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
The country between the Satadru or Sutluj and Kasmira in ancient times
belonged to Susarma, a chief of the family of the Moon, who was a
principal ally (Paksha) of Durjadhan, competitor for the kingdom of
India, at the commencement of this iron age. In the terrible battle,
which settled the succession in the family of his adversaries, Susarma
escaped, and his descendants long governed his country. The genealogy of
this family is said to be contained in the Mahabharat, but is not to be
found in the Sri Bhagwat, or other books from which I have had the Indian
genealogies extracted. The Raja of Kangra pretends to be descended of
this family, which, he alleges, has enjoyed uninterrupted possession of
at least a part of its original estate, until the present day. The late
Rajas, however, have been called Katauch Rajputs, for what reason I do
not know; and the present chief is said to be desirous of being called a
Chandel, for this tribe is generally admitted to be descended of the
family of the Moon. Many others, however, allege, that the Katauch tribe
sprang from the sweat of the goddess, spouse to Siva, when she was cut to
pieces; and, when these were scattered by her husband and Vishnu, her
thorax fell at Kangra, which has ever since been considered as holy; and
once, probably, this descent was considered more honourable than that
from the family of the Moon. No one, in fact, knows the real origin of
the family, which, however, is generally admitted to be old, and to have
consisted of fifty or sixty chiefs, of whom the first is usually said to
have been a Bhup Chandra. Hariballabh does not remember any of his
successors, until the time of Abhay Chandra. He had three sons, the
eldest named Nirbhag C., and the youngest Gharnan Singha. The former had
no son, and, when he died, his youngest brother was in the service of
Pradipa of Garhawal, who was then at war with Siva Dev’, the general of
Kumau. This crafty Brahman gave the needy chief 700 Ashrufies of gold,
and induced him to withdraw his men, and return to his own country. On
his arrival he found his brother just dead, and nine or ten of his
kinsmen squabbling about the succession. He therefore took off their
heads, and ascended the throne, (Gadi.) He subdued several Rajas, such
as Kottahar and Ghowasin, became a terror to all the petty chiefs in the
vicinity, and removed the seat of government from Jaya Singhapur to
Sujanpur, which he founded; for the fortress and town of Kangra had been
long in the hands of the Muhammedans. He was succeeded by his son
Tikayit Chandra, who, in his fourteenth year of age, had a son named
Sangsar Chandra, the present chief. When eighteen years of age, Tikayit
C. was caught by Khan Bahadur, who was Subahdar of Lahaur under Muhammed
Shah. He was confined for some years, and then restored to liberty, but
died at the age of twenty-five years, leaving the country to his young
son. This youth became the most violent and formidable chief of his
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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