the prejudice of the Rani. Jt was finally determined 
 that a committee should be formed, with orders to 
 frame a set of articles of agreement for presentation 
 to the King, in which should be clearly set forth the 
 unanimous resolve of the country that measures should 
 be adopted for the protection of the life, the property, 
 and all legitimate rights, public and personal, of all 
 subjects of the Crown, and also to ensure an effective, 
 as well as a responsible, administration of the Govern- 
 ment. 
 
 The Maharajah was very anxious that his son 
 should be recognised as King (Maharaj-Dhiraj), but 
 without his own abdication ; in fact, he wished to 
 establish the worst form of double government — that 
 in which two parties should possess power, but both 
 of them evade responsibility. The chiefs and officers, 
 however, steadily refused, and the King was obliged 
 to yield. 
 
 At a subsequent meeting, the draft of this petition, 
 the " Petition of Eight," as it has been called, was 
 submitted to the ministers, chiefs, municipal authori- 
 ties from all the towns of the valley, and the whole 
 body of officers of the army then at Kathmandu 
 (eight thousand strong), and was unanimously ap- 
 proved of and directed to be presented to the Maha- 
 rajah for signature. 
 
 On the 7th of December 1842 the draft of this 
 Petition of Right was carried by an immense deputa-
 
 330 HISTORY OP NIPAL. 
 
 tion to the Rajah in open Darbar, where it was sanc- 
 tioned, signed, and duly ratified by the King. In it, 
 considerable executive authority was vested in the 
 Rani, by whom the chiefs hoped the King would be 
 effectively controlled. 
 
 The new rules were said to be based on those of 
 Dherba Sah, grandfather of Prithi Narayan, and every 
 guarantee was considered to have been taken for their 
 effectual performance. This revolution was completed 
 after twelve days' anxiety and deliberation among the 
 leaders and representatives of all parties in the State, 
 whom a common sense of wrong and danger had 
 united in one common cause ; and it is highly credit- 
 able to all parties — both those of the people and 
 those of the Crown — that so important and exciting a 
 struggle was concluded without any acts of violence, 
 riot, or disturbance on either side. 
 
 In conformity to the agreement he had been bound 
 ' to by the chiefs, the King, in January 1843, formally 
 invested the Rani, Lakshmi Devi, with full political 
 rights as Queen, promising that in all matters con- 
 nected with the government of the country he would 
 take her into his counsels, and act in accordance with 
 her advice. 
 
 Chauntria Fath Jang Sah was continued in office 
 as Premier, but the natural indolence of his character 
 made him a mere tool in the hands of his able bro- 
 ther Guru Parsad, who was always opposed to the 
 Queen.
 
 331 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 histoey of nipal — continued. 
 
 1843. — But though the Maharajah, for some years 
 past, had been entirely in the hands of the Pandis, 
 and had uniformly supported their policy and party, 
 various causes had of late combined to alienate him 
 from them. The falsity of all their predictions with 
 respect to the downfall of the British in China and 
 Afghanistan had destroyed his confidence in their 
 political sagacity ; while their support of the Heir- 
 Apparent in his resistance and indignities to his 
 father, even if they did not actually instigate him to 
 their commission, combined with the clumsy bungling 
 manner in which they had allowed the King's name 
 to become implicated in the false charge of having 
 poisoned the late Queen in 1841, had made them 
 personally obnoxious to him. In addition to these 
 various reasons, the death of the late Maharani, who
 
 332 HISTORY OF NIPAL. 
 
 had always been a firm adherent to the Pandis, not 
 only left their party unsupported by petticoat in- 
 fluence within the Palace, but enabled the present 
 Queen, who was and ever had been an ally of the 
 Thappas, to use all her power over her imbecile 
 husband for the advancement of her own friends, 
 and the ruin and disgrace of her political opponents. 
 As long as the Maharani was alive, although the 
 Pandis continued in favour, yet the personal as well 
 as political rivalry between the two queens — one an 
 ally or the Pandis, the other of the Thappas 
 — prevented either of the two great parties of the 
 State from becoming unduly powerful, or from mono- 
 polising for any length of time all the sweets of office. 
 But no sooner did the death of the Maharani destroy 
 this " balance of power " within the Palace, than the 
 surviving Queen, now without a rival, used all her 
 influence over her husband so effectually to the preju- 
 dice of her opponents, that she soon managed to get 
 nearly all the power of the State into the hands of 
 herself and her partisans. The great object of the 
 Queen's ambition was to set aside her two step-chil- 
 dren — the Heir- Apparent and his brother — and secure 
 the crown to the elder of her own two sons. She 
 knew r that this scheme was impracticable as long as 
 either the Chauntrias or Pandis remained at the head 
 of the Government. The Chauntrias, as members of 
 the royal family, would naturally oppose any change in 
 the legitimate succession to the throne. The Pandis 
 were not only personally attached to the Heir-Appa-
 
 INTRIGUES OF THE RANI. 333 
 
 rent — through whose means they hoped to be brought 
 again into office — but they were certain to defend the 
 interests of the late Maharani, who had always been 
 a firm supporter of them and their party. Under 
 these circumstances she determined to use every effort 
 to reinstate the Thappas in power. The former leader 
 of that powerful party, Bhim Sen, had been mur- 
 dered, the present head of it, Martabar Singh, had 
 been driven into exile, and the whole of their adhe- 
 rents had been most cruelly persecuted by the late 
 Maharani and her partizans the Pandis. 
 
 She thereupon calculated that, if she could succeed 
 in bringing back Martabar Singh to Nipal and se- 
 curing to him the Premiership, a desire for vengeance 
 on his own enemies, as well as a feeling of gratitude 
 to her for effecting his restoration, would induce that 
 statesman to join her party so cordially, that she 
 hoped to make him a tool in her hands to remove, in 
 the first place, her and his political enemies, and after- 
 wards to set aside the children of that Maharani who 
 had been the cause of all his and his uncle's mis- 
 fortunes. 
 
 Acting on these principles, she easily convinced her 
 imbecile husband that the Thappas were the only 
 party on whom reliance could be placed for the pro- 
 per government of the country, and that he should 
 lose no time in persuading Martabar Singh to return 
 to Nipal and investing him with the office of Premier. 
 
 General Martabar Singh had been living in volun- 
 tary exile in the British territories ever since 1838.
 
 334 HISTOKY OF NIPAL. 
 
 Intimation was accordingly sent to him by the Rajah, 
 that he and the whole country were now convinced of 
 the gross injustice which had been perpetrated against 
 Bhim Sen and the Thappas generally, and assurances 
 were given to him that his return to Nipal would lead 
 not only to his own appointment as Premier, but to 
 the restoration, to himself, to his family, arid to all 
 their adherents, of their confiscated property and titles. 
 At the same time that he sent these messages to 
 Martabar privately, the King publicly invested Fath 
 Jang Chauntria with almost unlimited power as 
 Minister, and professed the most abounded confidence 
 in his talents and sagacity. The King wished to 
 throw Fath Jang off his guard, and, by betraying 
 him into some unusual stretch of power, to make him 
 unpopular, and so prepare the way for his downfall. 
 
 Martabar Singh was too well aware of the insin- 
 cerity of the King, and the insecurity of everything 
 in Nipal, to yield at once to these alluring promises. 
 He, however, left Simla, where he had been residing 
 for some time on a pension of R. 1,000 a month 
 from our Government, and came to Gorakhpur, the 
 proximity of which place to the Nipalese frontier 
 would enable him to communicate easily with his 
 friends at Kathmandu, and to ascertain from their 
 reports the real state of feeling in the country, and 
 what reliance he could place on the specious promises 
 and prospects held out to him by his royal master. 
 
 As soon as it was known that he was on his way to 
 the frontier, great anxiety was exhibited among all
 
 RETURN OF MARTABAR SINGH. 335 
 
 classes of the community for his arrival at the capital. 
 Everyone sympathised with him in the misfortunes 
 which he had undergone, and felt eager to atone for 
 the indignities which had so unjustly been heaped on 
 his late illustrious uncle. There was a general reac- 
 tion in favour of the Thappas. 
 
 In February 1843 a deputation was despatched to 
 Gorakhpur to meet him and escort him up to Nipal. 
 In an evil hour Martabar accepted the invitation they 
 brought him from the King, and quitting the protec- 
 tion of the British territories, he proceeded towards 
 the capital of Nipal, accompanied by the deputation 
 and a guard of honour. After halting for a few days 
 on the confines of the valley, on the 17th of April he 
 entered the city of Kathmandu, where he had an 
 audience of the King, by whom he was received with 
 the greatest distinction. He was attended on his 
 entrance into Nipal by his nephew, Kaji Jang Baha- 
 dur, then quite a young man, who, since the down- 
 fall of Bhim Sen, had managed to elude the vengeance 
 of the dominant party by leading a retired life, but 
 who now took advantage of the recent change in public 
 opinion to join his uncle on his way to Nipal, and, in 
 attendance upon him, to come forward for the first 
 time as a political character. This is the first appear- 
 ance of Jang Bahadur on the stage of Nipalese politics, 
 in which he has been destined to play so very pro- 
 minent a part. 
 
 Martabar at once demanded to be confronted with 
 the former accusers of his uncle, in order that the
 
 336 HISTORY OP NIPAL. 
 
 charge of poisoning, under which, his family had been 
 ruined, might be fairly investigated. After a full 
 investigation by a council of chiefs, the charges 
 against Bhim Sen were declared to have been ground- 
 less ; and the character and conduct of Martabar, 
 as well as of his uncle, were declared to be cleared 
 of all reproach. During the investigation before the 
 Council, certain of the Pandis confessed to having 
 perjured themselves in the prosecution of Bhim Sen, 
 and to having wilfully deceived the King in their 
 statements of the case, with a view to leading to 
 Bhim Sen's overthrow. These parties were denounced 
 by the Court as deserving of death ; and a proclama- 
 tion was issued by the King, vindicating the memory 
 of Bhim Sen, and promising reparation to the Thapas 
 as a party, and restitution to Martabar and his family 
 of all their confiscated property. 
 
 In accordance with this verdict, the sentence of 
 death was immediately executed upon the leaders of 
 the Pandis, and on some of their adherents. Karbar 
 Pandi and Kulraj Pandi, the most active members of 
 the ministry which, under the nominal premiership 
 of their brother, Ranjang Pandi, had murdered Bhim 
 Sen, were beheaded. Ranjang Pandi himself was 
 brought to the place of execution, but being at the 
 time in a dying state, he was merely shown to the 
 people and then removed to his own house, where he 
 died naturally a few hours afterwards. Indar Bir 
 Thappa and Rambam Thappa, two treacherous de- 
 serters of Bhim Sen's, and, in the hands of the
 
 PUNISHMENT OF THE PANDIS. 337 
 
 Pandis, the most active agents of mischief against 
 their own party, were also beheaded, and with them 
 was executed Kanak Sing Mahat, the late Chief 
 Justice, or Ditha, who had drawn up the fictitious 
 confession of ffuilt, under colour of which Bhim Sen 
 had suffered. The Ditha is said to have been an 
 honest man, and to have had no option as to the 
 paper of confession, which was penned under the 
 Rajah's own eye, and at his dictation. Bodman 
 Karki was deprived of his lips and nose, and Bansraj 
 Bashniat of his nose. Upwards of forty other Pandis 
 with their families were banished to the plains, and 
 their property confiscated. 
 
 During the remainder of the year Fath Jang con- 
 tinued in office as Premier, and no changes were 
 made among his colleagues in the Cabinet. 
 
 Martabar remained out of office ; he became the 
 most influential person in the Darbar, and though 
 the leaders of all sides paid court to him, he care- 
 fully held aloof, biding his time, and openly identified 
 himself with none of the rival parties in the State. 
 
 The King appears to have distrusted Martabar and 
 suspected that he was in league with the Queen, and 
 would assist her in achieving her own objects of am- 
 bition at the expense of himself and the Heir- Apparent. 
 For this reason, the King kept delaying to appoint 
 Martabar as Premier, and pushed forward the Heir- 
 Apparent,* encouraging him to take upon himself 
 
 * He was married in May 1843. 
 
 i. 22
 
 338 HISTORY OF NIPAL. 
 
 an undue assumption of authority, in order that the 
 young Prince might be in a better position to defend 
 his own and his father's rights. 
 
 At last, however, the King was obliged to yield to 
 the constantly exerted influence of his Queen, and 
 the loudly expressed desire of his subjects, that the 
 existing weak Cabinet of Fath Jang should be dis- 
 solved, and that the reins of government should be 
 placed in the hands of Martabar Singh. 
 
 On the 25th of December 1843, General Martabar 
 Singh was formally appointed Prime Minister and 
 Commander-in-Chief. His appointment took place in 
 a very full Darbar, and apparently met with general 
 approval of all parties in the State, including even the 
 Chauntrias. (At this time Ranbir Thappa, brother to 
 Bhim Sen, and uncle to Martabar, was living in Kath- 
 mandu in the guise and manner of a Fakir.) 
 
 Martabar's violent temper and arrogant bearing 
 made him personally unpopular with the other Sardars, 
 but he was most cordially supported by the whole of 
 the army, with whom he had ever been a favourite. 
 He soon felt the difficulty of the " double govern- 
 ment " of the King and Heir- Apparent, and openly 
 expressed his unwillingness to serve "two masters." 
 His remonstrances appear to have given offence to his 
 royal masters, and in his bearing towards them he 
 probably arrogated to himself more than either King 
 or Prince were disposed to concede. 
 
 In May 1844 he resigned his appointment as 
 Minister, and expressed his desire to quit the country
 
 EXCESSES OF THE HEIE-APPARENT. 339 
 
 for the plains. He was persuaded to continue to act 
 " until bis successor should be appointed," and in 
 October he consented formally to " officiate " as Pre- 
 mier, in order, as he said, " to keep the soldiery 
 quiet." His resignation and reappointment was 
 doubtless only a party move, to ascertain the strength 
 of his hold on the King and on the Court. The vio- 
 lent excesses of the Heir- Apparent continued to cause 
 great discontent throughout the country ; among other 
 amusements, he took to maltreating even Brahmans 
 and cows.* His violent conduct had at first been en- 
 couraged by his father for party purposes, partly with 
 a view to check the schemes of the Queen, and partly 
 as a means of drawing out the opinions of the leading 
 Sardars, and eliciting their supposed treasonable de- 
 signs. His violence, however, at length became quite 
 uncontrollable, and became the more serious as he 
 now openly avowed his intention of making the King 
 abdicate in his favour, and it was feared that, in the 
 unsettled state of the country, and with so many 
 opposing parties at Court, his wild and reckless con- 
 duct might excite a revolution. 
 
 In December 1844 the Heir-Apparent, in disgust 
 that his father would not abdicate, suddenly left the 
 valley with a large body of troops and a number of 
 the leading Sirdars, and repaired to the Terai, declar- 
 ing that he would not return until the throne was 
 
 * Sir Henry Lawrence writes that the " most fruitful sources of 
 disturbance in Nipal are women and cows ! " 
 
 22 *
 
 340 HISTORY OF N1PAL. 
 
 vacant. The King and Martabar very shortly joined 
 him. At Hitowara the Rajah and Prince had a violent 
 quarrel, the latter threatening to lead the troops 
 across the British frontier. The troops and the Sar- 
 clars, headed by Martabar, sided with the Prince, and 
 induced the King to a partial abdication ; the King 
 agreeing to remain on the throne, but investing his 
 son with authority to issue all orders, and to enforce 
 their obedience. 
 
 Ever since his return to Nipal, Martabar had 
 secretly been anxious to induce the King to abdicate 
 in favour of the Heir-Apparent. At first he pro- 
 posed that, in case of the King's abdication, the Queen 
 should be made Regent, and he himself be Premier. 
 Gagan Singh and Abhiman Pan a were in league 
 with him to effect this change, but they were so 
 anxious to secure all the power in their own hands, 
 that Martabar abandoned the scheme of a Regency, and 
 openly advocated the claims of the Heir- Apparent. 
 This made for him a mortal enemy in Gagan Singh 
 as well as in the Queen. The latter would have been 
 delighted at being made Regent, as she then hoped to 
 be able to carry out her favourite plan of setting 
 aside the Heir- Apparent, on the plea of insanity, 
 which the extravagance of his conduct might have 
 easily been made to bear out. Martabar knew both 
 father and son well ; and calculated that he could 
 control the youthful extravagances of the Prince more 
 easily than he could the cowardly, cunning, and vacil- 
 lating character of the Rajah. The sudden expedi-
 
 RIVAL 'POWERS AT COURT. 341 
 
 tion to the Terai, and the threat to cross the British 
 frontier with troops, was merely a ruse, done with the 
 hope that the angry remonstrances of the British 
 Government on the occasion of such an outrage would 
 frighten the timid monarch into a surrender of the 
 throne to his son. After this scene was over at 
 Hitowara, the King, with his son, Martabar, and the 
 whole camp, returned to Kathmandu. Before leaving 
 the Terai, however, the Prince indulged his love of 
 bloodshed by causing sixteen officers and soldiers, who 
 had used threatening language to Martabar Singh, and 
 had remonstrated against the transfer of authority 
 from the King to his son, to be summarily executed, 
 without trial or confession, in his presence.* 
 
 Martabar appears to have made up his mind as to 
 which of the three rival powers at Court — the King, 
 the Queen, and the Heir- Apparent — he should support 
 against the other two. The King had mistrusted him 
 all along ; the Queen, in effecting his restoration to 
 power, had calculated on obtaining a powerful but 
 willing instrument to carry out her own views ; she 
 now found out how mistaken she was in her estimate 
 of Martabar's character, who, though violent in tem- 
 per, and vindictive too, was too loyal and high-minded 
 a statesman to be capable of perpetrating an act of 
 treason and gross injustice. 
 
 In advocating the King's voluntary abdication in 
 
 * This took place at Dhupoabasa, half-way between Bichalesh 
 and the Cheryaghatti pass.
 
 342 HISTORY OF N1PAL. 
 
 favour of the Heir- Apparent, he was guilty of no dis- 
 loyalty, but he made mortal enemies of both the Rajah 
 and the Queen. They concealed their resentment for 
 a time, from fear of the army, with whom Martabar 
 was a favourite ; but from the date of this excursion 
 to Hitowara they both determined that their too 
 powerful and courageous Minister must be got rid of. 
 
 Kaji Jang Bahadur warmly supported his uncle in 
 advocating the cause of the Heir- Apparent. He could 
 personally bear the Prince no good will ; the Prince 
 having frequently beaten and maltreated him, and on 
 one occasion made him jump into a well to escape with 
 his life. Jang showed his foresight and sagacity by 
 adhering to the side of the Prince, which he knew 
 would in the end be successful. He was somewhat 
 of a time-server, having warmly supported the Chaun- 
 trias so long as they were in possession of power. 
 After his return from the Terai, the King seems to 
 have summoned courage and retracted his abdication, 
 and reasserted his own position as ruler of the country, 
 the Prince only acting as Minister of his orders. He 
 arranged that he would consult with the Prince in all 
 matters ; that the Prince should give orders to the 
 Minister, who should see to their execution. 
 
 The better to throw Martabar Singh off his guard, 
 and remove any suspicions he might entertain of secret 
 ill-will being felt towards him by the King or Queen, 
 he was publicly invested by the Rajah as Minister for 
 life, on the 4th of January 1845; honours were heaped 
 upon him by the King, and his power and services
 
 FEARS OF THE CHAUNTRIAS. 343 
 
 appeared to be recognised universally.* He seemed 
 to have reconciled father and son, and to nave gained 
 equal power over both of them. The other chiefs 
 and Sirdars submitted to his authority without oppo- 
 sition, and, excepting the Thappas, he kept most of 
 them in the background. 
 
 Despite his apparently powerful position, Martabar 
 seems to have had misgivings as to its probable dura- 
 bility. On the 26th of Februaryf he told the Resi- 
 dent that every minister since the days of Prithi 
 Narayan had met with a violent death, " but he hoped 
 that he should escape." 
 
 The Chauntrias in particular appear to have dreaded 
 his power, and to have been apprehensive lest they 
 should be treated by this all-powerful Minister as the 
 Pandis had been. There is no reason to think that 
 there was any real foundation for their alarm, but 
 under the influence of it, whether well founded or not, 
 Fath Jang Chauntria, who had been appointed Go- 
 vernor of Palpa, suddenly left his province, in com- 
 pany with Kaji Abhiman Rana, and proceeded towards 
 Gaya. Martabar, apprehensive lest these and other 
 malcontents should unite with Pandi exiles at Be- 
 
 * He was publicly invested by the King with some gold medals 
 (which Martabar wore round his neck till the day of his death) 
 recording that he had saved the life and throne of the King and of 
 the Prince. 
 
 f In February 1845 Prince Waldemar and suite paid a visit to 
 Nipal.
 
 344 HISTORY OF NIPAL. 
 
 nares and other parts of the plains, ordered, on the 
 13th of April, Fath Jang's house and property to be 
 confiscated, as a punishment for his unauthorised flight 
 from the country. 
 
 With a view still further to increase his popularity 
 with the army, and probably doubting the strength of 
 his position, Martabar, in the spring of 1845, raised 
 three new regiments. This appears to have alarmed 
 the King, who felt that he was becoming a mere 
 cipher — that Martabar and the Prince really governed 
 the country, though they paid him the compliment of 
 doing so in his name. The King, urged on by the 
 Queen and her friends, determined at once to get rid 
 of Martabar, hoping thereby to recover his own 
 authority and position, and little foreseeing that the 
 removal of his courageous though free-spoken Minister 
 would merely transfer all authority in the State to 
 the hands of the Queen and her paramour, Gagan 
 Singh, and leave him in reality as great a cipher as 
 ever. 
 
 On the 17th of May 1845 General Martabar Singh 
 was murdered. On the 18th a deputation, with Kaji 
 Jang Bahadur as spokesman, was sent by the King 
 to report to the Resident, " that, on the previous 
 night, Martabar had been put to death by the Rajah, 
 for arrogating to himself the powers of sovereignty; 
 
 * These are the words of the official report hy Major Lawrence,
 
 DEATH OP MARTABAR SINGH. 345 
 
 for killing (in December 1844, at Hitowara) sixteen 
 soldiers ; for threatening to resume the lands of the 
 Brahmans ; for employing the soldiers as labourers ; 
 and for proposing to set up the second prince on the 
 throne. That for these and other offences he had 
 been put to death in the Palace, as His Highness 
 feared to execute him publicly, owing to his influence 
 with the soldiery." Although the King attributed 
 the murder of these sixteen men at Dhupoabasa, 
 without their having made confession, as a crime to 
 Martabar, there is little doubt that the person who 
 really ordered the execution was the Heir- Apparent. 
 On this occasion Jang was as loud on the demerits of 
 his uncle, as a month before he had been on those of 
 the Chauntrias. 
 
 Whatever faults Martabar had committed, they 
 were chiefly faults of temper and bearing ; his public 
 and official acts appear to have been approved of, or 
 at least acquiesced in, by the King and all the chiefs 
 up to the very day of his death. He was treacherously 
 murdered from private motives of party policy ; not 
 privately executed, as the King would represent, for 
 offences which he had committed against the State. 
 
 It appears that, on the night of the 1 7th, Martabar 
 was suddenly called to the Palace, at 11 p.m., on pre- 
 tence of an accident having occurred to the Queen. 
 Suspecting nothing, he immediately obeyed the sum- 
 mons ; and on entering the apartment in which the 
 King and Queen were sitting together, and approach- 
 ing to pay his usual respects, he was shot at from
 
 346 HISTORY OF NIPAL. 
 
 behind a trelliced screen,* one ball entering his head, 
 and two or more, besides some small shot, entering 
 his body. Staggering forward, he called for mercy 
 for his mother and children ; but as he spoke, he was 
 struck to the ground from behind, and as in the 
 agonies of death his hands were stretched out in 
 supplication to his King, one of the attendants cut 
 him with a sword across the wrists, and nearly severed 
 them from his arms. His mangled remains were 
 then let down into the street from a window, by a 
 rope, and before daylight the corpse was despatched, 
 by a party of soldiers, to Pashpatinath to be burnt. 
 The road leading to the temple, about two miles dis- 
 tant from the Palace, was sprinkled with the blood 
 which trickled from the numerous wounds which had 
 been inflicted on the body. 
 
 The day before the assassination several of the 
 Chauntrias, who for some time had been absent from 
 the Darbar, privately visited the King, and it is sup- 
 posed that they were in the Rajah's confidence, and 
 were aware of his intentions, though they had no 
 share in the actual commission of the murder. The 
 man who took the chief part in the murder was Kaji 
 Gagan Singh, the confidential attendant and reputed 
 paramour of the Queen, and notoriously an enemy to 
 Martabar. 
 
 * The murder is said to have been seen, in all its details, 
 through the crevices of the trap-door above the staircase leading 
 into the room in which it occurred.
 
 DOUBTS ABOUT JANG BAHADCJE. 347 
 
 A month after the murder the King sent a letter to 
 the Governor- General, informing him of the tragedy 
 which had occurred, and giving his reasons for its 
 commission. After charging Martabar with treason, 
 &c, the King said, " Therefore 1 put the said traitor 
 Thappa to death with my own hands, killing him with 
 gun and sword." On which Sir Henry Lawrence 
 (then Resident) remarks, " Gagan Singh and four 
 or five others killed the Minister. The Maharajah, 
 may have mangled the corpse; but I much doubt His 
 Highness having courage to fire a gun, much more to 
 face his late Minister." 
 
 About the same time some people accused Jang 
 Bahadur of having been concerned in the murder of 
 his uncle ; but at that time Jang always most posi- 
 tively denied the truth of the report, and it was not 
 generally believed. Colonel Lawrence says at the 
 time, " Poor as is my opinion of Jang's moral cha- 
 racter, I do believe him guiltless of this murder." 
 This view is confirmed by the fact that, immediately 
 on hearing of their father's murder, Colonel Ranujal 
 Thappa, Martabar' s legitimate son, and Captain Ran- 
 jor Thappa, his natural son, took refuge with Jang 
 Bahadur, which they would hardly have done had they 
 even suspected him of being privy to their father's 
 death. Jang assisted them in securing their father's 
 jewels and treasure, and started them off, with some 
 of their personal attendants, privately, under the 
 charge of one of his brothers, to Sigauli, where they 
 arrived safely.
 
 348 HISTOET OF NIPAL. 
 
 Since his return from England, Jang lias openly 
 avowed that he was the person who fired the first shot 
 at Martabar, and says that he did so, after remon- 
 strating in vain, in consequence of the King and 
 Queen's urgent orders. He has, on three or four 
 occasions, shown me the identical gun which he used 
 on the occasion. 
 
 In a letter addressed by the King (1 5th of August 
 1847), after his deposition, to the Governor-General, 
 he says, " On General Martabar Singh's misbehaving 
 himself, I sent for Jang Bahadur, and ordered him to 
 kill Martabar. Singh, threatening him with death if he 
 refused to obey." 
 
 With Jang were associated in the murder Gagan 
 Singh and Kaji Kulman Singh Thappa, though it is 
 impossible to say exactly what part each performed. 
 This Kulman Singh Thappa was badly wounded in 
 the massacre at the Kot by a cut on the head ; he 
 fell to the ground, and, with great presence of mind, 
 remained motionless in the corner where he lay, and 
 as his head and body were covered with blood, he 
 passed for dead, and escaped with his life. He was, 
 and is, an adherent of the Thappa party. 
 
 Immediately after the murder, parties of soldiers, 
 with guns, were stationed around the Darbar and at 
 all the city outlets, the King being apprehensive that 
 the troops might become dangerously excited on 
 hearing of the death of their favourite leader. Every- 
 thing, however, remained tranquil ; and on this occa- 
 sion, as on a similar one, when Bhim Sen and his
 
 PROMOTION OF JANG BAHADUR. 349 
 
 friends were treated with every indignity and cruelty 
 in 1830, and again when the Pandis were executed in 
 184-3, not a finger or a voice was raised by the soldiery 
 in favour of the sufferers. 
 
 The Nipalese soldiers are at all times, and under 
 all circumstances, most singularly obedient to the 
 "powers that be"; and they obey the constituted 
 authority — be it Rajah, Rani, Prince, or Minister — 
 most unhesitating^, and without any reference to the 
 duty required or its consequences. 
 
 Finding that there was no danger of any insurrec- 
 tionary movement on the part of the army, the King 
 assembled the troops on the Tandakhel the next day, 
 and told them that in future he intended to take upon 
 himself alone the entire direction of the affairs of the 
 State. Urgent orders were sent to the plains to the 
 exiled or absent Chauntrias and Pandis to return at 
 once to Nipal, as he intended to make Fath Jang, 
 Chauntria, Minister. 
 
 A company of soldiers was sent to seize Thil Bikram 
 Thappa, Governor of Palpa, and nephew to Martabar 
 Singh, but he succeeded in escaping to the plains. 
 
 Until Fath Jang could return, and as a temporary 
 arrangement, Jang Bahadur was appointed to officiate 
 as Premier. He was about the same time made a 
 general, and given the command of three regiments. 
 
 The King found considerable difficulty in forming a 
 Cabinet, owing to the conflicting interests and rival- 
 ries of the different candidates for office. Fath Jans' 
 had returned to Nipal, but for some time remained
 
 350 HISTORY OF NIPAL. 
 
 in retirement, and refused to be Premier unless he 
 should receive such full powers, and under such 
 special guarantees, as the King was either unable or 
 unwilling to give him. Of the other leading men, 
 Abhiman Rana, who had returned with Fath Jang 
 was one candidate ; Jang Bahadur another — he ap- 
 peared to have succeeded his uncle as the special 
 supporter of the interests of the Heir- Apparent, and 
 was therefore not much in favour either with the 
 King or Queen. The most powerful candidate, how- 
 ever, was Kaji Gagan Singh, who was the special 
 favourite of the Rani. 
 
 Several months passed in party squabbling ; the 
 King and Queen became reconciled, and carried on 
 the government together, issuing orders in military 
 matters through Jang Bahadur, and in all civil cases 
 through Gagan Singh, who had become the most in- 
 fluential man now in the Darbar, and was the avowed 
 head of the numerous party who supported the Rani's 
 interests. 
 
 In September 1845 Fath Jang's scruples as to ac- 
 cepting office were overcome by the King, and he 
 accepted the appointment of President or Premier of 
 a kind of " coalition " Cabinet consisting of himself, 
 Gagan Singh, Abhiman Rana, and Dalbanjan Pandi. 
 Gagan Singh, by the Queen's interest, was made a 
 General and Commander-in-Chief with the command 
 of the seven regiments employed about the capital, 
 and the charge of all the magazines and army sup- 
 plies. He also superintended all the local affairs of
 
 CHANGES IN THE GOVERNMENT. 351 
 
 the Darbar. He* had got, by this arrangement, all 
 real power into his own hands as head of the now 
 dominant party of the Queen, and was the actual 
 Premier in all except the name. Fath Jang-'s duty 
 was to conduct the civil government of Gorkha, Palpa, 
 and Western Nipal, and to have the management of 
 foreign (i.e. British and Chinese) affairs. Abhiman 
 Rana had charge of Eastern Nipal. While Dalbanjan 
 Pandi, a respectable old man, had no special duty ; he 
 was merely placed in the Cabinet as a means of 
 satisfying the Pandi party that their interests would 
 be protected by the new Government. Jang Bahadur 
 had no office in the Government. He was generally 
 looked upon as a fifth or military member of the 
 Ministry, but he was not actually in the Cabinet. 
 
 Jang's exclusion from office was the result of his 
 being looked on by the King and Queen as a partisan 
 of the Heir- Apparent, whose influence at this junc- 
 ture was giving way before that of his step-mother, 
 and who was known to favour Jang, while he de- 
 tested the other Ministers. At the same time, Jang 
 was known to be a man of so much energy, talent, 
 
 * The elevation of Gagan Sing gave great offence and caused 
 great jealousy among the Sirdars generally, as but a few years 
 back Gagan Sing had been but a common Darbar menial. He 
 was originally a Chobdar, or Khuwassia, in the Queen's service; 
 a name here given to male menial servants permitted to enter the 
 female apartments in care of young princes, &c. Though dis- 
 contented, the Sirdars could not openly oppose the favourite of 
 the day.
 
 352 HISTORY OF NIPAL. 
 
 and daring, that the Court could not afford to make 
 an enemy of him ; he was therefore allowed to retain 
 the rank of general, with the command of the three 
 regiments previously given to him. But he had no 
 actual office in the Government. 
 
 The new Cabinet professed very friendly sentiments 
 towards the British Government, and the Maharajah 
 formally offered the use of his army in the event of 
 hostilities occurring between the British and the 
 Sikhs. He repeated the offer on hearing of the 
 battles of Mudki and Firozeshahr. The Lahor Go- 
 vernment applied to the Nipalese to assist them by 
 making a diversion in our rear, in the Terai or 
 towards Ouclh. The King sent an answer that 
 " when the Sikhs had taken Delhi it would be time 
 enough to think of it." At the time of the Pan- 
 jab war, individuals might, and did, talk arrogantly 
 of war ; but no party, nor people of influence, ever 
 thought of serious collision with the British. 
 
 After hearing of the victory of Sobraon the Rajah 
 made a formal request to the Governor-General, 
 " that the British Government, in this day of its 
 triumph, and augmented possessions, should give 
 something out of its abundance to its poor friend 
 of Nipal, which had been so staunch, and offered her 
 troops so often." He modestly asked for Kamaon, 
 or some territory in the Terai yielding two or two 
 and a half lakhs !
 
 353 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 history op nipal — (continued). 
 
 For upwards of a year after the murder of Martabar 
 Singh no material changes occurred in the state 
 of parties and politics at Kathmandn. Unavowed 
 jealousies naturally existed among the Ministers, but 
 nothing occurred which seemed likely to lead to a 
 " breach of the peace." 
 
 There were three distinct parties at the capital : — 
 1st. The party of the Queen, who was anxious to 
 secure the crown for her own son, and meantime the 
 Regency for herself. This party, by far the most 
 powerful, was led by General Gagan Singh, Com- 
 mander-in-Chief. Although a parvenu, his personal 
 demeanour was not arrogant, but his birth and pre- 
 vious occupation made him unpopular with the other 
 chiefs ; while his notorious amour with the Queen 
 made him an object of jealousy and dislike to the King 
 and royal family. He always openly used the name 
 i. 23
 
 354 HISTORY OF NIPAL. 
 
 and authority of the Queen, whose agent he professed 
 to be, and on whom he was constantly in attendance. 
 
 2nd. The party of the Heir-Apparent.— The Prince 
 was now comparatively quiet, and his party neither 
 numerous nor strong. His chief partisan, Jang Ba- 
 hadur, was growing lukewarm, and seemed half in- 
 clined to join the Queen's side. 
 
 3rd. The party of the Rajah. — This included the 
 Chauntrias and many of the more quiet and least 
 ambitious of the chiefs. The King, though weak and 
 vacillating himself, had hitherto succeeded in playing 
 the rival parties so cleverly one against the other 
 that things had, on the whole, turned out very much 
 to his own profit and advantage. His chief stay was 
 on Fath Jang, a high-minded and unambitious chief, 
 who was then evidently waiting for events, and though 
 nominally Premier, took very little part in any of the 
 business of Government except that belonging to the 
 foreign department. General Abhiman Rana followed 
 the lead of Fath Jang, and confined his attention to 
 civil affairs. He was a sensible, well-disposed man, 
 but of no great energy or ability. 
 
 The Rajah apparently kept now on good terms both 
 with the Queen and the Prince ; but the amour of the 
 former with Gagan Singh, not only as affecting his 
 personal honour, but as giving too much power to 
 the faction opposed to his own interests, made him 
 determine on destroying General Gagan Singh.* He 
 
 * This account of the causes which led to G-agan Singh's death, 
 and of the parties who brought it about, was given to Colonel
 
 PLOT AGAIXST GAGAN SINGH. 355 
 
 dissembled, however, so cleverly that the Queen 
 even never suspected him of feeling any jealousy on 
 the subject, nor of being in any way implicated in 
 the death of her lover. The King secretly pointed 
 out to his two sons the disgrace attaching to the 
 royal house from the intimacy notoriously existing 
 between the Queen and her favourite Minister, adding 
 that he was powerless against the lady, but that the 
 two princes had better avenge the family honour, and 
 adopt some measures to have Gi-agan Singh destroyed. 
 The younger prince (Mihla Sahib) being quite a lad, 
 was allowed to go about without restraint or suspi- 
 cion, and had become very intimate with Fath Jang's 
 family. To Fath Jang he disclosed the scheme, and 
 by his assistance he managed to secure a man, named 
 Lai Jha, who undertook to shoot the General.* 
 
 Thoresby, in 1847, in conversation, by the Heir-Apparent after lie 
 had ascended the throne. It accounts for some apparent incon- 
 sistencies as to the origin of the massacre at the Kot, and may 
 be believed as true. 
 
 * Lai Jha was an intriguing mischievous Brahman — a noto- 
 rious scoundrel — who had frequently been confined, but had 
 always managed to escape for want of positive evidence against 
 him. After the murder of Gagan he escaped to Bettiah, where 
 he met Kaji Jagat Bam Pandi, of the Kalapandar, an exile, who 
 engaged him in a plot to return to Nipal and kill Jang Bahadur. 
 On the road to Nipal, through the Terai, he and his accomplices 
 were seized by the " awal " fever, but managed to get on to 
 Kathmandu, where Lai Jha was arrested as a suspicious character. 
 He sank under the " awal," and when near his death he pub- 
 licly confessed that he had killed Gagan Sing, and had come 
 back to kill Jang Bahadur, having been promised promotion and 
 rewards by Jagat Bam Pandi if he succeeded in doing so. 
 
 23 *
 
 356 HISTORY OF NIPAL. 
 
 Besides Fath Jang, General Abhiman Singh Rana, 
 Kaji Dalbanjan Pandi, and Bir Kishor Pandi were all 
 privy to the scheme, as, of course, was the King him- 
 self, who had originated the whole. Jang Bahadur, 
 as being supposed to be inclined to the Queen's side, 
 was kept in perfect ignorance of everything connected 
 with the plot. 
 
 On the night of the 14th of September 1846, at 
 10 p.m., General Gagan Singh, while engaged in prayer 
 in a chamber in his own house, was killed by a shot 
 fired at him through an open window from an adjoin- 
 ing roof of the building. The shot was fired by Lai 
 Jha, who, in the confusion that ensued, managed to 
 escape from the city, and proceeding direct to the 
 plains, arrived safely at Bettiah. 
 
 The news of this murder was immediately carried 
 to the Queen, at her palace, Hanuman Dhoka, by the 
 General's son, Captain Wazir Singh. The Queen at 
 once set out on foot for the late General's house, 
 attended by only four female servants. After view- 
 ing the corpse of her lover, she vowed vengeance on 
 his murderers, promised him a funeral at the public 
 expense, and forbad his three widows to perform satti. 
 Then taking the sword of state (to which, as a sort of 
 Regent, she was entitled) in her own hand, she pro- 
 ceeded to the Kot, or Court of Assembly for Military 
 Purposes, and ordered the bugles to be sounded for 
 the collection of the troops, and messengers to be 
 sent to summon an immediate assembly of all the civil 
 and military functionaries of the State.
 
 THE QUEEN'S TKOCEEDINGS. 357 
 
 Meantime, Jang Bahadur, having heard of what had 
 passed, arrived at the Kot, in company of his bro- 
 thers, at the head of the three regiments under his 
 command. He stated that, as General Gagan Singh 
 and himself had been together the Rani's especial 
 servants, and, as Gagan Singh was now murdered, he 
 felt that his own life was also in danger from the 
 same quarter ; and that as the Queen's own life and 
 that of her sons were probably in danger, he advised 
 that an immediate and strict examination into all the 
 circumstances of the case should be instituted, and 
 that severe punishment should be inflicted on all 
 those who should be proved to be guilty, At the 
 same time he urged on the Queen that, as the King- 
 had already, in January 1843, invested her with full 
 political authority in all affairs of the State, she 
 should now act entirely on her own responsibility. 
 
 "While Jang was conversing with the Queen, General 
 Abhiman Singh Rana had gone to the Palace and 
 brought the King to the Kot, where, meantime, all 
 the sardars and officers of the State, mostly unarmed, 
 had assembled in pursuance of the Queen's orders — 
 with the exception of Fath Jang Chauntria and his 
 relatives, who had not yet arrived. Remarking their 
 absence, the Queen sent Jang's brother Bam Baha- 
 dur to summon them without delay. At the same 
 time she ordered General Abhiman Singh Rana 
 to have Kaji Bir Kishor Pandi put in irons, as she 
 suspected him of being a party, if not a principal, to 
 the murder of the General. The order was iinme-
 
 358 HISTORY OP NIPAL. 
 
 diately executed, the Kaji strongly asserting his own 
 innocence. Enraged at his continued denials of all 
 knowledge of the crime, the Queen ordered General 
 Abhiman Rana to cut off his head. The General re- 
 ferred to the King, who was present, for his orders ; 
 but the King, knowing well who was the real criminal, 
 would not sanction such an execution without the trial 
 or confession of the prisoner. The General, therefore, 
 refused to obey the Rani, as her orders were in defiance 
 of those of the King, and left the Queen's presence. 
 
 The Rani at once sent for Jang, and ordered an 
 immediate council to be held without waiting for 
 the return of Bam and the Chauntrias. The King, 
 however, only too glad of an excuse for postponing 
 the stormy discussion which he knew would arise, and 
 in which he was afraid it might transpire that he 
 himself was the author, and the Chauntrias the 
 abettors, of the late murder, said that no council 
 would be safe, nor investigation complete, without 
 Fath Jang's presence and prudence to guide it, and 
 rode off in company with Kaji Badrinar Singh (Jang's 
 brother) to Fath Jang's house. After delaying some 
 time there, he sent off Fath Jang to the Kot in com- 
 pany with his son Kharak Bikram Sah and his 
 two brothers — Sirdar Bir Bahadur Sah and Captain 
 Ransher Sah — with some other members of the family, 
 as well as with Bam Bahadur and Badrinar Singh. 
 
 The King himself then, afraid to be present at the 
 investigation ordered by the Rani, with his usual 
 cowardice, slunk away alone, and repaired to the
 
 jang bahadur'. s proposal. 359 
 
 British Residency under the pretext of wishing to 
 inform the Resident, whom the event in no way con- 
 cerned, of the murder of Gagan Singh. It being past 
 midnight, an interview was not effected, and the King 
 returned towards the Kot. On reaching its neigh- 
 bourhood, the gutter in the street was crimson from 
 the blood flowing from the inside of the Kot. . So 
 sudden had been the massacre. The people about 
 persuaded the King to retire, out of harm's way, into 
 his Hanuman Dhoka Palace. 
 
 On the approach of Fath Jang and his party to the 
 Kot, they were met by General Jang Bahadur, who 
 was now acting as agent for the Queen. After relat- 
 ing to the Chauntrias all that had occurred, and how 
 Abhiman Rana had refused to execute Bir Kishor 
 Pandi although ordered to do so by the Rani, whose 
 authority was now supreme, he proposed, as a means of 
 appeasing the infuriated Queen and so bringing matters 
 into a tranquil state, that both Abhiman Rana and the 
 Pandi should be summarily executed ; and he offered, 
 with Fath Jang's approval, to effect their deaths at once. 
 In which case, he added, Fath Jang should continue 
 as Premier, while he, Jang, would be Commander-in- 
 Chief, and would act under Fath Jang's orders. 
 
 It is evident, from this proposal, that neither the 
 Queen nor her spokesman, Jang, at that time sus- 
 pected the Chauntrias of being privy to Gagan Singh's 
 death ; and also that at that time Jang had no idea 
 or anticipation of the massacre which was about to 
 ensue, which was not premeditated by anyone, but
 
 360 HISTORY OF NIPAL. 
 
 arose suddenly and unexpectedly out of an accidental 
 collision between a few individuals, at a time when the 
 passions of all were strongly excited by the tragic 
 event which had just occurred, and to investigate 
 which they were then assembled. 
 
 Fath Jang, however, refused to be a party to this 
 plan, and proposed that the Pandi should be fairly 
 tried, and, if found guilty, punished ; but he thought 
 that Abhiman Rana had only done his duty. In 
 making this proposal, Fath Jang well knew that no 
 evidence could be brought against the Pandi ; and he 
 probably calculated that, during the trial, time would 
 be gained, during which he and the other Ministers, 
 who were privy to the murder, might adopt measures 
 of defence against the Queen and her partisans. Had 
 the King but had the courage to have been present 
 to support with his authority and approval the reason- 
 able proposal of his minister and friend, there can 
 be no doubt that the whole affair would have been 
 quietly settled, and the subsequent bloodshed avoided. 
 Throughout the whole proceedings the King exhibited 
 the greatest weakness, cowardice, and irresolution ; 
 and on him, not on Jang, ought the responsibility and 
 blame of the subsequent slaughter to be fixed. 
 
 This conversation between Jang and Fath Jang 
 took place in the quadrangle surrounding the build- 
 ing of the Kot. When it was over, Fath Jang went 
 into the lower room on the ground floor, where Abhi- 
 man Singh Rana was sitting, and Jang went up to 
 the Rani on the second or upper floor. It is sup-
 
 MASSACRE IN THE PALACE. 3(51 
 
 posed that Fath Jang repeated to Abhiman Singh 
 what Jang had just said to him; for Abhiman Singh 
 immediately sent for the officers of his three regi- 
 ments and desired them to be on the alert, and to load 
 their muskets with balled cartridges. Jang, seeing 
 from the window that the men were loading, directed 
 the Rani's attention to the fact. She immediately 
 left him and descended, sword in hand, to the large 
 western apartment, where Fath Jang, Abhiman Singh, 
 Dalbanjan Pancli, and the other Sirdars, with some of 
 Jang's brothers, were assembled. Addressing them 
 all, she called out, "Who has killed my faithful 
 General Gagan Singh? Name him quickly." No 
 one answered, but Fath Jang promised a full investi- 
 gation. Much enraged, the Rani tried to use her own 
 sword on Bir Kishor Pandi, who was in irons, but 
 the three ministers restrained her, and trying to 
 pacify her, followed her from the ball towards the 
 upper story. The Rani mounted the dark and narrow 
 staircase alone, the three ministers waiting at the 
 foot of it (it is a steep narrow ladder rather than a 
 staircase, dark, and surmounted by a trap-door), and 
 preparing to follow her as soon as she had reached 
 the second story, when suddenly shots were fired 
 within the building, and Fath Jang and Dalbanjan 
 Pandi fell dead, and Abhiman Singh Rana wounded. 
 Abhiman Singh, exclaiming " This is Jang's trea- 
 chery," staggered back to the hall, and endeavoured 
 to get out of it to join his regiment, which was out- 
 side the building, in the surrounding quadrangle ; but
 
 362 HISTORY OF NIPAL. 
 
 Krishna Bahadur, with one stroke of his sword, nearly 
 cut him in two, and he fell dead. This occurred in 
 the presence of a number of Sirdars, Kajis, and other 
 officers, among whom was Kharak Bikram Sah, son 
 of Fath Jang, and several other Chauntrias. 
 
 Hearing of his father's death in the adjoining pas- 
 sage-room, and seeing Abhiman Singh cut down 
 before his eyes, Kharak Bikram Sah hastily drew 
 his kukery, and rushing on Bam Bahadur, inflicted 
 a gash across his head, and another across the head 
 of Krishna Bahadur ; then having cut down a sepoy, 
 he turned again upon Bam Bahadur, who, quite un- 
 prepared for this sudden melee, was somewhat stunned 
 by the blow on his head, and half blinded by the 
 blood which was streaming over his face, was en- 
 deavouring to draw his talwar from its sheath, in 
 which it was fastened by a twisted knot. Kharak 
 Bikram Sah's hand was upraised, and in another 
 instant he would have cut down Bam, who was in- 
 capable of defending himself from his sword being en- 
 tangled, when Jang Bahadur (who had been upstairs 
 till now, but on hearing the noise below had rushed 
 down) entering the apartment, and seeing his brother's 
 danger, seized a rifle and shot Kharak Bikram Sah 
 through the chest, and he, staggering backwards, 
 was despatched by a sword-cut from Deher Shamshir, 
 Jang's youngest brother. This was Jang's first ap- 
 pearance on the scene of bloodshed ; he had been above 
 at its commencement, waiting for and upon the Rani, 
 and only came down on hearing the firing below.
 
 ORIGIN OF THE MASSACRE. 363 
 
 The unpremeditated origin of the disturbance is 
 confirmed by the fact of Bam being unarmed, except 
 with his talwar, which he had not even taken the 
 precaution to have ready for use, and which he had 
 not time to draw in self-defence, before he was at- 
 tacked. Who fired the first and fatal shots on the 
 three Sardars (Fath Jang, Dalbanjan Pancli, and Abhi- 
 man Rana) as they followed the Queen out of the 
 apartment, is unknown.* There had been high words 
 passing below among the Sardars of different parties 
 as the Queen withdrew, and it is probable that in the 
 excitement of the wrangling, one or more of Jang's 
 younger brothers, who were present, on seeing Abhi- 
 man Rana's soldiers loading their muskets in accord- 
 ance with that General's orders, imagined that this 
 
 * In reporting to the Resident Lis own nomination to the 
 office of Sole Premier on the 16th of September (two days after 
 the massacre), and giving an account of the matter, Jang stated 
 that on the Council being assembled to investigate into the death 
 of Gagan Sing, the Queen publicly accused all the ministers by 
 name as accomplices in the murder, and she called out to Gagan 
 Sing's regiment to seize them, and she would have put them all 
 to death en masse. Great confusion followed ; the ministers mu- 
 tually recriminated each other, swords were drawn, and the first 
 blood was shed by Fath Jang's son, who attacked and wounded 
 Bam Bahadur. He said that Fath Jang himself and the other 
 ministers were killed, not at the outbreak, but during the progress 
 of the slaughter. Jang says that had he not restrained her she 
 would have put the Heir- Apparent and his brother to death at the 
 time of the massacre, and imprisoned the Rajah. He always 
 maintains that the massacre originated entirelv in the violent 
 and outrageous conduct of the Queen, who, holding supreme 
 power at the time, ought to be held responsible for it.
 
 364 HISTORY OF NIPAL. 
 
 was preliminary to some treachery against them or 
 Jang, and rashly gave the order to fire on General 
 Abhiman Rana. In the heat of the moment this 
 order being obeyed by more than one excited par- 
 tisan, several shots were fired at the General at the 
 same instant, and Chauntria Fath Jang and Dalban- 
 jan Pandi, who were standing at the time close to 
 him, fell dead by the same discharge by which he was 
 mortally wounded. 
 
 Blood having thus been shed, the fierce passions of 
 those present were excited beyond all control. Every- 
 one distrusted his neighbour, and, in self-defence, all 
 who had arms drew them and prepared, if necessary, 
 to sell their lives as dearly as possible. The con- 
 fusion was extreme in the small, low, and badly 
 lighted apartments and passages of the building. In 
 an instant swords were used, more blood was shed, 
 and a promiscuous melee ensued, which, as a large 
 number of the assembly were unarmed, soon became 
 a slaughter rather than a fight. A party of Jang's 
 followers and personal attendants, armed with double- 
 barrelled guns, forced their way into the building, 
 determined to defend their master and his brothers 
 to the last. Round them those of the Thappa party 
 rallied, and, with Jang at their head, commenced 
 firing on all who seemed opposed to them. It was a 
 moment when Jang felt that all who were not friends 
 to him must be enemies, and all present who were not 
 members of, or known to be attached to, his party 
 were ruthlessly shot or cut down. Some were saved
 
 SUBSEQUENT SLAUGHTERS. 365 
 
 by Jang's brothers, who put them out of the Kot by 
 a small doorway at its back. 
 
 As soon as the death of Abhiman Rana was known, 
 his troops and followers, in alarm, fled; so that Jang's 
 own corps, named after Kali Baksh, had little diffi- 
 culty in gaining possession of the quadrangle sur- 
 rounding the Kot, the outlets of which they secured, 
 and then opening their fire, they picked off, with little 
 danger or loss to themselves, all members of the 
 assembly, armed or unarmed, who were opposed to 
 them. Those who took refuge inside the Kot were 
 shot or cut down by the party who had rallied round 
 Jang in person ; those who came out into the quad- 
 rangle were at once slaughtered by the men of his 
 regiment, who were in possession of it on every side. 
 The massacre was quickly over, as resistance was 
 feeble and unavailing. While it lasted, the Queen 
 stood at the open window of the uppermost story, 
 urging on the soldiers, and calling out to them, " Kill 
 and destroy my enemies." The bodies of the slain 
 were heaped up together, without reference to rank, 
 and nearly filled the small quadrangle surrounding 
 the Kot. 
 
 Before the slaughter was well over, the Queen con- 
 ferred the office of Premier and Commander-in-Chief 
 upon General Jang Bahadur ; and he presented to her 
 his nazar of acknowledgment. The Queen remained 
 in the upper story of the Kot, a calm and unmoved 
 witness of the horrors that were perpetrated below, 
 till daybreak, when Jang conducted her to the Hanu-
 
 366 HISTORY OP NIPAL. 
 
 man Dhoka Palace, and then he proceeded to present 
 his nazar, and pay his respects as Premier, to the 
 King and the prince. The King angrily demanded 
 of him, " By whose order have so many chiefs and 
 officers of the State been slaughtered?" Jang re- 
 plied, " Everything has been done by the orders of 
 the Queen, to whom your Majesty yourself made over 
 sovereign power." 
 
 The King hastily repaired to the Rani for an ex- 
 planation of her conduct, but he found that royal 
 tigress, who, when inflamed by the passion of revenge, 
 had been an unmoved spectator of the past night's 
 bloody massacre, now overcome by the natural feel- 
 ings of her sex, and absorbed in grief at the loss of 
 her lover. An angry altercation ensued, in which 
 the Queen assured him that the only way to avoid 
 further bloodshed would be to place the elder of her 
 own two sons upon the throne. No satisfactory agree- 
 ment being come to, the King, fearful for his own 
 life, left her and accompanied by Sardar Bhowani 
 Singh and Captain Karbar Khatri, started towards 
 Patan, with the intention of proceeding to Benares. 
 
 As soon as the first outbreak of grief was over, 
 the Queen sent for Jang and for Kaji Birdhig Bash- 
 niat, and ordered them to confiscate the property of 
 all the Sardars and officers who had been killed or 
 had fled, and to expel their families, wives, and chil- 
 dren from the country*; and also to put the Heir- 
 
 * This order was executed to the letter. Each individual was 
 allowed to carry away one bundle only of his personal property
 
 FLIGHT AND RETURN OP THE KING. 367 
 
 Apparent and his brother under strict surveillance, 
 and allow no one to approach them. 
 
 Karbar Khatri, who had been appointed by the 
 Queen to act as a spy on the King's movements, 
 having reported that the King, while en route to 
 Patan, had held a private conversation with Bhowani 
 Singh on the Tandi Khel, at which he was not allowed 
 to be within hearing, the Queen sent a Subadar and 
 fifty soldiers with strict orders to cut off and bring 
 back with them Bhowani Singh's head. He was 
 killed on the road, in the presence of the King, who 
 made no effort to prevent the outrage, but continued 
 his course to Patan, from which city, however, he 
 was, after much difficulty, persuaded by one of Jang's 
 brothers to return at night to the palace at Kath- 
 manclu. 
 
 For eight days all the troops and guns at the 
 capital were kept in readiness around the Darbar, 
 and at the different city gates, while hundreds of 
 those connected either with those who had been 
 killed, or with those who had fled, and all who were 
 suspected of disaffection, were expelled the city. On 
 the eighth day, order and tranquillity being entirely 
 
 oi* clothing. A few days afterwards, by Jang's influence and 
 mediation, the expelled families of the fallen chiefs, mostly 
 Chauntras, the male branches of which family were nearly ex- 
 terminated in the fray, were recalled ; but they refused to return, 
 and proceeded on to the plains. All persons detected remaining 
 concealed in Nipal, after ten days, were threatened with death.
 
 368 HISTORY OF NIPAL. 
 
 re-established, Jang removed the troops to their own 
 quarters, and directed his attention more exclusively 
 to the performance of his general duties as Minister. 
 
 In an official report made to the Resident by Jang 
 Bahadur, the number of Sardars and military officers 
 killed in the massacre of the 14th and 15th of Sep- 
 tember was thirty-one. This did not include a con- 
 siderable number of soldiers and others of no note 
 who were accidentally killed during the melee. A 
 great many more either absconded or concealed them- 
 selves. To this number may be added about twenty 
 more, of no great note, who were executed in No- 
 vember as members of the Bushniat conspiracy. Of 
 the Sardars killed at the massacre, the following were 
 the only men of any rank or importance in the State : 
 General Gagan Singh ; Fath Jang Sah, Chauntria, and 
 his son Kharak Bikram Sah ; General Abhiman Siugh 
 Rana ; Kaji Dalbanjan Pandi ; Kaji Ranjor Singh 
 Thappa, a son of the famous General Amar Singh who 
 commanded at Ramghar and Malaun in the Nipal 
 war of 1814-15; and Sardar Bhowani Singh. To 
 these may be added Bhir Dhuj Bashniat, who was 
 killed on the 31st of October. None of the others 
 who were killed had taken any prominent part in the 
 politics of the day. 
 
 The Panjanni occurring just at this time, Jang 
 had the opportunity — of which he, of course, freely 
 availed himself — of turning out of office, and from 
 the ranks of the army, any men who were disaffected 
 to his own interests, at the same time that he could,
 
 PLOT AGATNST JANG BAHADUR. 369 
 
 and did, enrol and promote all bis own family, friends, 
 and relations. 
 
 The Heir- Apparent and his brother were still kept 
 in confinement within their own portion of the Palace; 
 but Jang himself visited them daily, and two of his 
 brothers were constantly in attendance on them, as 
 Jang knew that they required protection from the 
 evil designs of the Queen. In fact, the Queen con- 
 tinually urged Jang to put the two princes to death, 
 and place her eldest son on the throne. He steadily 
 evaded her request, and took every precaution to pre- 
 serve their lives.* 
 
 At last, Bhir Dhuj Bashniat told the Rani that 
 Jang had been long attached to the Heir-Apparent, 
 and now that he was Minister there was no chance 
 of his consenting to injure him. He therefore pro- 
 posed to the Queen, as a preliminary measure towards 
 the completion of her designs, that Jang should be 
 destroyed. As he promised his own active assist- 
 ance in this plot, she conferred on him secretly a 
 grant of the Wazirat, to be openly assumed on Jang's 
 death. f Wazir Singh, eldest son of the late Gagan 
 
 * After the massacre the Raui, with Jang as Minister, really 
 possessed and exercised supreme power ; hut the government was 
 professed to be carried on by the King, Queen, and Heir-Apparent 
 jointly (tinon Sarkar). 
 
 f The Bashniat conspiracy against Jang was originally to have 
 been effected in the following manner. Jang and his brothers 
 were to have been induced, on some pretext, to sleep in the apart- 
 ments of the King and the two princes. The conspirators were 
 
 I. 24
 
 370 HISTORY OF NIPAL. 
 
 Singh, and who, on his father's death, had been 
 made a general, was a party to this arrangement, 
 which was made in the presence also of a Pandit 
 named Bijni Raj.* This Pandit revealed the whole 
 transaction to Jang, who quietly redoubled his pre- 
 cautionary measures for the safety of himself and the 
 Heir- Apparent. 
 
 On the morning: of the 31st of October 1846, Wazir 
 Singh secretly took his regiment, with muskets loaded, 
 to the Kot, and concealed the men in the interior of 
 the building. Meantime the Queen sent Bhir Dhuj 
 to summon Jang to her presence in the Palace, whence 
 she proposed that they should proceed together to the 
 Kot. Jang, aware of the plot against him, imme- 
 diately collected all his relatives, partisans, and 
 attendants, armed with guns, and was proceeding 
 towards the Darbar, when he met Bhir Dhuj in the 
 street. The latter, greatly alarmed at this sudden 
 
 then to have found some means of murdering the King and his 
 sons, and were then to have accused Jang and his brothers of the 
 deed, when their execution would have followed of course imme- 
 diately. The elder of the Rani's own sons would then have been 
 placed on the throne, she herself made Regent, and Bhir Dhuj 
 Bashniat minister. It was probably either from feeling the diffi- 
 culty of carrying out this plot successfully, or from some mis- 
 giving as to whether Jang did not suspect it, that the conspirators 
 altered their plan and endeavoured to allure Jang into the Kot, 
 where, had he arrived, there would have been another bloody 
 massacre of himself, his brothers, and their adhei'ents. 
 
 * This Pandit was rewarded by Jang with the office of Raj 
 Guru, which he has ever since held.
 
 THE PLOT FRUSTRATED. 371 
 
 rencontre, and suspecting his designs were discovered, 
 put his hands together in a most respectful manner, 
 and said that the Queen wished Jang to meet her in 
 the Kot directly. " How can that be ? " replied Jang. 
 " As you have been appointed Minister, what can I be 
 wanted for?' Bhir Dhuj, trembling with fear, gave 
 no answer, and Jang made a sign to Captain Rana 
 Mir Adhikari, who shot the traitor dead on the spot. 
 
 Jang immediately repaired to the Palace, and plac- 
 ing his turban at the feet of the King and Heir- 
 Apparent, who happened to be together, requested 
 either to be dismissed from his post at once as un- 
 worthy to hold it, or else to be invested with full 
 authority to put to death all the enemies of the Heir- 
 Apparent. The power asked for was at once granted 
 by the King, who embraced Jang, and desired him to 
 destroy all enemies of his son and of the throne, and 
 to adopt any measures necessary for the safety of the 
 State. 
 
 Quitting the Palace, Jang ordered the bugles to be 
 sounded to warn all the troops to get under arms ; 
 after which, all those who had taken any part in the 
 counsels of Bir Dhuj Bashniat were sought for and 
 put to death. About fourteen or fifteen Bashniats 
 and some four or five petty military officers suffered 
 death. General Wazir Singh had taken timely flight, 
 and escaped to the plains.* 
 
 * In August 1856, on the occasion of Jang Bahadur refusing 
 the Premiership, when the ex-Maharajah was recounting Jang 
 Bahadur's services to the State as a ground for conferring extra 
 
 24 *
 
 372 HISTORY OF NIPAL. 
 
 In the evening Jang waited on the Maharani. by 
 order of the Heir- Apparent, with a message that, as 
 she had become his bitter enemy, her residence in 
 Nipal was no longer desirable, and that she and her 
 two sons must prepare to quit the country for the* 
 plains without delay. 
 
 Alarmed at the failure of all her plots, she made 
 no demur ; and leaving the Palace for the house of a 
 friend, she commenced preparations for her depar- 
 ture. She succeeded in persuading her irresolute 
 husband to accompany her, professedly on a pilgrimage 
 in order to expiate the bloodshed of the 14th of 
 September; and on the 23rd of November 1846 she, 
 the King, and their two sons, started for Benares, the 
 Heir- Apparent remaining in Nipal as Regent during 
 the absence of his father. 
 
 Immediately after the detection of the Bhir Dhuj 
 Bashniat conspiracy, Jang was formally re-confirmed 
 by the King in the office of sole Premier, and hono- 
 rary titles were conferred upon him and his family, as 
 
 honours upon him, he declared (although it has hitherto been re- 
 peatedly denied by Jang Bahadur and his brothers) that the 
 massacre at the Kot in September 1846 was a premeditated affair, 
 and was planned and carried out under written instructions sent 
 from time to time by himself (the ex-King) to Jang Bahadur, who 
 assembled the Sirdars on that evening in order that he might put 
 to death all who were supposed to be disaffected, or to have been 
 engaged in the murder of G-agan Sing. He also added that it 
 was to Jang Bahadur " that the State was indebted " for the 
 massacre of the thirteen Bashniats in and about the Maharani's 
 apartments on the night of the 31st October following.
 
 THE RANi's INTRIGTTBS. 373 
 
 a mark of the royal gratitude. " Rana Ji ' was 
 added to his family name of Konwe, and the jagirs 
 formerly held by his grand-uncle, Bhim Sen, were re- 
 stored to him. Jang appointed his own brothers and 
 nearest relatives and friends to all the offices about 
 the Darbar, or connected with the command of the 
 army or government of the country. 
 
 The Queen and party arrived safely at Benares, and 
 the King, having completed his pilgrimage and paid 
 the usual devotions and customary fees at the shrines 
 of the Holy City, it was expected that he would have 
 returned to Nipal immediately. After some delay, he 
 quitted Benares, leaving the Queen and her two sons 
 behind him. He was accompanied as far as Govind- 
 ganj, where he dismissed them, by a large number 
 of the malcontent exiles, among whom were Guru 
 Parsad Chauntria and Guru Rangunath Pandit. 
 
 The King arrived at Sigauli on the 25th of March, 
 and for some time seemed uncertain as to whether 
 or not he should return to Nipal. He continued to 
 correspond with the Rani at Benares, who through 
 Guru Parsad's agency easily gained him over to her 
 views, and engaged him in a plot to reintroduce the 
 exiles and refugees, who were to murder Jang and 
 upset his government, as a necessary preliminary for 
 her own return to Nipal in company with the King, 
 whom she was most anxiousto join at Sigauli. Several 
 letters were sent by the Heir- Apparent and his bro- 
 ther, as well as by Jang, endeavouring to persuade the 
 King to return at once to Kathmandu; but they
 
 374 HISTORY OF NIPAL. 
 
 clearly told him that, after what had passed, it was 
 quite impossible that the Rani should be allowed to 
 re-enter Nipal, and that when he returned to his 
 capital he must leave her behind him in the plains. 
 He was informed also that it had been intimated to the 
 troops that as long as the King was absent from the 
 country no orders could be received from him, but that 
 the Heir-Apparent must be looked on as sole and 
 supreme authority. Nothing, however, seemed able to 
 make him break away from the iufluence which the 
 Rani and her able and intriguing partisans had esta- 
 blished over him. He tried at one time tampering 
 with the troops and conspiring against Jang's life; at 
 another, letters full of flattery, cajolery, and false pro- 
 mises to his sons as well as to the very Minister whose 
 life he wished to take, and whose government he was 
 plotting to subvert. 
 
 Time passed on in these unsatisfactory negotiations, 
 till at length, on the 12th of May, two men were 
 arrested, having in their possession a document which 
 they had received from Chauntria Guru Parsad and 
 Kaji Jagat Bam Pandi, signed and sealed by the King, 
 and calling upon his " eight thousand troops and fifty- 
 six lakhs of subjects " to seize or kill the Minister 
 and all connected with him. This brought matters 
 to a crisis. All the troops were assembled, and the 
 King's orders read to them by Jang, who told them 
 " that most of them were acquainted with the merits 
 of the late events, that they had now received orders 
 direct from the King, and that he himself was Minister
 
 THE KING DEPOSED. 375 
 
 and stood before them, and they could do to him as 
 they thought proper." The troops, however, refused 
 to recognise the validity of the order, and demanded 
 for the safety of the country that the Heir- Apparent 
 should be placed on the throne. The Prince was ac- 
 cordingly, on the 12th day of May 1847, proclaimed 
 King, with the usual forms and amidst general accla- 
 mation. In the proclamation it was stated that " the 
 Maharajah Raj Indra Bikram Sah having taken up 
 his residence abroad, and also having exhibited, by the 
 inconsistency of his conduct on various occasions, de- 
 cided symptoms of insanity, which rendered it impos- 
 sible that confidence could any longer be placed in 
 him, he was to be considered as having abdicated the 
 throne, and his son, Surindra Bikram Sah had accord- 
 ingly succeeded him as Ruler of Nipal." A letter to 
 this effect, entering fully into the reasons which induced 
 them to place the Heir-Apparent on the throne, signed 
 by three hundred and seventy Sardars, Kajis, military 
 officers of different grades, and all the servants of the 
 Grovernment present in the capital, was sent to the 
 King at Sigauli. In the course of it they say — " Your 
 Highness, uniting with the Kala Pandis, caused General 
 Bhim Sen Thappa to be murdered ; then joining the 
 party of the Thappas, you had the Pandis put to 
 death. Afterwards in conjunction with the Hani, you 
 caused the death of Martabar Singh ; again, contrary 
 to all precedent in your dynasty of fourteen genera- 
 tions, you gave absolute power to the Maharani, and 
 so caused the massacre at the Kot ; and now, lastly,
 
 376 HISTORY OF NIPAL. 
 
 you are sending orders for the murder of the present 
 Minister, for no offence whatever." 
 
 It was not intended to exclude the King from the 
 country, should he wish to return, but it was quite 
 determined that he should have no share in the ad- 
 ministration of affairs, nor possess any public autho- 
 rity. He was offered a, handsome allowance if he 
 preferred remaining in the plains to returning to 
 Nipal. No commotion was excited by these events. 
 The country was tired of party quarrels and of palace 
 intrigues ; they had had more than enough of mas- 
 sacres and revolutions ; and they welcomed this as a 
 final settlement which they hoped would secure to 
 them the blessings of an undisputed succession to the 
 throne, and a firm administration of the affairs of the 
 State. 
 
 On hearing of what had occurred at Kathmandu, 
 most of the Sardars and others in attendance on the 
 King at Sigauli, left him and returned to Nipal, some 
 with, some without, his permission. Numbers of the 
 exiles collected in the neighbourhood of Bettiah, under 
 the lead of Eangunath Pandi, and in communication 
 with the ex-King, and with his sanction continued 
 their plots against the life of Jang Bahadur. 
 
 Some parties of these exiles, taking advantage of 
 their situation as refugees within the British terri- 
 tories, having made preparations apparently to annoy, if 
 not to plunder, the Nipalese Terai, a regiment of four 
 hundred men, under Captain Sanak Singh, were sent 
 down from the capital to attack the marauders and
 
 MOVEMENTS OF THE EX-KING. 377 
 
 defend the frontier. But it having been ascertained 
 that, instead of a mere plundering party, Guru Parsad 
 Chauntria and Jagat Bam Pandi had collected a large 
 force of men of all sorts, four more regiments, under 
 General Bam Bahadur, and accompanied by the second 
 prince (Mihla Sahib), left Kathmandu on the 26th of 
 July for the Terai, to be near at hand in case of need. 
 It soon appeared that Guru Rangunath Pandi had come 
 over from Benares with messages from the Queen, and 
 had entirely gained over the King and persuaded him 
 to join the rebel camp, and that the ex-King had sud- 
 denly left Sigauli on the 23rd and gone to Alu in the 
 Nipal Terai, where Guru Parsad and his men were 
 encamped. Rangunath himself, to be out of harm's 
 way, returned to Benares after the ex-King's depar- 
 ture for the frontier. The King had evidently been 
 misled most grossly as to the support he was likely 
 to receive in thus entering his country again at the 
 head of an armed force. He expected that the 
 troops would flock to his standard from all quarters, 
 and that he should return to Nipal in triumph. 
 
 On the 26th of July, Captain Sanak Singh with 
 his regiment, about four hundred strong, reached 
 Simra Basa, and the next day marched to Bissaulia, 
 where he heard that the ex-King was encamped at 
 the village of Alu with fifteen hundred or sixteen 
 hundred men of all sorts. On the night of the 
 27th he marched towards Alu or Ulu, and reached it 
 at 3 a.m. of the 28th. He immediately commenced 
 an attack upon it, the ex-King having his quarters
 
 378 HISTORY OF NIPAL. 
 
 in a kutcherry in the village. In consequence of the 
 darkness, considerable confusion prevailed on both 
 sides ; little opposition was made ; the assailants 
 pressed ou, killing all who came in their way, and soon 
 made a prisoner of the ex-King. On the King's side 
 between fifty and sixty were killed ; among them was 
 the maternal uncle of the King. Guru Parsad, Bir 
 Bikram Sah, and Jagat Bam Pandi, with many other 
 exiles, basely fled at the commencement of the action, 
 crossed the frontier, and escaped towards Benares. 
 On the side of the assailants none were killed, and 
 only live or six wounded. 
 
 The ex-King was conducted as a State prisoner to 
 Makwanpur and thence via Sisaghari to Thankot. He 
 entered the capital on the 8th of August under a royal 
 salute, was received with every attention and respect, 
 and then sent on to Bhatgaon, where arrangements 
 for his future residence in the old Darbar, as a retired 
 sovereign under surveillance, had been made. No kind 
 of sympathy was shown to him by the people or army 
 in any part of his journey through the country since 
 he crossed the frontier, and he bitterly accused the 
 leading exiles in the plains for the gross manner in 
 which they had deceived him as to the public feeling 
 in his favour. 
 
 The ex-King professed to acquiesce entirely in all 
 the arrangements which had been made during his 
 absence for the government of the country. Shortly 
 after his return, however, he was detected tampering 
 with some of those who were allowed to visit him, and
 
 BIRTH Of A SON AND HEIR. 379 
 
 he was accordingly placed under stricter surveillance, 
 but he still continued to reside at Bhatgaon. The 
 public tranquillity was not again disturbed ; the new 
 King was recognised as such by the British Govern- 
 ment, and his position was much strengthened by a 
 son and heir being born to him on the 30th of 
 November 1847.
 
 380 HISTOPY OF NIPAL. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 history of nipal — (continued). 
 
 1848. — In April letters were intercepted from Chaun- 
 tria Guru Parsad, then at Benares, instigating certain 
 parties in Nipal to assassinate, under promise of 
 reward, Jang Bahadur, and also the Raj Guru Bijai 
 Raj Pandit. 
 
 In May, when it became probable that there would 
 be a second war in the Punjab, Jang Bahadur volun- 
 teered the services of eight regiments, under his own 
 personal command, to assist the British in the ap- 
 proaching campaign. The offer was renewed in 
 October, but in each case was declined with suitable 
 acknowledgments. 
 
 In making this offer it is impossible to suppose that 
 the Minister was influenced by any sincere or active 
 desire to see the British power increased in the north- 
 west. He probably thought it a good opportunity to
 
 A SHOOTING EXCURSION. 381 
 
 bring his name personally before the British Govern- 
 ment under favourable circumstances, and that, in 
 making an offer which he must have known would be 
 refused, he should get the credit with the British 
 Government of at least friendly intentions, and natu- 
 rally hoped that in this way he might win the support 
 of the British Government, and by being looked upon 
 as their friend he might strengthen his own position 
 in the Nipalese Darbar. It is probable also that, 
 although the mission to England was not then talked 
 of publicly, it was privately in contemplation at that 
 time, and that Jang thought that the offer of his and 
 his army's services would ensure his receiving a cordial 
 and flattering welcome on his arrival in England. 
 
 In December the senior Rani presented the King 
 with a second son. At the close of the month (22nd), 
 the King, Minister, and principal Sardars, accompanied 
 by twelve or thirteen regiments, each six hundred 
 strong, and by forty-one guns, started for the Terai, 
 professedly on a shooting excursion. After reaching 
 Bissaulia, they turned to the east along the skirts of 
 the forest, in quest of game. Fever, however, (from 
 which the Minister himself suffered severely,) broke 
 out among the troops ; several deaths occurred ; sport 
 was scarce ; the party became disgusted and discou- 
 raged, and in the beginning of January the camp 
 broke up and returned to Kathmandu. 
 
 The unexpected approach of so large a body of 
 troops and guns to the British frontier at this critical 
 time, when the news of the disastrous affair of Ram-
 
 382 HISTORY OF NIPAL. 
 
 nugar had just been received, caused considerable 
 sensation throughout the whole of India. It was 
 generally believed that this was a preconcerted move- 
 ment on the part of the Nipalese, with a view to create 
 a diversion in favour of the Sikhs, by obliging the 
 Indian Government to collect a force on the Nipalese 
 frontier, and so preventing their sending up additional 
 troops towards the Panjab. With whatever object 
 the expedition was made, there is no doubt it had this 
 effect for a short time and to a limited extent. Strong 
 remonstrances to the Darbar were emphatically and 
 immediately made by the G-overnor-General as to the 
 impropriety of so large a force remaining at this 
 juncture in the Terai ; these remonstrances, added to 
 the sickness which prevailed in the camp, certainly 
 accelerated the return of the King and party to 
 Kathmandu. 
 
 Colonel Thoresby, then Resident, always maintained 
 that it was a purely hunting expedition, and that the 
 presence of so large a body of troops was from a 
 desire partly to add to the splendour of the royal cor- 
 tege, but chiefly because, in the then unsettled state 
 of Nipalese politics and parties, the Minister was 
 afraid to leave them behind him for fear of treachery, 
 and a counter revolution against himself and party 
 during his absence in the Terai. It is impossible for 
 us now to account with any certainty for the motives 
 by which the Minister was actuated. 
 
 The reasons assigned by Colonel Thoresby are 
 probably true, but in addition to them it is highly
 
 ESCAPE OF THE RANT OF LAHOR. 383 
 
 probable, and quite consistent with the wily character 
 of the Gorkhas, that though the Minister and Darbar 
 had no wish to assist the Sikhs openly, yet they 
 thought that by making this hostile demonstration, 
 under pretence of shooting, at this critical time, they 
 should, by exciting alarm among the British, increase 
 their own prestige throughout India, place themselves 
 on a vantage ground in case of any subsequent diffe- 
 rences or discussions between the British and the 
 Nipalese Governments, and, above all, by adding to 
 the belief in the power and resources of Nipal, should 
 ensure a more favourable reception for the Minister 
 when he should make his contemplated visit to 
 England. 
 
 1849. — In April, the ex-Rani, Chanda Kunwar of 
 Labor, having escaped from the fortress of Chunar, 
 where she had been confined since the conclusion of 
 the Panjab war, unexpectedly arrived in Nipal. At 
 Chunar she substituted a female slave for herself, in 
 the place where she was supposed to be, and escaped 
 without difficulty. She was not missed for several 
 days. Meantime, she went down the river to Patna 
 in a boat ; thence, sometimes on foot, sometimes riding 
 a hired tattoo, or carried in a hired clooly, she made 
 her way, without molestation or suspicion, through the 
 country until she reached the frontier of Nipal. She 
 passed herself off everywhere as a " Bairagini," or 
 female Gusain, in progress to join her husband Gu- 
 sain, who was ill in Nipal. She was accompanied by 
 no females, but merely by two Panjabi male servants.
 
 384 HISTORY OP NIPAL. 
 
 Once within the territory of Nipal she was of course 
 safe from pursuit. Her escape from Chunar and 
 coming on to Nipal was known to no one here until 
 she sent word on from Hetowara, stating who she was, 
 and asking for a hospitable reception. A day or two 
 afterwards, the 29th of April, she arrived at Kath- 
 mandu. She was knocked up by fatigue, but escaped 
 the " awal." 
 
 The Darbar appeared somewhat embarrassed by 
 her presence, but at once said that they could not 
 incur the odium of a breach of hospitality by surren- 
 dering her to the British authorities as a prisoner. 
 They promised, however, that she should be vigilantly 
 watched, and should have a guard constantly about her 
 to prevent her escaping or carrying on any clandes- 
 tine intrigues. A house within Jang's own garden was 
 assigned to her to live in, and an allowance of about 
 C. R. 800 a month given to her, besides grain for her 
 household, which was subsequently arranged to con- 
 sist of two Panjabi women, four Panjabi men, and 
 two Gorkhali women, supplied by the Darbar to be 
 constantly about her person. About a year after her 
 arrival in Nipal, the King was anxious that she should 
 appear in open Darbar to thank him for his hospi- 
 tality ; he was, however, dissuaded from the project 
 by the advice of the Resident. On occasion of pro- 
 posing it, Bam Bahadur (then officiating as Minister) 
 said that neither custom of her caste nor family 
 usage need prevent her, although a Hindu, from 
 appearing in public.
 
 jang Bahadur's mission. 385 
 
 In the autumn of 1849 it was finally arranged that 
 a mission, headed by Jang Bahadur, should be sent to 
 England, "to carry the King's respects and assurances 
 of friendship to the Queen ; to see the greatness and 
 prosperity of the country, and the state of the people ; 
 and to ascertain how far the application of the arts 
 and sciences was available to the comforts and con- 
 veniences of life." As Hindus they did not appear to 
 consider that their caste was anyway endangered by 
 the voyage; they said that they could as easily be 
 purified at Benares on their return from England as 
 those always are who come back from the embassies 
 which are periodically sent to China. 
 
 On the 3rd of November Dr. Login left Nipal for 
 the plains ; he reached Sigauli in thirty hours, having 
 gone partly on pony, mostly on foot ; he escaped the 
 awal, but died, after a few hours' illness, of cholera at 
 Dinapore. 
 
 Towards the close of the year, some disturbances 
 having occurred (about Drs. Campbell and Hooker) 
 in Sikhim, the Darbar at once offered the assistance 
 and services of their local troops on the Sikhim fron- 
 tier. Near the frontier are three small forts, Ilam- 
 garh, Dubagarh, and Dhunkota, attached to each of 
 which is a small body of Kiranti and Limbu local 
 troops, in all about seven hundred. The offer of the 
 Darbar was politely declined. 
 
 (About this time Grulab Singh of Kashmir wished to 
 obtain a number of Hindu idols from Nipal. Colonel 
 Thoresby says the best can be procured from Jaipur, 
 i. 25
 
 386 HISTORY OF NIPAL. 
 
 which is celebrated for its supply of marble idols which 
 it sends to all parts of India. In Nipal the idols are 
 carved out of common sandstone, and are mostly only 
 in relief. They are only made to order, no supplies 
 of them being kept on hand for sale.) 
 
 1850. — On the 15th of January Jang Bahadur's 
 mission left Kathmandu en route for England. It 
 consisted of — 
 
 General Jang Bahadur Kunwar Ranaji, Minister 
 and Commander-in-Chief. 
 
 Colonel Jagat Shamsher, Minister and Com- 
 mander-in-Chief. 
 
 Colonel Dihar Shamsher, Minister and Com- 
 mander-in-Chief. 
 
 Barra Captain Ranmir Singh Adhikari. 
 
 Kaji Karbar Khatri. 
 
 Kaji Delhi Singh Bashniat. 
 
 Kaji Hemdah Singh Thappa. 
 
 Lieutenant Lai Singh Khatri. 
 
 Lieutenant Karbar Khatri. 
 
 Lieutenant Bhim Sen Rana. 
 
 One bard or doctor, one Niwar artist, two 
 subahs, one subahdar, and four cooks and 
 domestic servants. 
 
 General Bam Bahadur, Jang's second brother, was 
 appointed to officiate as Minister and Commander-in- 
 Chief during his elder brother's absence. 
 
 During this year there was a good deal of corre- 
 spondence about the affairs of the ex-Rani of Nipal,
 
 THE EX-QUEEN AT BENABES. 387 
 
 then resident with her two sons at Benares. It 
 appeared that when the ex-King and Queen left Kath- 
 mandu for Benares in November 1846, the King took 
 with him from the public treasury ten or twelve lakhs, 
 in cash and jewels. On his returning to Nipal in 
 1847, he left this money with his wife and sons at 
 Benares. Her behaviour shortly after with Dalbaha- 
 dur, an exile from Nipal, caused open scandal. She 
 squandered large sums of money on him, and not 
 only neglected, but helped in corrupting, her sons, 
 both by her precepts and her practices. After a time, 
 to stop the scandal which arose, the British Govern- 
 ment took possession of the cash balance that re- 
 mained, and sold the jewels and effects. The whole 
 together realised upwards of six lakhs of rupees ; 
 this was invested in the 5 per cents, for the benefit 
 of the Rani and her sons, who were to live on the 
 interest, the whole being under the control of the 
 agent to the Governor-General at Benares. (On 
 Jang's return from England, in passing through 
 Benares, he made a new arrangement about this 
 money, as the previous one had given rise to much 
 discussion and dissatisfaction. He divided the whole 
 sum into three lots, and gave one to the mother and 
 one to each of the sons. At the same time, he 
 offered the boys liberal provisions if they liked to 
 return to Nipal, but they declined doing so ; the 
 option was not given to the ex-Queen, as it was con- 
 sidered quite out of the question to allow her ever 
 again to enter the country.) 
 
 25 *
 
 388 HISTORY OF NIPAL. 
 
 On the 24th of May 1850, a salute of twenty-one 
 guns was spontaneously fired by the Darbar's orders 
 in honour of the birthday of the Queen of England. 
 It was the first time such a compliment was ever paid, 
 but it has been done regularly ever since. 
 
 In October, the senior Maharani of the King, and 
 mother of his only two sons, died, and public mourn- 
 ing for one year was enjoined. 
 
 1851. — On the 6th of February Jang Bahadur with 
 his mission reached Kathmandu on their return from 
 England; the King and his father (the ex-King), and 
 a large party of Sardars went out to meet him on the 
 banks of the Baghmatti river. A few days after, a 
 complimentary letter to the Maharajah from the Queen 
 of England was presented in full Darbar, under a 
 salute of twenty-one guns, by Jang, who had brought 
 the letter with him. Jang resumed his post of 
 Minister, and entered on his duties from the day of 
 his arrival, without any opposition, and everything 
 appeared to have settled down into its usual state of 
 order and tranquillity. 
 
 On the 16th of February, a conspiracy against the 
 life of the Minister was detected. General Bam 
 Bahadur, near midnight of the 16th, went to Thappa- 
 talli, his brother's residence ; and after sitting over 
 the fire for some time in silence, he suddenly burst 
 into tears, and told Jang that he had a secret in his 
 mind which had made him sleepless for two nights 
 past ; that he had delayed revealing it till now from 
 fear that, although he himself was conscious of his own
 
 
 PS 
 p 
 
 
 Q 
 
 ID 
 H 
 
 ■J 
 
 - 
 
 X 
 
 -
 
 PLOT AGAINST JANG BAHADUR. 389 
 
 innocence, Jang might suspect that he (Bam) was as 
 guilty as the others ; and that now Jang would only 
 just have time to save his life, as there was a con- 
 spiracy on foot by which Jang was to be shot the next 
 day by a hired assassin, while on the high road from 
 his own house to the Darbar. He then entered into 
 all the details which were known to him. 
 
 It appeared that two days before, General Badri 
 Nur Singh Kunwar Ranaji (Jang's younger brother) 
 and General Jai Bahadur Kunwar Ranaji (his first 
 cousin), had visited Bam, and after informing him, on 
 the authority of Kaji Karbar Khatri, that Jang had lost 
 his caste in England, by eating meat and drinking wine 
 with and from the hands of Europeans, as well as by 
 various other acts incompatible with his caste as a 
 Hindu, they told him that they were determined to 
 take Jang's life, to subvert his Government, and get 
 all power into their own hands ; that the Muhila Sahib 
 (the King's younger brother) was a party to the scheme, 
 and that they, the conspirators, only wanted his (Barn's) 
 assistance and consent, and they were prepared to carry 
 the plot into immediate execution, and in event of its 
 success, Bam himself should be appointed Premier. 
 Bam, with characteristic craft, professed to enter into 
 all their views, but begged for a day or two's delay 
 before the assassination should take place. With 
 great tact and skill he drew out from the conspirators 
 all the details of their plan, professing all along to be 
 most anxious to assist and further them. Once 
 master of all the facts, he determined to reveal the
 
 390 HISTORY OF TNIPAL. 
 
 whole to Jang, and not only save his life and so frus- 
 trate the plot, but secure the arrest of all the con- 
 spirators. His courage, however, for two days failed 
 him ; he felt acutely the painful position in which 
 he was placed — he had the lives of his two brothers 
 in his hands ; and he could only save the life of the 
 elder one by betraying the guilty and so ensuring the 
 capital punishment of the younger. His difficulty was 
 increased by feeling that Jang would naturally sus- 
 pect, and would probably accuse him of having been 
 originally a party to the plot, and of having only now 
 abandoned it and betrayed his companions in conse- 
 quence either of having been unable " to screw his 
 courage to the sticking point," or else of having had 
 misgivings as to the probable success of the con- 
 spiracy, or perhaps from having quarrelled with the 
 others as to the ultimate division of power and place 
 and patronage in case the conspiracy should be suc- 
 cessful. In any case his motives and conduct would be 
 liable to be suspected. His sense of duty, however, 
 prevailed, and after two days' hesitation he revealed 
 the whole to Jans: near midnight of the 16th of 
 February, it having been arranged that the assassina- 
 tion should take place on the morning of the 17th. 
 
 Jang, Bam, and a few followers, all armed, imme- 
 diately repaired to the Kot, assembled the guards, 
 and before the intelligence could be circulated so as to 
 put them on the alert, despatched parties, each one 
 hundred strong, to the residences of the accused, with 
 orders neither to ask nor answer any questions, but to
 
 TRIAL OF THE PLOTTERS. 391 
 
 cut down any or all who resisted, and to bring the 
 Muhila Sahib, the two generals (either alive or dead), 
 and Kaji Karbar Khatri without delay to the Kot. 
 Colonel Jagat Shamsher was sent to arrest Jai Baha- 
 dur, while Barra Captain Rana Mir Adhikari, Jang's 
 oldest as well as most undaunted and well-tried friend, 
 was despatched to secure the most formidable of the 
 conspirators, General Badrinar Singh. Colonel Dher 
 Shamsher, meantime, was ordered to charge all the 
 guards throughout the city with men from his own 
 corps, and to collect and keep in readiness a body of 
 Jang's own regiments, sufficient, if necessary, to bear 
 down any opposition which might be attempted. 
 With such secrecy and promptness, however, were all 
 these orders executed, that no opposition in any 
 quarter was attempted, the tranquillity of the capital 
 was undisturbed, and. within two hours from the time 
 when they were delivered, all four prisoners, heavily 
 ironed, were brought to the Kot, where, in the inte- 
 rim, Jang had assembled a number of the Sardars, 
 and the King and his father, the ex-King, had 
 arrived and were holding a Darbar to deliberate on 
 the guilt of the accused. At first the prisoners 
 stoutly denied their guilt, and the examination 
 having lasted till morning without eliciting a confes- 
 sion, the Darbar was adjourned. During the follow- 
 ing day, however, a paper clearly implicating them 
 all was found, and having been produced, they fully 
 acknowledged their guilt and confessed to having 
 conspired to put to death the Prime Minister and to
 
 392 HISTORY OF XIPAL. 
 
 cause a revolt against the existing government of the 
 country. The first question, as to their guilt, having 
 been settled, the nature of their punishment had to be 
 decided. 
 
 A grand Council was assembled, at which the King 
 and his father, the ex-King, were present. Neither 
 the King nor his father voted on the subject, but they 
 said that whatever punishment should be awarded on 
 the other prisoners, the Muhila Sahib should receive 
 and suffer the same. The Darbar at first unanimously 
 determined that the prisoners should be put to death, 
 but to this decision Jang, who was the only dissen- 
 tient, would not consent. After further deliberation, 
 the Darbar agreed to spare their lives on condition 
 that they were deprived of eye-sight. The Darbar con- 
 sidered it necessary to deprive them of eye-sight, and 
 so make them helpless, as the only means of securing 
 those who had voted on the matter, or who had taken 
 any part in the proceedings, from the future vengeance 
 of the prisoners, in case they should ever regain their 
 liberty, either by escaping from prison, or in course of 
 any subsequent revolution or change of parties, a con- 
 tingency in Nipal which may at any moment occur. 
 The Darbar were especially afraid of the future ven- 
 geance of General Badrinar Singh, should he ever re- 
 gain his liberty. He was a man of considerable talent, 
 great energy and activity, and of a very violent and 
 vindictive disposition. He was known, also, to possess 
 great personal influence over the troops. 
 
 Jang, however, determined not to yield to the severe
 
 jang's clemency. o9o 
 
 measures recommended by the Darbar, and in this 
 humane decision he was strongly supported by the 
 tears and supplications of his mother, a lady of irre- 
 proachable character, of great judgment and decision, 
 and who has always possessed very great influence 
 over Jang Bahadur, and who has always exercised 
 that influence on the side of clemency and mercy. 
 
 Considerations of policy as well as of humanity 
 doubtless had some weight ou this occasion with the 
 Minister. In a state where the tenure of power is 
 always so uncertain as it must be in Xipal, Jang could 
 not but be aware that great odium might hereafter 
 attach to any maltreatment of the person of a member 
 of the royal family, especially when that member was 
 heir-presumptive to the throne. He was therefore 
 peculiarly unwilling to revive in the present case a 
 punishment which had not been practised in Xipal, 
 even on the lowest criminals, for many years past. 
 Considerable discussion took place, but no decision 
 was come to. At last Jang, as a " tertium quid," 
 persuaded the Darbar to apply to the friendly aid of 
 the British Government to confine them in the fortress 
 either of Chunar or of Allahabad, for the term of their 
 natural hVes By this plan he hoped not ouly to save 
 their lives and eye-sight, but to obviate any danger of 
 their escape, and of the disturbances which would be 
 certain to ensue should they regain their liberty. His 
 own life also he felt would never be secure so long as 
 the prisoners remained confined in their own country, 
 where their presence might and would probably at any
 
 394 HISTORY OF NIPAL. 
 
 time excite discontent, and act as a point of union to 
 those in the state who were disaffected to the present 
 authorities. The general feeling of the army, as well 
 as of the Darbar, was to put the prisoners to death, 
 and so fearful were the Darbar of the prisoners' 
 escape, that for their own protection they firmly ad- 
 hered to their determination to enforce the decree of 
 death or blinding against the prisoners, unless the 
 British Government could be induced to undertake 
 their custody, and they openly and officially announced 
 that if, " within a month," the Governor-General 
 should not accede to Jang's request to confine them 
 within British territory, the law must take its course 
 and their eye-sight be destroyed. Meantime, the pri- 
 soners, Prince Upindra Bikram Sah, General Badrinar 
 Singh Kunwar Ranaji, and General Jai Bahadur Kun- 
 war Ranaji, remained as prisoners at the Kot, 
 guarded by a whole regiment, under a colonel, two 
 captains, and a proportion of subaltern officers. It 
 was found necessary to keep Badrinar Singh's hands 
 bound, as he would undoubtedly have attempted to 
 commit suicide. The other two prisoners were con- 
 fined in separate rooms and strictly watched, but were 
 not bound in any way. 
 
 After considerable delay, which obliged the Darbar 
 to extend their period of one to a period of two 
 months, for the question to be settled in, the British 
 Government at last consented to take charge of the 
 prisoners by confining them at Allahabad for five 
 years, the Government promising to take every pre-
 
 FATE OF THE PRISONERS. 395 
 
 caution for their security, but at the same time stating 
 clearly that they would not be responsible that they did 
 not escape. One rupee a day was fixed on as subsistence 
 allowance for each of the three prisoners, and one rupee 
 for the servants, five of whom were allowed to accom- 
 pany them from Nipal, on condition of their sharing 
 their imprisonment, as they could not be allowed to go 
 outside the fort. All necessary clothing to be sent from 
 Nipal. These expenses, and the pay of a sergeant to 
 look after the prisoners, the Darbar agreed to defray. 
 The prisoners left Kathmandu for the plains on the 
 24th of June 1851, under the custody of a captain and 
 fifty sepoys. In consequence of its being the season 
 when the ordinary road through the Terai was closed, 
 from the prevalence of the " awal " fever, the party, 
 after arriving at Sisaghari, did not descend into the 
 valley of the Rapti river, but following a footpath over 
 a spur at the back of the Phulchoak mountain, de- 
 scended towards Makwanpur, where they slept, and 
 whence on the following clay they were all carried by 
 a dak of elephants to Bissaulia, thus running through 
 the malarious district in one day. By adopting these 
 precautions not a single man of the whole party con- 
 tracted the fever. The same course, and with the 
 same impunity, was followed, in the ensuing August, 
 with a Mussulman native doctor attached to the Resi- 
 dency, and who, in consequence of an offence against 
 the Nipalese laws of caste, was sent as a prisoner to 
 the plains in the height of the most unhealthy season 
 of the year.
 
 o 
 
 96 HISTORY OF NIPAL. 
 
 In consequence of the manner in which the con- 
 spiracy had been revealed, before the time had arrived 
 for its actual execution, no other Sardars were proved 
 to have been implicated in it ; though there can be 
 little doubt that, had the plot been allowed to proceed 
 a little further before it was detected, and especially 
 had it at its outbreak been successful in destroying 
 Jang, a numerous party among the Sardars and in the 
 army, would have been found more or less involved in 
 it. Such a plot would never have been so nearly 
 matured, had not the ringleaders of it felt that there 
 was a large party in the state ready to support them 
 when the moment for action should arrive. Besides 
 those who felt a personal dislike of the Minister, who 
 were jealous at his success and envious of his power, 
 there were very many unsuccessful candidates for 
 office in the state or in the army, very many disap- 
 pointed and unprincipled political adventurers, who 
 would have been only too glad to assist in bringing 
 about any revolution, from the hope that they should 
 be able in some way to benefit themselves during the 
 confusion and disturbances with which it would neces- 
 sarily be attended. Such men as these eagerly availed 
 themselves of the statements made by Kaji Karbar 
 Khatri, that Jang had lost his caste while in England, 
 to enlist into a crusade against the Minister numbers 
 of bigoted Hindus who were greatly scandalised at 
 the reports that Jang, by his free intercourse with 
 Europeans and his adoption of many of their practices, 
 had disregarded prejudices and violated laws which
 
 EXTENT OF THE PLOT. 397 
 
 were always looked upon in Nipnl as peculiarly sacred. 
 Many did not scruple to insinuate that he had sold 
 himself to the hated Faringhi: and that in order to 
 increase his own power and strengthen his own posi- 
 tion he was under a secret understanding with the 
 British, which would probably at some future, and 
 perhaps at no very remote, period, endanger the 
 liberty and independence of the country. 
 
 Jang told Mr. Erskine (the Resident) that the dis- 
 affection was not general in the army. Among those 
 who were opposed to him, several had told the con- 
 spirators, when they urged them to join in the plot, 
 that they were afraid of the Minister, and that they 
 would do nothing until they saw Jang's head severed 
 from his body. It was in consequence of this feeling 
 that Badrinar Singh, who always took up every 
 matter with his whole soul, had proposed that in the 
 event of Jang being shot his head should be at once 
 cut off, and he promised that he himself would carry 
 the head in his own hands and exhibit it to the 
 assembled troops on the Tandikhel, as " the head of 
 a traitor." From this we may infer that, at first, the 
 conspirators intended only to subvert Jang's govern- 
 ment, but that, finding they could do nothing with the 
 army as long as he was alive, they plotted afterwards 
 to take his life also. 
 
 Men influenced more or less by some or all of these 
 feelings must have formed a large and influential 
 party in the country. Such a party in the Darbar 
 was known to have existed for some time, and to
 
 398 HISTORY OF NIPAL. 
 
 have been under the guidance of General Jai Baha- 
 dur* as its leader. This faction, with Jai Bahadur 
 at its head, was well known, even while Jang was in 
 England, to be anxious to embarrass, even if they 
 should not succeed in upsetting, the government of 
 the Minister. General Badrinar Singh was induced 
 to join this party in their intrigues against the 
 Minister, in consequence of a disgraceful expose 
 having just taken place, in which he was detected 
 by Jang (immediately after his return to Nipal) in 
 taking a bribe of twelve thousand rupees to obtain 
 the restoration to office of a subah in the Terai, 
 who for peculation had been removed from his ap- 
 pointment by Jang, just before his departure for 
 England. During Jang's absence in England, Badri- 
 nar Singh was " Superintendent of all the Civil 
 Courts," and in that capacity was peculiarly open to 
 offers of bribery and corruption. The Muhila Sahib, 
 a weak young man, was easily persuaded to fall into 
 the schemes of the conspirators, who flattered his 
 vanity by holding out to him visions of superseding 
 his brother on the throne, and excited his animosity 
 personally against Jang by making him discontented 
 with the annual allowance which the Minister had 
 assigned to him for his maintenance. There is reason 
 also to believe that some jealousy of a bitter and 
 domestic nature had been excited in his mind by his 
 
 * Jai Bahadur was " Superintendent of Changra Duties " during 
 Jang's visit to England.
 
 PUNISHMENT OF KARBAR KHATRI. 399 
 
 learning that, during the Minister's absence in Eng- 
 land, he had on two or three occasions sent private 
 and confidential letters to one of the Prince's wives. 
 
 The Prince and the two Generals were the only 
 Sardars who were proved to be concerned in the plot ; 
 there was no reason to believe that Kaji Karbar 
 Khatri knew anything of the plans of the conspira- 
 tors. He had been taken to England by Jang, be- 
 cause he was looked upon as a dangerous and dis- 
 affected intriguer ; he owed no goodwill to the 
 Minister, in consequence of having been accused by 
 him of having helped himself to a large amount of 
 property out of the King's toshakhana, two or three 
 years before, when he had charge of it ; and he had 
 gratified his spite, on returning to Nipal, by informing 
 those who he knew were most hostile to Jang, that 
 the Minister when in England had lost his caste in 
 various ways, among other instances by eating meat 
 and drinking wine with Europeans. He had been 
 guilty of gross and malicious perjury, but had no 
 share in the counsels of the conspirators, who had 
 merely used him as a tool, on whose evidence they 
 could found their charges against the Minister. On 
 the day when the prisoners were arrested he was con- 
 fronted with them, and on being unable to substan- 
 tiate his assertions, he was subjected, as a punishment, 
 to a disgusting degradation from the hands of two 
 drummers of low caste, and in the presence of a large 
 assembly of spectators, by which his honour and dig- 
 nity were outraged and his own caste destroyed. He
 
 400 HISTORY OF NIPAL. 
 
 was confined to his own house for a year, but no other 
 punishment was inflicted upon him.* At the end of 
 the year, by the order of the King, who is supreme in 
 such matters, he was forgiven, his caste restored to 
 him, and he was allowed again to appear in public. 
 
 This affair of the conspiracy having been settled, 
 and the prisoners removed to the plains, the Minister 
 employed himself seriously in revising and mitigating 
 the extreme severity of the Penal Code. Capital 
 punishment was abolished for all offences except 
 murder. Mutilation was also abolished as a common 
 punishment, and the power of employing it reserved 
 only for special and extraordinary cases. He could not 
 interfere, however, to suppress the practice of satti, 
 except by discouraging it whenever he had an oppor- 
 tunity of doing so ; nor could he venture to oppose 
 the prejudices of the military classes by depriving a 
 husband, whose honour had been aggrieved, of the 
 right of summary revenge on the person of his wife's 
 seducer. 
 
 In July 1851 the King suddenly professed an ex- 
 treme anxiety to retire into private life, by abdicating 
 
 # This punishment was strictly in accordance with the principles 
 of Nij>alese law by which, when possible in criminal cases, punish- 
 ment is inflicted on the offending organ. As in a case of perjury 
 his tongue was the offending member, and the punishment accord- 
 ingly was inflicted upon his mouth. In 1852 a man who had 
 been guilty of malicious slander against the Minister had his 
 tongue, as the offending organ, cut out before the assembled 
 troops.
 
 THE KING DESIRES TO ABDICATE. 401 
 
 the throne in favour of his only son, a child of three 
 years of age. The only reason he assigned for this 
 desire was his grief at the death of his Queen, nine 
 months before. There is reason, however, to believe 
 that he was disgusted by the constant surveillance 
 which it was considered necessary to exercise over 
 him, especially on occasions of his going about the 
 valley, to Pashpattinath, Shambhunath, and else- 
 where. On these occasions he wished to go in pri- 
 vate and unattended, or with only one or two of his 
 own picked attendants. It was not deemed prudent 
 to indulge him in this fancy, as it was believed that 
 there' only too many Sardars who would have been 
 ready to avail themselves of these opportunities of 
 secret interviews with the King, and that they might 
 easily work on his weak and excitable mind and 
 betray him into acts of violence or treachery. To 
 obviate this, Jang had insisted on the King's never 
 appearing in public without being attended by a suit- 
 able retinue, many or most of whom were of course 
 trustworthy agents and allies of the Minister. 
 
 The King, however, was after some little difficulty 
 induced to give up all idea of abdication, and to con- 
 sent never to go about incognito, nor without a suit- 
 able retinue of attendants. 
 
 At a private darbar held on the occasion, at which 
 beside the King, Jang, Bam, the Eesident and suite, 
 no one was present, Jang in the course of an address 
 to the King reminded him of having twice saved his 
 life — first, from the ex-Queen about six years before ; 
 i. 26
 
 402 HISTOEY OF MPAL. 
 
 secondly, by preventing the accomplishment of the 
 recent plot for his own assassination, which, Jang 
 said, if successful, would have been shortly followed 
 by the violent death of the King. The King fully 
 admitted the truth of what he said. Jang finished 
 his lecture, for such it was, by contrasting his own 
 conduct as Minister with that of Martabar Singh. 
 Martabar, he said, had allowed the King (then Heir- 
 Apparent) to indulge in many inhuman practices, such 
 as chopping off the limbs of innocent and respect- 
 able persons, and throwing live slave-girls down wells, 
 " which practices, however," added Jang, looking at 
 the King with a menacing look, under which the 
 latter quailed, " I never have permitted and I never 
 will permit to take place." 
 
 Jang informed the Resident that, in the event of 
 the death of the King and Heir- Apparent, without 
 direct male heirs, it was intended either to place on 
 the throne, according to the English custom, one of 
 the daughters of the King, or to select a male suc- 
 cessor by the voice of the National Council. He 
 added that the nature of his offence, as a leader in 
 the late conspiracy, would for ever preclude the Mu- 
 hila Sahib, though Heir-Presumptive, from coming to 
 the throne. 
 
 On the 22nd of September 1851 another son was 
 born to the King. 
 
 In December, everything at the capital being quiet, 
 the King and Minister, accompanied by a large party 
 of Sardars, and with two regiments of infantry, went
 
 JANG LECTURES THE KING. 403 
 
 to the Tarai on an elephant and rhinoceros hunting 
 excursion. Their route was to the west, along the 
 valley of the Rapti, and in the neighbourhood of 
 Chitaun. 
 
 26 *
 
 404 HISTORY OF NIPAL. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 history op nipal — (continued). 
 
 1852. — On the 24th of May (as on the same day in 
 1851) a salute of twenty-one guns was fired by the 
 orders of the Darbar in honour of the English Queen's 
 birthday. This custom was introduced by Jang and 
 is regularly practised. In the following November, 
 on hearing of the death of " his friend " the Duke 
 of Wellington, Jang ordered eighty-three minute 
 guns to be fired, to evince his sympathy with the 
 British Government on the sad occasion. 
 
 In November a conspiracy was detected for the 
 assassination of Jang Bahadur, his brothers, and their 
 immediate adherents. Captain Bhutu Bashniat (elder 
 brother of Kaji Delhi Singh) was the ringleader, and 
 was the only man of any mark against whom anything 
 was proved ; but there is every reason to suppose
 
 JANG GOES OxN A PILGRIMAGE. 405 
 
 that many influential parties were more or less impli- 
 cated. A few subordinates were seized. The prisoners 
 having confessed their guilt, were sentenced to death, 
 but the punishment was commuted to confinement in 
 the malarious district of Chitaun on the Rapti in the 
 Terai. No further investigations were made, as it was 
 thought more judicious to let the matter rest. This 
 affair being settled quietly, the King, Minister, and 
 a large escort proceeded to the Terai on a hunting 
 excursion. 
 
 1853. — The King returned to the capital in January, 
 but Jang, with his two youngest brothers and a small 
 suite, proceeded on to Kamaon on a pilgrimage to 
 Badrinath and Kedarnath. Bam Bahadur officiated 
 as Minister during his absence. 
 
 In April the portraits of the Queen and Prince 
 Albert, which had been promised when Jang was in 
 England, and which he was commissioned to present 
 to the Maharajah, arrived at Kathmandu ; they were 
 opened under a royal salute. The King professed 
 himself much gratified, and declared, in a letter to 
 the Queen acknowledging their safe arrival, that he 
 would never lose sight of them, but they should 
 always remain in his apartments, and be visited every 
 day. A few months afterwards they were removed 
 from the Palace and sent off to Thappatalli, where 
 they have remained ever since. 
 
 In May (on the 27th) Jang, accompanied by his 
 two youngest brothers, with Sautaram Captar, arrived 
 at Kathmandu on their return from their trip to
 
 406 HISTORY OF NIPAL. 
 
 Kamaon. They left Aliganj, eighteen miles on the 
 other side of Sigauli, at midnight, Sigauli at 2 a.m., 
 and Jang arrived at his own house (Thappatalli) be- 
 tween 3 and 4 p.m., having in the very hottest time 
 of the year, just before the setting in of the rains, 
 ridden on horseback one hundred and three miles in 
 fifteen and a half to sixteen hours. From Aliganj 
 to Kathmandu he had twelve horses on the road, and 
 he rode the whole way, with the exception of the last 
 two or three miles, when he happened to meet a 
 palanquin and was brought home in it. 
 
 His three companions tailed off somewhat, but they 
 all arrived in the course of the night, none of the 
 four having been more than twenty-four hours on the 
 road. They had ten horses apiece from Sigauli to 
 Kathmandu. Kaji Hendal Thappa and Delhi Singh 
 came on leisurely ; they dawked by night to Bichakoh, 
 whence elephants brought them on the next day to 
 Bamphedi ; they slept at Sisagharri, and came into 
 Kathmandu on the 3rd day. 
 
 Although the season, from drought, was an un- 
 usually hot one, yet not one of the party suffered 
 from awal fever, or any illness whatever. 
 
 There had been that spring an unusual scarcity of 
 rain, and the crops had suffered in consequence very 
 much; prayers of all sorts had been made for rain, 
 but with no effect ; as a " dernier ressort," Bam, at 
 the advice of the Brahmans, ordered that every cow 
 in the valley should on a certain day be taken to the 
 banks of the Baghmatti, and there the sacred animal's
 
 .fang's "fortunate star." 407 
 
 milk should be poured into the sacred stream and 
 offered to the Deity as a means of appeasing his wrath 
 and obtaining a fall of rain. Even this measure failed, 
 and the people were in despair on account of their rice 
 crops. Fortunately, however, Jang suddenly and un- 
 expectedly made his appearance, and on that very 
 afternoon there was a thunderstorm and a very heavy 
 fall of rain. The coincidence was so striking that it 
 is not surprising that the people attributed the bless- 
 ing to Jang's " fortunate star." 
 
 In September General Jai Bahadur, one of the State 
 prisoners confined at Allahabad for the conspiracy of 
 1851 against Jang, died in prison of cholera. Jang's 
 mother, fearful that Badrinar Singh might also die 
 in a foreign land, persuaded Jang to apply to the 
 British Government to have him and the King's brother 
 surrendered to the Nipalese Government. They were 
 given up immediately, and returned to Nipal, arriving 
 at Kathmandu in January 1854, while the King and 
 Jang were absent in the Eastern Terai on a shooting 
 excursion. They remained in honourable confinement 
 in their own houses until March, when Jang having seen 
 them, Badrinar Singh was sent to Palpa, to live with 
 his own son (a lad of fourteen), who was appointed 
 Governor of that province, and who was made re- 
 sponsible for his good conduct. He was allowed to 
 take all his family and property with him, to be at 
 large, and to go where he liked shooting, &c, within 
 a circuit of ten miles from Palpa, but he was not to 
 leave the district. Badrinar, of course, professed
 
 408 HISTOEY OF NIPAL. 
 
 before quitting Kathmandu to be very loyal and 
 penitent. 
 
 The King's brother was sent to Bhatgaon, and 
 apartments given to him in the Darbar Kot. At the 
 end of the year, however, he was allowed to return to 
 the capital and take up his residence in his old quarters 
 on the Thandi Khel. 
 
 On the 15th of March (the last day of the Huli) 
 Jang's statue on the Thandi Khel was inaugurated 
 with great show. There was a review of all the 
 troops and artillery, with firing, &c. &c. On the fol- 
 lowing evening there were general festivities; grand 
 display of fireworks ; all the troops were feasted, 
 as were numbers of the common people; Niwar 
 dancing, &c. &c. The Thandi Khel, covered with 
 the tents of all the officers, with there fireworks, 
 dancing, &c. &c, going on, looked somewhat like 
 Greenwich or Oamberwell Fair. 
 
 On the 8th of May 1854, the eldest daughter of the 
 Maharajah (by his senior Eani, a daughter of the Gulmi 
 Rajah), a child aged six years, was married to Jang's 
 eldest son, aged eight years. 
 
 On the evening of the 8th the bridegroom, beauti- 
 fully dressed, seated in a palki, and having a gold 
 kalas (a sacred vessel containing holy water used by 
 Goru on that and other religious occasions) carried 
 before him, on the head of the oldest female servant 
 in his father's establishment, was carried in pro- 
 cession to the Darbar, being the residence of the 
 bride's parents. The Maharajah, as the bride's father,
 
 MARRIAGE OF JANG'S ELDEST SON. 409 
 
 met the bridegroom at the Thandi Khel, and escorted 
 him to the Darbar. The procession was a very gay 
 one; regiments marching before and behind, bands 
 playing, Niwars dancing, and fireworks and muskets 
 being discharged in all directions. 
 
 That night the marriage ceremonies were celebrated 
 between the bride and bridegroom ; the bride remain- 
 ing during the night with her family and female 
 relations. 
 
 On the following day, the 9th, in the evening, the 
 bridegroom took the bride home to his father's house 
 at Thappatalli. There was a similar procession to that 
 of the day before. The bride was in a palki, with 
 kalas carried before her, and surrounded by a crowd 
 of female attendants, gaily attired and waving fans 
 of chowry-tail and peacock's feathers, in their best 
 attire. The bridegroom's father followed behind his 
 wife's. 
 
 To give eclat to the scene, a grand parade of all 
 the troops at the capital was held at the Thandi Khel, 
 the artillery and infantry discharging repeated vol- 
 leys as the procession with the happy couple appeared 
 on the ground. 
 
 On these occasions all the female attendants get 
 fees, but the bearer of the kalas gets much the 
 largest. The bride generally remains five days and 
 nights in the house of her husband, during which time 
 "puja " is daily made by the Brahmans to the kalas. 
 At the end of five days the bride returns to her 
 family, and remains with them until she is old enough
 
 410 HISTORY OF NIPAL. 
 
 to go and live with her husband. The husband 
 occasionally visits her while she is thus staying with 
 her parents. When the time arrives for her perma- 
 nently going to her husband, she is conducted by him 
 to her future home with considerable pomp, and with 
 procession, &c, much the same as at the first 
 wedding. 
 
 In this instance, the King's daughter only re- 
 mained one day and night at Thappatalli with her 
 husband, and then returned to the Palace, but this 
 was an exception to the usual rule. 
 
 A few days afterwards, Jang was married to the 
 youngest sister of Fath Jang Sah Chauntria, who was 
 murdered at the Kot in 1847. 
 
 She and her elder brother and their mother had 
 been residing in exile at Bettiah since the massacre, 
 but these were allowed to return to Nipal in the spring 
 of this year; the son was given the rank and the 
 jagir of a Kaji ; and the girl, aged twenty- three, mar- 
 ried to Jang as a further means of cementing the 
 close family alliance between the Minister and the 
 Royal Family. At this wedding Jang took the kalas 
 in procession to the bride's house, where the wedding 
 was celebrated with great feasting, &c. ; but the bride, 
 as usual, remained for the night with her own family. 
 The next day Jang brought her back to Thappatalli, 
 where she remained for good. 
 
 The kalas is only used by the Gorkhas and not by 
 the Niwars, either Hindu or Buddhist, at weddings. 
 It is, however, used by Niwars on other occasions, as
 
 THE BRIDE'S DOWRY. 411 
 
 of making or confirming a priest. It is considered a 
 most sacred object, and no one is allowed to touch it ; 
 puja is made to it. The carrying it, and receiving the 
 fee for doing so, is the perquisite of the female who 
 has been longest in the family of the bridegroom. In 
 a royal wedding she receives one hundred rupees ; 
 poorer people give from three to five rupees as an 
 average. In some few cases lately, certain wealthy 
 Hindu Niwars (as Siddimah Subah, also the Fat 
 Darbar Munshi) have been allowed to carry the kalas 
 at their recent weddings, but it has been conferred 
 on them by the State as a privilege ; they have in 
 fact, on payment of a fee, been raised (?) from the 
 rank of Niwar to that of Parbattiah. 
 
 On occasion of this wedding, the bride, as eldest 
 daughter of the King, received as dowry the results 
 of a " capitation tax " on the inhabitants of the valley 
 and neighbouring districts. This tax was sold by 
 Jang to a Niwar at Patni, who paid 2,70,000 rupees, 
 or £27,000, cash to him for it, all raised above 
 that sum being the Niwar' s profit ; the tax was ex- 
 pected to realize about three lakhs altogether. On 
 the marriage of the eldest princess, it is always cus- 
 tomary to levy a capitation tax in order to raise her 
 dowry, but this is not done with the younger prin- 
 cesses, their dowry being paid cash from the Govern- 
 ment Treasury. 
 
 May 22nd. — The Embassy which had left Nipal in 
 1852 for Pekin with the quinquennial tribute from 
 the Nipalese to the Chinese Government, arrived at
 
 412 HISTOEY OF NIPAL. 
 
 Balaji under the charge of Bhim Sen Rana, Lieu- 
 tenant ; all the other Sirdars who started with it 
 from Nipal died on the road to or from China. The 
 mission, especially during its return, had been treated 
 very unceremoniously by the Chinese authorities along 
 the road they had to traverse — coolies were not pro- 
 vided regularly nor provisions either. Many of their 
 followers were beaten or otherwise maltreated, and 
 all claims for redress disregarded. Every obstacle 
 was thrown in their way, in consequence of which 
 treatment the whole trip, which ought not to have 
 exceeded eighteen months, was protracted till near 
 two years. 
 
 On their arrival at JNayakot, all the members of 
 the Mission received back their caste by a written 
 order from the Gruru ; they had to pay certain fees 
 and perform certain ceremonies for a prescribed 
 number of days. They brought back with them about 
 one hundred China and Pumi ponies. They halted a 
 day or two at Balaji till they had an audience of the 
 Minister, on which occasion the Lieutenant and his 
 companions were all dressed in silk robes and sable 
 caps given them at Pekin by the Celestial Emperor. 
 They brought back a letter from the Emperor of 
 China to the King of Nipal, which was presented to 
 the King in full Darbar, with a salute of twenty-one 
 guns. 
 
 May 24th. — Salute of twenty-four guns fired in 
 honour of the Queen's birthday. 
 
 The greater part of this year was occupied by the
 
 PREPARATIONS FOR ATTACK ON TIBET. 413 
 
 Darbar in making extensive preparations for their pro- 
 jected invasion of Tibet. The following were the 
 causes which led to the quarrel between the Nipalese 
 and the Tibetans. For several years past the Nipalese 
 had had many causes of complaint against the Tibetan 
 authorities at Lhassa. Niwar and Kashmiri merchants, 
 and other subjects of Nipal resident at Lhassa, had 
 in various ways been maltreated, and all their appli- 
 cations for justice or redress had been disregarded. 
 Blood even had been shed in more cases than one, but 
 still the Tibetan authorities had uniformly turned a 
 deaf ear to every remonstrance that was made to 
 them, either by the Nipalese Vakil on the spot, or by 
 letters from the Darbar officially sent to them from 
 Kathmandu. 
 
 The Darbar, finding that their remonstrances to the 
 Tibetan Kajis were unattended to, addressed the 
 Chinese Ambah, and requested his interference to 
 obtain for them reparation for the injuries received 
 by their subjects at Lhassa, as well as the punishment 
 of such Tibetans or Chinese as should be proved to 
 have committed offences against the persons or pro- 
 perty of subjects of Nipal resident in or passing 
 through Lhassa. 
 
 These applications from the Darbar were treated 
 with silent contempt. The Nipalese then sent peti- 
 tions, containing a full statement of their grievances, 
 to the Ambah, requesting him to transmit them to his 
 imperial master at Pekin, but still the Darbar did 
 not obtain either an answer to their remonstrance,
 
 414 HISTORY OF NIPAL. 
 
 or even any acknowledgment of their letters having 
 been received. 
 
 While the feelings of the Nipalese were naturally 
 irritated by these continual slights, they heard of the 
 maltreatment of their embassy on its return from 
 Pekin, and of its detention at Llassa in consequence 
 of the local authorities having thrown obstacles in the 
 way of its advance by seizing and imprisoning some 
 of its followers, as well as by refusing to supply the 
 Mission with the requisite carriage and provisions. 
 
 This appears to have decided the Darbar to give up 
 further remonstrances, and to adopt such decisive 
 measures as would at once revenge their own wounded 
 pride and obtain ample redress for the many insults 
 and injuries inflicted on their subjects. 
 
 With this object they determined on seizing all 
 that portion of Tibet which lies to the south of the 
 Kerang and Kuti passes, and which extends from the 
 snowy range to the mountains which are immediately 
 to the north of the Yalley of Nipal. 
 
 This district originally belonged to the Nipalese, 
 but in 1792, when the Chinese army invaded Nipal, 
 the Botya inhabitants of these mountains threw off 
 their allegiance to the Grorkhas and joined the invaders, 
 and these wild regions have ever since been annexed 
 to Tibet, and as such have formed part of the 
 Chinese Empire.* 
 
 * They were given over to the authorities of Lhassa by the 
 Chinese, as a grant for the benefit of Buddhist temples and the 
 support of Buddhist monasteries in Tibet.
 
 PREPARATIONS FOR ATTACK ON TIBET. 415 
 
 The present appeared to the Darbar a favourable 
 opportunity for recovering their former territory, and 
 at the same time for revenging themselves on the 
 Tibetans for the numerous insults and injuries which 
 they and their subjects had sustained through a long 
 series of years. 
 
 The Darbar was encouraged in this design by 
 knowing the straits to which the Emperor of China 
 was reduced in the contest with his rebellious sub- 
 jects under Tientch, and they calculated on this rebel- 
 lion for keeping the Chinese army so well employed 
 in the neighbourhood of the capital, that they would 
 not be able to afford any material assistance in repel- 
 ling attacks on their territory in so distant a quarter 
 as Tibet. Anticipating the success of the rebels 
 under Tientch, and the consequent downfall of the 
 Manchu dynasty, the Darbar determined to take ad- 
 vantage of the anarchy and confusion attending this 
 civil war, not only to throw off the yoke of allegiance 
 to China which had long been galling to their pride, 
 but, by seizing and permanently annexing to Nipal a 
 considerable portion of Tibet, to be beforehand in appro- 
 priating their share of the plunder which would follow 
 the probable break-up of the present Celestial Empire. 
 
 For this purpose the army was this year largely 
 increased by raising several new regiments ; numbers 
 of new guns and mortars were cast, thousands of 
 new muskets were manufactured, and the whole de- 
 partment of the artillery was brought into a state of 
 efficiency for active service.
 
 416 HISTORY OF NIPAL. 
 
 To obviate the inconvenience of the entire absence 
 of a commissariat in Nipal, the Government ordered 
 the collection of enormous stores of grain and food 
 near the frontier, and purchased from the plains 
 several thousands of small tents for the use of the 
 army in the field. At the same time, carriage for 
 the guns, ammunition, tents, baggage, &c, was 
 supplied by the enlistment into the public service 
 of a whole army of kalassies and coolies, who were 
 apportioned in certain numbers to every regiment and 
 to every gun, and whose duty it was to accompany 
 that regiment or that gun on the march and to remain 
 with it as long as their services are required. All the 
 arsenals, magazines, &c. &c, were brought into the 
 greatest activity by the employment of thousands of 
 workmen in preparing ammunition, knapsacks, gun- 
 carriages, boxes, &c. &c. &c, for the use of the army, 
 and every possible preparation was made for ad- 
 vancing into Tibet as soon as the severity of the 
 winter should be over, and while the passes across the 
 snow should be sufficiently open for the passage of 
 the army with its guns, baggage, &c. 
 
 In order to occupy the territory which the Darbar 
 proposed to wrest from the Tibetans, it would be 
 necessary to take permanent possession of the 
 Kerang, and also of the Kuti pass. It was not, 
 however, proposed to despatch the forces whose 
 business it would be to occupy these passes until the 
 spring of 1855, as the vicinity of these passes to the 
 capital would always enable the Government, if it
 
 SCHEME OF INVASION. 417 
 
 were necessary, to send off troops at a moment's 
 notice in sufficient numbers to repel any attacks 
 which might be made upon Nipal in those directions. 
 In the meantime, it was thought prudent that de- 
 tachments should be stationed at various points lead- 
 ing to the other principal passes into Tibet, so as to 
 command them, and prevent the possibility of any 
 sudden invasion of Nipal by a Tibetan or Chinese 
 army. For this purpose a large force was ordered 
 to assemble at Dhankuta, near the Sikhim frontier,* 
 in order to protect the eastern provinces, and by its 
 detachments to close and to command the Wallan- 
 chun and Hatia passes. Another still larger force 
 was collected at Jumlah, to which all the Chaubisia 
 and Baisia Rajahs were directed to send contingents, 
 in order to protect the western provinces of Nipal, 
 and to command the important pass of Tahbhas or 
 Yari, leading directly into central Tibet, as well as 
 that of Muktinath leading to Mastang. 
 
 * Jang would have liked to have sent a division through Sikhim 
 into Tibet, but the treaty with the British prevented its even 
 being officially proposed. The authorities at Lhassa forbade the 
 Sikkini Kajah to interfere, and ordered him to close the roads 
 and stop all communication between Sikhim and Nipal ; and they 
 threatened, in case of his disobedience, to confiscate the two 
 taluks, Dobta and Sareh, which the Rajah held in Tibet, and 
 which lie on the road from Nipal to Digarchi. Meantime, as a 
 precautionary measure, a portion of the Tibetan army had occupied 
 these two taluks temporarily or during the continuance of the 
 war. The Sikhim Rajah agreed to these terms, and closed all the 
 roads between Sikhim and Nipal. — (Campbell's Letter to Govern- 
 ment, July 20, 1855.) 
 
 i. 27
 
 418 HISTORY OP NIPAL. 
 
 The standing army at the capital was considered 
 sufficient for the protection of the valley and the 
 districts to the north of it from any chance of attack 
 from either Kerang or Kuti. 
 
 END OP VOL. I. 
 
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 A HISTORY OF AFGHANISTAN; from the 
 
 Earliest Period to the outbreak of the War of 1878. By 
 Colonel G. B. Malleson, C.S.I. Author of " Historical 
 Sketch of the Native States of India," " History of the Indian 
 Mutiny," &c. Second Edition. 8vo. With Map. 18s. 
 
 " At the present time there could be no more seasonable publication. The 
 book deserves to be thoughtfully and extensively read by everybody who 
 desires to probe to the pith of the Indian Frontier question." — Daily Telegraph. 
 
 THE PUS'HTO MANUAL (the Language of the 
 Afghans). Comprising a concise Grammar, Exercises and 
 Dialogues, Familiar Phrases, Proverbs, and Vocabulai'y. By 
 Major H. G. Raverty, Bo. N.I. (Retired). Author of the 
 " Pushto Grammar," " Dictionary," &c. Fcap. 5s. 
 
 " This book shows all the painstaking care for which Major Raverty has 
 long been famous, and it can be used with confidence by any one wishing to 
 learn the language of the Afghans." — Homeward Mail. 
 
 A TEXT-BOOK of INDIAN HISTORY, with Geo- 
 
 graphical Notes, Genealogical Tables, Examination Questions, 
 and Chronological, Biographical, Geographical, and General 
 Indexes. By the Rev. G. U. Pope, D.D. Small 4to. 12s.
 
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