Tracing the roots of Dolakha’s Newars

While the Lakhe dance was in full swing in the ancient town of Dolakha on the eve of Hile Jatra, the editor of Shankhdhwani Media, Mahendra Shrestha, wrote about the traditional dance implying that Newars chased from the Kathmandu valley have been performing this dance (for ages) in areas where they have resettled, including in Dolakha. 

There’s no doubt that the Newars perform the Lakhe dance in places of their residence, but I could not digest his view that seemed to imply that a section of the Newars chased away from the valley resettled in Dolakha. This is because the kingdom of Dolakha was one of the four kingdoms of the Newars during the medieval period (along with Lalitpur, Bhaktapur and Kathmandu). It was as prominent as the kingdoms of the valley as noted historian Baburam Acharya has clearly written in his work titled ‘Nepalko Sanskrtik Parampara’: Between Trishuli and Tamakoshi rivers, the kings of the four Malla kingdoms of Kathmandu, Lalitpur,  Bhaktapur and Dolakha on the north side of the Mahabharata mountain range seem to  be referring to the area where they rule as ‘Nepal’. But later, when the kings started calling themselves ‘Dolakhadhipati’ (the kings of Dolakha, as inscribed in the coin of Dolakha), the border of the state of Nepal got further ‘narrowed’, with the eastern border constricted to the Sunkoshi river.  

Therefore, it is not logical to say that the Newars of Dolakha were driven out of  Kathmandu. It is beyond doubt that Newars were chased from the valley or fled it at some point in time, they may even have entered Dolakha while fleeing the valley and taken shelter there. This is because two-three Newar families living in Dolakha still claim that their ancestors came from Bhaktapur, but no other Newar family identifies Kathmandu or Patan as the place of their ancestors.  

The translated segment of ‘Mero Katha Mero Vyatha’, a book authored by Bhaktapur-based senior litterateur and Nepali Congress leader Tilak Prakash about the escape of the Newars from the valley, reads:

“Even after the capture of the Kathmandu valley in the 18th century of Vikram Sambat, the wrath of the ambitious king of Gorkha, Prithvi Narayan Shah, had not subsided. As soon as Kirtipur fell, he started torturing the people. Prithvi Narayan Shah was very angry with the people close to the palace of Bhaktapur and intellectuals. That is why thousands of Bhaktapur residents were killed after the war. Thousands of people left their children and women stranded at home and fled empty-handed, some to the east, some to the west, some to the north and some to the south, overnight. Some of these people started residing in Naya Pati of the present-day Kathmandu, some in Dolakha, Dumja and some in Aiselukharka of Sindhupalchowk. Those who moved to the west started living in places like Dhading, Nuwakot, Rasuwa, Chitwan, Bandipur, Syangja, Tanahun, Pokhara, Tansen and Lamjung.”

Acharya’s (translated) account of three different waves of exodus from the valley read thus: 

“Upon the return of Malla king Bhupatindra to power, those opposing his return were driven out of the Kathmandu valley. After Prithvi Narayan Shah’s conquest of the valley, thousands of people, who helped and supported the Malla kings were either killed, deported or fled overnight to save their lives. Then, during the reign of Rana Bahadur Shah as well, thousands of families and households infected with smallpox were driven away from the kingdom.”

Historian Acharya explains the reason behind the spread of the Newars from Mechi to Mahakali thus:

“After the end of the Malla dynastic rule, King Prithvi Narayan Shah and his successors introduced a rule to not recruit people from Newar communities in the army. As a result, the ‘Chhathari Vaishyas’, who claimed to be the Kshetriyas, were left without their ancestral profession, with their entry into the army banned. These people landed positions in government offices, in the Hills and in the Tarai, from Mechi to Mahakali”. 

After the lifting of restrictions on recruitment into the army, my ancestor, Major Dhanman Joshi, served in Kumaon Gadhwal for a few years. This shows that the Newars have not only been driven out of the valley, but have also reached different parts of the country in the course of employment. For example, my father’s elder brother left for a job in Bhojpur district and settled there.  

Historian Acharya rings alarm regarding the tendency of Newars forgetting their mother tongue after emigration through this account(translated): 

“Between 1769 and 1805, some Newars were driven out or expelled from Nepal Byansi. They have settled in main settlements like Pokhara, Palpa, Dhankuta, Doti; these people have already forgotten or are on the verge of forgetting their dialect. The same is true for the Newars, who later migrated from the valley on their own. In some places like Dolakha, which is (one of the) original hometowns of the Newars, the Newari dialect still survives.”

Another important reason why Newars have spread across the country and set up markets there is that Newars are proficient in the art of doing business. According to historian Acharya, “King Prithvi Narayan Shah laid the foundation of modern Nepal in 1766 and started reunifying Nepal by making Kathmandu the national capital. By 1792, Nepal covered the Tista river in the east, the Alaknanda in the west, whereas in 1805, Nepal’s western border extended further to the Sutlej river.

The unification of Nepal also meant expansion of the market and the Newars, well known for their trade and business skills, went across the country from Bhaktapur, Patan, Banepa, Dhulikhel and Dolakha, set up their businesses and settled there.  

The descendants of some of these intrepid traders and businessmen can still be found in Dolakha. It may be recalled that in Pithoragarh of Kumaon, which was under Nepal’s control for 25 years before the 1814-1816 Anglo-Nepal War, the Lakhe dance is shown during ‘Hille Jatra’ in August as in Dolakha, which is locally known as ‘Lakhia Bhoot’. Newars might have introduced this Jatra and Lakhe dance there as well.  

 

The author, a professor of Business economics, writes on economic and cultural matters