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
A short vocabulary of this language has been given by Colonel
Kirkpatrick, {50b} and may perhaps suffice to decide the language to
which it has the greatest affinity. The character in which it is written
is evidently derived from the Nagri of India, and will be found opposite
to page 220 in Colonel Kirkpatrick’s Account of Nepaul.
In treating of the Newars, Colonel Kirkpatrick observes, {51} “That this
people differ essentially, so as to prove abundantly that they are an
insulated race of men, whose origin is not to be traced to any of the
nations immediately surrounding them.” Now, if they came from Samaran,
as he supposes, they must have been Hindus; and, if they are descendants
of Thibetians, intermixed with Hindus, as I suppose, still their origin
is to be derived from the nations immediately contiguous. He goes on to
observe, “That the Newars are of a middle size, with broad shoulders and
chest, very stout limbs, round and rather flat faces, small eyes, low and
somewhat spreading noses; yet he cannot agree with those who affirm, that
there is in the general physiognomy of these people any striking
resemblance to the Chinese features.” For my part, I do not well know in
what other terms the Chinese features could be better defined, than in
the description of the Newars thus given by Colonel Kirkpatrick; and, for
a confirmation of a considerable resemblance between the two people, I
may refer to the figures given by this author opposite to pages 185 and
187, which, although called merely natives of Nepal, represent in fact
Newars. In reality, if the morals of the Newar women had been more
strict, I believe that the resemblance between the Chinese or Thibetians
and Newars would have been complete; but since the conquest, the approach
to Hindu countenance is rapidly on the increase, women in most cases
giving a decided preference to rank, especially if connected with arms or
religion. Until the conquest, there was probably little intermixture,
except in the descendants of the governing family, which probably was of
a mixed breed between a Thibetian lady and a raja of Banaras, as will be
afterwards mentioned; and this family had, I believe, multiplied
exceedingly, and composed a numerous and warlike gentry, which, of
course, contributed largely to the propagation of the nation.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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