The Nepalese state and Gorakhnathi yogis: The case of the former kingdoms of Dang Valley: 18th - 19th centuries

Kings and yogis, the kingdoms and monasteries have been often connected. Through a process of common conquest of new territories and mutual legitimation, macro-spiritual and temporal powers have collaborated. This have been the case in some western Himalayan kingdoms - in Gorkha and also in the Dang-Deokhuri Valley. The process lent to a gradual hinduisation of remote areas. This had political consequences as fostering hinduisation also promoted the Hindu concept of kingship, allowing political use to be made of the religious status of monastery. The aim of this article is to get a glimpse through documents of the last century of sometimes conflicting relationships between royal powers and monasteries and to show the permanency of this mode of relationship, despite changing political conditions.