Malla dynasty (Nepal)
Malla dynasty मल्ल वंश | |
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Country | Nepal Mandala Kingdom of Kantipur Kingdom of Lalitpur Kingdom of Bhaktapur |
Founded | 1201 |
Founder | Ari Malla |
Final ruler | Jaya Prakash Malla (Kantipur) Ranajit Malla (Bhaktapur) |
Style(s) | Mahārājdhirāj |
Deposition | 1769 |
The Malla dynasty (
. The first use of the word malla in the Kathmandu Valley begins from 1201.The Malla period was a golden one that stretched over 600 years, as they presided over and flourished the
Origin
The Malla kings claimed descent from the
Being originally Maithil themselves, the Mallas were noted for their patronisation of the
The backbone of the Malla army, particularly under Jaya Prakash Malla, was made up of Tirhutia soldiers from Northern Bihar and parts of the Terai, whereas the military leaders and chiefs were recruited from the Kshatriya families of the time, marked by their clan titles like Pradhan, Pradhananga, Amatya, Rawat, etc.[8][9]
History
Early Malla period
Beginning in the early twelfth century, leading notables in Nepal began to appear with names ending in the term malla, ("wrestler" in Sanskrit),[10] indicating a person of great strength and power. Arimalla (reigned 1200–16) was the first king to be so called,[11] and the practice of adopting such a name was followed regularly by rulers in Nepal until the eighteenth century. The names of the Malla kings were also written as, for example, Ari Malla. Another legend says that Arimalla was fond of wrestling and he added malla to his name. However, this is debated as the word malla appears frequently in the historical records prior the Malla dynasty.[10]
Another possibility is that Aridev adopted the title Malla because it was popular at the time in India. It seems more convincing because Aridev belonged to the dynasty started by Vamadeva, and that none of his predecessors used Malla in their names. If such is the case, it makes the Malla dynasty separate from the Malla community which originated in India.[12]
The long Malla period witnessed the continued importance of the Kathmandu Valley as a political, cultural, and economic center of Nepal. Other areas also began to emerge as significant centers in their own right, increasingly connected to the Kathmandu Valley.[13]
The time of the earlier Malla kings was not one of consolidation but was instead a period of upheaval in and around Nepal. In the twelfth century,
The first Malla rulers had to cope with several disasters. In 1255, one-third of the population of Kathmandu (30,000 people, including King
Apart from this, the earlier Malla years (1220–1482) were largely stable. During the reign of Jayabhimdev Malla in 1260, the eighty artisans were sent to Tibet. Among them was Araniko (1245–1306) who later rose to become a high-ranking official in the court of Mongol leader Kublai Khan's Yuan dynasty.[19] Araniko is the only person from this early Malla era whose biography is known to us in some detail, thanks to the Chinese historical records.[18]
This period reached a high point under the third Malla dynasty of
By 1370
After the death of
After the death of Jayasthiti Malla's grandson
Period of three kingdoms
After 1482, a crucial date in Nepalese history, the kingdom was divided. At first, the six sons of
The period of the three kingdoms—the time of the later Mallas—lasted until the mid-eighteenth century. The complete flowering of the unique culture of the Kathmandu Valley occurred during this period, and it was also during this time that the old palace complexes in the three main towns achieved much of their present-day forms. The Kings still based their legitimate rule on their role as protectors of
The final centuries of Malla rule were a time of great political change outside the Kathmandu Valley. In India overlordship in Delhi fell to the powerful Mughal dynasty (1526–1858). Although the Mughals never exercised direct lordship over Nepal, their empire had a major indirect impact on its institutional life. During the sixteenth century, when the Mughals were spreading their rule over almost all of South Asia, many dispossessed princes from the plains of northern India found shelter in the hills to the north.[20]
Legends indicated that many small principalities in western Nepal originated in migration and conquest by exiled warriors, who added to the slow spread of the Khasa language and culture in the west. Along with these exiles came Mughal military technology, including
Meanwhile, in Tibet domestic struggles during the 1720s led to decisive intervention by the powerful Qing rulers of China (1644–1911). A Chinese force installed the 6th Dalai Lama (the highest ranking Tibetan religious leaders) in Lhasa in 1728, and thereafter the Chinese stationed military governors (amban) in Lhasa to monitor local events. In 1729 representatives of the three Nepalese kingdoms sent greetings and presents to the Chinese emperor in Beijing, after which the Qing viewed Nepal as an outlying tributary kingdom (a perception not shared within Nepal). The expansion of big empires in both the north and south thus took place during a time when Nepal was experiencing considerable weakness in its traditional center. The three kingdoms lived a charmed life—isolated, independent, and quarrelling in their mountain valley—as the systems around them became larger and more centralized.[20]
By the seventeenth century, the mountain areas to the north of the valley and the Kiranti region to the east were the only areas that maintained traditional tribal communal systems, influenced to various degrees by Hindu ideas and practices. In the west and the south of the three kingdoms, there were many petty states ruled by dynasties of a warrior (
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The first contacts between the people of Nepal and
British
By 1764 the British East India Company, officially a private trading corporation with its own army had obtained from a decaying Mughal Empire the right to govern all of Bengal, at that time one of the most prosperous areas in Asia. The company explored possibilities for expanding its trade or authority into Nepal, Bhutan, and toward Tibet, where the Nepalese had their own trading agencies in important settlements. The increasingly powerful company was emerging as a wild card that could, in theory, be played by one or more of the kingdoms in Nepal during local struggles, potentially opening the entire Himalayan region to British penetration.[20]
End
The Malla dynasty ruled the Kathmandu Valley until Prithvi Narayan Shah of the Gorkha Kingdom invaded it in 1768-69 CE with the Battle of Kirtipur. The last Malla kings were Jaya Prakash Malla of Kantipur (i.e. Kathmandu), Tej Narsingh Malla of Lalitpur and Ranajit Malla of Bhaktapur. Prithvi Narayan Shah and his Gokhali troops surrounded the Kathmandu Valley. Jaya Prakash Malla was all alone. So, to render help, he called the East India Company, which was commanded by the British. There was a massive battle and at the end, the Gorkhali did win. With this, Jay Prakash Malla went to Patan. Then Tej Narasingh Malla and Jaya Prakash Malla fled to Bhaktapur. Similarly, the Gorkhali troops captured Patan and when it came to Bhaktapur, a fight ensued. This resulted in the victory of Prithvi Narayan Shah over Kathmandu Valley and marked the end of Malla period.
Jaya Prakash Malla was killed by Prithvi Narayan Shah during the celebration of
Legacy of Malla dynasty
The rivalry between the three kingdoms of the Kathmandu Valley found its expression not only in warfare but also in the arts and culture, which flourished in the competitive climate, quite similar to that of Renaissance Italy. The outstanding collections of exquisite temples and building in each city's Durbar Square are a testament to the huge amounts of money spent by rulers striving to outdo each other.[17]
The building boom was financed by trade, in everything from musk and wool to salt, Chinese silk and even yak tails. The Kathmandu Valley stood at the departure point for two separate routes into Tibet, via
In Kathmandu King Pratap Malla (r. 1641–74) oversaw that city's cultural high point with the construction of the Hanuman Dhoka palace, the Rani Pokhari pond and the first of several subsequent pillars that featured a statue of the king facing the protective temples of Taleju, who the Mallas had by that time adopted as their protective deity. The mid-17th century also saw a high point of building in Patan.[25]
The Malla era shaped the religious as well as artistic landscape, introducing the dramatic chariot festivals of
The cosmopolitan Mallas also absorbed foreign influences. The Indian Mughal court influenced Malla dress and painting, presented the Nepalese with firearms and introduced a system of land grants for military services, a system which would have a profound effect in later years. In the early 18th century, during the reign of Pratap Malla, Capuchin missionaries passed through Nepal to Tibet, and when they returned home gave the West its first description of exotic Kathmandu.[26]
After the defeat of the Malla Kings, their surviving descendants left the valley and settled in different parts of Nepal.[27] Their descendants have been using surnames like Malla, Raghubansi, Rajbanshi, Pradhananga, Pradhan, among others.
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Near the palace of the Malla dynasty rulers in Lalitpur with pillar and statue of king Yoga Narendra Malla (Lalitpur).
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Royal Palace and Hindu temples in Patan (Lalitpur).
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Bhaktapur Taumadhi square.
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Temple ofNyatapola(Bhaktapur).
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Bhaktapur Durbar Square.
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Old Royal Palace in Kathmandu (Kantipur).
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Kasthamandap complex (Kantipur).
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Bhairabnath at Bhaktapur Durbar Square
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Bhaktapur Durbar square
List of Malla rulers
See also
History of Nepal |
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Nepal portal |
Footnotes
- JSTOR 603754.
- ^ Gellner, David N. (1986). "Language, Caste, Religion and Territory: Newar Identity Ancient and Modern". European Journal of Sociology. Retrieved 2 May 2011.
- ^ Yadav, Ramawatar (2011). "Medieval Maithili stagecraft in the Nepalamandala: the Bhaktapur school". Contributions to Nepalese Studies.
- ISBN 81-208-0963-7. Page 3.
- ISBN 9788126007882. Retrieved 19 February 2017.
- ^ Fisher 1978, p. 487.
- ISBN 9781136649561. Retrieved 19 February 2017.
- ISBN 9781935501282. Retrieved 19 February 2017.
- ISBN 9781136649561.
- ^ a b Shrestha, D.B.; Singh, C.B. (1972). The History of Ancient and Medieval Nepal (PDF). University of Cambridge.
- ^ Kessler, P. L. "Kingdoms of South Asia - Nepal". The History Files. Retrieved 19 January 2023.
- ^ Regmi, Mahesh C. Regmi Research Series (PDF). University of Cambridge. p. 252.
- ^ a b c d e f Savada. History, The Malla Kings.
- ISBN 9788120725089. Archived from the originalon 16 February 2018. Retrieved 16 February 2018.
- ISBN 9781843310280. Retrieved 11 October 2018.
- ^ Newar.
- ^ a b c d Bindloss et al. p34.
- ^ a b c d e f Hays, Jeffrey. "EARLY NEPAL DYNASTIES: LICCHAVIS AND THE MALLA KINGS | Facts and Details". factsanddetails.com. Retrieved 19 January 2023.
- ^ Jing
- ^ a b c d e f g Savada. History, Three Kingdoms.
- ^ a b Oliveira, Bruna (2009). "A missão Tibetana na Correspondência Jesuíta (1624-1631)" (PDF).
- ^ Didier, Hugues (2000). "OS PORTUGUESES NO TIBETE os PRIMEIROS RELATOS DOS JESUÍTAS (1624-1635) Estudo histórico de" (PDF).
- ISBN 9780813149042.
- ISBN 9781442277700.
- ^ Bindloss et al. Nepal. p34-35.
- ^ a b Bindloss et al. Nepal. p35.
- ^ Where Have All The Mallas Gone?: The Descendants of the Mallas, Sampada Malla & Dinesh Rai, ECS Nepal, Jul.19.2010 Archived 2014-03-15 at the Wayback Machine
References
- Fisher, James F., ed. (1978). Himalayan anthropology: the Indo-Tibetan interface. Mouton. ISBN 978-9027977007.
- Tucci, Giuseppe, Nepal: alla scoperta dei Malla, Bari, Leonardo da Vinci, 1960 (English translation: Nepal. The discovery of the Malla, London, George Allen & Unwin, 1962);
- Bindloss, Joe; Holden, Trent; Mayhew, Bradley. (2009). Nepal. Lonely Planet.
- Savada, Andrea M., ed. (1991). Nepal: A Country Study. Washington: GPO for the Library of Congress.
- Newar, Naresh. (2004). 70 years after. Nepali Times. Issue #178 (9 Jan 2004 – 15 Jan 2004) [1]. Retrieved: 10 Dec 2011.
- Petech, Luciano. (1984). Mediaeval History of Nepal (ca. 750-1480). 2nd ed. Serie Orientale, toma 54. Rome: Institutio Italiano per il Medio ed Estremo Oriente.
- Regmi, D.R. (1965–66). Medieval Nepal. Calcutta: Firma K.L. Mukhopadhyay.
- Shaha, Rishikesh. (1992). Ancient and Medieval Nepal. New Delhi: Manohar. ISBN 81-7304-402-3
- Jing, Anning. (1994). The Portraits of Khubilai Khan and Chabi by Anige (1245-1306), a Nepali Artist at the Yuan Court. Artibus Asiae, Vol. 54, No. 1/2 (1994), pp. 40–86.
- Wright, Daniel, History of Nepal. New Delhi-Madras, Asian Educational Services, 1990