“History is written by the winners.”
― Napoleon Bonapart
“History is written by the victors.”
-Winston Churchill (1874-1965) British Orator, Author and Prime Minister during World War II.
“History is written by the victors.”
― Niccolò Machiavelli (1469-1527), an Italian historian, diplomat, philosopher, humanist, writer, poet, and a founder of modern political science.
“History is always written by the winners. When two cultures clash, the loser is obliterated, and the winner writes the history books-books which glorify their own cause and disparage the conquered foe. As Napoleon once said, 'What is history, but a fable agreed upon?”
― Dan Brown, an American author of thriller fiction, best known for the 2003 bestselling novel, The Da Vinci Code.
These great men quotes sound very true to me as well. When I was a child aged 11-12 I got the opportunity to learn about the history of Singapore, Brunei, Malaysia, Hong Kong, etc how British was able to captured these countries. Similarly, Britishers were able to captured many African countries including India and rules these countries many years. Therefore, I was always skeptical and never ever trusted the history of Prithivi Naraya Shah won a victory over British troops of East India Company how he was able to defeated Britishers with arms and troops and was always wondering what's the conspiracy behind the scene and last year came across the blog entitled "The Hidden History of Nepal" via facebook. It's original write up has been extracted from Dr. Hans-Georg Behr's book published in 1976 in German language titled "Nepal Geschenk der Gotter" from page 56 of the book. Nepal Geschenk der Götter means "Nepal Gifts of the Gods". Dr. Behr was a German psychiatrist, Green Party parliamentarian, history professor (University of Vienna), Neurotoxicologist, Cannabis expert, Journalist, author and owner of the world’s largest collection of antique cannabis smoking pipes. He passed away on July 7, 2010, at the age of 72.
I don't know the exactly what is the truth but interesting to read about it and also know how and why worshiping "Kumari" and celebrating "Indra Jatra" had been started in Nepal. Also equally interesting to learn about WHY and HOW our men started to recruit as a Gurkhas in Indian troops and British Army.
"I destroy my enemies when I make them my friends."
-Abraham Lincoln.
Saying one thing doing another things what an ill intention of almost all rulers and politicians. It is exactly what HIV (virus) does and also elites do to poor and innocent people of this world. So we always have to be skeptical towards them.
Prithivi Narayan Shah, Rana Regime ruler did the same to the king of Bhaktapur in the past establishing friendship as per his father, Narbhupal Shah aim in mind to take over Kathmandu valley in any cost.
The Hidden History of Nepal
by Dr. H.G. Behr ( From page 56 of the book)
Since 1716 Gorakh Nath Narabhupal Shah had been sitting on his throne made of mud. He found his throne very uncomfortable , and wanted to change it with the silver throne of the Kathmandu valley at any cost.
With this aim in mind, he married many times to widen his territory and built an alliances. But he was not successful. Finally, he changed his tactics. In 1732, he sent his 10-years-old son Prithvi Narayan to stay with the king of Bhaktapur.
In a covering letter, Narabhupal Shah requested the king of Bhaktapur to raise his son and provide him a good education, which was only possible in Nepal . But his real intention was to place his son in the palace so that he could spy on it and gather vital information.
The Malla King of Bhaktapur took in his young guest Prithivi Narayan in a friendship and showed him around every part of the palace. The king also let his children play with the prince of Gorkha. Prithivi Narayan has an execlent memory, and rememberd everything that he saw.
After five years, he returned to his hometown Gorkha, He had gathered much information about the reasons behind the quarrels among the valley kings, the exact quantity of military equipment and the strategic location in Nepal.
Prithvi Narayan was sure that he could conquer the pass of Nuwakot, so in the same year he sent his Gorkha soldiers to attack Nuwakot. The young prince had miscalculated or his father had underestimated the Mallas. The Malla kings banded together and their armies beat the Goarkha very badly.
Since then, the Gorkhas launched an attack to the valley every year right after the monsoon in order to possess it's wealth. But they always failed. The Gorkhas came punctually at the end of September, but they never made any headway. This went on till 1764.
Prithvi then sent a peace message to the valley. The Mallas received this message with joy. The endless war was a strain on their resources, and it was also disrupting their business.
But Prithvi's message was a clever deception : he really did not seek peace. The Mallas came to know that it was only a ploy when the Gorkhas blocked the northern trade route. Another thing that was worried the Mallas was that the Gorkhas had come into possession of excellent arms and lots of money with which to prosecute war. The Mallas didn't know from where the Gorkhas had got them.
The British government had supplied the weapons to the Gorkhas, but his fact has been kept hidden in Nepal history's books. The secret treaty under which this was done is still preserved in London in the archives of the East India Company.
The pact was signed by Captain Ceane and the Gorkhas. The British government agreed to supply weapons and advice, and in return the Gorkhas had to destroy the old trade routes between India and China.
The Moguls of India had a flourishing business relationship with the Mallas of Nepal, and this trade accounted for 30 percent of the wealth of the Moguls. The British want to get their hands on the riches.
According to the accord, Prithvi Narayan Shah received 800 muskets along with 21 British advisors. And in 1766, armed with British weapons and intelligence, the Gorkhas attacked Kirtipur. The people of of Kirtipur could not resist the superior arms, and two third of them were killed.
The cruel Gorkhas cut off the noses of the survivors. Till today this place is known as the "village of the noseless". The Mallas then realised that the situation had become
precarious.
Jaya Prakash Malla, King of Kathmandu, was an intelligent ruler. He wrote a very touching letter to the East India Company appealing for assistance against the Gorkhas. The East India Company subsequently sent 15 very strong men under the command of the captain named Kinloch to help the Mallas. This captain was quite fond of drinking alcohol.
When the British arrived at the hills leading to the Kathmandu valley, they faked being defeated by the Gorkhas. The Gorkhas pretended to hit them and they acted as if they were wounded. Like they say in our language "Chhan daye then ya, jin khwaye then yaye." The British wanted the Mallas to think that the Gorkhas were too powerful to fight with.
Jaya Prakash Malla then looked to religion for support. A prophet told the king that the future of Nepal depend on the Kumari. And so in 1768, the festival of Indra Jatra was celebrated with extra fervour. The Nepalese drank lots of rice beer during the festivities, especially on September 13 on the day of the Chariot festival.
They did noticed that the Gorkhas had entered the city until they had surrounded Kumari Chariot. Pandemonium broke out. Jaya Prakash jumped down from the chariot with his two wives and escaped to Lalitpur.
Prithvi Narayan Shah stepped in front of the bewildered crowd and shouted, "I'm now your king. Carry on with your drinking"
Many Newars drank rice beer because they were terror-stricken. The Gorkhas put their swords to the neck of the Newars who refused to accept the new king, so they had no choice but to obey.
In the following winter, the Gorkhas also conquered Lalitpur withour any opposition. The Mallas then gathered at the palace in Bhaktapur. The palace was well defended. And following the advice of his British advisors, Prithvi Narayan imposed a blockade.
After three years, Bhaktapur's food stocks ran our. And one night , an illegitimate child of the Mallas opened the gates to the city. The valley's three kings were arrested in their bedrooms. Jaya Prakash Malla committed suicide. To show his big-heartedness, Prithvi Narayan allowed Jaya Prakash to be brought to Pasupatinath for the final rites.
Bhaktapur's king Ranjit Malla, who had given shelter to Prithvi Narayan Shah, was not killed; but his eyes were put out and sent to the Hindu holly city of Banaras. Tej Narasingh Malla of Lalitpur did not want to exchange any words with Prithvi Narayan.
Tej Narashingh was imprisoned in a vault and walled up. A small hole was left open to pass food to him. And for tow days, a bowl rice was put near the hole. When they say that Tej Narasingh had not touched the food the hole was bricked up.
Prithvi Narayan Shah did everything according to Captain Ceane's suggestions. He said Prithvi Narayan, "The people of Nepal are very hard working and intelligent. That is why they are very dangerous. We need to strike terror into their hearts in order to control them. Don't let them come to power even after many centuries. We need to obliterate their minds the idea of ever rising up to seize power. This can only be achieved through harsh laws and violence.
Accordingly, Newars were not allowed to read, write or repair their houses. If they broke the law, they laced the death penalty. In 1770, two and half thousand Newars were killed. The second generation was thoroughly intimidated and gave up. The third generation started to forget. The tax records of 1767 show that 176 different kinds of fruits and vegetables were grown in the valley.
After Prithvi Narayan Shah took control of Nepal, the old cities began to stagnate even though so much money was pouring into the cityscape that occurred were the result of earthquake.
The British naturally benefited greatly from their cruel plan, In 1778, the Mogul Empire became bankrupt and was force to become a colony of Britian. The whole of central Asia suffered after Prithvi Narayan took over Nepal and closed the old trade routes.
Tibet's economy too was negatively affected. The depressed economy forced monasteries self-reliant. This was how feudalism emerged as a shadow on the gentle face of the Buddha. There was a negative effect even in China.
The British were also not very happy with the Gorkhas. The Gorkhas had tested blood, and did not give up violence. In this way, they conquered all the hill states. The Gorkhas turned the countries into a "forbidden land". As long as the country remained closed up, the British were not disturbed. But in 1789 the Gorkhas become crazy and went to war with China and England.
Britain's General Ochterlony said, "We have to keep the Gorkhas busy so that other things besides conquest come to their minds."
Lord Hastings wrote in his diary in 1817. "To bring peace in Nepal, the Gorkhas must be kept busy and far from their country."
This policy led to the recruitment of Gorkhas soldiers into the British army. The Nepal government took one-third of the money sent home by the Gorkhas. It was and important source of income for the government of Nepal.
After the Gorkhas began leaving Nepal, their was peace on the frontier as well as within the country. But there was no peace in the king's palace. The Shahs fought among themselves. They didn't care about the country or the people. They remained engrossed in their own interest.
Then came the Kot Parwa, and Junga Bahadur Rana took over power from the Shah king.
Reference:
1. "The Hidden History of Nepal" accessed from http://www.rednepal.com/2010/06/hidden-history-of-nepal.html
2. "The Hidden History of Nepal" by Ram Kumar Shrestha accessed from http://completenepal.wordpress.com/2011/07/06/hidden-history-of-nepal/
3. "The Fall of Newah Kingdom" by Ganga Lal Shrestha accessed from http://newah.lefora.com/2010/01/11/the-fall-of-newah-kingdom/
Laxmi jee,
ReplyDeletethis book seems to be misleading.
our historians, including nayaraj panta, who was critical of the shah dynasty and dared to point finger at them do not find such an account.
other evidences too don't support behr's claim.
To me, it is very believable historical document about how the culturally rich and religious minded Newars are cheated , exploited -with distinct evidences that appeared to valid even today. Many kudos of Luxmi jee for her bold efforts in translation of a great German book on Nepal- and Newars..
Deletenice story but i see many factual as well as grammatical errors. please research. thank you.
ReplyDeleteFuck you, you do know how many noses were cut off ? You know how many people are their in kirtipur now and think how many people were there then? And how could thousands of noses cut? whereas people are less than noses.
ReplyDeletethe book was Nazi propoganda, and you seem to be unwilling to acknowledge that. may you get some wisdom. period.
ReplyDeletei bumped into your article while i was doing research on assassinations, plots, among other things to write an article to prove that cruel things that happens in Game of Thrones series, actually has been happening in history everywhere in the world at one point or another. I wanted to show similarities with such occurrences in our Nepali history, from Kot parva to many other lesser known massacres. After reading you post above, there are couple of points that made me skeptical in the credibility of your judgement or insinuation. No offense or smearing intended. As an avid enthusiast of history and anthropology i would grateful to you if you could elaborate on two points: 1) Considering how poor Nepal and its citizens have been for most of their history (with the exception of Nepal valley of course along with ancient Kash empire in west and Kirat empire in west), it is hard to believe that 30% of mogul's wealth were generated by trade with Nepal. Ofcourse trade with tibet was enriching to Nepal valley but i cant imagine Central Asia's and China earning were hampered by Nepal's closure of old trade routes. Also its hard to imagine vastly resource rich Moguls wealth had any significant relation with Nepal or Tibet for that matter.Could you elaborate on this please?
ReplyDelete2) With all intent and purposes Buddhist rule (not buddhism itself) had always been feudal. Maybe that was not how Buddha intended it to be but that was how it was from the very beginning. Since you seem to be familiar with Machiavelli, i assume you are aware how such revolution hijacks happen. Hardly any aspect of social administration changed from Bonpo rule, including most of their religious rituals stayed exactly the same (after all core teachings of buddha is all about rejecting religious rituals). Neither topography, neither food production in tibet were abundant enough to sustain anything but feudal socio-political administration or nomadic society. It would be great if you could enlighten me on this or even redirect me to the source where you got these from.
What is the objective of this article?
ReplyDeleteIs it to tell people that Nepalese Royal Family was always bad? Or that global politics across history has always been tricky, cruel and bad? In that case, its a fact everybody knows. Its the very nature of politics that will never change.
Or is it to tell people that History is ill written and people must know what's true? In that case, why did you not care to add better and more reliable factual evidences to establish your theory? All you have is a few names from history with 'your' new facts established only through this writeup?
Or is it .... ???
This guy seems like jackass who has publish an article and he is extremely proud of it. Grab any advance history of nepal and you will encounter many of the facts mentioned in the article.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete1.thats so sad and reflects our slave mentality.a white hippy in his 30s comes to nepal, smokes some cheap joints and writes some BS hearing the legends around him and people believe him and present his 'book' as if it were some reknowned discourse by some famed historian. Guys, this is not even a historian .
ReplyDelete2.gorkha was a poor hill state with less resources and kathmandu was a richer state at tht time. in a time where the first dicision a newly crowned king took was which kingdom he is going to fight with first, it is actually a great achievement of gorkha to wi such territories despite being so poor amongst its neighbours .
3 gorkha had a long tradition of interaction with valley. there were pilgrimages from gorkha and other western kingdoms to pashupati ,gosainkunda ,budanilkantha etc. regularly.the valley kings would seek help from gorkha when they fought each other. the gorkha kings ram shah and narabhupal shah took part in the inner fights between the valley kings several times.narabhupal shah even had miteri relation with one valleyking and so had pn shah .there were khas and magar generals and panchas in valley army and court(pratap mallas tamrapatra at rani pokhari is in khas kura also and it states about khas and magar panchas).the generals who fought against pn shah and gorkhalis like parsuram thapa, kashiram thapa were probably gorkhalis or of western nepal. jayanta rana was pn shah commander at one time but later defected to kathmandu and commanded the nuwakot battle against gorkha. so there was a long relation between gorkha and kathmandu before pn shah was even born.
4.since in those times the commanders had their own armies who just followed the commander, at the battle of nuwakot the commanders and armies were most probably both from gorkha. jayanta rana was the commander defending the fort . he was the gorkhali commander since narabhupal shahs period but later defected to kathmandu.
Delete5.even before pn shah won the valley, the pradhans of patan invited him to take the crown of patan but pn shah refused and sent his brother dalmardan shah who became the king for a year or so but was later disposed for another king.
6.gorkhas bought some of the weapons from benaras and the rajput family shah married there.the marriage was soley for business purpose.just imagine, for a high caste hindu in those times, his caste and gotra was the dearest thing for him. thats why when someone killed or looted or even married so called untouchables ,the punishment was to degrade from his caste and gotra (jaat janu/jaat falnu). this guy pn shah was ready to convert even his gotra so that he could fight his fellow thakuri cousins if situation come.
6.let it be remembered,the biggest massacre in the whole history of unification has been in jumla. the jumli king presented a force of about 20,000 soldiers but with inferior arms and the gorkhas with better arms attacked them from 2 sides and killed them brutually. even after the war 1500 of them were lined and 1498 were beheaded, 2 left ince they were upadhay bahuns.this scale of brutality was carried out by bahadur shah and his generals.compare this with the siege of kathmandu ,only 1 solder died due to explosion.
8.there was no secret treaty between gorkhas and the EIC.there is no such treaty in anypart of ngland. the english law dictates the disclosure of treaties and agreements how secret they be, after 50 years.and ehy would they do tht??
9.the mallas at this time didnt have trade with the mughals. the mughal empire had already crumbled and the mallas had mainly tradewith bengal and awadh. and the trade never accounted for 30% of mughal trade.the main trade of mughals was with europe and turkey through persia and arabia and to china through the sea. remember the trade was with tibet which had a population equal tothat of kathmandu valley though being a lot bigger.there was a proper sea route of trade between indian subcontinent and china through kochin,rangoon and bengal ,remember the chinese bulk of population and big cities are in eastern china .so the trade was awadh/bengal, ktm, tibet and not china .the hard hilly roads wer ok for trading small amount of wool,salt and smaller stuffs but the bigger trade was done through ship route to bigger cities like beijing and yunan.so ktm valley was not that important for china or india.
9. pn shah bought some weapons when he was in india and brought some muslim craftsmen and shooting experts. these people made new guns and small cannons and also taught ho to fire.the battle of kirtipur was won with deception by kidnapping jayanta ranas son and the gate keepers were bribed too. kalu pande was killed,surapratap lost his eye and dalmardans back was cut open by a sword blow. after winning the war in third attempt, pn shah cut the nose of the defeated soldiers and young men.but they were a few hundred men and this was done to scare off kathmandu people.
Delete10. the money for pn shahs campaign came from makwanpur(was almost as big as half of eastern nepal with big plains,fields and big population)the benaras rajputs wife and his raid in the tibet trade route(looted goods and money):
11.jay prakash had treaty with the brits since he had trade relations with bengal(which was ruled by eic) and he also had welcomed the missionaries in kathmandu to preach .thats why the brits came to help him.this german guy ,since he is just writing BS doesnt even know what a captain is.a captain commands a company comprising 250-300 men. they were attacked in sindhuli gadi by sardarbansu gurung ald they got hand of goodnamount of quality british weapons or the first time.
12.due to gorkha pressure and degrading economy,jay prakash was force to confiscate the guthis and birtas given to priests and monks.this made the ktm people anti king at the kast moment. on the night of indra jatra pn shah with his 1000 strong force ,raided from 3 sides .he himselves commanded one section and captured the durbar without blood shed. only 1 soldier died while trying to blow the wall of a palace with explosive. there is no record of him saying anything with exact words.but what he did is he let the festival of indrajatra continue since he knew the festivals an customs of valley pretty well. he alos took tika from kumari and bowed to her as a sign of repect.
14.Like they say in our language "Chhan daye then ya, jin khwaye then yaye." The British wanted the Mallas to think that the Gorkhas were too powerful to fight with-i didnt know the german hippy learnt newa bhasa too
Delete15.pn shah invaded bhaktapur a year later winning ktm and patan. and there was a brutual battle where the gorkhalis indiscriminately killed non-combatants too. the bhaktapures fought hard but gorkhalis won the battle. after the defeat, jayprakash wanted to live hi last days in pashupati where he died later from his gun wound. ranjit malla being pn shahs mit-ba, was allowed to go to kashi where he died.tej narsingh,the successor of dalmarden in patan was tortured to death.
16. the newars were behaved as defeated people since the gorkhalis felt themselves as the winners there is nothing like 1770 thing.there were trade representatives to tibet and india who were newars, the political advisers of kings,ranas and other generals/chautariyas were newars. the most famous being bhajuman guvaju.the guthis confiscated by jay prakash were given back to the people. and trade with tibet treaty with tibet was done in nepa bhasa.
but to know the treatment of newars in lichhivi malla time is also important.newa people were the raiti of lichhivis and mallas who were of tiruhutia( bihari) origin. they came to nepal valley as traders or learned counselers and later took the ower through marriages. they spoke maithali and maithali was the court and palace language till the last malla kings.the lichhivis and mlla kings are also associated with making the whole mountain terrain hindu and they coe the first varna systembased law .this was the first caste based law in whole mountain region of indian sub continent.
16.as i already said ,the british didnt gain anything from ktm falling to pn shah .they actually lost since there was a more powerful and bigger enemy who blocked a possible invasion of tibet .the mughal empire crumble with the death of aurengzeb in 1707. after thet the mughal badshah was confined to the red fort in old delhi.he was abdicated after the sepoy mutiny of 1857.central asia didnt suffer at all since they had nothing to do with nepal andd its trade.
Delete17.the only change tibet had was they now used coins under pn shah and not jay prakash. fedual buddhism started with the god-king dalai lama and the 20-30 feudal families sharing power amongst themselves(this was till dalai lama fled to india ) hundreds of years before that.
18. nepal didnt fight england in 1789,it was tibet later assisted by china.
19.the reason for recruiting gorkhas was primarily that the eic(and not england) had less manpower scattered and needed native cheap soldiers.they used pretty much every ethnic group of indian subcontinent against the other and thus played divide and rule. but yes they also wanted to make nepal weaker by taking the youth from her.
20.nepal didnt get money for the gorkha recruitment att first.till the time of jung bahadur, some nepali youths were literally smuggled by recruiting scouts but the bulk of gorkha soldiers were actually kumaoini,garwahli people.only when bir shumsher came to power he opened the formal ecruitment where the recruiters and scouts could come to interior nepal and recruit as much youth as possible.the ranas got some money ,but it was not big income. the big income was selling woods of terai and tiger,rhino,deer hides and elephant tusks.
19. the shah didnt fight amongst themselves much ,those were the bhardar families like thapa,pande,kunwar,rana,basnet etc.
even a naive guy interested in history can find such inaccuracies and false statements in this text. the writer doesnt know basic military formation,the exact dates or historic backgrounds. still people believe his BS since he is a white guy,such is our slave mentality.
These points are taken/copied from Wikipedia or any other main stream. Your are in their historical dogma.Evil has to tell us the truth so we consent to be lied to. That’s how karmic laws work.It wasn't repairs, it was simply to hide the truth as was, and still is, the way of the world, hide anything that doesn't fit with their narrative. Your points are a historical dilemma a propaganda to manipulate public opinion.
DeleteConfusing Nepal's history's realities.
ReplyDeleteWhy do fuckers get offended with this article? They think Prithvi Narayan Shah was God like because the text books told them so? Fuck off.
ReplyDeleteFuck off you chinese refuge. Learn history first! This article is very wrong. British gov. didn't helped Prithivi Narayan Shah. Moreover, prithivi narayan shah was very clever and smart and he was not wealthy and he didn't have money to arm army. And he brought some trainer from india and armed them. He was very good at tactics. And people like you (chinese refugees) can't prove wrong about history. The blood of King prithivi narayan shah is still running our veins. You people better run away from nepal and go to China or mongolia. So fuck off chinese and you dont have any right to talk about nepali history.
ReplyDeleteFuck off you chinese refuge. Learn history first! This article is very wrong. British gov. didn't helped Prithivi Narayan Shah. Moreover, prithivi narayan shah was very clever and smart and he was not wealthy and he didn't have money to arm army. And he brought some trainer from india and armed them. He was very good at tactics. And people like you (chinese refugees) can't prove wrong about history. The blood of King prithivi narayan shah is still running our veins. You people better run away from nepal and go to China or mongolia. So fuck off chinese and you dont have any right to talk about nepali history.
ReplyDeleteAnd he was very hard working, brave, smart, and clever king of nepal.
You better fuck yur mouth hindustani refugee. You dont know the history and Tamang and other mongolian tribe of Nepal. Your king pn shah is treachorous and cruel ruler in the history of Nepal. You fuckup by brainwashing history in yur mind says what you fed up by such history. If u continue yur treacherous policy n rules in Nepal your bahunsasan will end in near future future.
DeleteThis is very true. History is written always by winner. And this is what happened in Nepal history too. I hope one day all Nepali will know the truth of the Nepal history.
ReplyDeleteThis is very true. History is written always by winner. And this is what happened in Nepal history too. I hope one day all Nepali will know the truth of the Nepal history.
ReplyDeleteAccording to what i have read in many of the old historians writings, there was no mention of any such aids by the british to our late king Prithvi Narayan Shah. Its true that they were attacked by a small number of army after their conquest of kathmandu valley by East India Company but they lost because they underestimated the Gurkhas. And they all had to run downhill. That took place in gadhi. And the ammunitions and fight trainers were brought from banaras specially recruited by P.N Shah for training his brave but skill-less army.
ReplyDelete