Medieval History of Nepal

By Bibhu Poudel

INTRODUCTION ●Least comprehended era in Nepal’s History. ●Lichhavi dyansty was ruling Nepal. ●It started with the start of the rule of Raghav Dev on 880 A.D or 937 B.S. ●Raghav Dev, Shankar Dev, Gunakam Dev, Bijay Kam Dev were the last kings of Lichhavi Dynasty.

INTRODUCTION ●Bijay Kam Dev was Childless.So Vaskardev from thakuri Dynasty ruled Nepal. ●Baldev, Padma Dev, Sankhar Dev ruled after Vakardev. ●Bam Dev lead a coup against Shankar Dev. ●Harsha Dev(III),Mahendra Dev, Rudra Dev, Narendra Dev, Amrit Dev ruled Nepal.

INTRODUCTION

●After Amrit Dev , Dev and Malla dyanasty ruled Nepal alternately. ●Malla King.Dev Prince.Dev King.Malla Prince. ●Later Jayasthiti Malla overthrew Arjun Dev to terminate the system.

INTRODUCTION ●Rise of Malla Dynasty inside Kathmandu Valley.

●Khas Rajya , Gandak Pradesh, Sen Rajya divided. ●Nepal divided into 52 small states or principalities.

●Ended in 1744 B.S after Prithvi Narayan Shah started the unification of Nepal.

● Nanyadev started to rule east Terai making simaraungadh the capital in 1154 B.S. ●Fertile land, enough money and strong military power ● Frequently attackd kathmand valley. ● In 1384 B.S, Gayasuddin from Delhi attacked it. Harisingh Dev the 6th king flew away. Died in Dolakha. Queen, son and military general refugee in Bhaktapur.

●Nag Raj from Khati in Tibet Started to rule making Sinja the capital in 1207 B.S. ●Chap, Chapilla, Krasichalla, Krachdhilla, Ashek Malla, Jitari Malla, Ripu Malla, Aditya Malla, Kalyan , Pratap, Punya, Prithvi and Abaya Malla. ● Millitary Power. Rulers were brave fighters.

●Kumaon and Gadwal - West, Tibet-North , Terai-South during the rule of King Krasichalla. ●Gorkha –East. Attacked Kathmandu Valley thrice in 2 years during the rule of Jitari Malla. ●Nuwakot –East.Attacked Kathmandu Frequently during the rule of Aditya Malla. ●Has 226 years of history.Ended with the death of Abaya Malla.

●In 1264 B.S , Arimalla ruled Kathmandu Valley. ●Dev-Mallla-Dev-Malla System came to use after his regime. ●Abaya Malla, Jay Dev, Jaybhim Dev, Ananta Malla, Ananda Malla,Rudra Malla , Ari Malla (II), Raj Dev, Arjun Dev, Jayasthiti Malla, Jyoti Malla and Yaksha Malla ruled after Ari Malla.

●Weak kingdom during Dev-Malla-Dev-Malla rule. ●Khas , Doy kings attacked frequently. King Samasuddin from Delhi attacked , burned temples ,looted treasure from Pashupati Nath and broke the statue.

●Jayasthiti Malla overthrew Arjun Dev and the DMDM sytem was brought to an end.

●Most prominent figure of medieval Nepal.

●1418 B.S , Married Rajalla Devi, Daughter of Arjun Dev. ●Devala Devi, His Mother in Law died in 1423 B.S.He then started to take part in the rule. ●In 1437 B.S overthrew Arjun dev and started Malla rule inside Kathmandu Valley.

●Political- One Dynasty Rule.Stronger Kingdom. ●Social-4 Barna, 36 Castes,64 Subcastes on the basis of their work. ●Economic-Land reform. Inroduced Mana, Pathi, Daharni and Chatak.

●Religious-Built temples , established guthi to run temples. ●Judicial- Laws based on religion and capital punishments.

●The most powerful kingdom, Khas Rajya, broke down to 22 small kingdoms. ●Jumla, Jajarkot,Cham,Acham, Rukum,Musikot,Rolpa, Malnet, Bajhang, Dailekh,Salyan,Bangfi, Jahari, Kalangwa ,Garmekot, Doti, Bishalpur,,Malebom,Galkot,Gutum,Gajur, Dharma.

● Yaksha Malla extended his kingdom to Palpa. After his death, the center or Kathmandu valley lost its control over the Gandaki Pradesh.

●In 16th century B.S , it broke down to 24 different states. ●Palpa, Kaski, Tanahu, Lamjung, Galkot, Parbat, Nuwakot, Pun,Garahun, Rishing, Dhiring, Dhor, Gulmi, Musikot, Isma, Pyuthan,Bhirkot,Dhurkot, Argha, Khachi, Satahu, Salyan, Pathyu, Liglig.

●It was the land between arun, Koshi river and Mechi River. ●It was divided into 10 limbu kingdoms.Morang was the most powerful and had central Government.

● Bijaypur was the capital of morang kingdom of Limbuwan ●It came to an end after Limbuwan-Gorkha Treaty.

●Palpa was the most powerful state in the Gandaki Pradesh.It envaded Kathmandu valley when it was ruled by King Mun Mun Mukunda sen. ● The king of Palpa, Mukunda Sen extended his kingdom to Kirat Pradesh.Later the area was divided by his relatives and made independent states.They were Makwanpur, Bijaypur and Chaudandi.

●Makwanpur-His youngest Son lohang Sen started to rule in the area between Makwanpur and Bijaypur as a free state.

●Bijaypur-In the regime of Makwanpur’s King Subha Sen, his Nephew Indra Sen freed Bijaypur as his partition share and started ruling it as an independent State .

●Chaudandi- Between the power struggle,Jagat Sen, youngest son of Mani Sen re-divided Makwanpur and started to rule Chadandi which was his partition share.

●In 1538 B.S after the death of Yaksha Malla, his sons started to rule the Valley. ●Ratna Malla ruled Kantipur which was a free state and Bhadgaon jointly with his brother. ●Patan , as a partition share was for the daughter of Yaksha Malla.

● In 1538 B.S , Ratna Malla established an indepenent state. ●Bagmati- East, Trishuli-West, Tilak Parbat-North ,Patan-South were the boundaries. ●Amar, Surya, Narendra, Mahindra, Sadashiva, Siva Singh, Harihar Singh,Laxmi Narsingh, Pratap, Chakrabartindra, Nripendra, Bhupalendra, Bhaskar, Mahendra Singh, Jagajjyaa, Jayprakash, Jyotiprakash.

●Ray Malla, the oldest son of Yaksha Malla got Bhadgaon as his partition share.

●Sanga-East, Bagmati-West, Kuti-North, Forest of Medini Malla-South were the boundaries of Bhadgaon.

●Subarna, Pran, Bishow, Tralokya, Jayajyotir, Narendra, Jagatprakash, Bhupatindra, Ranajit.

●It was under Yaksha Malla’s daughter as partition share. ●For a long time it was under Kathmandu’s regime. Later, it was Ruled by Siddinarsingh Malla after rift with his older brother Narsingh,both sons of Harinarsingh, King of Kantipur. ●Bhadgaon-West, Lamidada-East, Bagmati-North, Forest of Medini Malla-South. ●Sri Niwas, Yognarendra, Lokprash, Yogprakash, Bishnu, Rajya Prakash, Bishwojeet, Dalmardan , Tej Narsingh Malla ruled Patan after Siddhinarsing Malla.

● Construction works were carried out.Many temples and stupas were constructed.Pratap Malla built Krishna Mandir, Taleju Bhawani, Ranipokhari,Guheswari Temple and Reconstructed Swoyambhunath. ● Due to the competiton between the three kings of Kantipur, Bhadgaon and Patan, three Durbar Squares were constructed. ●Jayasthiti Malla brought judicial, economic , social political changes. ●Siddhinarsingh Malla introduced coins in Patan.

and

●The early patronage of Buddist kings was given to more strict Hindu devotion. ●Nepal was open for foreigners.So trade between India and Tibet helped Nepal to start trade with both sides. ●Nepal during the Malla Rule witnessed the maximum number of changes so it can be said as the golden period of Medieval Nepal

●Hinduism

and

Buddism

were

continiously

expanding.

●Myth of Kings should not visit Budhanilkantha was started during the reign of Pratap Malla. ●Different new festivals and Jatras like Indra, Macchindra, Bhote were started.

● Nepal Parichaya,siddhiswor Man Shrestha, Shyam Krishna Joshi, Akshalok Prakash ● History of Ancient and Medieval Nepal in a Nutshell with some comparative traces with foreign History, D.B Shrestha and C.B Singh. ● Greater Nepal Documentary by Manoj Pandit on ww.youtube.com ● www.wikipedia.org ● www.nepaltourism.net ● www.countrystudies.us ● www.mid-np.org ● www.kingdomofnepal.com ● www.3.bp.blogspot.com ● www.t2.gstatic.com ● www.ncthakur.itgo.com