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
It is generally agreed, that the founder of the family of Kumau was Thor
Chandra, a needy, but high born descendant of the family of the Moon,
who, about 350 years ago, left Jhausi or Pratishthan, opposite to
Allahabad, in quest of fortune. He was accompanied by a pure Brahman,
equally necessitous, and named Jaydev, from whom the two Nidhis, my
informants, claim a descent. According to Hariballabh, the two
adventurers agreed that they should repair to the hills, and endeavour to
procure service. If they succeeded, they should by degrees invite some
comrades, and by their assistance, they expected to overpower their
master, and seize his dominions, which were to be equally divided. They
accordingly found service from an impure chief of the Jar or Magar cast,
it is not worth while investigating which, my informant considering both
equally vile. This fellow had a small territory, for which he paid
tribute in peace to the Rajas of Karuvirpur; who, although of pure and
high extraction, scandalously suffered their subjects to wallow in
abomination. Having secured this man’s favour, and invited some pure men
like themselves, the two servants cut off their master, expelled the
monsters his subjects, and settled the country with pure Hindus, building
the town of Champawati, or Kurmachal, as it is called in the language of
the Gods; but the word in the language of men has somehow been corrupted
into Kumau.
The soldier, when not actuated by zeal for purity, was an honourable man;
and, no sooner had he acquired this territory, than he offered the half
of it to the priest; but Jaydev declined the troublesome office of
government, and contented himself with stipulating for the hereditary
office of register (Kanungo) and steward (Zemindar) for all the estates,
which the prowess of the Rajas might acquire. Thor Chandra was succeeded
by his son Kamir C., whose son, Nirbhaga C., having died without
legitimate heirs, the chief officers sent to Jhausi, and procured as a
chief another needy descendant of the Moon. His whole revenues amounted
to about 3000 rupees a-year, and like his predecessors, pure and impure
he paid tribute to the Rajas of Karuvirpur.
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