Treaty of Thapathali

Treaty of Thapathali

Treaty of Thapathali(1856)
Signed	24 March 1856 (Chaitra 13, 1912 B.S.)
Location	Thapathali, Kathmandu, Nepal
Effective	24 March 1856

The Treaty of Thapathali was a treaty signed between the Tibetan Ganden Phodrang regime (then under administrative rule of the Qing dynasty) and the Kingdom of Nepal in Thapathali Durbar in Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal, following the Nepalese–Tibetan War. In January 1856, a representative group of Tibet came to Kathmandu for discussion of treaty. After a long discussion, the representative group ultimately signed in Thapathali a treaty on 24 March.

Failure of first attempt

Tibetan were continuously defeated due to the lack of arms and ammunition. The voice of treaty started to raise as soon as the war was postponed. A meeting of delegation teams was called in Shikarjong but no decision was made. Nepali delegation team returned as they were to discuss with prime minister, Jung Bahadur Rana. In the meeting with Tibetan delegation, Jung Bahadur demanded one crore rupees for expenses of war and for returning the Tibetan land captured by Nepal. It was very hard for Tibetan delegation to make such a decision so Kaji Til Bikram was sent to Sikarjong along with the Tibetan in September. The ambassador of China replied with proud that he can give four lakhs rupees for war expenses and five lakhs rupees as penantly for the destruction of Nepalese troops in Lhasa. The ambassador also replied that the Tibet is a state of China and the Emperor gave it to Nuns only for religious purpose so Tibet was not subjected to give even one palm length of land to Nepal; if Nepal did not returned immediately from Tibet then Nepal must be ready to fight war with China. As Nepalese were not in support of this condition, the attempt of Treaty failed.

Second attempt and its Terms

1. Tibet Government have to pay 10,000 Nepalese rupees to Nepal Government per year.
2. Tibet and Nepal agree to regard the Chinese Emperor as heretofore with respect. In case any foreign country attacked Tibet, Nepal Government have to help Tibet Government. Also in case if Nepal is attacked, Tibet government have to preserve the Nepalese wealth and have to transfer wealth in safest place in Nepal. The expenditure during this transfer have to be paid by Tibet Government for first two months and by Nepal Government after that.
3. In trade between Tibet and Nepal, Tibet government will not impose custom duty for Nepalese products. Also the custom duty imposed on Nepalese products up to the period of treaty will also be forgiven.
4. Tibet government have to submit all the war prisoners and arms of Nepal. Also the Nepal government have to submit war prisoners and yaks taken during the war.
5. For the care of Nepalese businessman, from this time onward a Courtier(भारदार) will be appointed instead of Nayak(नायक) as a representative.
6. All Nepalese are allowed to do business in Tibet without any hindrance. With exception of Armed soldiers, all Nepali are allowed to travel freely in Tibet.
7. Nepali representative won't interfere in Tibet internal matters, also in case of dispute within Nepali, Tibet government won't interfere. But for dispute between Tibetan and Nepali, both governments will appoint one representative each for settlement of disputes. The penalty paid by Tibetan and Nepali during the disputes will be given to Tibet government and Nepali government respectively.
8. If any murderer escaped from a country and resides in other country, the latter will submit the culprit to concerned government.
9. If any citizen of one country theft the citizens of other, the former government shall make all the provisions for returning materials and punish culprit.

See also

• Thapathali Durbar
• History of Nepal
• Tibet under Qing rule
• Sino-Nepalese War
• Nepalese–Tibetan War
• China-Nepal relations