Dark Age
Nepal Bhasa began to be sidelined after the Gorkha conquest of Nepal and the ouster of the Malla dynasty by the Shah dynasty in the late 18th century. Since then, its history has been one of constant suppression and struggle against official disapproval. The Nepal Bhasa movement began during this time.
Following the advent of the Shahs, the Gorkha language became the court language, and Nepal Bhasa was replaced as the language of administration. However, Nepal Bhasa continued to remain in official use for a time as shown by the 1775 treaty with Tibet which was written in it. A few of the new rulers cultivated the language. Kings Prithvi Narayan Shah, Rana Bahadur and Rajendra Bikram Shah composed poetry and wrote plays.
Nepal Bhasa suffered heavily under the repressive policy of the Rana dynasty (1846–1951 AD) when the regime attempted to wipe it out. In 1906, legal documents written in Nepal Bhasa were declared unenforceable, and any evidence in the language was declared null and void. The rulers forbade literature in Nepal Bhasa, and writers were sent to jail. In 1944, Buddhist monks who wrote in the language were expelled from the country.
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“This, it will be remembered, was the scene of Mrs. Rowlandson’s capture, and of other events in the Indian wars, but from this July afternoon, and under that mild exterior, those times seemed as remote as the irruption of the Goths. They were the dark age of New England.”
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