Nepal's Historic Tradition - A Collision of Cultures:

Nepal's Historic Tradition - A Collision of Cultures:

Kathmandu has long been a magnet to peoples, with it's highly fertile soil, pleasant climate, and ancient holy sites. Stone tools are occasionally found which make it clear that Man had discovered the ancient lakebed which is the Kathmandu Valley at least 30,000 years ago. It seems likely that many of the holy sites and local deities still worshipped were established by these peoples in great antiquity. Little is known of these neolithic people today. The forces which shape modern Nepal arrive on the scene about 1,000 BCE, in the form of waves of immigration from the west and the east. In the west, the Khas, an Indo-Aryan people, probably related to the "aryans" who arrived in India 1,500 years earlier, settled in western Nepal and had a capital or important city in the western part of the Kathmandu Valley. Somewhat earlier Tibeto-Burman people known as the Kirat had settled in the East of Nepal, and had also arrived in the valley. Their state is mentioned in many old chronicles, and King Yelambar of Nepal is reported to have taken part in the the battle recorded in the epic, Mahabharata (possibly 8thC BCE). By about 300 AD a dynasty of the Licchavi family had established itself in Kathmandu. The Licchavis were part of the waves of immigrants from the south, which were to continue for the next 1,000 years. In many ways this was the great flowering of Nepal, and the remaining artifacts of this time are wonders of craftsmanship and artistic merit. After 500 years of Licchavi rule, a "dark" period occurs, of which records are very limited. This seems to have been time of stagnation and close cooperation with powerful States in northern India. From the 10th to 12th centuries local power began to assert itself, possibly again by intermarriage with immigrants the south and west; and by the 12th century the Malla dynasty arose. Destined to rule in "interesting times", the Malla Kings held sway for 600 years, though the Valley was often divided into warring states, with three Kings on the throne for much of that time. Most of the great architectural heritage of Nepal and amazing craft works in wood and metal dates from the Malla times. Also in the 10th and 12th centuries, immigration from the north became an important part of Nepal's cultural mix. Early in that period the Sherpas moved south from the Tibetan Plateau and settled amidst the great mountains in Nepal's north. Two centuries later, the Tamangs, remnants of Ghengis Khan's cavalry, settled in the north and east. In recent years, Tibetans fleeing from the Chinese occupation have settled in the north of the country as well. In the 18th century the Khas people of the west of Nepal, augmented and interculturated by immigrants from the south, united under King Prithvi Narayan, and in a series of politically and militarily brilliant manouvers he siezed control of all three "States" in the Valley and reunited Nepal. His dynasty ended in 2008 when Nepal became a republic. The last king of Nepal, Gyanendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev, luves in Kathmandu today as an ordinary citizen. The Shah dynasty rule was partially interrupted from the mid-1800s to 1951 by a series of hereditary Prime Ministers who dominated the Kings and exercised autocratic rule. The monarchy was restored in 1951, and Nepal has been a full democracy since 1990, except for a brief period of royal rule in 2005 and 2006. Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of the repeated influxes of people into Nepal is that it all happened relatively peacefully. Except for a one-week incursion of Moghul troops from India in the 14th century, there has never been an "invasion" as such. Instead, in what in hindsight seems typically Nepalse, each new group was incorporated into the society, enriching it and adding to the complex fabric.

Newars Culture:

Newari Culture:

In recent days, Nepal sambat has become the subject of major discussions in the ‘former’ Nepal Valley. The Newar community believes that Sankhadhar Shakhwa started had this sambat. When did he free the local people from the so-called ‘debt’? Who was ruling at that time? Nepal sambat has been popularized extensively through the folklores (among the Newari people). However, the folklores are deprived of concrete (historical) facts.
Newar community is the ‘oldest’ inhabitant of the Kathmandu valley, there is no doubt. However, the language and culture of Newar community have been ‘influenced heavily’ by the Aryan Hinduism. Newar is a Dravidian belonging to the Mongolian race. Originally, the Newars have come from a village called Nayer which is near Madras in the southern part of India.’ Newar’ has been derived from this village name – Nayer, Swoyambhulal Shrestha, a noted culture-scientist has said in his book.
According to the noted historians, South Indian king from Karnataka, Nanyadev established his kingdom in (Tirhut) Mithila. Nanyadev had come from Simauragadh in A.D.1097. The same king Nanyadev had attacked Kathmandu valley and annexed it to his large kingdom. The people who had come with the king settled down in the valley. In this way, the Newars happened to enter the Kathmandu valley.
During the rule of Lichchavis and Malla kings, Aryans arrived from India through the plains of Terai. The Hindus assimilated in the local Newari community. Even nowadays, the people who originally came from the Mithila region, like Brahmin (Jha, Mishra) and Kayastha can be easily traced in all three cities, namely Bhaktapur and Lalitpur and the surrounding areas of Hanuman-Dhoka in Kathmandu in a large number (running into thousands.) They have already assimilated into the Newari culture and tradition, and their marriage is arranged within the Newari community of the valley.
A Malla king, Jayasthiti Malla had sought help from the two Mithila scholars, Pandit Raghunath Jha and Kirtinath upadhyay to classify Newars into different 4 castes and 36 sub-castes as per the Hindu system of classification. Before Lichchhavis or Malla kings had even arrived in the Nepal valley, King and great scholar Videha Janaka’s Kushdhwaj Janaka had been ruling the valley in Tetra Yuga. Then Kathmandu was a part of the Mithila Kingdom.

Magar Culture:

Magar Culture:

Magars' Mongoloid physical type and their Sino-Tibetan Languages suggest they entered Nepal from the north, through Tibet or southern China. The Magarkura speakers occupy the lower, warmer, and more desirable agricultural area and are known to have been there since at least the late thirteenth or early fourteenth century, so it is likely that they preceded the Khamkura speakers, who generally live in the higher, colder locations to the north.
Identification. People calling themselves Magar are concentrated in the middle Himalayas of west-central Nepal The middle Himalayas are defined by the Mahabharat and Siwalik ranges to the south and the southern slopes of the highest Himalaya to the north. Small Magar settlements and Individual farmsteads are also found elsewhere in Nepal, as well as in Sikkim and even in north India. This pattern of distribution in part reflects the excellence of Magar men as infantrymen. In the late eighteenth century Magars formed an important component in the armies raised by Prithivi Narayan Shah and his successors who created the modern nation of Nepal and for a time extended it well beyond its present borders both to the east and to the west. A number of families now living outside the area of Magar concentration occupy land given a forebear as a reward for his military service during these campaigns. Under the British Raj, when Magars served as mercenaries in the Gurkha Brigade, a few families settled Permanently in north India around the cantonment areas. Magars in need of land have also been moving south to the low malarial Terai of Nepal, since it has been made more habitable by a mosquito eradication program.
Magars usually identify themselves as belonging through patrilineal inheritance to a named section or "tribe," which in the traditional Nepali system is also a caste. Some of these are Pun, Gharti, Rana, Thapa, Ale, Rokha(ya), Budha, Burathoki, and Jhankri. If a Magar man is asked to identify himself, he might say he is a Pun Magar.Sections are subdivided into named subsections or clans. For example, one of the subsections of the Thapa section is the Sinjali clan. However, because some clans, such as the Ramjali, are widespread and found in more than one section, a person's identity might then be given as Ramjali Pun or Ramjali Gharti. Alternatively a Magar may choose to stress locality, saying "I am a Masali Gharti," with Masali referring to the specific small settlement in which he or she lives.
Location. Magar concentration in the middle Himalayas is roughly bounded on east and west by the drainage of the Kali Gandaki River at approximately the latitude of Pokhara up to and including the Bnuri Gandaki. It also includes much of the area drained by the Bheri River and its tributaries, notably the Uttar Ganga, Sano Bheri, and Thulo Bheri.Demography. In the census of 1952-1954, the first after the restoration of the present ruling Shah family, the number of those identifying themselves as Magar was 273,800, or 3 percent of the total population of Nepal. Later censuses were based on mother tongue, and the census of 1981 gave the Magar population as 212,681, an underestimate that ignored Magars whose mother tongue was Nepali. The total projected population for all of Nepal in 1991 is 19,370,300. If we take Magars as 3 percent of the population, we can estimate their population at 500,000.