Page:History of Indian and Eastern Architecture Vol 1.djvu/317

 CHAP. II. NEPAL 273 CHAPTER II. NEPAL AND TIBET. CONTENTS. Stupas or Chaityas Wooden Temples Tibet Temples in Kangra. ANY one looking at the map, and the map only, would probably be inclined to fancy that, from their similarity of situation and surroundings, the arts and archaeology of Nepal must resemble those of Kashmir. It would not, however, be easy to make a greater mistake, for there are no two provinces of India which are more diametrically opposed to one another in these respects than these two Himalayan states. Partly this is due to local peculiarities. The valley of Nepal proper in which the three old capitals, Patan, Bhatgaon, and Kathmandu, are situated is only about 15 miles north and south, by 20 east and west. It is true, the bulk of the population of the Gurkha state live in the valleys that surround this central point ; but they are sparse and isolated communities, having very little communica- tion with each other. Kashmir, on the other hand, is one of the most beautiful and fertile valleys in the world, measur- ing more than 100 miles in one direction and more than 70 in another, without any ridges or interruptions of importance, and capable of maintaining a large population on one vast, unbroken fertile plain. Another point of difference is, that Kashmir never was a thoroughfare. The population who now possess it entered it from the south, and have retained possession of it in all historical times, at least in sufficient numbers to keep back any immigration from the north. In Nepal, on the contrary, the bulk of the population are of Tibetan, or Mongol origin from the north, left there apparently in their passage southward ; and, so far as we can gather from such histories as exist, the southern races who are found there entered the valley in the beginning of the I4th century, and never in such numbers as VOL. I. S