NEPAL. The southern escarpment of the plateau of Central Asia is divided into two mountain ranges. the Himalaya ou the east and the Hindu Kush on the west, and the valleys in this escarpment are occupied, it, succession from west to east, by the alpine states and districts of Afghanistan, Kashmir, Garhwal, Kamaon, Nepal, Sikkim, and Bhutan. The Nepal State, between Kamaou on the west and Sikkim in the east, is made up of the valleys of the head-waters of three tributaries of the Ganges, the Gogra, Gandak, and Kosi, and of a corresponding portion of the Terai.
Between the valleys of the Gogra and the Kosi flows the Bhagamuttee, past the capital Khatmandu, through the beautiful central valley, 4200 to 4700 feet above the sea. In summer the thermometer seldom rises over 80° in the shade, in winter it does not fall below 20°, and at the latter season the air is clear and' bracing. The views of the Snowy Range obtainable from the valley and from the hills are unrivalled in extent and magnificence.
Nepal is an Independent State in treaty with British India. It is between British India and Tibet on the north, with Sikkim and Darjiling on its east ; on its south, Purniah, Bhagulpur, Sarun, Tirhut, Gorakhpur, and Busti ; on its south-west, Oudh and Bareilly ; and Kamaon on its west. It extends from lat. 26° 25' to 30° 17' N., and long. 15' to 88° 15' E., is 500 miles long from east to west, and 16 miles in breadth. Area, 54,500 square miles. Population variously estimated at 2,000,000 to 3,000,000.
The surface of Nepal generally consists of valleys varying from 3000 to 6000 feet above the Bengal plains. The capital of Khatmandu is in an oval shaped valley, 12 miles Ion g from north to south, and from east to west 10 miles, lat. 27° 42' N., and long. 85° 18' E., and 4628 feet above the sea. A tradition is current that the valley of Khatmandu was at some former period a lake ; it is now throughout its whole extent well watered, and is almost unrivalled in fertility. To the extreme west of Nepal lies Almora, a hill station wrested from the Nepalese in the wars of 1814-15 ; to the extreme east is Darjiling, another bill station, used as a sanatorium. The breadth of the mountainous belt immediately north and east of Khatmandu is estimated at from 30 to 40 miles, and its higher parts rise to the level of perpetual snow. Among its lofty summits is Mount Everest, the highest known peak in the world (29,002 feet). On the south is the Terai belt of low level land. The word signifies marshy lauds, and is sometimes applied to the flats lying below the hills in the interior of Nepal, as well as to the level tract bordering immediately on the British frontier.
The legendary history of Nepal, like that of Kashmir, commences with the desiccation of the valley, for ages full of water, by Naia Muni, whence the name of the country Naipala, whose descendants swayed the country 500 years. The
first authentic history is B.C. 844. Then the Kerrat tribe of eastern mountaineers, u.c. 646. Then the Suryavansa race of rulers B.C. 178., The Ahir began in A.D. 43. The Neverit dynasty was restored in A.D. 470, and one of this dynasty, Raghoba deva, in A.D. 880, introduced the use of the Samvat era into Nepal. In the Newar year 731, A.D. 1600, Jaya Eksha Mall (or Jye Kush Mull) divided Patan, Khatmandu, Banepa, and Bhatgaon between his daughter and three sons, and Ranjit Malla, one of the Bhatgaon dynasty, in A.D. 1721 formed an alliance with the Gurkha, which ended in his own subversion, and finally in that of all Nepal. The Gurkhali, descended from the Udai pur Rajputs, had occupied Kamaon and Noa kot for six or eight centuries prior to their conquest of Nepal in A.D. 1768.
British political relations with it date from the invasion of the valley by the Gurkha race, under Raja Prithi Narain. In Newar raja of Khatmandu, being hard pressed by the Gurkha, applied for assistance to the British Government. Aid was granted, and Captain Kiuloch was despatched with a small force in the middle of the rainy season. He was, however, compelled by the deadly climate of the Tprai to retire. The Gurkha chief, meeting but a feeble resistance, overran Nepal, and extinguished the Newar dynasty, and was eventually recognised by the British Government as raja of Nepal. For several years previous to 1792, the Gurkha power bad been extending their conquests in the direction of Tibet. They had advanced as far as Digarchi, the Lama of which place was spiritual father to the emperor of China. Incensed by the plunder of the sacred temples of Digarchi, the emperor of China despatched an army to mulish the Nepal raja, and when within a few miles of their capital the Gurkha submitted unconditionally to the Chinese commander, who imposed a tribute and triennial mission to Pekin, besides restitution of all the booty taken at Teeshe Lumbu, and he took hostages for the performance of these stipulations. The raja of Sikkim was at the same time taken under Chinese protection. Checked towards the east by these events, the Gurkha extended their dominion west ward, subjugating Kamaon, Srinuggur, and all the hill country to the Sutlej. When Lord Hastings commenced his administration, their dominion extended as far as the river Tista to the east, and westward to the Sutlej, thus occu pying the whole of the strong country in the mountainous tract which stretches ou the northern borders of India, between that and the highlands of Tartary. They had acquired these territories, during the preceding 50 years, from many dis united hill chiefs whom they dispossessed, exter minating the families as each raja fell before them.