Purang

The Purang kings of the fourteenth century belonged to the Malla house of the Khasa, or Yatse, kingdom, founded by Nagaraja in the eleventh century with its capital at Sinja. Tibetan chronicles derive the Yatse line from a son of the old royal house of Purang; the family gradually Indianised and took the surname Malla.

Its kings left inscriptions across the region, including Ashok Challa at Bodhgaya in 1255 and 1278 and Ripu Malla on the Ashokan pillar at Lumbini in 1312. Under Punya Malla, recorded of Purang royalty between 1336 and 1339, and his successor Prithvi Malla, the empire reached its height, taking in Guge, Purang and much of western Nepal.

Tibetan sources call Prithvi Malla the last great king of the line; after Abhaya Malla the kingdom fragmented, and in 1378 a resurgent Guge absorbed Purang.