between the colonists and the inhabitants of the plains of India; but, in fact, the resemblance, though strong, is not so complete as Colonel Kirkpatrick’s short stay amongst them induced him to suppose, as will appear from what I shall afterwards state.
These mountain Hindus appear to me a deceitful and treacherous people, cruel and arrogant towards those in their power, and abjectly mean towards those from whom they expect favour. Their men of rank, even of the sacred order, pass their nights in the company of male and female dancers and musicians, and, by an excessive indulgence in pleasure, are soon exhausted. Their mornings are passed in sleep, and the day is occupied by the performance of religious ceremonies, so that little time remains for business, or for storing their minds with useful knowledge. Except a few of the Brahmans, they are, in general, drunkards, which, joined to a temper uncommonly suspicious, and to a consciousness of having neglected the conjugal duties, works them up to a fury of jealousy that frequently produces assassination. For this they are all prepared, by wearing a large knife in their girdle, and the point of honour requires them never to rest, until they have shed the blood of the man who has been suspected of a criminal intercourse with their wives. The jealous man watches his opportunity for months, and even for years, should his adversary be on his guard; and, having at length found a favourable time, with one stroke of his knife in the throat of his rival, he satisfies his revenge. This is considered as so commendable, that, at Kathmandu, the police, in other respects very strict, does not at all interfere, although the murderer is often actuated merely by suspicion.
The higher ranks, whenever not compelled by the most urgent necessity, conceal their women; and their widows ought to burn themselves with their husbands’ corpse. Many, however, refuse, nor did I learn that force is ever used. The custom seems, however, more prevalent than in any part of India where I have been, the vicinity of Calcutta excepted.
The appearance and dress of the lower orders of these Parbatiya Hindus is represented in the plate opposite to page 40 of Kirkpatrick’s Nepaul, where the figure, behind those seated, is a porter of this tribe.
In these eastern parts of the dominions of Nepal, the mountain Hindus are far from having extirpated the aboriginal tribes, most of which, until the accession of the Gorkha family, enjoyed their customs and religion with little or no disturbance, and they are still numerous and powerful, as will be afterwards mentioned; but, west from the Kali river, there is a great difference. The whole people in Kumau, and Garhawal at least, as well as their language, are called Khasiyas, as having settled in the Khas country; but all pretend to be descended of colonists from the south, and disclaim every connection with the original impure barbarians. West from Garhawal, the term Khas is altogether rejected, and it is pretended that this impure race never held the country. Each cast, west from the Kali, preserves its race with the utmost care; nor are widows of the high cast permitted to become concubines. Except in a very few places, near the passes through the snowy mountains, the aboriginal inhabitants are alleged to have been obliged entirely to conform to the rules of Hindu purity, and to reject their ancient forms of worship; for I hope that the colonists from the south are not so bad as they pretend, and that religious zeal has not had such a victory over humanity as they allege; for the fear of being thought in any degree contaminated by the infidel Khas, would make them carefully conceal whatever indulgence humanity may have wrung from intolerance. To such a height is caution on this subject required, that the people, who have settled near the passes in the snowy mountains, although acknowledged as of the same tribes with those nearer the plain, and although they use the same language and manners, are called Bhotiyas, and are no longer permitted to intermarry with the people who can have no intercourse with these impure infidels. On account of this strictness, the Rajputs of the western districts are as much courted by those of the plains, as those east from the Kali are scouted.
The mountain tribes, which I consider aboriginal, as I have said, have Chinese or Tartar faces, but each spoke a peculiar language. Some used a written character altered from the Nagri, so as to enable it to express their utterance; others had not the use of letters. Before the arrival of Hindu colonies, they had no idea of cast; but some of the tribes confined their marriages to their own nation, while others admitted of intermarriages with strangers. The women in all seem to enjoy great indulgence, and are allowed, as in Europe, to form a choice for themselves, after they have arrived at mature years.
In all these hill tribes the women were weavers, and seem to have enjoyed great privileges; but the plurality of husbands had not been introduced with the religion of Thibet. Until the arrival of the Rajputs, they seem all to have eaten every kind of animal food, and still do so whenever they are at liberty to indulge their inclinations. They still continue to drink spirituous liquors. Each tribe appears originally to have had a priesthood and deities peculiar to itself, although the worship of Bhim Sen, the son of Pandu, seems to be very general, and to have been that which preceded the doctrine of the Buddhas; but first the Lamas, or, perhaps, rather the Zogis, and then the Brahmans, have made encroachments, and at the same time introduced many new customs. They have not yet introduced the custom of inoculation for the small-pox, and those who are seized are put into a separate hut, to which the friends daily convey water and food, but do not enter; and the sick is allowed to take his chance. They are all very slovenly and dirty.
The tribes, which, on the arrival of the colonies from Hindustan, occupied the country east from the Kali river, (for those to the west have been extirpated or abolished,) were chiefly Magars, Gurungs, Jariyas, Newars, Murmis, Kirats, Limbus, Lapchas, and Bhotiyas. Colonel Kirkpatrick [25] mentions also people called Nuggerkoties and Hawoos, of whom I have not heard. All these tribes he calls Hindus of the meanest cast; but on what foundation, unless that they are Pagans, and neither Christians nor Muhammedans, I do not know.
The Magars, called Mungurs by Colonel Kirkpatrick, occupied a great proportion of the lower hills in the western parts, seem to have received the Rajput chiefs with much cordiality, and have now adopted a great part of the ferocious customs of these mountain Hindus. They eat copiously the flesh of hogs, goats, sheep, ducks, and fowls, but now abstain from beef. They are much addicted to intoxication, and are excessively cruel and treacherous; but they are men of great bodily vigour and mental activity. They have, in general, submitted to the guidance of the same Brahmans and Sannyasis that instruct the Rajputs; but formerly had priests of their own tribe called Damis, and seemed to have worshipped chiefly ghosts. They marry only one wife.
The family of Gorkha which now governs Nepal, although it pretends to come from Chitaur, according to Sadu Ram, a good authority, is, in reality, of the Magar tribe; and, at any rate, these people are now firmly attached to its interests, by having largely shared in the sweets of conquest; and by far the greatest part of the regular troops of that family is composed of this nation. Colonel Kirkpatrick [26a] has given a short vocabulary of its language, which has no affinity to the Parbatiya or Sangskrita. In the vocabulary which I have deposited in the Company’s library, will be seen a more full specimen of the Magar language, which now, at least, is written in the Nagri character. By many of the soldiery, owing to their frequent absence from home, for the purpose of attending at court, it has been entirely forgotten. In a short time, therefore, it is highly probable that this people may unite with the mountain Hindus, and be considered as one of their casts. When I was at Kathmandu, indeed, I found that many people were then of this opinion; and Colonel Kirkpatrick [26b] includes them among the Kshatriya or military cast. But hitherto the tribe has been so powerful, that many people in the west speak its language although they do not belong to it; and by far the greatest number adhere to the original impurity of life which their ancestors embraced. Before the arrival of the Rajputs, it is said, that this nation consisted of twelve Thums, or clans, the whole members of each being supposed to have a common extraction in the male line; and a man and woman of the same blood could not intermarry. Each Thum was governed by a chief, considered as the head of a common family.
Near the Magars was settled a numerous tribe named Gurung, whose wealth chiefly consisted in sheep, but whose manners are, in most respects, nearly the same with those of the Magars, except that, in the course of their pastoral life, they frequent the Alpine regions in summer, and return to the valleys in winter. The men also employ themselves in weaving blankets; but they are a tribe addicted to arms. A chief who pretended to be of the Hindu colony, and who was Raja of Kaski, having either settled where these Gurungs were the most predominant