Page:Statesman's Year-Book 1913.djvu/1184

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NEPAL.

An independent Kingdom in the Himalayas, between 26° 25' and 30° 17' N. lat., and between 80° 6' and 88° 14' of E. long. ; its greatest length 500 miles ; its greatest breadth abont 150 ; bounded on the north by Tibet, on the east by Sikkim, on the south and west by British India.

The sovereign is His Highness Maharajadhiraja Tribhubana Bir Bikram ''Jang Bahadur Shah Bahadur Shamsher Jang, who was born on June 30, 1906, and succeeded his father on December 11, 1911. The government of Nepal is a military oligarchy. All power is in the hands of the Prime Minister, to whom it was permanently delegated by the Maharajadhiraja Surendra Bikiam Shah under pressure of the Bharadars or nobles of the State in 1867. The present Prime Minister is Maharaja Sir Chandra Shamsher Jang, Bahadur Rana, G.C.B., G.C.S.I., G.C.V.O., D.C.L., who was appointed on June 26, 1901. He holds the rank of Major General in the British army.

The Gurkhas, a Rajput race originally from Udaipur in Rajputana, who had settled in the province of Gurkha in Nepal, overran the whole country during the latter half of the eighteenth century, and have maintained their supremacy ever since. About 1790 a Gurkha army invaded Tibet ; and to avenge this affront the Chinese Emperor, Kuen Lung, in 1791, sent an army into Nepal, which compelled the Gurkhas to submit to the terms of peace, by which the Nepal Durbar agreed to restore the booty taken from the Tibetans, and to send a deputation to Peking with a petition and presents for the Emperor of China once in five years. A commercial treaty between India and Nepal was signed in 1792, and a l^ritish Resident was sent to reside at Katmandu, but was recalled two years later. A frontier outrage, in 1814, compelled the Indian Government to declare war : and a British force advanced to within three marches of the capital. Peace was concluded and the Treaty of Segowlie signed on December 2, 1815. Since then the relations of the British with Nepal have been friendly. In 1854 ho.stilities broke out between the Nepalese and Tibetans, and in 1856 a Treaty was concluded between the Nepalese and Tibetan Governments by which the Tibetans bound themselves {a) to pay an annual tribute of Rs. 10,000 to Nepal, {b) to encourage trade between the two countries, and (c) to receive a Representative of Nepal at Lhasa.

In accordance with the treaty of Segowlie, a British Resident, with a small escort of Indian sepoys, lives at the capital ; but he does not interfere in the internal affairs of the State.

Area about 54,000 square miles ; population estimated at about 5,000,000. The estimated gross revenue is 15,000,000 Rupees. The races of Nepal, besides the dominant Gurkhas, include earlier inhabitants of Tartar origin, such as Magars, Gurangs, Newars, and Bhutias.

Capital, Katmandu ; population about 50,000.

Hinduism of an early type is the religion of the Gurkhas, and is gradually but steadily overlaying the Buddhism of the primitive inhabitants. The people are in general prosperous. Charitable hospitals have been built at Katmandu, Bhatgaon, Birganj, Palpa and Bhimphedi, and a dispensary at Doti.

There is a standing regular army of about 30,000, organised in battalions and armed with Martini-Henry rifles. An irregular force, nearly as numerous, is armed with old Snider and Enfield rifles. The artillery force has about 250 guns, two batteries being light field pieces, fairly moflern, but the rest old