Thakkura houses

Who he is

Name

Not known by name for 1 January 1200

Title

Lords (thakkura, thakuri) of the rim and the outposts

Since

not pinned

Born

not known

Family

Wikipedia's Thakuri page says that after the weak king Harshadeva (c. 1090s) 'the nobles asserted themselves in their own spheres'. The two houses later called Bhonta (the line of Jayabhimadeva of Banepa) and Tripura (the line of Jayasimha of Bhaktapur) are first attested in the 1240s and 1250s (Wikipedia, Abhaya Malla and Jayadeva Malla, citing Petech pp. 83-88).

Confidence

low

No lord of the rim is named for 1200 in anything we could read. 'Jayasimha Malla of Bhadgaon and Jayabhimadeva of Banepa started gathering political power from around 1249' (Wikipedia, Abhaya Malla), so the houses that fight for the throne after 1258 are not yet attested in 1200.

What it holds

• Banepa and the eastern basin
• Nuwakot and the Trishuli outposts
• Dolakha and the Tamakoshi copper hills
• villages and tolls on the Kuti and Kyirong roads

How it was acquired

By the king's grant, by inheritance and by holding the road; no grant of the 1190s was found.

Allies and rivals

The king at Bhaktapur, to whom they answer; each other; the Karnata raiders; the Tamang and Magar villagers in their hills.

How things stand that morning

Loyal outposts of a king whose hold is that of a patron of nobles, not of a commander; the later rise of Banepa under its own line of chiefs (the campaign board's note) shows how loosely the rim is held.

Wealth

Tolls on the roads, grain and copper from the hills, the retinue's service.

Military

Their own retainers and the hill forts (kot). No number is known.

Threats

• Karnata raids
• rivalry with the king and with each other

What the year holds

What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.

1. c. 1249 and 1258 (later)Jayasimha (Bhaktapur, Tripura) and Jayabhimadeva (Banepa, Bhonta) gather power; after the death of Jayadeva Malla in 1258 they agree to alternate the throne and Jayabhimadeva becomes king.Depends on: A weak Malla king; the line of Arideva dies out. Stopped by: A strong king in the valley.

Places of note

• Banepa: Basin town on the eastern road; later seat of the Bhonta.
• Nuwakot: Hill fort on the Trishuli.
• Dolakha: Eastern hill town, Bhimeswar the eastern limit of the Nepal Mandala.

Where the sources disagree

• The assignment names 'the Bhonta and Tripura houses where attested': they are attested only from about 1249 (Wikipedia, citing Petech), so they are not shown as lords of 1200.
• The campaign board entry nala and banepa: 'in 1200 it answers to Bhaktapur': agreed as an inference; no document found.

Evidence: No document of the 1190s was found for any of these lords; the structure is inferred from the later houses.

"The campaign board" is OMNIA's working map. These notes record where its earlier claims were checked against the sources.

On the map: The three parts are the king's outposts; which noble holds which is not known.

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