Dolakha

Dolakha was a Himalayan market town on routes linking the Kathmandu Valley with Tibet. Its rulers drew strength from their position near a major trading route and maintained relationships across the mountains. By 1453 Kirti Simha ruled here, and his successors used the title dolakhadhipati, identifying themselves as rulers of Dolakha. The kingdom's autonomy did not last uninterrupted: the rulers of the Kathmandu Valley later brought it under their authority. Around the middle of the sixteenth century, Indra Simha Deva issued silver coins at Dolakha, evidence of the town's commercial importance. Newar merchants and other communities made the town a meeting place between mountain routes and the markets to the south. The cult of Bhimsen became a central part of local religious life. In the eighteenth century Dolakha became part of the expanding Gorkha kingdom, which went on to unite much of Nepal.