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
Of these the 1st, so far as I could learn, belonged to neither the
twenty-four nor the twenty-two Rajas, but to the common chief of both
classes, and the 9th, according to the information which I received,
belonged to the class containing twenty-four chiefs. The 10th number
confirms my conjecture concerning Dalu Dailek being one of the twenty-two
chiefs. No. 3, 4, 7, 14, 15, and 16, are probably six of the seven
chiefs, which in my list were included under the common name Satatala.
Or if Satatala be considered as the proper name of one territory, the
above-mentioned places would serve to complete the list. I have heard
nothing myself concerning these places, and can find almost nothing in
Colonel Kirkpatrick’s work. From a route, however, which he gives, {280}
it would appear that Chhamkote, probably the capital of Cham, is about
thirty one miles road distance west from the Karnali river, (Kurnali
Kola,) and that Acham is thirty-two miles farther west. Both territories
are west from Yumila, and in the route are said to have belonged to its
chief. Acham he reckons seventy-two B. miles in a straight line from
Duti, (Dhotee,) and about twenty-four from Yumila, four miles road
distance, on long routes, giving only one in a direct line.
The country between the Beni and Dalu Basandra, by Sadhu Ram, was called
Bilaspur, while by the two Nidhis it was called Dalu Dailek, a name which
should be preferred, as farther west there is another Bilaspur. The
chief town is at Mathagari, where the government of Nepal, since the
conquest, has built a fort. It is probable that Mathagari is the name of
this fort, and that the former town was called Bilaspur, but I did not
hear this mentioned. This capital contains about one hundred and fifty
thatched huts. The chief’s house is built of stone, and partly thatched,
partly covered with tiles. The chief was called a Khas, but he rejected
the rules of Hindu purity, and was probably one of the real ancient
Khasiyas. When attacked by the forces of Bahadur Saha, he retired to
some strongholds and began to plunder, on which all persons of his family
that could be caught were put to death. This so terrified the chief that
he fled; but to what place my informants do not know. There are in the
country many Khasiyas, who, I presume, live impure like their former
master. There were scarcely any pure Brahmans (Upadhyayas) in the
country; but about one-eighth of the people were considered pure, and
were called Jausis and Rajputs. The most remarkable thing, by far, in
this petty territory is the place of worship called Dalu Basandra. There
are three springs (Kunds) supposed to issue from the head, navel, and
feet of Vishnu, (Sirasthan, Nabhisthan, and Padukasthan.) The central
one is about 1½ cose from each of the extreme springs. At each place,
according to Sadhu Ram, who once performed the pilgrimage, there is a
small natural pool without any building. The water springs from the sand
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