The oval of rice land that holds Kathmandu, Patan, Bhaktapur and the villages round them, an old lake bed drained through the Chobar gorge.
It is where the Newar people live and where the kingship has its seat, and it is the one part of the sheet with a continuous record from the fifth century (Manadeva's pillar at Changu Narayan, 464). Wikipedia's Newar page says the Buddhist and the Shaiva-Vaishnava ways have been established there since antiquity, that the caste order was introduced under the Licchavis and took its present shape under the Mallas (it does not say when), that Newar-language inscriptions begin in the twelfth century and that the earliest dated Nepal Bhasa manuscript is the Uku Bahal palm leaf of 1114. The wealth is the rice of the floor and the toll on the two Tibet roads.
Who holds it
- Name
- Not pinned (see the Nepal throne record)
- Title
- King at Bhaktapur
- Since
- not pinned
- Born
- not known
- Family
- not known
- Confidence
- low
The throne record sets out the readings of the Malla accession.
What it holds
- Kathmandu, Patan and Bhaktapur
- the villages of the floor and the Bungadyah festival circuit
- the eastern road toll at Banepa
- the Pashupati and Changu Narayan endowments
How things stand that morning
The seat of a throne that is changing or about to change; no raid or war is dated for the winter.
Wealth
Rice, tolls on the Tibet roads, Patan's casting trade.
Military
No army is recorded and no number is known.
Customs
The guthi (trust) and the bahal sangha order festival, temple and rota. Buddhist householder monks (Shakya, Vajracharya) and Shaiva and Vaishnava Brahmin priests share the valley. Sanskrit and, from the twelfth century, Nepal Bhasa are the written languages.
Assemblies
The guthi and the sangha of each bahal; no royal council is recorded for 1200.
Tribute
Tolls on the roads to India and Tibet and the royal share of the rice; the amounts are not known.
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: The institutions are certain; nothing is dated to 1200.
On the map: The rim's limit towards Nuwakot, Dolakha and the Tamang hills is a guess.
Primary sources for Nepal valley
Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.
- The Gopala Raja Chronicle, and the Nepalese colophons, Anonymous (chronicle); various scribes (colophons) (the chronicle about 1389; the colophons are contemporary notes of the 11th to 14th centuries). The Nepal valley in 1200 is known chiefly from dated manuscript colophons and short inscriptions, which name the reigning king with the Nepal era year, and from the Gopalarajavamsavali, a chronicle written about 1389 that lists the kings with regnal years.
- History of Buddhism in India and Tibet, Buton Rinchen Drub (Bu ston Rin chen grub) (1322). Optional background. Read online
- The Blue Annals, Go Lotsawa Zhonnu Pal ('Gos lo tsa ba gZhon nu dpal) (1476 to 1478). The fullest Tibetan account of who mattered around 1200, written three centuries later from earlier biographies and lineage records, many now lost. Read online
- The Sakya genealogy, and the works of the Sakya hierarch of 1200, Jetsun Drakpa Gyaltsen (Grags pa rgyal mtshan) and Sakya Pandita; the genealogy by Ngawang Kunga Sonam (the hierarchs' writings about 1170 to 1250; the genealogy 1629). Sakya in 1200 was ruled by Jetsun Drakpa Gyaltsen, the third of the five founders, with his nephew Kunga Gyaltsen (later Sakya Pandita, born 1182) under his teaching. Read online
Sources and studies
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.