Bhupatindra Malla (Nepal Bhasa: ; 3 November 1674 – 15 April 1722) was a Malla Dynasty King of the Kingdom of Bhaktapur (present day Bhaktapur, Nepal) who reigned from 1696 until his death in 1722. He is the most widely known king of Bhaktapur and is among the most popular of the Malla dynasty. He is popularly known in Bhaktapur as nepaḥ juju, meaning the king of the Newars. His reign was characterized by the construction of numerous palaces and temples with the Nyatapola temple being his most revered contribution. An integral part of the local folklore, Bhupatindra Malla is regarded as a great builder and a lover of arts whose reign is considered the cultural high point of Bhaktapur. In particular, he was a scholar of the Maithili language and composed 26 plays in Maithili throughout his lifetime.
His parents, Jitamitra and Lālamati, wanted him to be a skilled ruler and since childhood he was given a chance to rule alongside his father. He was also keen on building, having built a hiti and a public shelter (called a phalcā in Nepal Bhasa) at Thimi as a prince. His most famous contributions are the Nyatapola Temple, a Nepalese-style five-storey temple completed in a six-month period between 1702 and 1703 and the palace of fifty-five windows, both of which are often considered an apogee of Nepalese architecture. He was also an avid lyricist and playwright with some of his songs still being sung in Bhaktapur. Bhupatindra Malla was also a politically strong figure in the Nepal Valley and established the reputation of Bhaktapur as a strong military principality similar to that of Kantipur. He has been described by Ippolito Desideri as "the first ruler of Bhaktapur to not pay tribute to the king of Kantipur". Bhupatindra Malla is among the most popular and influential of the Malla kings and also has great cultural importance in Bhaktapur. The silhouette of his gold-plated bronze statue at the royal palace complex is often used by various organizations and corporations as a symbol to represent Bhaktapur.
Early years
Bhupatindra Malla was born to Jitamitra Malla by his queen consort Lālamati on kārtika śukla khaṣṭhī (the sixth day of the bright half of the month of kārtika) in Nepal Sambat 795, equivalent to 3 November 1674 on the Gregorian calendar.
There was another son born to Lalamati and Jitamitra Malla before the birth of Bhupatindra Malla. The contemporary expenditure book has a record of the Annaprashana (Newar: macā janko) ceremony of a prince in April 1674 (NS 795), before the birth of Bhupatindra Malla. This prince has simply been referred as "Jitamitra Malla's Prince" in the expenditure book and finds no mention in any other sources.
Bhupatindra Malla was raised by his mother Lālamati who played a very important role to shape the psychology of the young prince.
Premarital ceremonies Many of Bhupatindra Malla's pre-marital rite of passage have been recorded in the contemporary expenditure books, like the Chudakarana, Upanayana and the Diksha. For instance, the Chudakarana ceremony of Bhupatindra Malla was done on 1 March 1685 in Dumāju chuka, a courtyard of the royal palace. The rituals done during this ceremony and the expenditures incurred in it are recorded in the expenditure book. Similarly, his Upanayana (Classical Newar: Būdān) was held on 3 February 1686. Likewise, the expenditure incurred, and the rituals performed for the ceremony has been recorded in detail in the expenditure book.
Marriage Bhupatindra Malla was married to Vishva Lakshmi on 4 November 1687, when he was 13 years old. According to contemporary ledgers, the bakery work for the wedding started on 25 June 1687. By September, Jitamitra Malla had sent letters to officials in Thimi, Banepa and other cities within the kingdom. The letters contained the amount of tax money required from the cities and the ingredients required for the feast. In the feast following the wedding, all the citizens of Bhaktapur were invited. Likewise, 16,244 citizens from other cities within the kingdom were also invited. Jitamitra Malla himself wrote a Newari play titled "Madālasā Harana" which was performed during the wedding. Dancers from the royal court of Kantipur as well as other citizens from Kantipur were invited to perform in the ceremony. The dancers from Kantipur performed a dance named "Bhimānanda pyākhan" for which they were paid 20 rupees. Similarly, dancers from Thimi and Sāngā, which lied within the Kingdom of Bhaktapur, were only paid 8 rupees for their performance during the weeding.
Financials of the wedding ceremony The preparations for the wedding ceremony to be held in November began from June. During a marriage of the Newar prince, there was a ceremony called "vātā chóyā" and "kū chóyā" was held which involved sending different varieties of bread to the bride's residence. For that ceremony, the bakery work started on 25 June 1687. On 26 June 1687, the Bhāju (a Newari term for the chief minister) of Jitamitra Malla's court gave 600 rupees to the customs officer in order to gather all the necessary ingredients for the feast. Since a lot of guests were to be invited in the wedding, the income of the royal family couldn't handle the expenses alone. So, the Malla kings and especially Jitamitra Malla collected culinary ingredients from the cities within the Kingdom of Bhaktapur. This form of taxing was called "sevākū". The first of these "sevākū" was collected from Nala. Jitamitra Malla wrote "...As per the orders of Sri Sri Sumāti Jitamitra Malla, Nala is to provide the following to Purvarāma who will bring them to the royal court..." on his letter. The list of ingredients asked from Nala included, a buffalo costing six mohars, two ducks, two goats, forty eggs, 2.18 liters oil, 160 kg flattened rice, 2 kg salt, fish, dhau, 3.2 liters milk, banana, pork, venison and different varieties of sesame.
Diksha
Diksha ceremonies were generally held in an eclipse, solar eclipses being more favoured. There was an annular solar eclipse on 5 November 1687, just a day after the wedding day in which Bhupatindra Malla conducted his Diksha ceremony. In Bhaktapur however, the eclipse was partial which started at 8:06 in the morning, reached its peak at 9:10 and ended at 10 in the morning. A priest named Jayamuni directed the ceremony for which he received 500 rupees as Dakṣiṇā. The preparation for this ceremony had begun from 22 September 1687. Contemporary ledgers contain the details of the dishes served during the feast following this ceremony.
Folklore Bhupatindra Malla's childhood has been highly dramatised in the folklore of Bhaktapur. The story, although historically inaccurate quite popular in Bhaktapur. The story goes that Jitamitra Malla's junior queen despised Bhupatindra Malla and wanted to make her own issue the future king of Bhaktapur. So, she asks for help from the chief minister, Bhāju Kasa, who also wanting to usurp the throne himself decides to help her and the couple manages to persuade Bhupatindra Malla to visit a nearby forest with some hired assassins. The assassins however finding him innocent and touched by his pleadings leave him in the forest and run their knives on a goat. Bhupatindra Malla is later found by a family of Tibetan craftsmen and it was under their raising that Bhupatindra developed his love for arts. Meanwhile, Bhāju Kasa and the junior queen successfully becomes the defacto albeit unpopular rulers of Bhaktapur. After some years Bhupatindra Malla, being taught his real identity returns to Bhaktapur as a young man who immediately becomes popular among the locals. Bhupatindra Malla manages to gather a small army with the help of which, Bhupatindra Malla attack Bhāju Kasa and his stepmother. This time, Bhupatindra Malla successfully takes back the throne and executes Bhāju Kasa and puts his usurping stepmother in a house arrest. This event likely didn't happen and was not a true historical event but can be regarded as folklore. The main point to disprove this story is that Jitamitra Malla didn't have multiple queens. There are no mention of Jitamitra having any queen other than Lālamati. Moreover, there are chronicles documenting the various rituals of a young Bhupatindra Malla and even a painting of a young Bhupatindra Malla. So, the story seems very unlikely.
Reign Rise to power
Initially, when history in Nepal was still in its infancy, it was believed that Bhupatindra Malla was crowned on 21 September 1696, after his father's death. However, a treaty signed between Yognarendra Malla of Patan and Bhaktapur five months after the supposed "death" of Jitamitra Malla titles Jitamitra Malla as the current king of Bhaktapur. The doubt regarding the death of Jitamitra Malla was further supported by a line from the document containing the religious rites performed by him, which dated to around June of 1699 mentions a homa ritual performed by Jitamitra Malla. Because of these evidence, historians pushed forward the idea that Jitamitra Malla voluntarily gave up the throne for Bhupatindra Malla and spent the rest of his life performing pious deeds. The idea was that Jitamitra Malla wanted to avoid a conflict with his heir as was the case with Pratapa Malla and his father Lakshminarasingha Malla in Kantipur and Yognarendra Malla and his father Srinivasa Malla in Lalitpur. This idea was further brought into main stream by Nepalese playwright Bhim Nidhi Tiwari in his historical drama, Mahārāja Bhūpatīndra. Recently however, historians like Om Prasad Dhaubhadel put forward the idea that Bhupatindra Malla succeeded his father via a revolt just like in the case of Pratap Malla, after putting him in house arrest.
Under the direction of his father, Bhupatindra Malla had renovated a stone spout (hiti) and a resting place (phalcā) in Thimi. When Bhupatindra Malla became sufficiently skilled to rule on his own, Jitamitra Malla abdicated the throne. He lived in the Thanthu Lyākū palace which was built by himself and spent the rest of his life in pilgrimage and other religious activities.
Just a few months after his coronation, Bhupatindra Malla inaugurated a play named "Kolāsuravadhopākhyāna" in early March 1697. For this occasion, he offered a ritual oil lamp called tvādevā to Nāsadyah, the deity of music and dance.
Clashes with Yoga Naréndra Malla Yog Narendra Malla became the king of the Kingdom of Lalitpur (present day Lalitpur, Nepal) after he started a revolt against his father Srinivasa Malla. Yog Narēndra Malla was an ambitious king who upon his coronation in 1684 made an alliance with Jitamitra Malla in order to isolate and take over Kantipur. At that time, Kantipur's monarch was an infant Bhupālēndra Malla and the power was mostly on the hands of the chief minister Lakshmi Narayana Joshi. In 1689, Yog Narēndra Malla with the help of Jitamitra Malla successful isolated Kantipur and the combined forces attacked several forts that belonged to Kantipur while the infant king was being paraded around the town.