Colonel Kirkpatrick [43] doubts, whether the Newars have at any period been a warlike nation; but the long resistance which they made against Prithwi Narayan appears to me to indicate abundant courage, while his success seems to have been more owing to his cunning, and to his taking advantage of their internal dissensions, than to a superiority in the art of war.
One vile custom of the Newars of Kathmandu has been described by Colonel Crawford, from whose papers I have taken the following account. About the end of May, and beginning of June, for fifteen days, a skirmish takes place between the young men and boys, of the north and south ends of the city. During the first fourteen days it is chiefly
confined to the boys or lads; but on the evening of the fifteenth day it becomes more serious. The opposing parties are drawn up in the broad, level, sandy bed of the river, which runs between the city and Swayambhunath. In the rear of each is a rising ground, which prevents either party from being hard pushed; for, the only weapons used being stones, the ascent gives such an advantage, that the pursuit of the victorious party is usually checked on their reaching the hill of their adversaries. The fight begins about an hour before sunset, and continues until darkness separate the combatants. In the one which we saw, four people were carried off much wounded, and almost every other year one or two men are killed: yet the combat is not instigated by hatred, nor do the accidents that happen occasion any rancour. Formerly, however, a most cruel practice existed. If any unfortunate fellow was taken prisoner, he was immediately dragged to the top of a particular eminence in the rear of his conquerors, who put him to death with buffalo bones. In remembrance of this custom, the bones are still brought to the field, but the barbarous use of them has for many years been abolished. The prisoners are now kept until the end of the combat, are carried home in triumph by the victors, and confined until morning, when they are liberated.
The origin of this custom is attributed to two causes. Some allege, that at one time Kathmandu was subject to two Rajas, and that the skirmishings first arose among their respective followers, and have ever since been continued. Others, with more probability, think that the combat is meant to commemorate a battle between a son of Maha Deva, and a Rakshas, or evil spirit. Colonel Crawford justly gives a preference to this opinion, for, if one of the parties obtain the victory, every thing favourable, seasonable rains, plentiful crops, and
fine weather, is augured for the remainder of the year; the reverse is expected should the opposite party gain an advantage.
The territory anciently called Mithila, comprehending much of the northern parts of the district of Puraniya, and all those of Tirahut, belonged for many ages to a dynasty of princes called Janaka, who resided at Janakipur in the low country subject to Gorkha. Long afterwards, in that part of the country there had arisen a dynasty, the seat of whose government was at Gar Samaran, through the extensive ruins of which, the present boundary between the Company and the Gorkhalese passes. In the year 1802, when in this vicinity, I heard an imperfect account concerning this dynasty, and have mentioned them in the observations on Nepal, which I then composed. Anxious to procure more accurate information, in 1810 I sent an intelligent Brahman to inquire after traditions, who discovered a person residing at Chotoni, whose ancestors had been registers of Tirahut, and who gave him the following account. In the year of the Bengal era 496, (A.D. 1089,) Nanyop Dev, of the Kshatria tribe, acquired the sovereignty of Tirahut, and was the founder of a dynasty, the princes of which succeeded from father to son in the following order.
| Nanyopdev’ governed | 36 years. |
| Ganggadev’ | 14 |
| Narasingha dev’ | 52 |
| Ramsingha dev’ | 92 |
| Sakrasingha dev’ | 12 |
| Harisingha dev’ | 20 |
| --- | |
| 226 |
This person had great power, and is universally acknowledged to have settled the customs which are now observed by the Brahmans of Mithila. After his death there was an interegnum of thirty-four years. The greatest difficulty in this accession arises from the two enormous reigns of fifty-two and ninety-two years held in succession by father and son. It is just possible that a grandfather and grandson might reign such a number of years, and the minute distinction of grandson and son may naturally enough have escaped the notice of Hindu genealogist; but there is reason to suspect, that the accession of Nanyop dev is antedated, for the same authority states, that he took possession of Tirahut on the death of Lakshman Sen king of Bengal, who, it is well known, had conquered it in the 1104th year of our era, or twenty-five years after the accession given to Nanyop, and probably governed it for a good many years. On the death of that warlike prince, it is very likely that Nanyop may have wrested Tirahut, or the western parts of Mithila, from his successor, and may have been the Raja of Oriswa, against whom Lakshmam II. erected the works of Majurni Khata, for the learned D’Anville places Oriswa in these parts. When the length of these reigns is thus curtailed, the story may be sufficiently exact.
The account of this dynasty given by Colonel Kirkpatrick [46] differs considerably from that which I have above stated. He makes Hari Singha (Hurr Sinha) the last king of Gar Samaran, and states, that he was driven from this to Nepal in 1323 by the Patan king Secunder Lodi; but, at that time, according to Dow’s translation of Ferishta, Yeas ul deen Tuglick Shaw was the Muhammedan king of India; and the people of Mithila assert, that Hari Singha, their prince, died in quiet possession of
his birthright. The predecessors of Hari Singha at Gar Samaran, according to Colonel Kirkpatrick, were,