Jayasthiti Malla

Portrait of Jayasthiti Malla (r. 1382-1395)

Jayasthitimalla (or Jayasthiti Malla) (Template:Lang-ne) was a 14th-century king of Nepal belonging to the Malla dynasty. He is known as the best successor of the whole Malla dynasty. He was of Tirhut origins and had married the granddaughter of Devaladevi, who was a queen regent of the Nepal Valley at the time.

The early Malla period, a time of continuing trade and the reintroduction of Nepalese coinage, saw the steady growth of the small towns that became Yein Kathmandu, Yala Patan, and Khowpa Bhadgaon. Royal pretenders in Yala and Khowpa struggled with their main rivals, the lords of Bhota: Banepa in the east, relying on the populations of their towns as their power bases. The citizens of KHowpa viewed Devaladevi as the legitimate, independent queen. The betrothal in 1354 of her granddaughter to Jayasthiti Malla, a man of obscure but apparently high birth, eventually led to the reunification of the land and a lessening of strife among the towns.

By 1370 Jayasthiti Malla controlled Yala, and in 1374 his forces defeated those in Bhota and Yangleshö Pharping. He then took full control of the country from 1382 until 1395, reigning in Khowpa as the husband of the queen and in Yala with full regal titles. His authority was not absolute because the lords of Bhota: were able to pass themselves off as kings to ambassadors of the Chinese Ming emperor who traveled to Nepal during this time. Nevertheless, Jayasthiti Malla united the entire valley and its environs under his sole rule, an accomplishment still remembered with pride by Nepalese, particularly Newars. The first comprehensive codification of law in Nepal, based on the dharma of ancient religious textbooks, is ascribed to Jayasthitimalla. This legendary compilation of traditions was seen as the source of legal reforms during the 19th and 20th centuries. He is also the first king to start commercial education in Nepal.