Baise rajya

Baise Rajya (Nepali: बाइसे राज्यहरू, lit. '22 principalities') were sovereign and intermittently allied petty kingdoms on the Indian subcontinent, ruled by Khas from medieval India, located around the Karnali-Bheri river basin of modern-day Nepal. The Baise were annexed during the unification of Nepal from 1744 to 1810. The kingdom's founder Prithvi Narayan Shah (ruled 1743-1775) did not live to see this, but his son and grandson annexed the entire collection by the end of the 18th century.

Karnali River (labelled Ghaghra) among the tributaries of the Ganges

Copper Inscription by Baise King of Doti, Raika Mandhata Shahi at Saka Era 1612 (शाके १६१२) (or 1747 Bikram Samvat) in old Khas language using Devanagari script.

The 22 principalities were Jumla, Doti, Jajarkot, Bajura, Gajur, Biskot, Malneta, Thalahara, Dailekh, Dullu, Duryal, Dang, Sallyana, Chilli, Phalawagh, Jehari, Darnar, Musikot,[1] Atbis Gotam, Majal, Gurnakot, and Rukum.[lower-alpha 1] These Baise along with Chaubisi rajya states were ruled by Khas and several decentralized tribal polities.[3]

List of Baise Rajyas (22 states)

Rajya	Annexation to Nepal	Notes
Atbis Gotam[4]	1786	Also known as Gutam.
Bajura	August 1791	Became a vassal state of the Kingdom of Nepal.
Biskot	1782	Also possibly known as Bosakot.
Chilli	.	Descended from Raja Malaibam, Raja of Bajhang in the 14th century.
Dailekh	.	.
Dang	1786	Founded around 1350, by a scion of the predecessor Kingdom of Sarasvati.
Darnar	.	Also spelled Darna, it became a vassal state of the Kingdom of Nepal.
Doti[5]	1786	.
Dullu	1790	Also known as Raskot, it was founded by a division of the Kingdom of Mailbham around 1378.
Duryal	.	.
Gajur	.	.
Gurnakot	.	Possibly the same as Garhunkot, it became a vassal state of the Kingdom of Nepal.
Jajarkot	.	Became a vassal state of the Kingdom of Nepal, also known originally as Jagatipur.[6]
Jehari	.	Descended from Raja Malaibam, Raja of Bajhang in the 14th century.
Jumla	October 1788	Annexation also given as September 1789.
Majal	.	.
Malneta	.	Became a vassal state of the Kingdom of Nepal.
Musikot	1786	Descended from Raja Malaibam, Raja of Bajhang in the 14th century.
Phalawagh	.	Possibly the same as Salyana.
Rukum	.	Descended from Raja Malaibam, Raja of Bajhang in the 14th century.
Salyana	25 September 1786	It was made a vassal state after annexation and was ultimately abolished in 1961,[7] with the Raja still receiving a Privy Purse till the abolishment of the Nepali monarchy.
Thalahara	.	Became a vassal state of the Kingdom of Nepal.

A parallel confederation of 24 principalities Chaubisi rajya (Nepali: चौबिसी राज्य) occupied most of the Gandaki basin east of the Baisi.

See also

• Dang Deukhuri District
• House of Tulsipur
• Dailekh
• Dullu
• Jumla

Notes

1. According to Pradhan, the Baise States included Kumaon, Garhwal in the west, Western Tibet in the north and Surkhet alogwith inner Terai valleys in the south.[2]

Citations

1. Account of the Kingdom of Nepal, and of the Territories annexed to this Dominion by the House of Gorkha by Francis Hamilton (formerly Buchanan) M.D., 1819
2. Pradhan 2012, p. 4.
3. Pradhan 2012, p. 3.
4. Extract from 'The Gurkhas' of Eden Vansittart (based upon the 'Notes on Nepal', 1895 AD and 'Notes on Gurkhas' 1890 AD), Anmol Publications, New Delhi, Re-print 1993
5. "Sketches from Nipal, Historical and Descriptive with Anecdotes from......" by Henry Ambrose Oldfield, M.D.; W.H.Allen & Co., London, 1880. Vol.I, P.23
6. Baise Chaubise Parichaya (An introduction to the Baise and Chaubise principalities). Nepali, quarterly. Published by the Madan Puraskar Guthi, Sridarbartol, Lalitpur, Magh-Chaitra, 2032 (January–March 1976), pp. 3-38. [Mahan Bahadur Malla]
7. "The Rajya Rajauta Ain" (Rajya System Abolition Act) of 2019 V.S. (1961)

Sources

• Pradhan, Kumar L. (2012), Thapa Politics in Nepal: With Special Reference to Bhim Sen Thapa, 1806–1839, New Delhi: Concept Publishing Company, ISBN 9788180698132