Heritage · Dullu
Reading history on Prithvi Malla's pillar
Stand beside the stone pillar raised in 1357 by Prithvi Malla, emperor of the Khasa kingdom, whose inscription lists his ancestors back to Nagaraj and is a key source for the history of the western Himalaya.
Prithvi Malla was the ruler under whom the Khasa empire reached its greatest extent. In 1357 he raised an inscribed pillar at Dullu, a kirti stambha or pillar of glory, carved with a text that names the kings before him and praises his rule. The inscription opens with Buddhist syllables and invocations, showing the mixed faith of the Khasa court.
The pillar was studied by Yogi Naraharinath, a scholar-monk who travelled the far west in the 20th century recording inscriptions. From it historians learned that the dynasty's founder Nagaraj came from Khari, the Ngari region of western Tibet, and founded his capital at Semja, today's Sinja.
Today the pillar stands in the open, weathered but readable to specialists. Your guide can point out the lines of script and tell you how local people regard it. Do not touch or rub the stone. Pair the visit with Shirasthan and the bazaar for a full morning.
Good for
Questions
What does the Dullu pillar inscription say?
It is a royal praise text of Prithvi Malla, dated Shaka 1279, or 1357 CE. It lists his predecessors, records that Nagaraj founded the Khasa capital at Semja, now Sinja, and begins with Buddhist invocations. It is a key source for Khasa history.
Is the Dullu inscription in Nepali?
Scholars still discuss the language of individual inscriptions, which mix Sanskrit formulas with the local tongue. Dullu and Sinja are both counted among the places with the earliest written examples of Khas, the ancestor of Nepali, and local people proudly describe Dullu's stones as the first written Nepali.
Who discovered the Dullu pillar?
The inscription was brought to scholarly attention by Yogi Naraharinath, a 20th-century scholar and ascetic who recorded many inscriptions and documents across western Nepal. Local people had always known the pillar; his work made its text available to historians.
Also in Dullu
More ways to spend the day
SpiritualThe eternal flame of Shirasthan
Visit Shirasthan in Rawatkot, where a natural gas flame burns inside the shrine and a Nath ascetic keeps the fire, …
SpiritualThe Panchakoshi circuit of five holy sites
Follow the Panchakoshi pilgrimage around Dullu: Shirasthan, Nabhisthan, Dhuleshwar, Padukasthan and Tallo Dungeshwar, a circuit of flames, springs and old …
HeritageDhuleshwar, a 13th-century hill temple
Visit Dhuleshwar in Badalamji, one of the five Panchakoshi sites, a 13th-century temple tied to the legend of the scattered …