An Account of The Kingdom of Nepal Part 2

Nearly of the same rank are the persons, by the Newars called Dhui, but whom the Parbatiyas call Putaul. They are the persons who carry the palanquins of the Raja, and of his family. None but Bakali Bangras will condescend to act as instructors (Gurus) for a cast so low as this is.

All the casts yet enumerated are considered as pure, and Hindus of any rank may drink the water which they have drawn from a well; but the following casts are impure, and a person of any considerable dignity will be defiled by their touch.

The Salim are oil-makers, and weavers of garlands, at which art the Newars are very dexterous, and there is a great demand for their work, as both s.e.xes, of all ranks in Nepal, ornament their hair with flowers.

The Kasulia are musicians, and have a vast variety of ear-rending instruments. The Hindu music, especially that of the martial kind, is said by the natives to be in great perfection in Nepal; and in this holy land are still to be found all the kinds that were to be found in the army of Rama.

Still lower than these are the Kasai, who are butchers, and palanquin bearers for the vulgar. The Chhipi, or dyers, are nearly of the same rank.

Lower again are the two following casts.

Kow, or ironsmiths.

Gotoo, or coppersmiths.

Then follow two military tribes.

Kosar, who are said originally to have been robbers.

Tepai, who can marry, or keep as concubines any Hindu women that have lost cast by eating unclean things.

Then follow three exceedingly low casts.

Puria, fishermen and basketmakers.

Bala, who remove offals and nastiness.

Chamkal, who are dressers of leather and shoemakers.

These casts can scarcely venture to draw near any other Hindu, but would consider themselves as much degraded, by eating, drinking, or cohabiting with a Musulman or Christian; and any of their women who should venture to commit an act of such uncleanness, would be severely punished, as would also be the infidel by whom she had been corrupted. This, however, does not prevent Hindu women of all ranks and casts from being sold as slaves to either Musulmans or Christians. A master or a parent has the power of selling his slave or child, whose consent is not asked, who thereby loses cast, and who has no alternative, but to adopt the religion of her new master. Such incongruities may astonish a person unacquainted with Hindus; and what may add to his surprise is, that, while at Kathmandu, several Hindus, of high cast, among our followers, chose to embrace the Musulman faith, and thereby subjected themselves to severe restrictions and disgrace.

Musulmans have become pretty numerous, and are increasing, as they are zealous in purchasing girls, and in propagating their sect. Christianity has not been equally successful; and, on our arrival, we found the church reduced to an Italian Padre, and a native Portuguese, who had been inveigled from Patna by large promises, which were not made good, and who would have been happy to have been permitted to leave the country.

These are the various casts of Newars. I shall now give an account of the customs that are common to the whole nation.

All the Newars burn the dead; all eat buffaloes, sheep, goats, fowls, and ducks; and all drink spirituous liquors, to the use of which, indeed, they are excessively addicted. The highest of the Sivamargas kill animals with their own hands; but the higher orders of the Buddhmargs abstain from shedding blood, and from eating pork. They all live in towns or villages, and their houses are built of brick with clay mortar, and covered with tiles. These houses are three stories high, the ground floor being appropriated for the cattle and poultry, the second floor for servants, and the third for the family of the owner. This is in the houses of the wealthy. Among the poor, a number of families live under one roof. The rooms are exceeding low, as I could not stand upright in the princ.i.p.al apartment of what was reckoned the best house in Kathmandu, the palace excepted. At first sight, however, the houses look well, especially to a person coming from the towns of Hindustan. In Nepal, they have numerous large windows, which are shut by wooden lattices curiously carved, and which, in some measure, hang over the street, the upper end of the lattice projecting much more than the lower. Within, the houses are exceedingly mean and dirty, and swarm with vermin, which, added to all manner of filth, including the offals of the shambles, and the blood of sacrifices, that is allowed to corrupt in the streets, renders an abode in any of their towns utterly disgusting.

The following account of the Nepalese, or rather Newar, architecture, I have taken from papers communicated by Colonel Crawford.

The Nepalese possess a great advantage in having an excellent clay for making bricks and tiles; and their workmen are very expert. They use moulds nearly of the size and shape of our common bricks, and have also others for the bricks that are used in cornices and other ornaments. For the fronts and ornamental parts of their best houses, they make smooth glazed bricks, that are very handsome. Their bricklayers and masons are also good workmen, but labour under a great disadvantage, the want of lime. The tiles are flat, of an oblong form, and have two longitudinal grooves, one above and another below, which fit into the adjacent tiles, and the whole are put on with great neatness.

The houses of towns are in general three stories high, though some in the cities and large towns rise to four. The lower story has no windows, and the smoke of their kitchens comes out by the door, which renders the outside, even of their houses, very black and dirty. The windows of the second story are always small and nearly square. In each, a wooden trellis, which is highly ornamented by carving, but which cannot be opened and shut, admits the air and light, but prevents strangers from seeing into the apartment. The third or upper story has large windows, extending a great part of the length of each sitting apartment. Most of these windows have in front a wooden balcony composed of lattice work, in general much carved. This slopes outwards from a bench that is a little elevated from the floor, and joins the edge of the roof, which projects considerably beyond the wall. The bench is the favourite seat of the people, who, from thence, command a view of the street. The rooms are always narrow, the difficulty of carrying large timber from the mountains, per-venting them from procuring beams of sufficient dimensions. The beams, which can be usually procured, are fir of about six inches square. These are placed at about a foot distant from each other, and their ends project beyond the walls, so that from the street you can tell the number of beams in each house. The larger houses are square, with an open court in the centre.

In the villages, the houses are built of unburnt bricks, and often also consist of three stories disposed of in the same manner as in towns; but the windows of the upper story are not provided with balconies. Those of two stories are also very common, and one of them is represented by Colonel Kirkpatrick in the plate opposite to page 160.

The temples are of two kinds. One, constructed of solid brick, and peculiar to the worshippers of Buddha, resembles the temples of the same sect in Ava. The other is common to the Bouddhists and followers of the Vedas, and has a strong resemblance to the temples of the Chinese. The temples of this kind are destined to contain idols, and are squares consisting of from two to five stories, each of which is of smaller dimensions than the one below, and the last ends in a point. Each story has a sloping roof, and in some fine temples, these roofs are covered with gilded copper. The lower [Picture: Temple bell] story is surrounded by a rude wooden colonnade. From the corners, and sometimes all round the edges of these roofs, are suspended small bells with slender clappers, which are considerably longer than the bells, and end in a thin plate shaped like the ace of hearts, so that a strong wind occasions all the bells to ring. The roofs are supported by posts, which [Picture: Temple] project from the middle of the upright wall to the edge of the slope, and are carved with all the distorted figures of Hindu mythology.

In the larger temples, these posts on the second story are covered with planks, and on these are fastened all the various offerings that have been made to the Deity, and which form a strange and ridiculous a.s.semblage of swords and shields, pots, pans, spinning-wheels, mugs, jars, buffaloes' horns, looking-gla.s.ses, knives, bracelets, etc. etc.

The view given by Colonel Kirkpatrick {41a} of Kathmandu affords a good idea of the place, and shows the strong resemblance of its temples to those of Thibet and China. I cannot but therefore wonder, when he says, {41b} "These edifices appeared to differ nothing in their figure or construction from the wooden Mundups, occasionally met with in other parts of India." I have never in India seen any such, either in structure or in materials, every considerable temple there being either of brick or stone.

The Newar women are never confined. At eight years of age, they are carried to a temple, and married, with the ceremonies usual among Hindus, to a fruit called Bel, (aegle Marmelos, Roxb.) When a girl arrives at the age of p.u.b.erty, her parents, with her consent, betroth her to some man of the same cast, and give her a dower, which becomes the property of the husband, or rather paramour. After this, the nuptials are celebrated with feasting, and some religious ceremonies. Among the higher casts, it is required that girls should be chaste till they have been thus betrothed; but in the lower casts, a girl, without scandal, may previously indulge any Hindu with her favours; and this licentiousness is considered a thing of no consequence. Whenever a woman pleases, she may leave her husband; and if, during her absence, she cohabit only with men of her own cast, or of a higher one, she may at any time return to her husband's house, and resume the command of his family. The only ceremony or intimation that is necessary, before she goes away, is her placing two betel-nuts on her bed. So long as a woman chooses to live with her husband, he cannot take another wife, until she becomes past child-bearing; but a man may take a second wife, when his first chooses to leave him, or when she grows old; and at all times he may keep as many concubines as he pleases. A widow cannot marry again; but she is not expected to burn herself; and may cohabit with any Hindu as a concubine.

The children, by the betrothed wife, have a preference in succession to those by concubines; the latter, however, are ent.i.tled to some share. A man can be betrothed to no woman except one of his own cast; but he may keep a concubine of any cast, whose water he can drink. If the woman's cast be lower than his, the children are called Khas, and are considered as belonging to the cast of the mother, but are somewhat elevated on account of their father's birth.

A custom of the Newars, which was observed on the 11th of August by Colonel Crawford, deserves to be mentioned on account of its oddity.

Each man on that day purchases a small quant.i.ty of boiled rice, mashed into a soft substance, and carries it to the field which he has cultivated. He then searches the field for frogs, and to every one that he can discover he gives a small portion of the boiled rice, at the same time uttering a prayer, and requesting the frog to watch over and protect his crop.

The Newars are a peaceable people, and not so much addicted to a.s.sa.s.sination as the Parbatiyas; but possess all the other vices of that barbarous race.

Colonel Kirkpatrick {43} doubts, whether the Newars have at any period been a warlike nation; but the long resistance which they made against Prithwi Narayan appears to me to indicate abundant courage, while his success seems to have been more owing to his cunning, and to his taking advantage of their internal dissensions, than to a superiority in the art of war.

One vile custom of the Newars of Kathmandu has been described by Colonel Crawford, from whose papers I have taken the following account. About the end of May, and beginning of June, for fifteen days, a skirmish takes place between the young men and boys, of the north and south ends of the city. During the first fourteen days it is chiefly confined to the boys or lads; but on the evening of the fifteenth day it becomes more serious.

The opposing parties are drawn up in the broad, level, sandy bed of the river, which runs between the city and Swayambhunath. In the rear of each is a rising ground, which prevents either party from being hard pushed; for, the only weapons used being stones, the ascent gives such an advantage, that the pursuit of the victorious party is usually checked on their reaching the hill of their adversaries. The fight begins about an hour before sunset, and continues until darkness separate the combatants.

In the one which we saw, four people were carried off much wounded, and almost every other year one or two men are killed: yet the combat is not instigated by hatred, nor do the accidents that happen occasion any rancour. Formerly, however, a most cruel practice existed. If any unfortunate fellow was taken prisoner, he was immediately dragged to the top of a particular eminence in the rear of his conquerors, who put him to death with buffalo bones. In remembrance of this custom, the bones are still brought to the field, but the barbarous use of them has for many years been abolished. The prisoners are now kept until the end of the combat, are carried home in triumph by the victors, and confined until morning, when they are liberated.

The origin of this custom is attributed to two causes. Some allege, that at one time Kathmandu was subject to two Rajas, and that the skirmishings first arose among their respective followers, and have ever since been continued. Others, with more probability, think that the combat is meant to commemorate a battle between a son of Maha Deva, and a Rakshas, or evil spirit. Colonel Crawford justly gives a preference to this opinion, for, if one of the parties obtain the victory, every thing favourable, seasonable rains, plentiful crops, and fine weather, is augured for the remainder of the year; the reverse is expected should the opposite party gain an advantage.

The territory anciently called Mithila, comprehending much of the northern parts of the district of Puraniya, and all those of Tirahut, belonged for many ages to a dynasty of princes called Janaka, who resided at Janakipur in the low country subject to Gorkha. Long afterwards, in that part of the country there had arisen a dynasty, the seat of whose government was at Gar Samaran, through the extensive ruins of which, the present boundary between the Company and the Gorkhalese pa.s.ses. In the year 1802, when in this vicinity, I heard an imperfect account concerning this dynasty, and have mentioned them in the observations on Nepal, which I then composed. Anxious to procure more accurate information, in 1810 I sent an intelligent Brahman to inquire after traditions, who discovered a person residing at Chotoni, whose ancestors had been registers of Tirahut, and who gave him the following account. In the year of the Bengal era 496, (A.D. 1089,) Nanyop Dev, of the Kshatria tribe, acquired the sovereignty of Tirahut, and was the founder of a dynasty, the princes of which succeeded from father to son in the following order.

Nanyopdev' governed 36 years.

Ganggadev' 14 Narasingha dev' 52 Ramsingha dev' 92 Sakrasingha dev' 12 Harisingha dev' 20 --- 226

This person had great power, and is universally acknowledged to have settled the customs which are now observed by the Brahmans of Mithila.

After his death there was an interegnum of thirty-four years. The greatest difficulty in this accession arises from the two enormous reigns of fifty-two and ninety-two years held in succession by father and son.

It is just possible that a grandfather and grandson might reign such a number of years, and the minute distinction of grandson and son may naturally enough have escaped the notice of Hindu genealogist; but there is reason to suspect, that the accession of Nanyop dev is antedated, for the same authority states, that he took possession of Tirahut on the death of Lakshman Sen king of Bengal, who, it is well known, had conquered it in the 1104th year of our era, or twenty-five years after the accession given to Nanyop, and probably governed it for a good many years. On the death of that warlike prince, it is very likely that Nanyop may have wrested Tirahut, or the western parts of Mithila, from his successor, and may have been the Raja of Oriswa, against whom Lakshmam II. erected the works of Majurni Khata, for the learned D'Anville places Oriswa in these parts. When the length of these reigns is thus curtailed, the story may be sufficiently exact.

The account of this dynasty given by Colonel Kirkpatrick {46} differs considerably from that which I have above stated. He makes Hari Singha (Hurr Sinha) the last king of Gar Samaran, and states, that he was driven from this to Nepal in 1323 by the Patan king Secunder Lodi; but, at that time, according to Dow's translation of Ferishta, Yeas ul deen Tuglick Shaw was the Muhammedan king of India; and the people of Mithila a.s.sert, that Hari Singha, their prince, died in quiet possession of his birthright. The predecessors of Hari Singha at Gar Samaran, according to Colonel Kirkpatrick, were,

Nan Dev, (Nanyop Dev',) who began to reign in the year Sambat 901, (A.D.

843.)

Kamuk Dev, (Gangga Dev'.)

Nersingh Dev, (Narasingha Dev'.)

Ramsing Dev, (Ram'Singha Dev'.)

Bhad Sing Dev.

Kurm Sing Dev.

Nan Dev, the founder of this dynasty, according to Colonel Kirkpatrick, was descended of Bamdeb of the Surijbunsi, (Suryabangsi,) princes of Oude, (Ayodhya;) but in the Pauranic lists of these princes I can find nothing like Bamdeb, unless it be Bhanu or Bhanuman, mentioned both in the Sri Bhagawata and Bangsa Lots, among the later descendants of Ramachandra. The objections to this chronology are still stronger than to that which I received, in so much as it makes it commence still earlier.

There is, therefore, great room to doubt, whether in reality Nanyopdev was a Kshatriya. The Brahmans of Mithila, indeed, are totally unwilling to admit, that a person of any lower rank could have authority to settle their customs; but in Bengal a person of the medical tribe obtained this power; and the chiefs of the low tribe called Bhawar trace their origin to a Nanyopdev who brought the stud of the king of Dilli to pasture in the plains of Mithila, then entirely waste. Certain it is, that the Bhawars, about that time, extended their dominion over the Gorakhpur district as well as Tirahut, and that many petty chiefs of that tribe continued to occupy the parts adjacent to the hills until long after; and many of them continue to this day to be objects of worship among the low tribes. These may have been the descendants of collateral branches of the Raja's family, or of the chief officers of their government; and it must be remarked, that many of them a.s.sumed the t.i.tle of Dev, as all the princes descended of Nanyop had done.

After the death of Hari Singha it is in Mithila generally admitted, that a Sivai Singha succeeded; and, although the Bhavans probably then formed the chief population of Gar Samaran and Tirahut, it is probable, as is a.s.serted, that Sivai Singh vas a military Brahman of the tribe called Aniwar. It is alleged by the people of Tirahut, that Sivai having had a dispute with a brother, this unnatural relation fled to Dilli, and, having procured an army from the Musulman king, he advanced towards Gar Samaran with an intention of dethroning his brother. Before he had reached the Gandaki, Sivai Singha, having heard of the approach of an army of men that eat beef, was seized with a panic, and after having reigned twenty-two years, resigned his kingdom to Kangkali, the tutelar deity of his capital city. He then dedicated his life to G.o.d, and, having a.s.sumed the character of a religious mendicant, he pa.s.sed his days in wandering about the places which are esteemed holy.