Page:The Imperial Durbar Album of the Indian princes, chiefs and zamindars.djvu/13



The early history of Nepal is more or less legendary, and. the Gours, the Kanchi Kings, the Ahir Kings from Gujrath, and lastly the Kirat Kings are said to have ruled over Nepal during prehistoric times. The dawn of history proper for Nepal Was marked by the rule of Anshu Varma and Shiv Dev who were feudatories of Harsha Vardhan of Kanouj. The Thakurs from Naykot came next, but were ultimately replaced by King Nanya Dev. The Nepal era begins with Raghav Dev in the ninth century A.D. Nanya Dev is said to have introduced the Newars, a tribe bf Mongolian origin in the country, whose name is preserved in its present name 'Nepal'. By the eighteenth century A.D. Nepal was divided into three Newar Kingdoms: Bhatgaon, Khatmandu, and Patan. Little is known of the' earlier Bhatgaon Kings except their names and dates. Ratan Mall, the first of the Khatmandu Kings, was a great warrior who subdued the Thakur Chiefs and the Bhutia Kings of Tibet ; and he is said to have first introduced copper coinage in Nepal. In his reign the Mahomedans first attacked Nepal, but never had much success. A later King is said to have visited Delhi, and to have obtained permission to strike silver coin of the standard which is .still used in Nepal. This line of' Kings, however, did not continue much, longer than a century ; and the tract they then ruled became subject to Bhatgaon.

Early in the seventh century A.D. .the Khatmandu territory was divided between two sons of the seventh King of the ruling dynasty, one of whom continued to rule at Khatmandu, while the other ilived at Lalit Patan. , Ranjit Mall, King of Bhatgaon, in a quarrel with the other Kings, applied for assistance, to Prithwi Narayan, the crafty and brave King of the Gurkhas who are believed to have come from Rajputana after the fall of Chitor and settled in the hilly tracts "on the west of the great Valley. Prithwi Narayan availed himself with alacrity of the opportunity to interfere in the" affairs of Nepal, and began to advance; and Ranjit Mall discovered his mistake in inviting a stranger to intervene in his home feuds. Prithwi Narayan ultimately pushed his successes to their logical conclusion and captured Khatmandu. Patan and Bhatgaon: were taken in turn; and in 1769 A. D. the conquest of Nepal by the Gurkhas -was complete. Prithwi Narayan died in 1771 A. D., leaving behind .him two sons,. Pratap Singh and Bahadur Shah Singh. Pratap Singh succeeded to- the throne but died four years after; and quarrels ensued after his death, between his wife land his brother, for supremacy. Bahadur Shah, after an exile into British India, became Minister only on the death of the Rani in 1786 A.D. During his administration the dominions of Nepal we're extended by the annexation of various adjoining territories, until they comprised all the area from Bhutan to Kashmir, and from Tibet to the borders of the British provinces of Agra and Oudh.

The English gained an early opportunity at this time to intervene in the affairs of Nepal when Prithwi Narayan was pushing on his conquests, and they actually appointed Captain Kinloch to go with a small army to succour Ranjit Mall. He was, however, repulsed and the enterprise had to be abandoned. In consequence of the capture of Khatmandu by Prithwi Narayan in 1792 A.D., the Gurkhas came in conflict with the Chinese. The aggressions of the Gurkhas on the territories of the Chinese protectorate could not long be tolerated, and an army of 70,J3Q0 Chinamen was within 25 miles of Khatmandu.