Sketches from Nipal, historical and descriptive ... To which is added an essay on Nipalese Buddhism, and illustrations of religious monuments, architecture and scenery, etc

Front matter

TEMPLE OP OEVI BHAGWANI, BliATGAC Built, ad. 1703. SKETCHES FROM NIPAL i HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE, WITH ANECDOTES OF THE COURT LIFE AND WILD SPORTS OF THE COUNTRY IN THE TIME OF MAHARAJA JANG BAHADUR, G.C.B, TO WHICH IS ADDED AN ESSAY ON NIPALESE BUDDHISM, AND ILLUSTRATIONS OF RELIGIOUS MONUMENTS, ARCHITECTURE, AND SCENERY, FROM THE AUTHOR'S OWN DRAWINGS. BY THE LATE HENRY AMBROSE OLDFIELD, M.D., OF H.M. INDIAN ARMY, MANY TEARS RESIDENCY SURGEON AT KHATMAN-BU, NIPAL. VOL. I. LONDON : W. H. ALLEN AND CO., 13, WATERLOO PLACE, PALL MALL, S.W. 1880. (All rights reserved.) LONDON : PRINTED BY W. H. ALLEN AND CO., 13 WATERLOO PLACE.

Preface

. The following pages were not written with an original purpose of publication, nor did they receive through out the benefit of the Author's revision. During the earlier part of his Indian career Dr. Oldfield was en gaged in duty as an Assistant-Surgeon in the Bengal Army. Before long he was appointed to the medical charge of the eligible station of Simla, where he at tended on Lord Gough, then Commander-in-Chief. During the second Sikh war in 1848-9 he was ordered to join temporarily the 13th Irregular Cavalry, then serving in the Punjab ; but was soon after recalled to his post at Simla, owing to the absence of his medical colleague at that station. He was transferred in 1850 to Khatmandu, as Surgeon to the British Residency in Nipal, then under the Honourable J. C. Erskine, of the Bengal Civil Service.

In 1853 Mr. Erskine, who has since succeeded to the title of his grandfather, the celebrated orator and Chancellor, retired from India; and the post of British representative in Nipal was conferred on Colonel (now General) George Ramsay, a cousin of the Governor-General, the Marquis of Dal housie. With these two Residents Dr. Oldfield remained at Khatmandu till the close of 1863. His duties there were, of course, primarily medical ; but the lightness of these in so small a station enabled him to devote, by way of recreation and self-instruc tion, much study to the natural and social character istics of Nipal, and to the private life, as well as the political relations, of its Court. In recognition of the knowledge and ability which he made in various ways available for the public service, the Indian Go vernment, during the mutiny of 1857-8, nominated him Honorary Assistant to the Political Resident.

The suspicious policy of the Nipalese Government debarred any British officer from travelling freely throughout the interior of the country. But within the range allowed Dr. Oldfield visited, and noted with pen and pencil, whatever appeared of interest in its architecture, its magnificent mountain scenery, in cluding the loftiest peak in the world, or the physical and moral peculiarities of its people. His pursuits, however, were not exclusively studious. He entered with ardour into the wild sports of the country, which his friendly relations with Jang Bahadur gave him special facilities for enjoying. To the use he made of his equal opportunities for observation and amusement the present volumes sufficiently testify. V From a boy he had been fond of drawing, and in such a neighbourhood he found inexhaustible material for elaborate water-colour sketches and studies, which unhappily it has not been found practicable to repro duce in their own proper hues within any reasonable cost.

But his eye-sight was unfortunately not equal to his zeal ; and in aiding it with too powerful glasses, to copy with greater exactness the intricacies of mountain form seen at fifty or a hundred miles distance, he overstrained and, as the result proved, irreparably injured his sight. Hence, during the last seven years of his residence in Nipal, he made little use of his artistic skill, beyond correcting and putting the finish ing touches to the drawings of a native artist whom he had trained to copy his sketches. At a later period he held for a short time a post in the medical staff at Calcutta; but his health finally giving way, he re turned to England in 1866, and retired altogether from the service in 1869. He had begun, Avhilst at Khatmandu, to rearrange his notes, and put the essay on Buddhism in its present form, though rather for the use of himself and his friends than with any definite idea of a wider circulation.

He also partially revised the hunting adventures and personal anecdotes ; but the larger part of his manuscript was left as originally written. Since his decease various causes have for a time prevented any use being made of his papers. But his family now feel it to be due both to him and the Public no longer to withhold so much authentic VI and detailed information on a country abounding in curiosity and beauty, which borders our Indian do minions for not less than six hundred miles, and which, though not lying (happily for itself) in the highway of Russia, is in other respects not inferior in interest to Afghanistan. E. 0. CONTENTS. Page CHAPTEE I.— Geographical 1 CHAPTEE IL— Provinces of Nipal .... 18 CHAPTEE III.— Provinces op Nipal {continued) . . 43 CHAPTEE IV.— Valley of Nipal 63 CHAPTEE V.— Valley of Nipal {continued) ... 82 CHAPTEE VI.— Kathmandu 93 CHAPTEE VII.— Patan— Bhatgaon— Kirtipur . . 114 CHAPTEE VIII.— Eoutes into Nipal . . . .136 CHAPTEE IX.— The Nipal Terai 142 CHAPTEE X.— Town and Valley of Nayakot . . 147 CHAPTEE XL— Prom Kathmandu to Kamaon . . 159 CHAPTEE XII.— From Nayakot to Gosainthan . . 162 CHAPTEE XIII.— Military Tribes of Nipal . . 167 CHAPTEE XIV.— Caste among the Niwars . . .177 CHAPTEE XV.— Catholic Mission in Nipal . . .189 CHAPTEE XVI. — Leopards— Dogs — Buffaloes . . 191 CHAPTEE XVIL— Wild Elephants . . . .201 CONTENTS.

VIII Page CHAPTEE XVIII.— Bhinoceros-Hunting . . .235 CHAPTEE XIX.— An Execution 238 CHAPTEE XX.— Professional Visits . ... .246 CHAPTEE XXI.— Early History of Nipal . . .256 CHAPTEE XXII.— The Gorkhas in Nipal . . .277 CHAPTEE XXIII.— The Nipal War . . . .298 CHAPTEE XXIV.— History of Nipal . . . .331 CHAPTEE XXV.— History of Nipal {continued) . . 353 CHAPTEE XXVL— History of Nipal {continued) . . 380 CHAPTEE XXVIL— History of Nipal {continued) . LIST OP ILLUSTRATIONS To Dr. Oldfield's " Sketches in Nipal." VOL. I. Temple of Devi Bhagwani, Bhatgaon . . . Frontispiece. Bums of Buddhist Tope, called Kathisambhu, in Kathmandu . . . . . . .To face p. 63 The Durbar, Patan, Nipal 96 Tbe Market-Place, Kathmandu . . . 106 >J The " Golden Gate " in the Durbar, Bhatgaon . „ „ 131 Temple of Sakya Singha, at Patan . . . „ ,, 272 Thappatalli, the Besidence of Maharaja Jang Bahadur „ SKETCHES PROM NIPAL.

Chapter I. Geographical

The modern kingdom of Nipal is a narrow tract of country extending for about five hundred miles along the southern slope of the central portion of the Hima laya mountains. It embraces nearly one-third part of that stupendous mountain barrier which, in one unbroken line, stretches for one thousand eight hundred miles — from the shores of the Indus north of Kashmir in a south-easterly direction to the great bend in the Brahmaputra river on the confines of China — and which separates the whole of British India, as well as the kingdom of Ava, from the highlands of Central Asia. The territory of Nipal lies entirely within this mountain range, and extends from the 80th to the 88th degree of east longitude. Its length is about five hundred miles, and it has a varying breadth, which nowhere exceeds one hundred and forty miles, and averages in most parts from ninety to one hundred miles.

I. GEOGEAPHICAL. Its general direction is from west to east ; its most southern and eastern corner, at the Michi river, reaches as low as the 26th, while its most northern and western angle extends up to the 30th degree of north latitude. It is at the present time bounded on the north by Tibet, on the east by the little principality of Sikkim, on the south by Hindustan, and on the west by the British provinces of Rohilkand and Kamaon. Previous to 1815 the kingdom of Nipal was very much more extensive, and included Kamaon and the whole of the hill country as far as the Satlaj river. Sir David Ochterlony, however, wrested those pro vinces from the Gorkhas; and by the treaty of Sigauli (1816), it was finally agreed that the river Kali should in future form the western boundary between the British and the Nipalese dominions.

Nipal is thus hemmed in on all four sides between the territories of the British and those of the Chinese governments ; on its western, southern, and eastern sides it is circumscribed by the possessions either of the British or of their dependents, the Nawab of Oudh and the Rajah of Sikkim, while on its northern frontier the eternal snows form an insuperable barrier to any important extension of power in the direction of China. The kingdom of Nipal covers an area of about sixty thousand square miles, and is therefore of about the same superficial extent as the Panjab.* No trustworthy census of its entire population has ever been taken * Not the Panjab of to-day, which has an area of 104,000 square miles. — (Editor.) FEONTIEES OP NIPAL. but it is believed to amount to about four millions. The Nipalese themselves reckon it at upwards of five millions ; but there can be no doubt that their estimate is considerably, and perhaps intentionally, exaggerated.

Supposing it to be four millions, it would give an average of about sixty-six inhabitants to every square mile, which is quite as high as is likely to be correct in a mountainous country, especially considering that the census of the whole of France in 1827 gave only one hundred and fifty souls to each square mile. Of this population of four millions, at least one-quarter of a million live within the narrow limits of the Valley of Nipal. It will give a clearer idea of the geographical posi tion of Nipal if the nature of its frontier on each of its four sides is described a little in detail. Along the whole extent of its northern side the snowy range of the Himalaya stretches in continuous and un broken length, and forms the natural boundary between Nipal and the Chinese provinces of Central Tibet.

This portion of the Himalayas, which overhangs Nipal, varies in height from sixteen thousand feet to twenty-eight thousand feet ; it is covered with per petual snow, and embraces within its limits four of the highest mountains in the world. These are the Nanda Devi, the Dewaligiri, the Gosainthan, and the Kinchin j anga. The Nanda Devi mountain, at the extreme western limit of the Nipalese Himalaya, is entirely within the British province of Kamaon ; but it overlooks all the 1 * GEOGEAPHICAL. western provinces of Nipal, and its rugged sides give rise to the streams which unite to form the Kali river, whose waters wash its eastern base and constitute the western boundary of the kingdom of Nipal. The Dewaligiri is situated about two hundred miles to the east of the Nanda Devi, and due north of Gorak pur ; it overlooks the whole of the central provinces of Nipal, and its towering peaks are clearly visible from the plains of Hindustan.

It is said by Humboldt to be the loftiest mountain in the world, but its claims to that distinction are disputed by the Kinchinjanga. The Gosainthan mountain is situated one hundred and eighty miles to the east of the Dewaligiri, and stands due north of the Valley of Nipal. It is distin guished alike for its sanctity and its elevation. While the sacred Tusk of Narayan, buried amid its snows, is an object of special worship to the pilgrim, the bold grandeur of its bluff peak is equally an object of admiration to the traveller. The Kinchinjanga, which competes with the Dewa ligiri for the sovereignty of the mountain world, is one hundred and thirty miles to the east of the Gosain than. It forms the extreme eastern peak of the Nipal Himalaya, and belongs as much, or perhaps more, to Sikkim than it does to Nipal.

It directly overhangs the whole country of Sikkim, as well as some of the eastern provinces of Nipal, and a lofty ridge or spur from its southern face forms part of the boundary between the territories of the two states. These lofty mountains, the lowest of which is MOUNTAIN EANGES. upwards of twenty-four thousand feet high, divide the chain of the Nipal Himalaya into three not very unequal portions — the western, the central, and the eastern. The western division extends from the Nanda Devi to the Dewaligiri, and is about two hundred miles in length. The central portion extends for one hundred and eighty miles from the Dewaligiri to the Gosain than. The eastern division runs from the Gosainthan to the Kinchinjanga, which are distant from each other one hundred and thirty miles. The long axis of the Himalaya mountains is not perfectly straight, but presents certain bends or angles, which, as it runs from the N.W. to the S.E., give to its direction a gradual curve, the convexity of which faces to the south.

The most elevated mountains in the range are situated at these angles, where they form so many joints or huge knots in the main chain of the Hima laya. They stand out in advance of their companions, with a forward direction to the south, like gigantic bastions, supporting, overlooking, and binding together all the lower mountains around them. From these and from the entire length of the central mountains numerous lofty ridges diverge, sometimes at right angles, but more generally at acute ones, to the Ghat line or main axis of the range. These ridges, again, throw off smaller ones which divide and sub-divide, interlacing and dove-tailing with each other, until the whole tract of a country like GEOGEAPHICAL. Nipal, which lies on the southern slope of the range, becomes intersected by mountains of various sizes and shapes.

These usually run together into ranges, which are separated from each other by deep valleys, some times of very considerable extent, at others narrowed into mere gorges, which serve as the beds of torrents. These secondary ranges form a series of lateral and subordinate chains upon the flanks of the central or snowy peaks. Individually they appear to be under no fixed rules for their direction, but taken collectively they will be found to diverge from the Ghat line of the snow so as to be more or less parallel to each other, and to run out towards the plains like so many ribs given off from the backbone or spine of the Himalaya. Whatever their original elevation or direction, they gradually subside as they approach the plains of India, and are ultimately lost altogether beneath the surface of the Terai.

The immense elevation of these and of all the highest peaks in the Himalayas, and the vast scale on which even the subordinate ranges are con structed, render it easy to trace in them examples of the most important laws which regulate the structural anatomy of mountain masses. The Dewaligiri, in par ticular, affords a striking illustration of the fact that, however bold the outline of a mountain may be, how ever much its pre-eminent height may apparently isolate it from all the lower ranges above which it towers, yet it never is in reality a detached or solitary mass, and never consists of a single or STEUCTUEE OF MOUNTAIN MASSES. simply-formed peak. Every first-class mountain — and such, and such only, are met with throughout the entire length of the snowy range — is composed of a mass or cluster of peaks, rising one above and within another, and supported by buttresses in the form of converging ridges, which spring from the lower hills as a foundation ; all trend toward their common centre, and are mostly of sufficient elevation to be covered with per petual snow.

This common centre is the highest peak of all ; and around it, at varying elevations, the lower peaks, with their subordinate ranges and ridges, are clustered in greater or less proximity, and often in the greatest apparent confusion. This confusion is only apparent ; but the series of these lower mountains is often so ex tensive, and their bulk so vast, that the eye becomes wearied in attempting either to follow out the details of their forms, or to reduce them to order as parts of a system. It is only when they are viewed as a whole, and from such a distance that their crests may be seen rising in succession one behind another until they are lost beneath the eternal snows, that it is possible to believe that there is any method in their arrange ment, and that the eye can be taught to look upon them as mere outworks resting upon still vaster mountains, — as so many steps in the gigantic ladder which leads from ridge to ridge, and peak to peak, till it gains the snow-crowned summit of the range.

Ge ology, however, has established it as an undoubted fact that all these huge secondary mountains — whether GEOGEAPHICAL. linked together into chains, or standing out boldly and alone — are but subordinate members of the great central chain upon which they rest, and whose granite peaks, in some places bare and black, in others covered with snow, emerge from under the mass of surrounding mountains like pointed rocks amid the waves of the sea. The Nipal Himalaya is traversed by several passes leading into Tibet, but which, from their great eleva tion, — the lowest of them being higher than the highest mountain in Europe, — are only open to tra vellers during the warmer months of the year. The most important of these passes are the fol lowing : — 1st. The Takla Khar Pass, or Yari Pass, — midway between the Nanda Devi and Dewaligiri mountains.

The Karnali branch of the Gogra river, which rises on the north side of the Himalaya, not far from one of the sources of the Satlaj, quits Tibet and enters the western provinces of Nipal by this pass. The village of Thak, from which the pass derives its name, is situated near its southern or Nipalese entrance, and is the seat of considerable trade in the salt brought from Tibet. 2nd. The Mastang Pass is about forty miles to the east of the Dewaligiri. It leads to a small princi pality of the same name at the foot of the Dewaligiri, but on its northern or Tibetan side. The Rajah is tributary to Nipal, and his being so induces the Nipa lese to boast that from the Gosainthan westward their MOUNTAIN PASSES. frontier line includes both slopes of the Himalaya.* It is an unfounded assumption of theirs ; as the district of Mastang, though it pays a small annual tribute to Nipal, is not within its frontier, nor does it form any part of the Gorkha dominions.

On the northern side of the pass and on the high road to Mastang is a large village called Muktinath, which is much visited by pilgrims, as well as by traders in Tibetan salt. Muk tinath is eight days' journey from Mastang, and four from Bini Shahr, the capital of the province of Mali bum, which lies close under the snow, and is directly overlooked by the Dewaligiri. A good deal of Nipalese opium — grown in the western parts of the Terai — is smuggled into Tibet by the Mastang pass. 3rd. Kerang Pass, to the west ; and 4th. Ktdi Pass, to the east of the Gosainthan mountains. These being the passes nearest to the capital are most frequented by the Tibetan pilgrims and traders who come annually in large numbers to the Valley of Nipal during the cold months of the year. The road from Kathmandu to Lhassa by Kerang joins the road by the Kuti pass at Tingri.

The Kuti road is the shortest and most direct, by three or four marches, but it is not passable for ponies. For this reason the Chinese Embassy, on their way to China, always go by Kuti ; but on their return from China, * The principality of Mastang consists of an elevated mountain valley, lying between the first and second ranges of snowy moun tains, and is approached from Nipal by the Muktinath Pass. GEOGEAPHICAL. when they have with them eighty or one hundred valuable China and Poomee ponies, they come by Kerang, where the road is comparatively good. The Chinese army of invasion in 1792 came by Kerang for the same reason. The Kerang pass is thirty-seven hill kos, or about one hundred miles from Kathmandu. The journey is made in eight stages, and the road lies by Nayakot. The Kuti pass is thirty-four kos, or about ninety miles from Kathmandu, and is also reached in eight marches.

The high road to Lhassa runs through the Kuti pass; and the traffic along it is therefore greater than along any of the other passes. The snowy peak to the west of the pass is called Kurdah-bhumi (copper soil) ; that on its east is the Tambakosi peak, from its base giving rise to the river of that name. On the northern or Tibetan side of the pass is a level district or valley called Tingri, where the Gorkhas were defeated in a battle by the Chinese army of invasion in 1792, and the frontier post of the Nipalese at Kuti was taken and occupied by the conquerors. The Bhotia river, one of the seven branches of the Kosi, rises in the Kuti pass. 5th. The Hatia Pass, about forty or fifty miles to the east of Kuti. The Aran, — by far the largest of the seven streams whose union forms the Kosi river after rising by several sources on the north side of the Himalaya, quits Tibet and enters the eastern provinces of Nipal through the Hatia pass.

BHOTIA TEADEES. 6th. The Wallang Pass, or Wallanchon Pass, is situated quite in the eastern extremity of the Nipal Himalaya, and but a little to the west of the Kinchin janga mountains. These different passes are used almost exclusively by the Tibetans (commonly called Bhotias, as they are inhabitants of the country of Bhot, or Tibet), who flock in large numbers to Nipal from all parts of Tibet, and especially from Lhassa and its neighbourhood during the cold months from November to March. These Tibetans bring down with them for sale in Nipal blankets of various kinds, and other woollen manufactures, as well as ponies, watch-dogs, sheep, goats, crystals, agate, turquoises, yak-tails, gold dust, gold and silver ores, and large quantities of rock salt. The rock salt is packed in bags, forming loads of 15 lbs. each, which are brought across the snows fastened upon the backs of sheep.

Whole flocks of sheep thus laden may be frequently met with entering the Valley of Nipal by the road from Nayakot and Kerang. Besides the Tibetans, a few Niwar merchants, as well as some Kashmirians from Nipal, who have houses of agency at Lhassa, go to and from Tibet generally by the Kuti pass. The roads through these passes, as well as all the roads leading to them in the Nipalese territory, are so very bad, that all loads of every description have to be carried on men's shoulders. When once, however, GEOGRAPHICAL. the Himalaya is passed, the roads thence to Lhassa, and generally throughout Tibet, are practicable for beasts of burden. The eastern extremity of Nipal is about one hundred miles in width from north to south. It lies in 88° E. long., and extends from 26-50° to 28° N. lat. The frontier, which separates Nipal from the little princi pality of Sikkim, extends from the snows nearly in a straight line towards the plains of Hindustan.

The boundary of the two states, within the hills, consists partly of the Kinchinjanga mountain, but mainly of a lofty range of mountains called the Singhilela ridge, which is given off from the Kinchinjanga, and runs due south towards the plains. This ridge near the snows is from ten thousand to fifteen thousand feet high, but it subdivides towards the south to an average height of seven thousand feet. At about sixty miles distance from the snows this ridge turns suddenly to the east, and at this point ceases to form the boundary between the two states. At the angle thus formed it gives rise to the Michi river, which flows in a southerly direction from its origin in the Singhilela ridge towards the Ganges, into which it ultimately falls. For the first forty miles of its course below the hills, and until it enters the British territory, the Michi river separates the lowlands of Nipal from those of Sikkim, and forms part of the boundary to the kingdom of Nipal on its eastern frontier.

The Singhilela range runs parallel to the Kankayi river, and about twenty miles distance from it, on its eastern THE SOUTHEEN PEONTIEE. or left side. This range is traversed by three narrow passes, the roads through which are bad, and prac ticable only for hill ponies. The southern frontier of Nipal extends from the Michi river in the east, on the borders of Sikkim, to the Kali river in the west, on the borders of Kamaon, — a distance of about five hundred miles. For two thirds of this extent the frontier of Nipal forms the northern boundary to the British province of Bahar ; for the remaining or western third it runs along the northern border of the kingdom of Oudh. The southern frontier of Nipal is divided into three distinct portions, forming an eastern, a central, and a western division.

The eastern portion extends from the Michi river to the Oreka Naddi, — a small stream, which, rising in the Cheryaghati range of hills, and flowing in a southerly direction, about ten miles to the west of Bissaulia, on the high road to Kathmandu, — falls into the Sikrani river. This portion of the frontier is about two hundred and twenty miles in length in a straight line, and runs in a direction nearly due east and west. It separates the Morung and Terai of Nipal from the districts of Parniah, Tirhut, and Champaran in the British province of Bahar. It follows an irregular and wavy line, and is marked throughout its entire course by a series of pillars of masonry, to prevent the possibility of border disputes between the Nipalese and British zamindars. At the Oreka Naddi the boundary line of pillars falls back at a right angle, and runs due north for about twenty GEOGEAPHICAL. miles, at first along the left bank of the Oreka, then leaving that stream, passes across a strip of the Sal forest till it reaches the chain of low sandstone hills which is called Cheryaghati range.

The eastern por tion of the southern frontier is crossed by two large rivers as they quit the Nipalese territory, — the Kosi and the Baghmatti. The central portion of the southern frontier extends from the Oreka Naddi to the borders of Oudh, — a distance of about one hundred and fifty miles. It separates the valley of the Rapti from the district of Ramnagar in Champaran, and the Terai of Butul Khas from the district of Gorakpur. For about forty miles the frontier runs along the crest of the Cherya ghati range, till it reaches the pass through which the great Gandak river debouches upon the plains at Tribani. At this point it dips into the plains, skirts the foot of the range for about ten miles, as far as Pali, and then, leaving the hills, extends in nearly a straight line, and with direction due east and west, till it meets the frontiers of Oudh at Tulsipur, at a point about twenty miles distant from the hills.

The boundary line then falls back at a right angle from Tulsipur along the left bank of a small stream, and runs due north till it again joins the sandstone range of hills. By thus diverging into the plains, the frontier encloses a long narrow strip of lowland between it and the outer range of hills. This strip constitutes the Terai of Butul or Butul Khas, and lies due north of Gorakpur. The Gandak is the only THE WESTEEN PEONTIER. large river which crosses this central portion of the southern frontier of Nipal. The western division of the southern frontier of Nipal is formed throughout by the outer or sandstone range of hills, which here take a north-westerly direction, and along the crest of which the boundary line runs for one hundred and thirty miles, till it meets the Kali river on the borders of Rohilkand.

The sandstone range separates the territories of Nipal from the kingdom of Oudh. It is crossed by two large rivers, — the Gogra and the Rapti (or Gorakpur), — as they escape from the western provinces of Nipal. The western frontier of Nipal is formed by the Kali or Sarju river, which, rising in the snows, washes the eastern base of the Nanda Devi mountain, and flows in a southerly direction for about ninety miles within the hills, separating the territories of Nipal from the British province of Kamaon. After reaching the plains, through a pass in the sandstone range, it follows a south-easterly course, during about fifty miles of which it forms the boundary between Nipal and the British province of Rohilkand ; it then enters the kingdom of Oudh, and falls into the Gogra or Karnali river. The sandstone range of hills above referred to as forming part of the southern boundary of Nipal, ex tends, under different names, for nearly the whole length of the Himalayas.