Basnyat family
The Basnyat" or "Basnet" surname belongs to a family of Nepalese nobility. They are considered to be one of the original noble courtier (Bhardar) families of Nepal along with Pandeys and Thapas. The Basnyats or Basnets are of pure Hindu Kshatriya or varna origin. Kshatriya or varna are also called Chhetri cast in Nepal and India. It is said that they migrated into western Nepal quiet early along with the majority of the early Khas migration. Basnets were migrated to current Nepal from Uttarakhand and Himachal State of current India during 15th to 19th Century and few afterwards. Currently many of the Basnets/Basnyats are found in Nepal and Indian States i.e. Sikkim, Uttarakhand, Himachal, West Bengal, Assam, and Manipur as well as in Bhutan and Myanmar. Majority of Basnets speak Nepalese language as mother tongue. Although these days, Basnets specially of Dehradun area of Uttarakhand and Himachal state of India speak Hindi as mother tongue.
There are four types of Basnyats/Basnets in Nepal and India. The Shreepali (Saipali, Sirupali/Sripali) Basnyats/Basnets are from Gorkha. The Khaptadi (Khaptari/Khabatari) Basnyat/Basnet of Khaptad. The Khulal Basnyats/Basnets, Lamichhane Basnyat/Basnet are from Lamichhana. The surname Basnyat/Basnet is now used interchangeably by all four clans.
The Shreepali Basnyats
The Shreepali Basnyats existed in Gorkah before King Prithivi Narayan Shah unified Nepal and got much prominence during the rule of King PN Shah. They worship "Sishakoti Madhev","Veerabhadra","Mahakali" as their Kul Deuta and Aradhe Devi "Dakchinkali" as Istha deuta. They were very powerful during the unification of Nepal. They remained powerful till the emergence of Jung Bahadur Kunwar (from Nuwakot) or later known as Jung Bahadur Rana.
It is known that during the reign of King Prithivi Narayan Shah the Shreepali Basnyats of Gorkha were the leading military force. They were either highly ranked officers in the army or key figures in the king's court. King Prithvi Narayan Shah formed an alliance with Basnyat and Pande families of Gorkha in his quest for the unification of Nepal.As per his Divya Upadesh, King Prithvi Narayan is known to have arranged the marriage between Kazi Kehar Singh Basnyat, the second son of Kazi Shivaram Singh Basnyat, and Chitra Devi, the daughter of Kazi Kalu Pandey. Shivaram Singh Basnyat, who is addressed as Senapati Badabir (Brave Chief of the Army) in all the documents of that era, laid down his life in the battle of Sanga Chowk,at a place called Jahar Singh Pauwa on 24 February 1746 A.D. (12 Falgun 1803 B.S.) 3 km northwest of Nagarkot. Shivram Singh became the first major military leader of Gorkha who was martyred even before Kazi Kalu Pande in the campaign of unification of Nepal. Later, Birangana Shoorprabha Basnyat, widow of Shivram Singh, constructed the Narayan temple in Timal Danda (Kavre) in honour of her husband Senapati Badabir Shivram Singh. 'Birangana' Shoorprabha was a daughter of Bagale Thapa of Gorkha, who raised her four brave sons after the early martyrdom of her husband.The story of Shoor Prabha is written by former Vice Chancellor late Rudra Raj Pandey in his epic "Nepal ka Bir Birangana Haru".
Kazi Naahar Singh, first son of Shivram, fought in the battle of Makwanpur against the forces of Mir Kasim.He was a major military leader in the battle to capture Kantipur, Patan and Bhadgaun in 1826 B.S. along with his three younger brothers. He also fought in the battle of Tibet in 1845 B.S.
Kazi Kehar Singh went to Tibet to negotiate with it to have the Nepali coins circulated in Tibet. He was the major military/civilian leader who united the western districts and Kathmandu valley to Nepal. He was instrumental in annexing Kathmandu, Patan, Bhaktapur and Kirtipur. His contribution to unify Nepal is incomparable. He was appointed Chief Administrator of Patan immediately after it was annexed to Nepal.He was martyred in the battle of Satahun on 5 Poush 1828 B.S.
Abhiman Singh Basnyat,born on 14 Falgun 1801 B.S., the third son of General (Kazi) Shivaram Singh Basnyat became the first Commander in Chief of a United Nepal after the death of General (Kazi) Kalu Pandey on the second attempt to capture Kritipur. Abhiman's two elder brothers were Kazi Naahar Singh and Kazi Kehar Singh. His youngest brother Kazi Dhaukal Singh Basnyat, who also became the governor of Kumaun Gadwal, was the first owner of present Narayanhity Palace then known as Kirti Mandir at that time. Stone inscription about this is still there inside Narayanhity Palace compound. Abhiman Singh died at the age of fifty-six in Ashad 1857 B.S. when he was sent to settle the area of Morang and Sunsari,then called Kaala Banzaar. He had delivered the jamindari power to tharu and honored with the title of chaudhari. It was a great injustice to him to have been assigned by King Rana Rahadur Shah to this area of dense forests at that old age when he was already a Mulkazi. It was because of Abhiman's displeasure about the marriage of Rana Bahadur with the child Brahmin widow Kantivati. He was reported to have suffered from fever, possibly Malaria and died of it. Despite the Basnyat family's immense contribution to Nepal's Unification, nobody from Basnyat family was declared Rastriya Bibhuti (National Hero).We cannot undermine the sacrifice made by the brave Basnyat family of six members at that time namely Shivram, Shoor Prabha, Naahar, Kehar,Abhiman and Dhaukal in the unification campaign of King Prithvi Narayan Shah.There were other Basnyats of Shreepali origin such as Ranya (Bangya) Basnyat, Bir Dhwaj Basnyat, Indra Bir, Banka Bir, Ranadip Singh, Rana Dhir Singh, Jahar Singh, Kirti Man Singh, Bakhtabir Singh, Kul Man Singh etc. who fought or sacrificed their life in various battles and wars for the protection of Nepal's sovereignty in the later periods of Nepalese history.
King Prithvi Narayan Shah has stressed the importance of the Basnyats in his historic piece known as "Dibya Upadesh" or "Divine Counsel" in English. Here is a link to the translation of the "Dibya Upadesh" into English. This translation was done by Prawin Adhikari, from a transcription originally published by historian Baburam Acharya from Bakhat man Singh Basnyat. Samudaya.org owns the copyrights to the article.
A quote from the Dibya Upadesh:
It said—"Now, I will make ties between the Pandes and the Basnyats, so give your daughter to Sivaram Basnyat's son Kehar Singh Basnyat," and the two houses were tied by marriage. Thus, after the conjugal tie, with the shields of the Pandes and the swords of the Basnyats I attacked Nepal.
After the royal palace moved from Gorkha to Basantapur in Kathmandu, the Shreepali Basnyats of Gorkha moved along with the royal family, living close by the palace in Indra Chowk and Ason.Kazi Abhiman Singh constructed a house in 1833 B.S. for himself in Ason, Kathmandu, which is known as Maan Mandir, which still exists as Tilanga Ghar or Paltan Ghar. This Tilanga Ghar should be declared the National Heritage of Nepal and needs to be renovated. Basnyats shared a great amount of power in the court alongside the Pandeys and Thapas. This continued until the reign of King Rana Bahadur Shah, when Prime Minister Bhimsen Thapa came into power and there was a power struggle between the Pandeys and the Thapas. The Basnyats sided with the Pandeys as they had earlier marital links with them back in Gorkha and ultimately removed the Thapas from power.
The Khaptadi Basnyats
The formation of the word Basnyat is derived from the words bahas : Advocacy, Nyaya : Justice and Tatpurus : Ruler. Khaptadi Basnyats are the kshyatriyas that came to Nepal from North-western parts of India. They are believed to have entered the areas of 'Himvata Khanda' or present western part of Nepal before the greater Malla Khas empire was in place. According to the available sources, The clan of Khaptadi Basnyat had already started before the Mallas came into power. They were already ruling over the greater Khas region which was, later, lost to Challas or Malla. At the time, the kingdom of 'Khaptad', within the bigger region of the 'Khas' Pradesh, established by Suryavanshi Kshatriyas from 'Kashi', the Great King Baldev Singh was the son of Bir Ransingha and his mother was Laxmi and he was grandson of Sijapati Maharaj who was known as a khaptadi maharaj also. Sijapati Maharaj had no sons so he delivered his kingdom to the grandson Baldev Sing the son of his daughter, Laxmi. Sijapati Maharaj believe buddhism and hinduism also and he believe khapar masta who made the temple in khaptad and he command the people to worship to masta devta indeed.After the death of Sijapati Maharaj small state and kings were freed and declared by them independent countries and made them all in all. the grandson of King Sangram Singh, the last son of king Ajaya Singh, who was popularly known as 'Rahol', Bir Bhotu Singh was honored as "Basnyat" by his father. when he was in maternal grand father's house khaptad was attacked vehemently and many people were killed by the mallas dinesty. khaptadi were defeated totally and Bir Bhotu Singh run away to the east part of Nepal with his people.Many important weapons and property hided under the cave and soil, still there are found many things that all of those property are belongs to khaptadi basnyat. At first, he went to jumla with many people, slaves, horse riders and loded in mule and sheepes goats and potter to save his life and property but there were no saving place at all.Later his son Aiman Basnyat went to lamjung and he request to the king to reciprocated back his all the materials of khapar masta (puja samagries) and all the khaptadi dispersed from lamjung with many people and many property was given to the valley king and local king charikot to provide living place which under the valley king. and his sons weren't satisfied with that place so grandson went to the valley king and he provide a place likhukhola and he was appointed as an Adesh small king to collect revenue from eastern small kingdom because it was very difficult work. Bramana,chhetri,kami,damai and sarki was brought in eastern part by khaptadi Basnyat.In the course of unification of Nepal, khaptadi basnyat also fight against Gorkha kingdom and they disagree to unify east part of Nepal with Gurkha. In the period of prince Bahadur shaha,kinnahari basnyat and bahadur shaha agree to play juwa who won it would be under whole kingdom. Later kinnhari Basnyat played gamble and loss all the land jungle whole property so eastern part was joined in Nepal without war.Likhukhola kingdom were ruled by khaptadi basnyat up to 5th generation. The last rular king kinnari lost his throne without war and his junior brother was gone to hatuwagadi kirat kingdom and appointed as kaji. The puja materials were Jewelers of the king and Queen's mukut and hari and golden diyo the pot of sankha and cow's horn's baja and sword of the king of khaptada etc. Later they distributed among brothers. Therefore, Bir Bhotu Singh is considered to be the first Basnyat from Khaptadi Basnyat lineage. According to skanda puran khapar mast is known as khechareshwar mahadev is called'Rudra', also, the ferocious form of khapar masta (Lord Shiva) is worshipped among them. Since Khaptadi Basnyat originated from the lands of Khaptad in the western part of Nepal they are called as Khaptadi Basnyat. They are also the Khaptadi Rajas of early khas history of Nepal. 'Khappar Maha Ista' (also referred to as 'Masta' in the local dialect) is also the 'Kuldevi' of Khaptadi Basnyats.Jalpa devi,Bindabasini,kailash Basini and MahaKali as Shakti/ista devi is also worshiped by Khaptadi Basnyats. In the modern era, Commanding Colonel Pahalman Singh Basnyat was titled as 'Khaptadi Raja'(King of Khaptad), a recognition given to him for his ancestral rule over 'greater Khaptad region' in addition to his successful role as a military commander during the second campaign against Tibet. Later he also played a vital role as the commander of the Nepalese army action in India, which lead to the "naya muluk" to be given back to Nepal by the East-India Company. He was given the prefix of "Shree Eek (1) Maharaj" (where are Shree Panch were for royal family, Shree Teen for Rana Prime Minister). The Khaptadi Basnyats in the then Gorkha kingdom of King Prithivi Narayan Shah had taken active participation during the unification of Nepal. Late General (C-in-C) Simha Bahadur Basnyat, Singha Bahadur Basnyat, married to Shahjadi, previous ambassador to Great Britain,and Yagya B. Basnyat (former health minister) are other prominent persons of this family.Khaptadi basnet are very brave cast, they believe in truth and peace they are always ready to fight against the injustice indeed. To add to the above, in modern times, the youngest Cabinet Minister in Nepal, in the late Panchayat System was Honorable Minister Mr. Hari Bahadur Basnet at the young age of 27.