NepalThe Early Kingdom of the Licchavis, 400-750
Svayambhunath stupa, decked with multicolored Buddhist prayer flags
Courtesy Harvey Follender
In the late fifth century, rulers calling themselves
Licchavis
began to record details on politics, society, and economy
in Nepal.
The Licchavis were known from early Buddhist legends as a
ruling
family during the Buddha's time in India, and the founder
of the
Gupta Dynasty claimed that he had married a Licchavi
princess.
Perhaps some members of this Licchavi family married
members of a
local royal family in the Kathmandu Valley, or perhaps the
illustrious history of the name prompted early Nepalese
notables to
identify themselves with it. In any case, the Licchavis of
Nepal
were a strictly local dynasty based in the Kathmandu
Valley and
oversaw the growth of the first truly Nepalese state.
The earliest known Licchavi record, an inscription of
Manadeva
I, dates from 464, and mentions three preceding rulers,
suggesting
that the dynasty began in the late fourth century. The
last
Licchavi inscription was in A.D. 733. All of the Licchavi
records
are deeds reporting donations to religious foundations,
predominantly Hindu temples. The language of the
inscriptions is
Sanskrit, the language of the court in north India, and
the script
is closely related to official Gupta scripts. There is
little doubt
that India exerted a powerful cultural influence,
especially
through the area called Mithila, the northern part of
present-day
Bihar State. Politically, however, India again was divided
for most
of the Licchavi period.
To the north, Tibet grew into an expansive military
power
through the seventh century, declining only by 843. Some
early
historians, such as the French scholar Sylvain Lévi,
thought that
Nepal may have become subordinate to Tibet for some time,
but more
recent Nepalese historians, including Dilli Raman Regmi,
deny this
interpretation. In any case, from the seventh century
onward a
recurring pattern of foreign relations emerged for rulers
in Nepal:
more intensive cultural contacts with the south, potential
political threats from both India and Tibet, and
continuing trade
contacts in both directions.
The Licchavi political system closely resembled that of
northern India. At the top was the "great king"
(maharaja), who in
theory exercised absolute power but in reality interfered
little in
the social lives of his subjects. Their behavior was
regulated in
accordance with dharma through their own village and caste
councils. The king was aided by royal officers led by a
prime
minister, who also served as a military commander. As the
preserver
of righteous moral order, the king had no set limit for
his domain,
whose borders were determined only by the power of his
army and
statecraft--an ideology that supported almost unceasing
warfare
throughout South Asia. In Nepal's case, the geographic
realities of
the hills limited the Licchavi kingdom to the Kathmandu
Valley and
neighboring valleys and to the more symbolic submission of
less
hierarchical societies to the east and west. Within the
Licchavi
system, there was ample room for powerful notables
(samanta)
to keep their own private armies, run their own
landholdings, and
influence the court. There was thus a variety of forces
struggling
for power. During the seventh century, a family known as
the Abhira
Guptas accumulated enough influence to take over the
government.
The prime minister, Amsuvarman, assumed the throne between
approximately 605 and 641, after which the Licchavis
regained
power. The later history of Nepal offers similar examples,
but
behind these struggles was growing a long tradition of
kingship.
The economy of the Kathmandu Valley already was based
on
agriculture during the Licchavi period. Artworks and
place-names
mentioned in inscriptions show that settlements had filled
the
entire valley and moved east toward Banepa, west toward
Tisting,
and northwest toward present-day Gorkha. Peasants lived in
villages
(grama) that were administratively grouped into
larger units
(dranga). They grew rice and other grains as
staples on
lands owned by the royal family, other major families,
Buddhist
monastic orders (sangha), or groups of Brahmans
(agrahara). Land taxes due in theory to the king
were often
allocated to religious or charitable foundations, and
additional
labor dues (vishti) were required from the
peasantry in
order to keep up irrigation works, roads, and shrines. The
village
head (usually known as pradhan, meaning a leader in
family
or society) and leading families handled most local
administrative
issues, forming the village assembly of leaders
(panchalika
or grama pancha). This ancient history of localized
decision
making served as a model for late twentieth-century
development
efforts.
One of the most striking features of present-day
Kathmandu
Valley is its vibrant urbanism, notably at Kathmandu,
Patan, and
Bhadgaon (also called Bhaktapur), which apparently goes
back to
ancient times. During the Licchavi period, however, the
settlement
pattern seems to have been much more diffuse and sparse.
In the
present-day city of Kathmandu, there existed two early
villages--Koligrama ("Village of the Kolis," or Yambu in
Newari),
and Dakshinakoligrama ("South Koli Village," or Yangala in
Newari)--that grew up around the valley's main trade
route.
Bhadgaon was simply a small village then called Khoprn
(Khoprngrama
in Sanskrit) along the same trade route. The site of Patan
was
known as Yala ("Village of the Sacrificial Post," or
Yupagrama in
Sanskrit). In view of the four archaic stupas on its
outskirts and
its very old tradition of Buddhism, Patan probably can
claim to be
the oldest true center in the nation. Licchavi palaces or
public
buildings, however, have not survived. The truly important
public
sites in those days were religious foundations, including
the
original stupas at Svayambhunath, Bodhnath, and Chabahil,
as well
as the shrine of Shiva at Deopatan, and the shrine of
Vishnu at
Hadigaon.
There was a close relationship between the Licchavi
settlements
and trade. The Kolis of present-day Kathmandu and the
Vrijis of
present-day Hadigaon were known even in the Buddha's time
as
commercial and political confederations in north India. By
the time
of the Licchavi kingdom, trade had long been intimately
connected
with the spread of Buddhism and religious pilgrimage. One
of the
main contributions of Nepal during this period was the
transmission
of Buddhist culture to Tibet and all of central Asia,
through
merchants, pilgrims, and missionaries. In return, Nepal
gained
money from customs duties and goods that helped to support
the
Licchavi state, as well as the artistic heritage that made
the
valley famous.
Data as of September 1991
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