An Account of The Kingdom of Nepal: And of the Territories Annexed to this Dominion by the House of GorkhaHamilton, Francis
History
An Account of The Kingdom of Nepal: And of the Territories Annexed to this Dominion by the House of Gorkha
Hamilton, Francis
Nepal -- Description and travel; Nepal -- History
On the approach of General Amar Singha to Palpa, in July or August 1804,
the widow of Prithwi Pal, with her son Ratna Sen, his uncle Samar
Bahadur, usually called the Lal Dewan, or Nader Shah, and his grand-uncle
Suravir, who held the office of Chautariya, fled to a house which the
family had at Madhuvani in Tilpur. The unfortunate lady died there, and
the Raja was removed to Gorakhpur, where he has ever since remained, but
in such constant apprehension of assassination, that it has been judged
necessary to have his house secured by a guard of regular seapoys. The
Company have allowed him a pension in lieu of the profits which he would
have had from his remaining estates, of which the collector has assumed
the entire disposal; for owing to the encroachments made by Amar Singha,
and the devastation that has followed in what remains, it is altogether
impossible for him to fulfil the engagements into which his father’s
agents entered with Mr Rutlege, the gentleman who had the management of
the country ceded by the Nawab vazir to the Company. This pension was
altogether inadequate to support the number of persons by whom he was
followed; and even his venerable grand-uncle Suravir, son of Makunda Sen,
suffered such mortifications, that he had determined to perish on the
place where his son had suffered death, for this youth had accompanied
his cousin Prithwi Pal. The old man, after taking an affectionate leave
of some of the family adherents in Tilpur, and weeping with them a whole
day, went to Palpa and presented himself to Amar Singha, who was moved
with compassion, and said, though we have killed your son, and overthrown
your family, we will do you no injury, but will provide for you in a
manner very different from your friends the English. There has
accordingly been settled on him an income sufficient to supply his wants.
I am not sure that this has proceeded from generosity; but it has
produced some effect on the minds of the populace. If it was intended to
lull the fears of the family into a fatal security, it has hitherto
completely failed.
The extent and boundaries of Palpa will be better seen from the maps than
explained by description. The country, independent of Butaul, is in
general lower and warmer than the valley of Nepal Proper. The greatest
crop is transplanted rice, next to that broadcast rice, then maize, then
the pulse called urid, almost equal in quantity to the maize, then the
Lathyrus sativus, called dubi kerao, then the Eleusine corocanus, or
maruya, then the Ervum lens, or masuri, then four kinds of sesamum, and
the cruciform oil seeds, like mustard and rape, then three kinds of the
pulse called kurthi, and then a little of the grains called sama and
kodo. Much ginger is reared. The sugar-cane grows very large and juicy,
but is eaten without preparation.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account