Title: An Account of the Kingdom of Nepal
Description
* Francis Hamilton Buchanan (1762-1829) was a Scottish-born explorer, naturalist, and physician, employed by the British East India Company in a number of capacities from 1794 to 1815. He conducted surveys of Mysore in 1800 and Bengal in 1807-14. This work, published after his return to Scotland, is based on his 14-month stay in Nepal in 1802-03. Buchanan drew upon his own observations and conversations with hereditary chiefs, Buddhist priests, scribes, and others in an attempt to provide a comprehensive account of the country as he found it before the Anglo-Nepalese War of 1814-16. Buchanan also drew from an earlier work by Colonel William Fitzpatrick, An Account of the Kingdom of Nepaul, published in London in 1811. In addition to maps and engravings, Buchanan’s book includes two noteworthy scientific supplements: a register of the weather from February 1802 to March 1803 and an attempt by Buchanan’s colleague, Colonel Crawford, to calculate the height of several Himalayan peaks.
Creator
* Hamilton, Francis (1762-1829)
Date Created
* 1819
Publication Information
* A. Constable and Company, Edinburgh
Language
* English
Place
* Central and South Asia > Nepal
Time
* 1800 AD - 1849 AD
Topic
* History & geography > History of Asia > South Asia; India
Type of Item
* Books
Physical Description
* vii, [1], 364 pages including illustrations, tables, frontispiece, plates, folded map; 28 centimeters
Institution
* Library of Congress
Online web address if you want to read it.
http://www.gutenberg.org/catalog/world/readfile?pageno=1&fk_files=1321753The Real book as it was printed :
http://www.wdl.org/en/item/2372/pages.html#volume/1/page/1Starting page 11
In giving an account of the tribes now occupying the dominions of Nepal,
I shall first commence with these Hindu colonists, as having acquired the
predominance; but I must premise, that very considerable differences
prevail in their customs in different parts, and especially that those in
the countries east from the Kali differ much from those who live west
from that river. I shall commence with the former, with whom I am best
acquainted.
The language spoken by the mountain Hindus in the vicinity of Kathmandu,
is usually called the Parbatiya basha, or mountain dialect; but west from
the capital, it is more commonly known by the name of Khas basha, or
dialect of the Khas country, because it seems to have been first
introduced into the territory of that name. I have lodged in the
Company’s library a copious vocabulary of this dialect, from whence the
learned may judge how far it is probable that it came from Chitor; for
there can be no doubt, that it is a dialect of the Hindwi language, and
it is making rapid progress in extinguishing the aboriginal dialects of
the mountains.
The character in which this language is written is evidently derived from
the Nagri, and may be found in Colonel Kirkpatrick’s Account of Nepaul,
opposite to page 220; and in the twenty-eight following pages may be seen
a short vocabulary.
East from the Kali, the Brahmans, who are of pure birth, are only few in
number, there being no means for their subsistence, as they confine
themselves mostly to the duties of the sacred order. They are of the
Kanoj nation, and the sect of the Saktis, following chiefly the doctrine
of the books called Tantras. Where the chiefs who pretend to have come
from Chitaur settled, many of them were men of great learning. In other
parts, very few have made any sort of progress in grammar, law, or
philosophy; but they are considered as profound astrologers. Although
very few have taken service either from men or in temples, they
contaminate themselves by uncommon liberties in the gratification of
their appetites. They are divided into three ranks that do not
intermarry. The highest are called Jayurbedi, from the sacred book which
they profess to follow, and they assume the title of Upadhyaya. These
are the instructors (Gurus) and priests (Purohits) for Brahmans and
Rajputs, and eat goats, sheep, and some kinds of wild fowl, but abstain
from venison. The two lower orders are called Kamiya and Purubi, and act
as instructors and priests for the lower orders. These not only eat the
same animals as those of the highest rank, but many of them rear fowls
and swine for their tables.
The sixteen principal festivals observed by the mountain Hindus have been
described by Colonel Kirkpatrick, {17} nor have I any additional
information to offer.
All the Brahmans may keep widows of their own class as concubines, and
the spurious offspring of such connections are called Jausis. These,
having betaken themselves to agriculture and commerce, have become
exceedingly numerous, and are reduced to perform every kind of drudgery.
Among the poor people whom I observed coming to the markets in the
Gorakhpur district, loaded with goods even from the distant hills of
Malebum, at least a half stated themselves to be of this class. These,
although of illegitimate extraction, are not called Khas; but, until the
present dynasty seized on the government, were considered as entitled to
all the immunities and privileges of the sacred order, as were also the
children of Brahmans by widows of their own rank.
The descendants of Brahmans by women of the lower tribes, although
admitted to be Khas, or impure, are called Kshatris or Khatris, which
terms are considered as perfectly synonymous, and have now formed two
tribes, Pauriyal and Sili; but some proper Khatris, called Dewkotas and
Lahauriyas, from Bareli and Lahaur, have settled in the country, and
intermarry with the Pauriyal and Sili, all of whom wear the thread, and
are considered as belonging to the military tribes.
The Rajputs that are, or that even pretend to be, descended of the colony
which came from Chitaur, are very few in number; but the families of the
mountain chiefs, who have adopted the Hindu rules of purity, and even
some who have neglected to do so, are now universally admitted to be
Rajputs; and the Chitaur family have so often married the daughters of
the former, that several members of it have acquired the Tartar
countenance, while some of the mountain families, by intermarriages with
pure but indigent Rajputs, have acquired oval faces and high noses. Not
only the colony, therefore, from Chitaur, if the Palpa family be such,
but all the descendants of the hill chiefs, are now called Rajputs; and,
until the absorption of all power in the Gorkha family, the Rajputs held
all the principal civil and military offices of the petty states into
which the country was subdivided. It would also appear, that, when the
princes of the mountaineers were persuaded to follow the doctrines of the
Brahmans, many of their subjects or clans were induced to follow the
example of their chiefs, and thus have established tribes called Thapas,
Ghartis, Karkis, Majhis, Basnats, Bishtakos, Ranas, and Kharkas, all of
whom are called Khasiyas, or natives of Khas, but they wear the thread,
and live pure like Kshatris, and, in fact, are included among the
fencibles or military power of the country, and are very much employed in
the government of the family of Gorkha, under which some of them enjoy
the highest dignities of the state; for Bhim Sen, who is now vested with
the whole power of the kingdom, is by birth a Thapa, as is also Amar
Singha Karyi, who commands the army beyond the Yamuna. Among those
called Khasiyas, thus adopted into the military order, there may be many
others, of which I did not hear; but it would not appear, even when they
adopted fully the rules of purity, that the whole of these tribes
obtained so elevated a rank, which is almost equal to that of the
sacred bastards. The Thapas, for instance, are of two kinds, Khas and Ranggu;
yet the latter, although they live pure, and have pure Brahmans to give
them instruction, and to perform their ceremonies, are not permitted to
wear the military badge, nor to intermarry with those who enjoy this
privilege. The Ghartis, also, are of two kinds, Khas and Bhujal. The
former are admitted to the military dignity; but the latter wallow in all
the abominations of the impure Gurungs, and do not speak the Khas
language. The Ranas, also, are divided into two kinds, the Khas and
Magar. The latter are a branch of the Magar tribe, and totally neglect
the rules of Hindu purity. It is not even, as I have said, all the
Rajputs that have adopted the rules of purity, and some branches of the
same families were pure, while others rejected the advice of the sacred
order, and eat and drank whatever their appetites craved.
All these military tribes, including the Khasiyas, descended of Brahmans
or Khatris, who are more numerous than all the others, the Rajputs,
Thapas, etc. have again had children by widows of their own cast, and by
concubines of lower tribes, and these children are also called Khasiyas,
who, although they live equally pure, and observe equally the laws of the
Brahmans, are not permitted to wear the thread of distinction; but must
toil in ignoble professions. They are considered as of so little
consequence, that, of whatever descent they may be by the male line, they
may all freely intermarry. They speak the Khas language.
The low tribes, which also speak this language, are all supposed to form
part of the colony from Chitaur; but here there is a considerable number
of a tribe called Khawas, who are slaves, and accompanied the chief as
his domestic servants, having been in slavery at Chitaur. They are
reckoned a pure tribe, and their women are not abandoned to prostitution
like the slaves of the mountain tribes called Ketis. The Khawas adhered
to the chiefs of the Chitaur family, and were employed in confidential
offices, such as stewards; while these chiefs soon indulged in the luxury
of having mountain slaves round their persons. Next in rank, in the
following order, are,
1. Nai, or barbers. A Brahman may drink their water.
2. Karmi, who build and thatch houses, and Chunra, or carpenters. These
have degraded Brahmans as instructors.
3. Kami, miners and workers in iron and copper; Sarki, tanners and
shoemakers; Damai, tailors and musicians. All these are vile, and have
no priests but of their own cast. Any Musulman or Christian, however,
who should cohabit with a Damai woman, would suffer death, and the woman
would be severely punished; but, according to the Hindu law, a female,
however low in rank, cannot for any crime be deprived of life. When any
woman has been discovered with a Musulman, the whole kingdom is thrown
into confusion. Even if she has been of the lowest cast, she may have
given water to some person of the cast immediately above her own. He may
again have given it to a higher, and thus the whole inhabitants may have
been involved in sin and disgrace. This can only be expiated by a
ceremony called Prayaschitta, in which the prince washes in the river
with great ceremony, and bestows large sums on the Brahmans, who read the
expiatory prayers proper on the occasion. The expense of an expiation of
this kind, which was performed during our stay in this country, was, by
my Brahman, estimated at two thousand rupees; but the natives alleged
that it amounted to ten times this sum.
Colonel Kirkpatrick {21a} mentions the Dhewars as husbandmen and fishers
of the western district, from which circumstance we may conclude that
they belong to the Hindu colony; but I did not hear of them, as my
account of the Parbatiya tribes was chiefly derived from the central
parts. From the condition of similar tribes on the plains, these Dhewars
probably belong to the third of the ranks above enumerated, although the
Majhis, (Mhanjhees,) whom Colonel Kirkpatrick joins with the Dhewars,
were represented to me as a tribe of original Khas, which has been
converted by the Hindus, and admitted into the military order.
Colonel Kirkpatrick then states, {21b} “That Nepaul, having been ruled
for many centuries past by Rajput princes, and the various classes of
Hindus appearing in all periods to have composed a great proportion of
its population, we are naturally prepared to find a general resemblance
in manners and customs between this part of its inhabitants, and kindred
sects established in adjacent countries; accordingly, the differences are
so faint as to be scarcely discernible in a single instance.” Now, I
must here observe, that Nepal, in the proper sense of the word, when
Colonel Kirkpatrick wrote, had not been governed for half a century by
chiefs, who even pretended to be descended of a Hindu colony, for the
Rajas of Nepal were Newars, who deny this extraction. They indeed called
themselves Rajputs, that is, the descendants of princes, but so does the
king of Ava, although no one ever imagined that he is descended of the
Rajputs in Hindustan. I shall afterwards have occasion to show, that the
various classes of Hindus, that is, of the natives of India, who have
adopted the Brahmans for spiritual guides, have not in all periods
composed a great proportion of the population, nor have even entered any
part of the country as residents. At present, indeed, in most parts of
the kingdom, except in Nepal itself, they, or converts to their doctrine,
form a large proportion of the inhabitants; and the more recent the
importation, I should expect the greater resemblance between the
colonists and the inhabitants of the plains of India; but, in fact, the
resemblance, though strong, is not so complete as Colonel Kirkpatrick’s
short stay amongst them induced him to suppose, as will appear from what
I shall afterwards state.
These mountain Hindus appear to me a deceitful and treacherous people,
cruel and arrogant towards those in their power, and abjectly mean
towards those from whom they expect favour. Their men of rank, even of
the sacred order, pass their nights in the company of male and female
dancers and musicians, and, by an excessive indulgence in pleasure, are
soon exhausted. Their mornings are passed in sleep, and the day is
occupied by the performance of religious ceremonies, so that little time
remains for business, or for storing their minds with useful knowledge.
Except a few of the Brahmans, they are, in general, drunkards, which,
joined to a temper uncommonly suspicious, and to a consciousness of
having neglected the conjugal duties, works them up to a fury of jealousy
that frequently produces assassination. For this they are all prepared,
by wearing a large knife in their girdle, and the point of honour
requires them never to rest, until they have shed the blood of the man
who has been suspected of a criminal intercourse with their wives. The
jealous man watches his opportunity for months, and even for years,
should his adversary be on his guard; and, having at length found a
favourable time, with one stroke of his knife in the throat of his rival,
he satisfies his revenge. This is considered as so commendable, that, at
Kathmandu, the police, in other respects very strict, does not at all
interfere, although the murderer is often actuated merely by suspicion.
The higher ranks, whenever not compelled by the most urgent necessity,
conceal their women; and their widows ought to burn themselves with their
husbands’ corpse. Many, however, refuse, nor did I learn that force is
ever used. The custom seems, however, more prevalent than in any part of
India where I have been, the vicinity of Calcutta excepted.
The appearance and dress of the lower orders of these Parbatiya Hindus is
represented in the plate opposite to page 40 of Kirkpatrick’s Nepaul,
where the figure, behind those seated, is a porter of this tribe.
In these eastern parts of the dominions of Nepal, the mountain Hindus are
far from having extirpated the aboriginal tribes, most of which, until
the accession of the Gorkha family, enjoyed their customs and religion
with little or no disturbance, and they are still numerous and powerful,
as will be afterwards mentioned; but, west from the Kali river, there is
a great difference. The whole people in Kumau, and Garhawal at least, as
well as their language, are called Khasiyas, as having settled in the
Khas country; but all pretend to be descended of colonists from the
south, and disclaim every connection with the original impure barbarians.
West from Garhawal, the term Khas is altogether rejected, and it is
pretended that this impure race never held the country. Each cast, west
from the Kali, preserves its race with the utmost care; nor are widows of
the high cast permitted to become concubines. Except in a very few
places, near the passes through the snowy mountains, the aboriginal
inhabitants are alleged to have been obliged entirely to conform to the
rules of Hindu purity, and to reject their ancient forms of worship; for
I hope that the colonists from the south are not so bad as they pretend,
and that religious zeal has not had such a victory over humanity as they
allege; for the fear of being thought in any degree contaminated by the
infidel Khas, would make them carefully conceal whatever indulgence
humanity may have wrung from intolerance. To such a height is caution on
this subject required, that the people, who have settled near the passes
in the snowy mountains, although acknowledged as of the same tribes with
those nearer the plain, and although they use the same language and
manners, are called Bhotiyas, and are no longer permitted to intermarry
with the people who can have no intercourse with these impure infidels.
On account of this strictness, the Rajputs of the western districts are
as much courted by those of the plains, as those east from the Kali are
scouted.
Last edited: 15-Jan-10 04:06 PM
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