Malla dynasty (Nepal)
The Malla dynasty also known as the Malla Confederacy, was the ruling dynasty of Nepal Mandala which consists of the Kathmandu Valley and its surrounding region in modern-day Nepal from 1201 to 1769. This dynasty was founded by Arideva Malla. Though the latter Mallas were regarded as belonging to the Raghuvamsha dynasty, they were also seen as continuations and descendants of the Licchavi dynasty. Later Malla kings, particularly those of Bhaktapur starting from Jagajjyoti Malla also traced one section of their lineage from Nanyadeva, the founder of the Karnat dynasty of Mithila. The term Malla means wrestler in Sanskrit. The first use of the word Malla in the Kathmandu Valley began in 1201.
Beginning in the early twelfth century, leading notables in Nepal began to appear with names ending in the term malla, ("wrestler" in Sanskrit), indicating a person of great strength and power. Arimalla (reigned 1200–16) was the first king to be so-called, 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 before the Malla dynasty. 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 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.
Early Malla period
The long Malla period witnessed the continued importance of the Kathmandu Valley as a political, cultural, and economic centre of Nepal. Other areas also began to emerge as significant centres in their own right, increasingly connected to the Kathmandu Valley. 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, Muslim Turks set up a powerful kingdom in India at Delhi, and in the thirteenth century, Turko Afghan khaljis expanded their control over most of northern India. During this process, all of the regional kingdoms in India underwent a major reshuffling and considerable fighting before they eventually fell under Delhi's control. This process resulted in an increasing militarization of Nepal's neighbours and sections of Nepal as well. For example, in western Nepal, around Dullu in the Jumla Valley, an alternative seat of political and military power grew up around a separate dynasty of Mallas (who were not related to the Mallas of the Kathmandu Valley), who reigned until the fourteenth century. These Khas kings expanded into parts of western Tibet and sent raiding expeditions into the Kathmandu Valley between 1275 and 1335. In 1312 the Khas king, Ripumalla, visited Lumbini and had his inscription carved on Ashoka's pillar. He then entered the Kathmandu Valley to worship publicly at Matsyendranath, Pashupatinath, and Swayambhunath. These acts were all public announcements of his overlordship in Nepal and signified the temporary breakdown of royal power within the valley. The first Malla rulers had to cope with several disasters. In 1255, one-third of the population of Kathmandu (30,000 people, including King Abhaya Malla) was killed when the valley suffered an earthquake with the epicentre right below the city. A devastating Muslim invasion by the Sultan of Bengal Shamsuddin Ilyas Shah in 1345–46, during the reign of Jayaraja Deva (r. 1347–1361), left plundered Hindu and Buddhist shrines in its wake. The invasion, however, did not leave a lasting cultural effect. In India, the damage was more widespread and many Hindus were driven into the hills and mountains of Nepal, where they established small Rajbanshi principalities. None of the existing buildings in the valley proper dates from before this raid. He is said to have destroyed the Lichchhavi palaces of Managriha and Kailashkuta.[citation needed] He also damaged all the temples in the Kathmandu valley except the Changu Narayan Temple, which he could not locate as it lies some hills away from Kathmandu. He returned after 3 days of looting and burning.
Period of three kingdoms
After 1482, a crucial date in Nepalese history, the kingdom was divided. At first, the six sons of Yaksha Malla attempted to reign collegially, in their grandfathers' pattern. Ratna Malla was the first to rebel against this system of joint rule, seizing Kathmandu in 1484 and ruling there alone until he died in 1520. Rayamalla, the eldest brother, ruled Bhadgaon with the other brothers until his death when the crown there passed into the hands of his descendants. Banepa broke away under Rama Malla until its reincorporation into the Bhadgaon kingdom in 1649. Patan remained aloof, dominated by factions of its local nobility, until Sivasimha Malla, a descendant of Ratna Malla, conquered it in 1597 and united it with Kathmandu. On his death, however, Kathmandu and Patan were given to different grandsons and again separated. The centre of Nepal thus remained split into three competing kingdoms, roughly based on Bhadgaon, Kathmandu, and Patan. The influence of these petty kingdoms outside the valley varied over time. Bhadgaon extended its feeble power as far as the Dudh Kosi in the east, Kathmandu-controlled areas to the north and as far west as Nuwakot, and Patan included territories to the south as far as Makwanpur. The relationships among the kingdoms within the valley became quite convoluted. Although all three ruling houses were related and periodically intermarried, their squabbles over minuscule territorial gains or ritual slights repeatedly led to warfare. The kings attended coronation rituals or marriages at each other's capitals and then plotted the downfalls of their relatives.
Portuguese
The first contact between the people of Nepal and Europeans also occurred during the period of the later Mallas. In 1623 the Portuguese from Goa sent missionaries António de Andrade, João Cabral and Estêvão Cacella to visit Lhasa in 1628, after which Cabral travelled to Nepal. The mission was to find Christian kingdoms allied with the Portuguese to propagate the faith and trade. In the early stages, they thought it was the mythical kingdom of Catai. The offer of gifts also took place in other kingdoms such as the same happened in Bhutan, where military support was offered by the Portuguese against the enemy kingdoms. This gesture aimed at creating an alliance that would allow converting and creating new convents as well as expanding the Portuguese influence in Asia. In 1670 King Pratap Malla invited the Jesuits to settle in the country. The first Capuchin mission was founded in Kathmandu in 1715.
British
By 1764 the British East India Company, officially a private trading corporation with its 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 Tibet, where the Nepalese had their 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.
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, Tej Narsingh Malla of Lalitpur and Ranajit Malla of Bhaktapur. Prithvi Narayan Shah and his Gokhali troops surrounded the Kathmandu Valley. In the day of Indrajatra, when there was festival going on, Prithvi Narayan Shah attacked Yen Kantipur. Jaya Prakash Malla was helpless and he went to Lalitpur to seek asylum. Tej Narasimha Malla ruled that kingdom. After some time Prithvi Narayan Shah attacked Lalitpur and Jaya Prakash Malla along with Tej Narasimha Malla fled to Bhaktapur to seek asylum. When Prithvi Narayan Shah attacked Bhaktapur, Ranajit Malla was defeated. This resulted in the victory of Prithvi Narayan Shah over Kathmandu Valley and marked the end of the Malla period. The later period of the Malla dynasty in Lalitpur involved administration by the Six Pradhans.
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 buildings in each city's Durbar Square are a testament to the huge amounts of money spent by rulers striving to outdo each other. 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 Banepa to the northeast and via Rasuwa and the Kyirong Valley near Langtang to the northwest. Traders would cross the jungle-infested Terai during winter to avoid virulent malaria and then wait in Kathmandu for the mountain passes to open later that summer. Kathmandu grew rich and its rulers converted their wealth into gilded pagodas and ornately carved royal palaces. In the mid-17th century, Nepal gained the right to mint Tibet's coins using Tibetan silver, further enriching the kingdom's coffers.
