real power has long been in the hands of the prime minister, and much of the modern history of the country consists of accounts of the struggles of the various factions for power. Under the prime minister there is a council, consisting of the relations of the king, the raj guru, the generals, and a few other officials known as kajis and sirdars and bhardars, which is consulted on all important business, and which forms a court of appeal for disputed cases from the courts of law. There are separate civil and criminal courts, but the distinction is not always observed, as difficult cases are often transferred from one to the other.
Law and Justice.—The old savage legal code with its ordeals by fire and water, and its punishments by mutilation and torture was abolished by Sir Jung Bahadur after his return from England in 1851. Treason, rebellion and desertion in war-time are punished by death. Bribery and peculation by public servants are punished by dismissal from office, and a fine and imprisonment, the latter of which can be commuted by payments at various rates, according to the nature of the offence. Murder and the killing of cows are capital offences. Manslaughter and maiming cows are punished by imprisonment for life, and other offences against the person or property by imprisonment or fine. Brahmans and women are exempted from capital punishment. Offences against caste are heavily punished by fine and imprisonment. In some cases indeed all the offender’s property is confiscated, and he and his family may be sold as slaves. Bankruptcy laws have been recently introduced. The marriage laws are somewhat peculiar. Among the Gurkhas the laws resemble those of other Hindus as regards the marriage of widows, polygamy, &c., but among the Newars every girl while still an infant is married with much ceremony to a bel fruit, which is then thrown into some sacred stream. As the fate of the fruit is unknown, a Newari is supposed never to become a widow. At the age of puberty a husband is selected, but the woman can at any moment divorce herself by placing a betel-nut under her husband’s pillow and taking her departure. Adultery is punished by the imprisonment and fine of both the adulteress and her paramour. Sati has been abolished in Nepal by law.
Gaols.—There are three large prisons in the Nepal valley, one for males and two for females; there are also a considerable number of gaols throughout the country. The prisoners are kept in irons, and employed in public works of various sorts. They are allowed six pice a day for subsistence at the capital, and five pice in other places. Their relatives are allowed to minister to their creature comforts.
Slavery is an institution of the country, and all families of rank possess many slaves, who are employed in domestic and field work. They are generally treated well, and are carefully protected by law. The price of slaves ranges from Rs. 100 to Rs. 200.
Revenue.—The revenue of Nepal is about one hundred and fifty lakhs of rupees, i.e. £10,000,000. The chief sources of it are the land-tax, customs, mines, forests and monopolies. About 10% of the tarai lands, and 20% of the hill lands, are private property. Some lands were assigned by the Gurkhali rajas to Brahmans, soldiers and others, and these are untaxed. Others, which were the gifts of the old Newar kings, pay from 4 to 8 annas per bigha. All such grants of land, however, are subject to a heavy fine on the coronation of a new raja. Land which does not produce rice is lightly taxed, but in the valley of Nepal, and wherever rice is grown, the government tax or rent is one half of the produce of the land. Waste lands, when brought into cultivation, are rent free for ten years, after which for five years the tax is only 4 annas per bigha, and the cultivator receives one-tenth of the cleared land rent free for his life. A considerable revenue in the shape of royalty is obtained from mines of copper, iron, &c. The taxes on merchandise amount to from 12 to 14% on the value of the goods carried to and from British India, and from 5 to 6% is charged on goods exported to Tibet.
Army.—Much attention is devoted by the Gurkhalis to military matters, and the bulk of that race may be said to be soldiers. The standing army consists of about 50,000 men, in a fair state of efficiency. Besides this force there is a reserve, consisting of men who have served for a few years and taken their discharge, but in case of necessity can be called on again to enter the ranks. These would probably raise the strength to between 70,000 and 80,000 men. The regiments are formed on the European system, and similarly drilled and officered. 'Each man carries in addition to a bayonet a kukri or native knife. There is practically no cavalry, as the country is not suited for horses. The artillery, however, is on a larger scale, and consists nearly entirely of batteries of mountain artillery. There is a large arsenal well provided with supplies of gunpowder and military stores. There are workshops where cannon are cast, and rifles, and ammunition of all sorts turned out in large quantities, but of an indifferent quality.
In addition to its own army, Nepal supplies to the British army in India a large force of splendid soldiers, who were raised under the following circumstances. In 1815 the British enlisted three battalions of Gurkhas from amongst the soldiers of that race who were thrown out of employment, owing to the termination of the first phase of the war with Nepal. These regiments were styled the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Gurkhas, and were soon employed on active service. The 1st and 2nd behaved with much gallantry at the siege and storming of Bharatpur, and in the First Sikh War, while the 2nd and 3rd won a great name for loyalty and courage during the Mutiny of 1857–58, especially at the siege of Delhi. This induced the British to raise, in 1858, two more battalions, which they numbered the 4th and 5th, and the whole Gurkha force has since proved its usefulness and loyalty on many occasions, particularly during the Afghan War of 1878–80, and on many frontier expeditions. Battalions have also been sent on service to Burma, Egypt, China and Tibet. The Gurkhas in the British service now consist of ten regiments of riflemen of two battalions each, and number about 20,000 men.
History.—Nepal and the somewhat similar country of Kashmir are peculiar among the Hindu states of India in possessing an historical literature. The Nepalese Vamçāvalī professes to start from a very early period in the Satya Yuga, when the present valley was still a lake. The earlier portion of it is devoted to the Satya and Treta Yugas, and contains mythological tales and traditions having reference to various sacred localities, in the country. During these two Yugas, and also the Dwapur Yuga, the Vamçāvalī deals in round numbers of thousands of years.
In the beginning of the Kali Yuga, the Gupta dynasty is said to have been founded by Ne-Muni, from whom the country takes its name of Nepal. Lists are then given of the various dynasties, with the lengths of the reigns of the rajas. The dynasties mentioned are the Gupta, Ahir, Kirāti, Somavanshi, Suryavanshi, Thakuri or first Rajput, Vaishya Thakurī, second Rajput and Karnataki dynasties. The country was then invaded by Mukundasena, and after his expulsion various Vaishya Thakuri dynasties are said to have held the throne for a period of 225 years. The chronology of the Vamçāvalī up to this period is very confused and inaccurate; and, though the accounts of the various invasions and internal struggles, mixed up as they are with grotesque legends and tales, may be interesting and amusing, they can hardly be considered authentic. Some of the names of the rajas, and the dates of their reigns, have been determined by coins, the colophons of old MSS., and certain inscriptions on the temples and ancient buildings. For instance, Ançuvarma, of the Thakuri dynasty, reigned about A.D. 633, as he is mentioned by the Chinese traveller Hsuan Tsang, who visited Nepal. His name too is found in an inscription still extant. In like manner it is ascertained from MSS. that Rudra-deva-Varma was reigning in 1008; Lakshmikama-deva from 1015 to 1040; Padma-deva, of the Vaishya Thakuri dynasty, in 1065; Manadeva, of the second Rajput dynasty, in 1139; Ananta-Malla, 1286–1302; Harisinha-deva, 1324; Jayastithi-Malla, 1385–1391. Much information as to the chronology of the various dynasties can be obtained from the catalogue of the Cambridge MSS. compiled by Cecil Bendall, and also from his papers on the ancient coins of the country. Inscriptions too have been edited by Professor Bühler in the Indian Antiquary, vol. ix. Detailed lists of the rajas are to be found in Kirkpatrick’s Account of Nepāl, in Hodgson’s Essays, Prinsep’s papers in the Asiatic Society’s Journal and Wright’s History of Nepāl.
The records begin to be more accurate from the time of the invasion and conquest of the country by Harisinha-deva, the raja of Simraun, 1324. This raja was driven from Simraun by Tughlak Shah of Delhi, but seems to have found little difficulty in the conquest of Nepal. There were only four rajas of this Ayodhya dynasty, and then the throne was occupied by Jayabhadra-Malla, a descendant of Abhaya-Malla, one of the Rajput dynasty, who reigned in the 13th century. There were eight rajas of this dynasty. The seventh, Jayastithi-Malla, who reigned for forty-three years (1386–1429), appears to have done much in forming codes of laws, and introducing caste and its rules among the Newars. In the reign of the eighth raja, Yaksha-Malla, the kingdom was divided into four separate states—namely, Banepa, Bhatgaon or Bhaktapur, Kantipur or Katmandu, and Lalitapur or Patan. There was only one raja of Banepa, who died without issue. The Malla dynasty in the other
