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
Poin was a very petty chief, who followed in war the impure chief of
Bhirkot, but was himself pure, and called himself a Sirnet, saying that
he came from the mountains south-west from the Yamuna. Poin is situated
on a high hill, where much snow falls, and there is intense cold. At
this capital were only 120 houses, and the whole in the territory
amounted to only 2000; but there were iron and copper mines in the
country, and the Raja, for his share of the revenue, had 4000 rupees a
year.
In the list of the twenty-four Rajas given by Kanak Nidhi, a Tarki Raja
is mentioned; but I heard no account of any such person, nor does any
such place appear in the maps. In place of Tarki I suspect, therefore,
we must introduce the very petty chief of Malihang, usually called the
Sat Bisi, or seven-score Raja, because his revenue amounted to 140 rupees
a year; a poverty which renders St Marino an empire.
There remain two countries, Malebum or Malebamba, and Galkot, which, by
all the authorities that I consulted, were included among the Chaubisiya
or twenty-four Rajas, and, therefore, I shall treat of them here,
although I suspect an inaccuracy. It is said, that there was a certain
impure chief of the Jariya tribe, who had very extensive dominions. The
daughter and heiress of this chief married a Gautamiya Brahman, and by
him had twenty-two sons, each of whom obtained a share of his
grandfather’s dominions, and among these, besides Malebum and Galkot, are
the northern Musikot, Jajarkot, Jahri, Bangphi, Rugun, and Salyana, all
reckoned in a class called the Baisi or twenty-two Rajas. I have not
been able to procure a complete list of these chiefs, some of whose
dominions extend farther north than the knowledge of my informants; but I
think, that the above mentioned circumstance of the twenty-two
descendants of a common origin must have given rise to the
classification, and that Malebum and Galkot in fact belong to the Baisi,
thus making room for Khungri and Bhingri in the Chaubisiyas, among whom
they are placed in the maps. The same conclusion may be drawn from a
circumstance stated of Nag Bamba of Malebum; who is said in his wars to
have led twenty-two chiefs to battle.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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