The Mountain Kingdom Of
Nepaul Was Equally Independent Of The British And The Mogul Empire Of
Delhi.
It was ruled by three separate kings, until in the year 1769 the
Goorkha chief Prithi Narayan established the supremacy of that warlike
race.
The Goorkhas cared nothing for trade, and their exactions resulted
in the cessation of the commercial intercourse which had existed under the
Nepaulese kings between India and Tibet. Their martial instincts led them
to carry on raids into both Tibet and India. The Tibetans were unequal to
the task of punishing or restraining them, and at last the Goorkhas were
inspired with such confidence that they undertook the invasion of their
country. It is said that the Goorkhas were encouraged to take this, step
by the belief that the Chinese would not interfere, and that the
lamaseries contained an incalculable amount of treasure. The Goorkhas
invaded Tibet in 1791 with an army of less than 20,000 men, and, advancing
through the Kirong and Kuti passes, overcame the frontier guards, and
carried all before them up to the town of Degarehi, where they plundered
the famous lamasery of Teshu Lumbo, the residence of the Teshu Lama.
Having achieved this success and gratified their desire for plunder, the
Goorkhas remained inactive for some weeks, and wasted much precious time.
The Tibetans did not attempt a resistance, which their want of military
skill and their natural cowardice would have rendered futile, but they
sent express messengers to Pekin entreating the Chinese emperor to send an
army to their assistance.
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