Muhammadan invaders began the conquest of Hindustan in the 11th century, from which date up to the middle of the 18th century many Hindu chiefs with their followers sought refuge in Nepal, and intermarried with the Newar, Gurung, and Nagar. The descendants of these marriages are styled the Khas ; they claim to be considered of the Kshatriya caste ; they are the military nobility of Nepal. The Gurkha had a small Hindu State, existing from the 10th or 12th centuries, to the westward of Khatmandu, and claiming de scent from the maharana of Udaipur. In 1768, Jye Kush, the 6th king of the Mall dynasty of Nepal, during troubles in his kingdom, called in the aid of Prithi Narain, the Gurkha chief, who conquered the three kings of Bhatgaon, Khatmandu, and Lalita Patan. From that time up to the year 1814, the Gurkha continued aggressive, annexing all the surrounding states ; and in consequence of inroads on British territory, war between the Gurkha and the British was formally declared on 1st November 1814. In an arduous campaign, in which the Gurkhas fought most bravely, the British were unsuccessful, and General Gillespie fell at a hill fort ; but the Nepalese were subse quently defeated by Sir David Ochterlony, and by the convention of Almora Nepal ceded all the conquests they had made to the west of the Kali branch of the Gogra. Previous to this war the Gurkhas had extended their conquests westwards as far as the Sntlej. By the 5th article of the treaty of 1815, the Nepalese renounced all claim to the countries west of the Kali, and the British were left in possession of the whole tract of hills from the Gogra to the Sutlej. Kamaon and the Dehra Doon were annexed to the British dominions, and the rest of the territory, with the exception of Subathu, Raengarh, Sundoch, and a few other military posts, was restored to the hill rajas from whom it had been conquered by the Nepalese.
Towards the close of the 18th century the kings of Nepal had fallen into a titular position, the government being carried on by the ministers, who had assumed the character of the 3lairo du Valais. Towards the middle of the 19th century, Jung Bahadur rose to power. On the 18th of May 1845, Mataber Singh, the minister, was summoned to an audience with the king at the palace. On entering the room where he expected to find the king, he was killed by a rifle shot fired from the zanana gallery at the end of the room. His bodywas then thrown out of the window, and dragged away by an elephant to the banks of the Bhagmutteo at Pashupati. Next morning Jung Bahadur reported the circumstance officially to the Resident. Subsequently it appeared that 3lataber Singh had been killed by Jung Bahadur at the instigation of the queen.
On the 15th of September 1816, the Resident (Mr. Colvin) was surprised by a visit at midnight from the king, who informed him that a fear ful tragedy had been enacted in the city. The rani, after the murder of Mataber Singh, may be said to have been the actual ruler of the country.
In the coalition ministry she had one especial friend, Guggun Singh. This noble, on the night of the 14th of September, was shot in his own house while be was in the act of performing his devotions in a private room. The rani then insisted on the king assembling all the ministers and nobles in council to find out the assassin. Fath Jung and his colleagues hurried to the place of meeting at the kot near the palace. Here were assembled the rani, Jung Bahadur, his band of brothers, and his body guard, armed with rifles. The queen's party was carefully arranged and heavily armed, whereas the members of council came as they were summoned, in a hurry, each from his own house, and with no weapons but their swords. In a few minutes 32 of the nobles and upwards of 100 of the lower ranks were shot down. The king, alarmed by the noise of the struggle, mounted his horse and rode off to the Residency. On his return, within an hour, he found the gutters around the kot filled with the blood of his ministers, and what little power he possessed in the state was gone for ever. On the 2d of November, 13 more of the sirdars were put to death, and in December the king fled from the country to Benares. Jung Bahadur became virtually ruler of the country, and he visited England in 1850. The assassination of Guggun Singh, and the massacre of the influential chiefs, in 1846, had paved the way for the rise of Jung Bahadur to the office of prime minister ; he was created maharaja of Nepal, and invested with the perpetual sovereignty of two provinces. Ile effected the marriage of a son and two daughters into the royal family of Nepal.
By the treaty of 1815, a British officer was to reside at the capital, and some of the ablest and most conciliatory servants of the Indian Govern ment have since been there. Mr. Gardener, 1816 -1829 ; Brian Hodgson, 1831-1843 ; Sir Henry Lawrence, 1843-1847 ; Mr. J. R. Collin, Major Ramsay, 1849-1863 ; and Drs. Wright and Oldaeld have been Residency surgeons.
All through the Afghan war of 1838-43, the darbar at Khatmandu was in constant communi cation with that of Lahore, and with the Sind sirdars and Mahratta chiefs. Between 1838 and 1810, 23 secret missions from Khatmandu to Lahore and other parts of India were intercepted, through the exertions of Sir George Clerk at Ambala, and Mr. Hodgson at Khattnandu. But on Sir Jung Bahadur succeeding to power, he ruled Nepal with great ability and success, until his death, suddenly, in the Terai in the spring of 1877. During the mutiny of 1857, and the sub sequent campaigns, Jung llahadur assisted the British in the re-occupation of Gorakhpur, the re-capture of Lucknow, and the subsequent capture of the rebels who infested the Terai. In consideration of these services he was created a Knight of the Grand Cross of the Bath, and under a treaty (No. LV.), concluded on the 1st November 1860, the tract of territory on the Oudh frontier, which had been ceded to the British Government in 1816, was restored to Nepal.