An Account of The Kingdom of Nepal Part 7

PART II.

ACCOUNT OF THE PARTICULAR STATES WHICH FORMERLY EXISTED, AND OF THE FAMILIES BY WHICH EACH WAS GOVERNED.

INTRODUCTION.

I now proceed to give an account of the various states and princ.i.p.alities which this mountainous region contained, and of the manner in which they became subject to the chiefs of Gorkha; and I shall commence at the Eastern extremity, proceeding westward regularly, so far as I can, without interrupting the account of each family.

CHAPTER FIRST.

OF THE STATES EAST FROM THE RIVER KALI.

SECTION I.

COUNTRY OF SIKIM.

Inhabitants.-Government.-Extent.-History.-Geography.

The most eastern princ.i.p.ality, in the present dominions of Gorkha, is that of the Lapchas, called Sikim. Although the prince of Sikim was a Bhotiya, the strength of his army consisted entirely of the Lapchas, who inhabited the higher mountains between the Kankayi and Tista. The Bhotiyas themselves are a very timid race, entirely sunk under the enervating effects of what they call religion.

Besides the Bhotiyas, who surrounded the prince, and the Lapchas by whom he was guarded, the mountains of Sikim contained many people of the tribe called Limbu, who have been already mentioned. My informant thinks, that of the whole population three-tenths were Bhotiyas, five-tenths Lapchas, and two tenths Limbus.

The princes of Sikim, as I have said, were Bhotiyas. They were of a family of high rank from Lasa, and took the t.i.tle of Gelpo. The next person in the state was the chief or Hang of the Lapchas. I suspect that the Gelpo possessed little power, except in matters of religion; for it is said, that his neighbour, the Deva Dharma Raja, although a mere priest, appoints whomsoever he pleases to manage the temporal affairs of his country; but in Sikim the office of Hang is hereditary. I have not learned the succession of the princes of Sikim; but it is probable that the Bhotiyas have governed the country for a considerable time.

At one time the princes of Sikim had extended their dominion far south, into the district of Puraniya, and possessed the low country on the east of the Mahananda, as far as Krishnagunj, a part of the country which was originally possessed by the Koch and Paliyas, the natives of Kamrup and Matsya, now the districts of Ranggapur and Dinajpur. The Rajas of Sikim were driven from the greatest part of this most valuable of their possessions by the Moslems; but they still retained a small s.p.a.ce of the plain to the north of the Pergunah of Baikunthapur, when they were attacked by the Gorkhalese. Although the Kankayi, in the upper part of its course, was nearly their boundary, they never would appear to have possessed the plain between the Kankayi and Mahananda; but they were lords of the lower hills, occupied by the tribe called Dimali, who, I am a.s.sured, are the same with the Mech, a tribe now confined to the eastern parts of Kamrup or Ranggapur.

The chief who governed Sikim before the year 1782, was by the natives of the Company's territory named Rup Chiring; but the Bhotiya names are so mangled by the Bengalese, that no reliance can be placed on those reported by them. He resided at Darjiling, and had there a fort, or strong house of brick, which an old Bengalese, who visited it about that time, describes as very splendid; but his ideas of magnificence in building are probably rather confined. This prince died about the year 1782, and was succeeded by his son, the Chhawa Raja, which is the name that the low country people give to the heir-apparent of this family.

During his time, and, as would appear from a letter addressed by Mr Pagan to Colonel Ross, in the month of September, (probably of 1788, for there is no date in the letter,) the Gorkhalese invaded Sikim. Their troops consisted of about 6000 men, of whom 2000 were regulars, and were under the command of Tiurar Singha, Subah of Morang. He met with no opposition until he approached Sikim, the capital, in defence of which the Rajah ventured an engagement; when, after an obstinate resistance, he was completely defeated, owing, in all probability, to the 2000 fusileers.

The Gorkhalese, however, suffered much, although they immediately laid siege to the capital. This happened shortly previous to the 28th October 1788, as, in a letter from Mr Pagan of that date, he mentions, that he had just received accounts of the entire conquest of Sikim by the Gorkhalese, who, in this report, had considerably magnified the extent of their victory.

The Raja of Sikim retired towards the frontier of Thibet, in order to rea.s.semble his army, and to solicit a.s.sistance from Lasa and Tasasudan.

At the latter place was soon concluded a treaty, by which the Sikim chief engaged to pay the Deva Dharma Raja a certain tribute, on condition of his being restored to his dominions by the exertions of that prince.

This negotiation is said to have been facilitated by an open boast made by the Gorkhalese, that they no sooner should have conquered Sikim, than they would attack the Deva Dharma Raja, a kind of policy of which the Gorkhalese are fond, when they have no sort of intention of putting their threats in execution.

The Raja, strengthened by a considerable force of the Deva Dharma's troops, and a party of Bhotiyas from a province of Thibet, named Portaw, returned towards the capital, and, about the beginning of December, compelled the Gorkhalese to raise the siege; and, after losing many men in a skirmish, to retire towards Ilam on the Kankayi, where they had erected forts to secure a communication with Morang. It must be observed, that, at this time, the Gorkhalese had invaded the province of Kutti in Thibet, and had there met with a repulse; and that a body of the troops of Thibet had penetrated through a pa.s.s in the mountains to the eastward of Kutti. These troops seized on the pa.s.ses of the Kosi and Arun rivers, thus intending to cut off all communication between Kathmandu and the army in Morang; an excellent plan, and very easily practicable.

The Gorkhalese commander, far from being dismayed, seems soon to have dispossessed these troops, and gave out that he had retreated from Sikim merely on account of the severity of the cold.

From the reports of the natives, there is reason to suppose, that about this time the Sikim Raja died, leaving his son Kurin Namki, an infant.

The war was chiefly conducted by Yuksu-thuck, the Hang or chief of the Lapchas, who was next in rank to the Raja. This man, by the natives of the low country, was called Chhatrajit, and was a person of barbarous energy. He seems to have headed the army in the field, while his brother Nam-si (Lamjit of the Bengalese) defended the capital. They were sons of Lang-cho, son of De-sha, both of whom had held the office of Hang.

Soon after these advantages over the Gorkhalese, the troops of the Deva Dharma Raja retired; for they are allowed no pay, and the country was too poor to admit of plunder. By a letter from Mr Pagan, this would appear to have happened before the 29th March 1789. On this the greater part of the people of Sikim submitted to the Gorkhalese; but the Raja fled to Tankiya in Thibet, and the chief of the Lapchas retired to a stronghold situated between the two branches of the Tista; from which he has ever since annoyed the Gorkhalese. This place, called Gandhauk, has annexed to it a territory of considerable extent, and affords the Raja a revenue of about 7000 rupees a-year, which is all that he possesses; but, being a man of high birth, he lately obtained in marriage a daughter of the chief minister at Lasa, with whom, in 1809, he returned to the petty dominion, which the vigour of his minister has retained.

Both the Deva Dharma Raja and the government of Lasa seem to have been most seriously alarmed at the progress of the Gorkhalese, and applied to the Emperor of China for his interposition. In the meanwhile, the Deva Dharma Raja is said to have sent an emba.s.sy to Kathmandu, offering as a sacrifice the part of Baikunthapur, that had been given to him by Mr Hastings; but the interposition of the emperor came in time to save this, and the Gorkhalese have ever since abstained from giving him any molestation. The people of Thibet were not so fortunate, and were compelled to cede to the Nepalese a part of Kutti, which now forms the government of Kheran or Kheru, on the head of the Sankosi, and some Bhotiya villages near the Arun, which are now annexed to the northern part of Vijaypur, and with that form the government of Chayenpur. By a letter from Colonel Ross, dated in the end of December 1789, it would appear that our government had received intelligence of every thing having been settled by the interference of the Chinese, and that a Gorkhalese envoy had been dispatched to pay homage to the emperor.

The Lapchas were, however, not so easily managed. Part under their chief Nam-si maintained an absolute independence, and the remainder have been so troublesome, that the Gorkhalese have judged it prudent to give them a governor, or, at least, a collector of their own. This person, named Yu-kang-ta, and called Angriya Gabur by the Bengalese, is nephew of the Lapcha chief, who has so gallantly defended the remnant of the princ.i.p.ality. In 1808, I found that he was in possession of the whole civil government, and had agreed to pay annually a fixed sum as tribute.

The Subah of Chayenpur was, however, in military authority over him, and there were Gorkhalese troops at Sikim and Darjiling, the two chief places in the district.

On the return of the young Raja to Gandhauk, he brought with him as an escort 500 Bhotiyas of Thibet; and an insurrection seems to have been meditated. In the end of 1809, a person calling himself Dihit Karan, a relation of the chief of the Kirats, came to Lieutenant Munro, then stationed at Sannyasikata, and informed him that he had been sent as an amba.s.sador by the Chinese general, (Vazir,) who had arrived with 15,000 men and 40 guns to restore the Prince of Sikim, and that he was on his way to Puraniya, to proceed from thence to Calcutta. From the information of his nearest relations, there is reason to think that Dihit Karan had died before this time, and the messenger did not go to Puraniya. It is probable that he merely came to sound Mr Munro, whether or not there was any actual appearance of hostility between the British government and the Gorkhalese. The only troops that had come were the 500 armed Bhotiyas; but with even these the enterprising Lapcha is said to have determined to proceed, and a good many Gorkhalese soldiers marched in that direction. At this time the Lapcha died, and after a little skirmis.h.i.+ng things were amicably adjusted, the Sikim Raja retaining Gandhauk alone.

The map of this country drawn by the Lama, and mentioned in the Introduction, although very rude, as might be naturally expected, will enable scientific men to throw considerable light on the geography of that country, hitherto almost unknown, and more reliance is to be placed on most of the Lama's positions, than on those given in the map of the countries east from Nepal, which has been mentioned in the same place, except towards the south-west corner, for the Lama was better acquainted with the other parts of the country than the person who constructed the map to which I have alluded. His scale is an inch to the day's journey.

His angular lines represent mountains, and, beginning at the north, we find Khawa karpola, that is, the mountain white with snow, or the highest ridge of Emodus, which separates Sikim from the dominion of Lasa.

According to the map, this ridge is penetrated by three rivers. That on the west is the Kankayi; but it seems doubtful whether or not this actually rises from beyond the highest peaks of Emodus, for, in another map, which will be afterwards mentioned, its source is made to come from a lower range of the snowy mountains, which by some is called Mirgu; and this opinion is strongly confirmed by its size, when it enters the plains. The Kankayi would appear to run in a narrow valley between two ridges of mountains, and for some way down the whole valley belonged to Sikim. In this are two Golas or marts, Bilasi and Majhoya. To these marts the low country traders carry rice, salt, extract of sugar-cane, hogs, dry fish, tobacco, spirituous liquor, and various cloths. Formerly they took oxen for slaughter, but, since the conquest, this has been prohibited. They procured in return cotton, Indian madder, (Manjit,) musk, and Thibet bull-tails, (Chaungris.)

Farther down, the Kankayi formed the boundary between the Kirats and Sikim, until it reached the plain, the whole of which, as far as the Mahananda, belonged to the Vijaypur Rajas, while all the low hills belonged to Sikim. These low hills are not represented in the map, although they are of very considerable size, such as the greater part of the mountains of Scotland or Wales; but, near Emodus, these appear like molehills. The hilly country, I am told by the traders, commences at what they call six coses north from Sannyasikata, and extends about eighteen coses farther to Siumali, another mart, which the low country people name Dimali.

The hills south of Dimali are thinly inhabited by the Mech or Dimali, who cultivate cotton, rice, and other articles, in the same manner as the Garos, which will be described in my account of Asam. This kind of country extends from the Kankayi to the Tista, everywhere, probably, about the same width; but the coses, in all likelihood, are very short, twelve of them being reckoned a day's journey, and, in such roads, twelve miles is a long journey, and will give no great horizontal distance.

Between the Mahananda and Tista the Sikim Raja possessed a low tract, four or five coses wide, which is inhabited by Koch, and cultivated with the plough. The chief place in it is Dabi, on the east bank of the Mahananda. This part is not noticed in the Lama's map.

Siumali, or Dimali, according to the Bengalese, is a custom-house on the east side of the Bala kongyar river, but the Lama places it on the west, and is probably more correct, the Bengalese concerning such points being uncommonly stupid. At this custom-house or mart is a Lapcha collector, appointed by Yu-kang-ta. He has with him four Bengalese writers, to a.s.sist him in collecting the duties. The custom-house consists of a square surrounded by buildings, in which the traders and their commodities are received, for there is no house near, except those of the collector and his a.s.sistants. The traders from the low country take up salt, tobacco, cotton cloth, goats, fowls, swine, iron, and occasionally a little coral, and broad cloth. They bring back Indian madder, (Manjit,) cotton, beeswax, blankets, horses, musk, bull-tails, (Chaungris,) Chinese flowered silk, (Devang,) and rhinoceroses horns.

North from the mart, half a day's journey, on a hill at the source of the Bala kongyar, is the residence of Yu-kang-ta, the Lapcha chief, who now collects the revenues for the Gorkhalese. By the natives it is called Sam-dung, but the Bengalese call it Nagrikoth. They describe it as a very large building, with several stories, and it was represented to Mr Monro as a fort of some strength. Both accounts are, however, doubtful, as I learn that it is roofed only with thatch. Two days' journey east from this, at the source of the Mahananda, is Satang, another Gola or mart; but, of late, Siumali has engrossed almost the whole trade.

Immediately north from these places the Lama lays down a high ridge of mountains, extending from the Kankayi beyond the Tista, and on this he says that Dalimkoth, belonging to Bhotan, is situated, and he makes it communicate with the snowy mountains, both at the Kankayi and to the east of the Tista. All the rivers between the Kankayi and Tista spring from the south side of this chain, and between its two arms is included the greater part of Sikim, watered by various branches of the Tista, and forming, as it were, a valley; but the whole of this s.p.a.ce is extremely mountainous, though there is much cultivation carried on with the hoe.

The great articles of cultivation are rice and Manjit.

Beyond Sam-dung and Sa-tang one day's journey, and on the other side of the first high mountains, is Darjiling, which would appear to be the chief fortress of the country, as it is there that the Gorkhalese troops are mostly stationed. From thence to Sikim, the capita], is six days'

journey, and the snowy mountains are about the same distance still farther north. Sikim is on the west side of the Jhamik.u.ma river, which arises from the south side of the snowy mountains, and, opposite to the town, divides into two branches, which surround an immense mountain, on the top of which there is a small level and strong-hold named Tasiding.

The descent from this to the river is reckoned half a day's journey on each side. Some way below this, the river receives from the west a branch named Rainam, that rises from the mountains, by which the Kankayi is bounded on the east. The united streams are called the Rimikma, which soon joins the Tista.

The great river Tista arises in the dominions of Lasa by two branches, called the Greater and Lesser Tista, and pa.s.ses through the snowy mountains. The western branch forms the boundary between the dominions of the Gorkhalese and the petty territory of Gan-dhauk, which still remains to the Raja of Sikim. This poor prince possesses also a small portion beyond the lesser or eastern Tista, which, however, in general, forms the boundary between him and Bhotan, or the country of the Deva Dharma Raja. On its east side is Dam-sang, a fortress belonging to the last-mentioned prince. The united stream of the two Tistas forms the present boundary between him and Gorkha.

The only route between Sikim and Thibet is by a pa.s.sage through the snowy mountains, named Phakali, and this is seven days' journey from Jang-chim, in the north-east part of the Sikim territory, so that, the route being through the territory of the Deva Dharma Raja, the people of Sikim were entirely dependent on this prince for a communication with Thibet.

SECTION II.

DOMINIONS OF THE FAMILY DESCENDED FROM MAKANDA SEN, RAJA OF MAKWANPUR.

General History.-Branch of Lohanga which occupied the Country of the Kiratas.-History.-Former Government.-Military Force, Police, and Revenue, and Justice.-Present State.-District of Morang.-District of Chayenpur.-District of Naragarhi.-District of Hedang.-District of Makwanpur.-Western Branch, which occupied chiefly the Country of Palpa.-History-Description.-Tanahung Family and its Possessions, and Collateral Branches.-Rising, Ghiring, and Gajarkot.

The next princ.i.p.ality to that of the Lapchas was that of the Kiratas, which fell to the lot of a family that pretends to be sprung from the Rajas of Chitaur, although its claims, as I have said, are by no means well substantiated, and the different branches of the family differ much in the account of their genealogy.

In the account of the Newars, I have mentioned, that the tribe called Bhawar or Bhar has many territories, which had been subject to a powerful chief, whose capital was Garsamaran in Tirahut, and the dominion of these Bhawars extended once all over Gorakhpur. Garsamaran was destroyed in 1322 by the Muhammedans, and in its vicinity a state of anarchy, under petty chiefs, prevailed for twenty-four years, while the Muhammedans seized on the parts towards the Ganges. About 1306, the Muhammedans had destroyed Chitaur, and expelled from thence the Chauhan tribe, called also Sisaudhiyas, because they had been settled in a town of that name before they occupied Chitaur.

In the account given of the mountain Hindus, I have mentioned, that these Chauhans are said to have retired to the mountains, and founded the dynasties of Karuvirpur and Yumila; but another family pretends also to be descended from the Rajas of Chitaur, and to have long occupied a great extent of country to the east, south, and west of Nepal Proper. In the eastern parts of this dominion, it was said, that the first chiefs of this family, who came to the parts of which I am now treating, were Jil and Ajil Rays, sons of Buddhi, brother of Chitra Sen, Raja of Chitaur, and son of Pratap Sen, son of Udayraj Sen, of the Sisaudhiya tribe of the Kshatriya race. These two adventurers, with 700 soldiers of fortune, entered into the service of Karma Singha, a person of the impure tribe of Bhawar, which is very numerous in the low country subject to Nepal. This chief resided at Rajpur, on the west side of the Gandaki or Salagrami, where that great river enters the plains, and he had subject to him many of his countrymen, who chiefly cultivated the low lands, and some Kirats, and other barbarians, who occupied the adjacent hills, and formed his military power. He is said to have had two brothers, Nandak.u.mar, Raja of Nandapur Tisuti, near Bhawara, (Bawara R.) in Tirahut, and Sarandeo, Raja of Belka on the Kosi.

For twenty-two years the Hindu n.o.bles served this low man, but were then able to cut him off, and Ajil Sen a.s.sumed the government. He was succeeded by his son Tula Sen; and it must be observed, that all the princes of this family are called Sen, which I shall for the future in general omit, although among the natives, in speaking of them, it is always annexed. Tula built on the hills the fortress of Makwanpur, (Mocaumpour, R.) since which time the princ.i.p.ality has been often called by that name, but it seems then to have extended only from the large Gandaki to the Adhwara River. He was succeeded in regular lineal descent by Dambhal, Gaj.a.pati, Chandra, Rudra, and Mukunda, by which time the princ.i.p.ality had been extended far towards the west, over the mountains of the Magars and Gurung.

In the western parts of the territory belonging to this family, I procured a ma.n.u.script said to have been composed by Rana Bahadur, late Chautariya of Palpa, and one of its descendants. He states, that the first of his ancestors, who came to this country, was Rudra Sen, the son of Chandra Sen, Raja of Chitaur, descended of Ratna Sen, first Chauhan chief of that city; but I think that this account is not tenable, and Samar Bahadur, the brother of Rana Bahadur, gives one totally different, and, in my opinion, more probable. He says, that Ratna Sen, instead of being the first Raja of Chitaur, was the last of these princes; and that Naya Sen, his eldest son, settled at Prayag or Allahabad, which he seized with 20,000 men, and he considers Tutha Sen, Ribeli Sen, Dimirawa Sen, Udayarawa Sen, Udayachanda Sen, Jagadbrahma Sen, Dharma Pala Sen, Aneka Singha Sen, Ramraja Sen, and Chandra Sen, the father of Rudra Sen, not as Rajas of Chitaur, as his brother's ma.n.u.script represents, but as chiefs of the colony from that city, which settled in the vicinity of Nepal.

Tutha Sen, he says, having been driven from Prayag, seized on the country adjacent to the hills of Butaul, and afterwards seized on the princ.i.p.ality of Champaranya, the capital of which was Rajpur. Now, this seems highly probable, for Chitaur was taken in about 1306, and Garsamaran, of which Champaranya was originally a dependency, did not fall until 1322, while an anarchy prevailed throughout the territories of Garsamaran until 1346, that is to say, until these were mostly reunited under the colony from Chitaur, 40 years after the fall of that city. It is, therefore, unlikely, that the chief who left Chitaur should have seen his family established in a new dominion; but, that it should have been his son who accomplished this event, as Samar Bahadur says, is highly probable. Tutha's first acquisition on the hills seems to have been Ris.h.i.+yang, now an inconsiderable place between Butaul and Palpa. His son founded Ribdikot in that vicinity, of which it continued to be the capital, until Palpa was founded by Rudra Sen. It must be observed, that the accounts procured in Puraniya and Gorakhpur differ totally as to names, until the time of Chandra Sen, after which they agree tolerably well, and Rudra was probably the first of the family, as his descendant alleges, who a.s.sumed the t.i.tle of the Palpa Raja. It is agreed by all, that the Makanda Sen, the son of Rudra, possessed very extensive dominions, and might probably have founded a kingdom equal to that which the Gorkhalese now enjoy, but he had the imbecility to divide his estates among his four sons. The accounts concerning these sons differ somewhat.

According to what I heard in Puraniya, Manik, the eldest son, obtained Palpa, Bhringgu received Tanahung, Rajpur the original possession of the family, was given to Arjun, and Makwanpur, with its hardy mountaineers, fell to the lot of Lohangga. But the account given in the ma.n.u.script of Rana Bahadur, which here, I think, deserves most credit, is, that the eldest son was Binayak, who communicated his name to a large territory on the plain west from the Gandaki, which he received as his patrimony; but this territory is now most commonly called Butaul, from its chief town, and in the low country the chiefs are commonly called the Butaul Rajas.