Medieval Nepal Part 1– Early Medieval Period 750-1530 AD

792 Pages·1965·37.49 MB·English

by  D. R. Regmi

MEDIEVAL NEPAL
Part 1
(Early Medieval Period 750-1530 A.D.)
D. R. REGMI, M.A., M.Litt., Ph.D.
FIRMA K. L. MUKHO'PADHYAY
CALCUTTA .. .. 19 65
Published by
FIRMAK . L. MUKHOPADHYAY,
6/ 1 A, Banchharam Akrur Lane,
Calcutta-12, India.
1st Edition 1965
@ D. R. REGMI
Kathmandu, Nepal
Printed 11y SRI G. C. RAY
Navana Printing Works Private Limited
47 Ganesh Chunder Avenue, Calcutta 13
The Revered Memory of
My Parents
Delay in publication of " Medieval Nepal
"
after its announcement is regretted.
P R E F A C E
The volume in hand is the second of the series of the
Histony d Nepal to be completed in four volumes.
The volume deals with events from the middle of the
8th century to 1760 A.D.
For the second volume, the title 'Medieval Nepal,
(740- 1760 A.D.), has been adopted. Here we have two
divisims d the work; (a) Part I, 740 ta 1530 A.D.', and
(b) Part 11, 'Nepal Divided : A History of the Three Kingdom
d the Nepal Valley, 1530 - 1760 A.D.'
The medieval history of the Karndi Basin is given in the
first part in confanity to the arrangement d the subject-
matter. This history is an account d the famous Khasa Kingdom
of the 12th and 13th centuries and naturally came within the
scope d the first part.
In the first edition our account closed with the event of
.
Prat5pamallaYsf ather's reign (1641 A.D.) But this was an
abrupt clming. We have now a scientific basis for the divisicm
of history ol the work ccwas. We start the medieval age sinca
about the middle of the eighth century A.D. and end with the
rise of P~thviniiriiyqaS hiih who laid the foundation of modan
Nepal in about 1760-68 A.D. The Part I of the volume
covers the period of history bqmning with the end of th6
Lichhavi period and ending with the division d the kingdom
after Ratnarnalla's death. The part I1 d this volume with
the title 'Nepal Divided: A history of the Three Kingdoms
of the Nepal Valley' narrates the events leading to the rise
and establishment af the three kingdm in the Vallqr of Nepal
and their eventual elimination at the hands d $thvinSEyqa
ShHh. Here we have made a slight change in the scape of
the subject cwered. This new arrangement we thmght was
quite lagical in view of the fact that the early histolry of the
Baisi and Chaubisi states forms the backpmnd oh the ~esiod
covered by the third volume, and fits in well to be incorporated
there.
The rise of the Baisi and Chaubisi dates from the early
14th century A.D. Just a little earlier to this time the ancient
chronicle (Gopila VamEvati) introduces into the main History
events of Khasia and Magar invasions i r m the Valley of Nepal.
But they do not occur since a k u t 1326 A.D. As it appears
from our histoq of the KarnHli Basin, the Khasa Kingdom
fell to pieces in the 15th century and new Rajput principalities
took its place. These were later known as the Baisi (twenty
two) princes. I think that about the same time the Rajput
dynasties had firmly settled in parts of the sub-Himalayan
ranges in the west of the Nepal Valley. These were called the
Chaubisi (twenty four). All these start their own histolry as
they grow up.
As we have already observed there was a flourishing Khasa
kingdom in the KarnZli Basin since the early 1 lth century A.D.
We ha$ve no evidence to prove the suzeranity of Nepal nilers,
over this state. We do not know if ever the jurisdiction of the
central kingdom, in Nepal proper extended to1 the areas occupied
by the Khasa Mallas and their neighburs of the Gqdak
Basin. Of course, with regard to ancient history no political
entity other than the one existing in the Valley of Nepal has
been traced for the entire stretch of the territories between the
Sapta Gqdaki and Sapta KoP and this entity functioned more
or less in Nepal prolper and the areas immediately surrounding
it in the four clirections. Quite possibly the Nepal rulers in the
climax of pwer ruled over a kingdom not as much extensive
as the present day Nepal and sometimes even not larger enough
than the Valley of Nepal with the outlying territories outside
on both sides between the Budhi Gandak and the Sun K&i
or the T'2ml Kdi. Probably the same boundaries continued
to exist in early medieval age so that excluding the region of
the Baisi, farther west, the history of Nepal prolper olf the time
could very well pass as the history of Nepal with its traditional
frontier lines between the Gandak and the Tam2 K&i. But
the same could not hdd ground in regard to the later medieval
perid. The Sapta Gandaki Pradesh had by this time become
a scene of new activity and potentially rival political states had
emerged ta the detriment of the paver in the Nepal Valley.
In this context the status of the usually functioning state of
Nepal had greatly changed. It was no longer a powerful and
dominating state as it used to be. Moreover under a condi-
tion af division, the unique personality of the state disintegrated.
Now the Nepal Valley states formed just noticeable entities in
the vast cmglmeration of petty states. Their history was not
the history of Nepal. This was the ream that we give the
title 'A History of the Nepal Valley' to the work dealing with
the history of the later perid.
The Lichhavi dynastic history came to an end if not with
Jayadeva I1 definitely with his successor Sankaradeva, for the
epigraphic records of the period are not available after 740 A.D.
If the dynasty had existed further then the few inscriptions
coming after 740 A.D. should have appeared with the usual
titles of the Lichhavi kings, but these do1 not. The absence of
any records in their name is clear evidence of the dynasty ceas-
ing to rule since about 740 A.D. As records were abundant
for the period preceding we are confirmed in our view that the
Lichhavi rule could not exist in the absence of any kind of
records. In the arrangement of the text as it was my view
that the ~ichhkvip eriod was over with Jayadeva's succ-r, I
completed my first volume with Ancient Nepal as its title bring-
ing the narrative to a close upto c. 740, which could be the
last date of the Lichhavi dynasty. With the same consideration
I have started my narrative of the medieval history of Nepal
since the mid eighth century A.D. I did not follow such
writers who take the epoch year d the Nepal era as the start-
ing point in this respect. By not following them I could cover
the history of the hundred years left between Jayadeva I1 and
Riighavadeva.
It will appear later that from 1755 onwards the history of
the entire central Himalayan region is in a way the histo~yo f
Gorkhii's ruling dvnasty which had acquired immense resources
and power to become the sovereign of a new political unit with
Nepal as capital. Now in the cantext of the rise and growth
of GarkhZ all these Baisi, Chaubisi and Nepal Valley states lose
their importance as separate entities as well as the positions of
that nature. At this stage their histolry is intimately bound up
with the history ob the different phases of the rise d the princi-
pality of GorkhH which was to become the kingdm d Nepal.
As tve describe the events of GorkhZ's rise: to stature, facts are
narrated dealing with the history of all tha states in the area
for the time. But this goes to the third volume. of our series,
which specificaliy deals with the history of GorkhH becoming
Nepal. The narrative in the second voluma covers events of
the history d the Nepal Valley only upto1 the rise of Pfivi-
nZrZyaqa, Shah, the GsrkhZ ruler.
The work has 10 chapters in Part I and 8 in Part 11. All
these chapters provide political history of the period, while
the last chapter in each part gives an objective study of
the social and, economic cojndition d Nepal at the time under
consideration.
I express my gratitude ta all those who have given me their
unstinted cooperation. in the preparation of this work, which is
a pioneer attempt in the field d Nepdese historical research.
In particular I am indeblted ta Mr. Shublha Bir Pandey for
typing the manuscript and laboriously undertaking allied duties
and to the publisher for the publication of the work.
Kathmandu,
June lst, 1961
C O N T E N T S
Page
Territory and Geographical Situation . . . . 1
The Name : Nepal and Newar . . . . . . 10
The People . . . . . . . . . . 15
The Language and the People . . . . . . 16
CHAPTER I1
'Sources for the Early Medieval History
Source Materials . . . .
The Ancient Chronicles . .
Later Chronicles . . . .
. . .
Manuscripts .
Other Source Materials . . . .
Coinage . . . . . .
Inscriptions . . . . . .
The Medieval Calendar . .
CHAPTER 111
EARLYM EDIEVAHLI STORY(C . 740 - 1 146 A.D.)
The Nepal Era of 879 A.D. and the Event . . . . 51
The Event of the Era . . . . . . . . 59
I I
The Founder of the Era . . . . . . 75
I11
Genealogy before Raghavadeva . . . . . . 79
Date of Jayadeva I1 . . . . . . . . 83
Manadeva I11 . . . . . . . . 85
IV
The Socalled Pala Suzerainty in the 9th and 10th Centuries 87