92 Facts About Bhupatindra Malla

Bhupatindra Malla is the most widely known king of Bhaktapur and is among the most popular of the Malla dynasty.

Bhupatindra Malla is popularly known in Bhaktapur as nepah juju, meaning the king of the Newars.

Bhupatindra Malla's 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.

Bhupatindra Malla was keen on building, having built a hiti and a public shelter at Thimi as a prince.

Bhupatindra Malla was an avid lyricist and playwright with some of his songs still being sung in Bhaktapur.

Bhupatindra Malla was a politically strong figure in the Nepal Valley and established the reputation of Bhaktapur as a strong military principality similar to that of Kantipur.

Bhupatindra Malla 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 has great cultural importance in Bhaktapur.

Bhupatindra Malla was most likely the second male child of Jitamitra Malla and Lalamati.

The Jarako ceremony of the thakura of Sri Sri Jitamitra Bhupatindra Malla was done by the royal priest Shidharatas during the Akshaya Tritiya of Nepal Sambat 795.

Bhupatindra Malla being the second child is further supported by his birth chart, where him being the eldest child of Jitamitra Malla is not mentioned.

Bhupatindra Malla was raised by his mother Lalamati who played a very important role to shape the psychology of the young prince.

Bhupatindra Malla's childhood has been highly dramatised in the folklore of 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 Bhagirama Kayastha, who 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.

Bhupatindra Malla is later found by a family of Tibetan craftsmen and it was under their raising that Bhupatindra developed his love for arts.

Bhupatindra Malla manages to gather a small army with the help of which, Bhupatindra Malla attack Bhaju Kasa and his stepmother.

The main point to disprove this story is that Jitamitra Bhupatindra Malla didn't have multiple queens.

Bhupatindra Malla's father, Jitamitra was an extremely pious king who had almost all of his religious rites documented.

Similarly, Jitamitra Malla was given a new set of clothes and Bhupatindra was gifted a precious set of clothes, a rare green cloth, a diamond ring, gold necklace and gold earrings.

The chief minister of Kantipur, the queen consort of Kantipur and the widow of Pratap Malla gifted Bhupatindra a set of new outfit in the ceremony.

Jitamitra Bhupatindra Malla himself wrote a Newari play titled "Madalasa Harana" which was performed during the wedding.

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 and a resting place in Thimi.

When Bhupatindra Malla became sufficiently skilled to rule on his own, Jitamitra Malla abdicated the throne.

Bhupatindra Malla lived in the Thanthu Lyaku palace which was built by himself and spent the rest of his life in pilgrimage and other religious activities.

Yog Narendra Bhupatindra Malla became the king of the Kingdom of Lalitpur after he started a revolt against his father Srinivasa Bhupatindra Malla.

Yog Narendra Bhupatindra Malla was an ambitious king who upon his coronation in 1684 made an alliance with Jitamitra Bhupatindra Malla in order to isolate and take over Kantipur.

However, due to the fort's strength Yog Narendra Bhupatindra Malla's force were not able to capture it.

Bhupatindra Malla's forces continued to attack the fort while Yog Narendra himself was operating from Changu.

Bhupatindra Malla helped in the crowning of Lokaprakasha Malla, the son of Yogamati who herself was the daughter of Yoga Narendra Malla.

Similar to Lalitpur, the monarch Bhaskar Bhupatindra Malla was just eight years old and the power was on the hands of his mother, Bhuvana Lakshmi.

The twenty-year-old mother of Lokaprakasha, Yogamati asked Bhupatindra Malla for help against Kantipur's plan.

The citizens of Kantipur then kidnapped Lokaprakasha but Bhupatindra Malla rescued him and declared Lalitpur a protectorate of Bhaktapur.

The money collected from the play was used by Bhupatindra Malla to offer a bell to the lord of dance, Nrityasvara.

Jitamitra Bhupatindra Malla's name appears for one last time in a ledger book which states that:.

The story further says that after gaining support of the junior queen Bhaju Kasa uses the new gained power to trick a young Bhupatindra Malla to go to a secluded forest with some hired assassins while Bhaju Kasa and Jitamitra Malla's junior queen rule Bhaktapur.

The story now shifts to a young Bhupatindra Malla who is spared by the assassins who run their knife on a goat instead and is picked up by a family of Tibetan artisans who raises him and eventually Bhupatindra Malla gathers his own army and takes back the throne.

In 1914, Bhupatindra Malla had to sue for peace with Bhaksar Malla of Kantipur and the king of Lalitpur.

Bhupatindra Malla had always refused to pay tribute to the ruler of Kattmandu, but was at last forced, not only to pay, but to give more, after spending large sums in war.

Bhupatindra Malla appears as a witness in all treaties and legal documents involving the royal court.

Hail the learned and patient king Jitamitra Bhupatindra Malla who is the greatest in the kingdom.

Jitamitra Bhupatindra Malla couldn't remove Bhaju Kasa due his immense popularity among the locals.

Bhupatindra Malla's usurping stepmother is imprisoned within the palace while Bhaju Kasa is taken to a forest near the western gates of Bhaktapur where he is executed.

Not only are there no records of Jitamitra Malla's queen apart from Lalamati, a young Bhupatindra Malla is depicted in a few contemporary paintings and there are ledgers books of various ceremonies of a young Bhupatindra Malla.

Bhupatindra Malla was the first female to appear as a witness in a legal document in Bhaktapur's history.

The story says that once the Queen noticed her husband King Bhupatindra Malla gazing at a woman every morning.

Ugra Malla was Bhupatindra's uncle who assisted him during the early years of his reign especially in political matters.

Ugra Malla was equally active and ruled alongside his brother and Bhupatindra's father, Jitamitra Malla.

Ugra Bhupatindra Malla was featured with his brother in most paintings of Jitamitra.

Bhupatindra Malla himself layed three bricks on the foundation thereby commencing the construction work.

Bhupatindra Malla is believed to appear frequently in locales around the Nyatapola temple as a child during the time of the Biska Jatra festival.

The child was then revealed to be Vetala himself and for saving his kingdom from foreign attack, Bhupatindra Malla is said to have gifted Vira Vetala a golden jewellery.

Bhupatindra Malla's reign is considered a golden one in Bhaktapur as it saw the construction of much of the city's iconic and important heritage.

Bhupatindra Malla began his construction works even before he was crowned as evidenced by his renovation of a hiti in the royal palace and a construction of one in Thimi along with a phalcha as a prince.

The palace of fifty five windows was the remodeling of a palace first constructed by King Jayayakshya Bhupatindra Malla which was damaged in the earthquake of 1681.

Bhupatindra Malla later remodeled the palace with fifty-five windows and today is considered a great example of Nepalese woodcarving.

The construction of this palace was completed in 1708 after which Bhupatindra Malla had a Chitrakar paint frescoes on the second floor.

Similarly, her ribbon which forms an elaborate head wear contains the word 'Sri Bhupatindra Malla' written in the Newari script, further identifying her as Bhupatindra Malla's queen.

Glass was extremely rare in Nepal until the 20th century and the glass kept by Bhupatindra Malla became an object of wonder for the people.

Bhupatindra Malla had received the pane of glass as a gift from a Mughal emperor.

The glass was considered rare and valuable in Nepal at the time and was an object of wonder for the people and thus Bhupatindra Malla placed the glass pane on the principal latticed window of his palace for everyone to see.

The courtyard is located behind the palace and is credited to Bhupatindra Malla and is one of the few remaining of the 99 courtyards of the royal palace.

Bhupatindra Malla built a single-storey temple with a gold-plated roof in the courtyard which was destroyed during the earthquake of 1934 and was not reconstructed.

The Nyatapola temple is a pagoda-style temple commissioned by King Bhupatindra Malla and was constructed under a period of six months of the year 822 of Nepalese era.

Almost all the Bhupatindra Malla kings were great devotee of the Devi and all the kings had installed at least one thing in the courtyard.

In 1706 Bhupatindra Malla commissioned the renovation of the Taleju temple and had the roof of the temple plated with gold.

Bhupatindra Malla installed eleven golden pinnacles on the roof of the temple.

Bhupatindra Malla offered his gold-plated statue to Goddesses Taleju which is taken out once a year during Vijayadashami along with the statutes of his queen and his parents.

Although, Jitamitra Bhupatindra Malla had started the renovation of other damaged buildings like the Chaukot Lyaku palace and the courtyard of the Kumari Chwoka, the later of which took 14 years to renovate.

Bhupatindra Malla added two large stone statues of Ugrachandi and Ugrabhairava on the either sides of the entrance to the palace in a similar manner to Simhadhwakha Lyaku.

Similarly, Bhupatindra Malla had added a large wooden tympanum on the entrance gate of the palace.

So, the Nritya Vatsala temple probably existed before the reign of Bhupatindra Malla and was renovated to its present form sometime between Nepal Sambat 835 and 841.

Bhupatindra Malla referred to this setup as "Panchayana Mahadeva" in an inscription.

Bhupatindrara Malla was a great contributor of Maithili lyrics and Nepal Bhasa plays.

Bhupatindra Malla is among the most painted of the Malla kings along with Pratap Malla and Siddhi Narasimha Malla.

Bhupatindra Malla's most detailed portrait is a Paubha presently at the Rijksmuseum.

The walls on the second floor of the palace of fifty-five windows have numerous depictions of Bhupatindra Malla including a hunting scene and a portrait of himself and his queen as Vishvarupa.

Similarly, two Nepalese Paubha contain a miniature of Bhupatindra Malla: one dated 1681 with Bhupatindra as prince, seated with his father and his uncle and the other dated 1716 where Bhupatindra Malla is seated with his crown prince.

Bhupatindra Malla is seated on a lion seat which itself rests atop a lotus throne.

Similarly, Bhupatindra Malla is wearing two rings with a blue coloured gem on his two index fingers.

The parasol above Bhupatindra Malla is missing its leaf like structure made up of gilt bronze that blew with the wind.

Hence, the throne of the Malla kings, including the one Bhupatindra Malla is depicted in, had a snake canopy representing the Shesha of Vishnu and a Garuda on the bottom part of the throne representing his Vahana.

Since, Bhupatindra Malla was a great devotee of Shiva, he is depicted with a Tripundra, the Tilaka of Shiva on his forehead.

Bhupatindra Malla is an important part of the local folklore.

Bhupatindra Malla's stepmother takes the role of antagonist in these stories as she is believed to have repeatedly plotted to assassinate the young prince.

Similarly, in the other story, a young Bhupatindra Malla is sent to the forests by his stepmother in order to be killed, but is spared by the assassins who run their knives on a goat instead.

Later, Bhupatindra Malla is raised by a family of Tibetans and a grown up Bhupatindra Malla takes back the throne and exiles the usurping stepmother.

Bhupatindra Malla is the subject of a Newari folk song.

Some believe Bhupatindra Malla to be an incarnation of a Bodhisattva.

Similarly, Bhupatindra Malla plays a central role in the first half of the historical fiction novel Ranahar, written by Yogesh Raj, which won the Madan Puraskar in 2018.