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yana,' which was repeated on the initiation-ceremony. A revival of letters, too, is vouched for by the fact that lengthy Sanskrit inscriptions in prose and verse, which had disappeared for some five centuries or more, now re-appear and are continued in the reign of Jayasthiti's son.4

3

Unlike most Indian princes, Jayasthiti had, according to my conjecture, some appreciation of the value of history. When he enters on the scene there is a slight change in the style of the present chronicle. Newari words become much more frequent. It seems to me as though the chronicle V1 had been finished off by a partisan of the king. In the case of the Vamśavali preserved by Wright, traces of manipulation seem to me still clearer. After a rather jejune account of his (alleged) predecessors this chronicle bursts into sudden eloquence of detail on the doings of Jayasthiti. There seems no reason to doubt the accuracy of these particulars, though as Dr. Wright points out in his note (p. 183) there is a medley of inaccurate and accurate 5 dates (p. 187). The king's literary proclivities are even exemplified by a specimen of his composition (ibid.)

6

So far so good. Where one seems to see the traces of deliberate falsification is in the total omission of the real kings of Nepal immediately preceding and following the invasion of Harisimhadeva, and the insertion of a string of ancestors for Jayasthiti with impossible reigns and dates. These are tabulated in the Historical Introduction to my Cambridge Catalogue, p. xv. There is no agreement in the lists. of ancestors, except that all seem to show a tradition current at least in the XVIIth century A.D. that the family of Jayasthiti was descended from Harisimha by the male line, though it should be observed that the inscription there cited ignores Jayasthiti and his immediate ancestors and goes, by a considerable manḍukapluti from Jayasthiti's grandson Yakşamalla back to 'Earayat'-simha. Even more suggestive of what I regard as the correct facts is the form of Inscription No. 16 of

A dramatized Ramayana appears in the present collection, p. 246. 2 See note 2 to preceding page.

3 'Journey in Nepal' pp. 12, 83. Bhagvanlāl and Wright mention an inscription of the king himself on a stone near Lalitapaṭṭan.'

4 Ind. Ant. IX, 183.

5 This (N.S. 515), it should be observed, is the first date in that Vamsavali that is reconcileable with the testimony of MS.-colophons and inscriptions save only the memorable date of Harisimha's invasion (p. 175).

• Wright's' Anandamalla' (pp. 262-299) seems to be a mixture of Anantamalla and Jayanandadeva. He totally omits Jayabhima, Jayarāja and Jayārjuna, alb mentioned in the present chronicle and confirmed by MSS.

7 The inscription and the play cited fall within this century.

Bhagvanlal's series which was issued by the son of Jayasthiti, Jyotirmalla in N.S. 533. Here there is a short genealogy (tabulated by Bhagvanlal), but no 'fancy' ancestry on his father's side. On the contrary, he mentions his father merely as belonging to, the Süryavamśa and then most significantly adds that he (Jayasthiti) was the husband of Rajalladevi. The reason is now clear. It was through his mother and not through his father that Jyotirmalla had any hereditary claim to the throne.

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We may now turn back to a very important point in this part of the history of Nepal, around which a good deal of misapprehension has gathered, namely the invasion of Harisimha.

In spite of the boast of Candesvara, Harisimha's minister that he was "victorious over all the kings of Nepal", there seems to be at present no evidence beyond that of the Vamśāvali-tradition preserved by Wright and Bhagvanlāl to show that Harisimha established himself in the valley of Nepal. Against this we may place the testimony of the new Vamsavali which was composed within about half a century of the event in question and (what is far more convincing) is confirmed by the colophons of several MSS. The precise nature of Harisimha's expedi tion may be further explained by the Newari extract forming fig. 10 of the Plate; but meanwhile one can see that the effect of his expedition could hardly have been permanent, as not many years after we find a representative of the old royal family (Jayadeva)3 on the throne. Until more evidence is forthcoming, it seems safer to regard Harisimha and his ancestors who reigned in Tirhut, Simraon and also possibly other parts of the Nepal-Tarai as at most titular kings of Nepal, even if they really claimed sovereignty over the valley of Nepal at all.

5

For Jayasthiti's reign MSS. are, as I have said, numerous. The earliest date (NS. 500) is taken from the Cat. p. 43, where, beside the

1 Jayāsthiti has the very same epithet (Rajalladevi-pati) during his lifetime in N.S. 500. See Cat. p. 43 1. 23.

2 Dānaratnākara, stanza 3 ap. Eggeling, Cat 1.0. p. 412.

8 As to Jayadeva, Pandit Haraprasad has very kindly furnished me with a bracing of the colophon of the Soclety's MS. first described by him in J. A. S. B., LXII. i., p. 250. From this it is now clear that Jayadeva (the reading 'vijayadeva cannot stand) reigned on till N.S. 476, Phālguna.

♦ It should be noted that the Wright-Bhagvanlal tradition brings in a long fine of ancestors for Harisimha and has to stretch out the true chronology of the kingdom to work them in. Once regard them as merely kings of the Nepal-Tarni and all becomes simple. As to Nanya-deva the reputed founder of the Simraon dynasty, see Duff, Chronology, p. 134 and add a reference to Ep. Indica, I, 313.

5 Caṇḍeśvara in the Kriyāratnākara, st. 4 merely says that his master' ruled over all Mithila' (Cat. Skt. MSS. I.0. p. 410).

epithet 'Rājalladevi-pati' already referred to, several additional details of interest are supplied. Among them is the name of the minister Jayata who figures also in the chronicle (V3) at f. 54 b, as Srīupādhyā [ya] in connection with the names of the king and queen.

The next king was Jayasimharāma who may well have been a regent, as in the year mentioned (516) the eldest son was only 19 years of age.1

I have elsewhere called attention to the curious triple regency of the three sons of Jayasthiti, confirmed as it is by two contemporary MSS. It is worth noting that the three princes did not divide the kingdom, but all ruled together in the little town of Bhatgaon which then was the capital. Three years later Jayadharmamalla is said in an inscription at Patan to be reigning as yuvarāj, an expression which would imply that Jayasthiti was still alive, in retirement. I give the text of the documents below.2

Of Jayadharma as actual king we have no trace. The second son Jyotirmalla is recorded in the inscription (Bhagvanlāl No. 16) already quoted to have been reigning in N.S. 533 apparently as sole king, though his brothers are mentioned. As he restored the Hindu shrine of Pasupati and the Buddhist shrines on the Svayambhu hill we may perhaps conclude that he reigned over the whole valley. In the three MSS. given in the Table Jyotirmalla is mentioned as reigning alone

1 Born 487, Prathamāṣāḍha, V3 54 b. Jayasimhar is mentioned with Jayarjuna (as being at Kathmandu ;) 548 : सं ४८६ कार्त्तिका शुदि १० थ्व को श्रीजयाजेनदेव स वो जयसिंहराम महाथ स वो अपनाह था ङ ङ वो चाल कंतिपुर [sic] gfafe In N.S. 507 he joined Jayasthiti and his family at the yātrā at Bugama (63, b.). With mahath Dr. Grierson compares the forms mahatha, mahantha 'great person.'

2 Compare Cambridge Cat., p. ix., "Journey " pp., 15, 16, and Table. The verse written in Camb. MSS. Add. 1664, 2197 runs thus:

भक्तापुरी नगयां च चयो राजा [sic] बिराजते ।

धर्म योतिश्च ( जो 2197 ) कोर्तिख जेष्ठ [sic] मध्यकनिष्ठके ॥

The opening of the inscription found by me in 1884, as described, but not published,-(for it is chiefly in Newari and much damaged in the lower part), runs thus (I print it with all its characteristic errors of spelling, etc.) :

संवत् ५१३ बैशाख कृष्ण दशम्यायां तिथौ । रेवतिनतचे आयुष्मानयोगे बुद्धवसरे कृषराशि गते सवितरि मानरशिगते चन्द्रे ॥ जबराजराज श्रीश्रीजयधर्ममादेवस्य विजयराज्ये ॥ The inscription records the repair of a well connected with Manīgalādhipa-Sridakṣiņavihāra' and setting up of images.

(N. S. 540-547). Early in the next year Yakṣamalla, the eldest son of Jayajyotih, as we find from the above-cited inscription, has succeeded to the throne; and dated MSS. are fairly plentiful for the long reign (43 years) assigned to him. by the Vamśavali of Wright.

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As to the history of this time some information is given by the interesting MS. described at pp. 107-9 of the present Catalogue. The author is king Jagajjyotimalla of Bhatgaon, sixth in succession after Yakṣa. According to this work Yakṣa went as far as Magadha, conquering Mithila and set in order all Nepal, subduing the rājas of the mountains.' The triple division of the kingdom, already known to us, is then mentioned, including the assignment to the eldest son Rāyamalla of the country east of the Vāǹmati (Bāgmati) river with Bhatgaon as capital.

In Table II. I summarize the chronology of the reigns then ensuing.

2

Dated MSS. are not at first numerous; but for the Bhatgaon line the MS. at Cat., p. 107, just referred to, is valuable, especially as royal authorship is attributed to it. The joint-regency of Jita and Prāņa given in the Table is stated in the Catalogue at p. 102 and confirmed by an inscription copied by me at Thäiba (olim Thasiba). That the later king Trailokya should have been also known by the synonymous name Tribhurana seems at first sight improbable; but the inscription on which I base the statement was found by me at Thimi, which is east of the Bagmati and not far from Bhatgaon. After the beginning of the XVII century dates from coins become fairly plentiful, see the Table II in my "Journey."

For the line of Kathmandu, dated documents are at first still more scarce; but later on dates are quite numerous.

I have added in Table II appended to the present article a third column for the Banepa dynasty, because the first king at least was a real person and from the Cat. p. 115 seems to have been a literary man. In any case the separate dynasty of Banepa did not last much more than a century, as I find from copies of inscriptions recently received by me3 from Panauti a place in the Banepa valley somewhat east of

1 Cam. Add. 1649 a work on astrology attributed to the king himself and copied N.S. 532 makes a fourth if the retouched colophon (see my Cat. p. 155) be correct, as there seems little reason to doubt.

2 In a part of the village called Antal tol and near a caitya. The village lies E. from Patan towards Harsiddhi and Bañregãon. The date runs thus:

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जित्मा प्रभु ठाकुरस्य श्री श्री प्राणमज्ञदेवठाकुरस [य] द्वयो [र] विजयाराजे [sic] वत् ६४४ नष्ट भाद्रपद.

3 Through the kindness of Colonel Pears, the present Resident.

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Banepa, that the kings of Bhatgāon, Jagatprakāśa and his success of Jitāmitra (1642-16891) were acknowledged there.

II.—WESTERN NEPAL.

The town of Noakot or Nayakot (which I visited in my recent tour) seems to have been a kind of frontier between the valley of Nepal or Nepal proper and the Western districts. Wright's History (pp. 223-5) mentions the seizure of the place by a Gorkha sovereign previous to the general Gorkha Conquest.

The MS. in the Wright-collection numbered 1108 seems to have been written hére. For e is doubtless (though the identification escaped me when I wrote my Cambridge Catalogue, p. 30) a Sanskritized form of the town's name. The date of the king (Ratnajyotiḥ) has been verified by Dr. Kielhorn and corresponds to January 14th, 1392.

During the following century no chronological data are forthcoming. I may note in passing that an educated Nepalese told me that inscribed stones, which he thought resembled those published by Pandit Bhagvanlal and myself, existed in the valleys of Western Nepal.

Dr. Wright published (History, Chapter XII) an account of the reigning (Gorkha) dynasty from Dravya Sah (A. D. 1559) to the pre

sent time.

It is interesting to find in the present collection (pp. 242-4) a MS. giving confirmation of this record. It was composed by Rajendravikrama Sāh, who reigned 1816-1847. It might be worthwhile to publish extracts from this MS., when further confirmatory material (from old MSS. or inscriptions) comes to light. Meanwhile, it is worth noting that Wright's date, 1559, founded on a Vikramà-date, is curiously corroborated by a chronogram (vidhu-vasu-nigama-glau 2), which gives the corresponding Saka year (1481). At p. 213 of the Catalogue we find a MS. written during the reign of Varavira Sahi, in 1614, at Jaṭāpattana. This looks like Saka 1614 (A.D. 1692), when Virabhadra Sahi was alive, though, according to Wright, he was only yuvarāj and never mahārāja.s

I For the latter date see Cat. p. 150. N.S. 810, Paușa. One of the new inscriptions is dated some six years later: 816, Jyeṣṭha.

* Read thus p. 242 1. 25. I was much troubled by the reading gnau. But on referring to the MS., through the kind intermediary of the Resident, I found that the tracing read glau. This rare word has hitherto been found, in lexicons only, in the sense of 'moon' or 'earth' (=1). .

3 Bhagvanlāl's Inscr. No. 18 fixes the date of another Gorkha sovereign in recording the defeat of Dambaraśāh by Pratapamalla, N.S. 769 (A.D. 1649).

J. 1. 3

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