Dipayal

Dipayal lies beside the Seti River in the Lesser Himalayas of western Nepal, in the valley country of Doti. The settlement occupies a valley setting among Himalayan hills, with the river providing the clearest line through the surrounding forested terrain, and its terraces and slopes are scattered among nearby ridges and villages.

The valley belonged to the medieval kingdom of Doti. When the Katyuri realm of Kumaon broke up in the thirteenth century, Niranjan Malla Dev, a younger son of the Katyuri line, founded Doti, and its rulers, the Raikas, held the country between the Ramganga in the west and the Karnali in the east. Doti remained independent until 1790, when Gorkhali armies from the east invaded it; fighting took place at Nari-Dang on the bank of the Seti, and the Raikas’ forces made their stand at Dumrakot before Doti was taken.