Ancient Nepal
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By 4000 BCE, the Tibeto-Burmese people had reached Nepal either directly across the Himalayas from Tibet or via Myanmar and north-east India or both. By the late
Vedic period The Vedic period, or the Vedic age (), is the period in the late Bronze Age and early Iron Age of the history of India when the Vedic literature, including the Vedas (–900 BCE), was composed in the northern Indian subcontinent, between the e ...
, Nepal was being mentioned in various Hindu texts, such as the late Vedic '' Atharvaveda Pariśiṣṭa'' and in the post-Vedic ''Atharvashirsha''
Upanishad The Upanishads (; , , ) are late Vedic and post-Vedic Sanskrit texts that "document the transition from the archaic ritualism of the Veda into new religious ideas and institutions" and the emergence of the central religious concepts of Hind ...
.P. 17 ''Looking to the Future: Indo-Nepal Relations in Perspective'' By Lok Raj Baral The Gopal Bansa was the oldest dynasty to be mentioned in various texts as the earliest rulers of the central Himalayan kingdom known by the name 'Nepal'. The Gopalas were followed by
Kiratas The Kirāta () is a generic term in Sanskrit literature for people who had territory in the mountains, particularly in the Himalayas and Northeast India and who are believed to have been Sino-Tibetan in origin. ...
who ruled for over 16 centuries by some accounts. According to the
Mahabharata The ''Mahābhārata'' ( ; , , ) is one of the two major Sanskrit Indian epic poetry, epics of ancient India revered as Smriti texts in Hinduism, the other being the ''Ramayana, Rāmāyaṇa''. It narrates the events and aftermath of the Kuru ...
, the then Kirata king went to take part in the
Battle of Kurukshetra The Kurukshetra War (), also called the Mahabharata War, is a war described in the Hindu epic poem ''Mahabharata'', arising from a dynastic struggle between two groups of cousins, the Kauravas and the Pandavas, for the throne of Hastinapura. ...
. In the south-eastern region, Janakpurdham was the capital of the prosperous kingdom of
Videha Videha ( Prākrit: ; Pāli: ; Sanskrit: ) was an ancient Indo-Aryan tribe of north-eastern Indian subcontinent whose existence is attested during the Iron Age. The population of Videha, the Vaidehas, were initially organised into a monarchy ...
or Mithila, that extended down to the Ganges, and home to King Janaka and his daughter,
Sita Sita (; ), also known as Siya, Jānaki and Maithili, is a Hindu goddess and the female protagonist of the Hindu epic ''Ramayana''. Sita is the consort of Rama, the avatar of god Vishnu, and is regarded as an avatar of goddess Lakshmi. She is t ...
. Around 600 BCE, small kingdoms and confederations of clans arose in the southern regions of Nepal. From one of these, the
Shakya Shakya (Pali, Pāḷi: ; Sanskrit: ) was an ancient Indo-Aryan clan of the northeastern region of South Asia, whose existence is attested during the Iron Age in India, Iron Age. The Shakyas were organised into a Gaṇasaṅgha, (an Aristocrac ...
polity, arose a prince who later renounced his status to lead an ascetic life, founded
Buddhism Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...
, and came to be known as
Gautama Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha (),* * * was a śramaṇa, wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist lege ...
(traditionally dated 563–483 BCE). Nepal came to be established as a land of spirituality and refuge in the intervening centuries, played an important role in transmitting Buddhism to East Asia via Tibet, and helped preserve Hindu and Buddhist manuscripts. In 249 BCE, Emperor Asoka founded Lalitapatan city of Nepal.
Emperor Ashoka Ashoka, also known as Asoka or Aśoka ( ; , ; – 232 BCE), and popularly known as Ashoka the Great, was List of Mauryan emperors, Emperor of Magadha from until #Death, his death in 232 BCE, and the third ruler from the Mauryan dynast ...
was responsible for the construction of several significant structures in Nepal. These include the
Ramagrama Stupa Ramagrama stupa (, also Ramgram, Rāmgrām, Rāmagrāma) is a stupa located in Ramgram Municipality, in the Parasi District of Nepal. This Buddhist pilgrimage site containing relics of Gautama Buddha was constructed between the Mauryan and G ...
, Gotihawa Pillar of Ashoka, Nigali-Sagar Ashoka Pillar inscription, and the
Lumbini pillar inscription The Lumbini pillar inscription, also called the Paderia inscription, is an inscription in the ancient Brahmi script, discovered in December 1896 on a pillar of Ashoka in Lumbini, Nepal by former Chief of the Nepalese Army General Khadga Shamsher ...
of Ashoka. The Chinese pilgrims Fa-Hien (337 CE – c. 422 CE) and
Xuanzang Xuanzang (; ; 6 April 6025 February 664), born Chen Hui or Chen Yi (), also known by his Sanskrit Dharma name Mokṣadeva, was a 7th-century Chinese Bhikkhu, Buddhist monk, scholar, traveller, and translator. He is known for the epoch-making ...
(602–664 CE) describe the Kanakamuni Stupa and the Asoka Pillar of currently Nepal region in their travel accounts. Xuanzang speaks of a lion capital atop the pillar, now lost. A base of a Pillar of Ashoka has been discovered at
Gotihawa Gotihawa (formerly called Gutivā in Western sources) is a village development committee located about southeast of Kapilavastu, in Kapilvastu District, in the Lumbini Zone of southern Nepal. At the time of the 1991 Nepal census it had a popula ...
, a few miles from Nigali Sagar, and it has been suggested that it is the original base of the Nigalar Sagar pillar fragments. Ashoka also visited the Kathmandu valley and built monuments commemorating Gautama Buddha's visit there. By the 4th century AD, much of Nepal was under the influence of the
Gupta Empire The Gupta Empire was an Indian empire during the classical period of the Indian subcontinent which existed from the mid 3rd century to mid 6th century CE. At its zenith, the dynasty ruled over an empire that spanned much of the northern Indian ...
. In the Kathmandu valley, the Kiratas were pushed eastward by the Licchavis, and the Licchavi dynasty came into power 400 AD. The Lichchhavis built monuments and left a series of inscriptions; Nepal's history of the period is pieced together almost entirely from them. The Licchavi dynasty went into decline in the late 8th century and was followed by a Thakuri dynasty. Thakuri kings ruled over the country up to the middle of the 11th century AD; not much is known of this period that is often called the dark period.


Prehistory

Prehistoric sites of
palaeolithic The Paleolithic or Palaeolithic ( years ago) ( ), also called the Old Stone Age (), is a period in human prehistory that is distinguished by the original development of stone tools, and which represents almost the entire period of human prehist ...
,
mesolithic The Mesolithic (Ancient Greek language, Greek: μέσος, ''mesos'' 'middle' + λίθος, ''lithos'' 'stone') or Middle Stone Age is the Old World archaeological period between the Upper Paleolithic and the Neolithic. The term Epipaleolithic i ...
and
neolithic The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...
origins have been discovered in the
Siwalik hills The Sivalik Hills, also known as Churia Hills, are a mountain range of the outer Himalayas. The literal translation of "Sivalik" is 'tresses of Shiva'. The hills are known for their numerous fossils, and are also home to the Soanian Middle Pale ...
of Dang district. The earliest inhabitants of modern Nepal and adjoining areas are believed to be people from the
Indus Valley civilisation The Indus Valley Civilisation (IVC), also known as the Indus Civilisation, was a Bronze Age civilisation in the Northwestern South Asia, northwestern regions of South Asia, lasting from 3300 Common Era, BCE to 1300 BCE, and in i ...
. It is possible that the Dravidian people whose history predates the onset of the
Bronze Age The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...
in the Indian subcontinent (around 3300 BC) inhabited the area before the arrival of other ethnic groups like the
Tibeto-Burman The Tibeto-Burman languages are the non- Sinitic members of the Sino-Tibetan language family, over 400 of which are spoken throughout the Southeast Asian Massif ("Zomia") as well as parts of East Asia and South Asia. Around 60 million people speak ...
s and
Indo-Aryans Indo-Aryan peoples are a diverse collection of peoples predominantly found in South Asia, who (traditionally) speak Indo-Aryan languages. Historically, Aryans were the Indo-Iranian speaking pastoralists who migrated from Central Asia int ...
from across the border.
Tharus The Tharu people are an ethnic group living in the Terai in southern Nepal and northern India. They speak Tharu languages. They are recognized as an official ethnicity by the Government of Nepal. In the Indian Terai, they live foremost in Uttara ...
, Tibeto-Burmans who mixed heavily with Indians in the southern regions, are natives of the central
Terai The Terai or Tarai is a lowland region in parts of southern Nepal and northern India that lies to the south of the outer foothills of the Himalayas, the Sivalik Hills and north of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. This lowland belt is characterised by ...
region of Nepal. The first documented tribes in Nepal are the
Kirat people The Kirati people, also spelled as Kirat or Kirant or Kiranti, are Tibeto-Burman ethnolinguistic groups living in the Himalayas, mostly the Eastern Himalaya extending eastward from Nepal to North East India (predominantly in the Indian state ...
, who arrived into Nepal from Tibet roughly 4000 to 4500 years ago and moved into the Kathmandu valley and southern parts of Nepal, before being made to retreat elsewhere by the invading Licchavis from India who ruled the Kathmandu valley in modern-day southern parts of
Nepal Nepal, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mainly situated in the Himalayas, but also includes parts of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China Ch ...
. Other ethnic groups of Indo-Aryan origin later migrated to southern part of Nepal from Indo-Gangetic Plain of
northern India North India is a geographical region, loosely defined as a cultural region comprising the northern part of India (or historically, the Indian subcontinent) wherein Indo-Aryans (speaking Indo-Aryan languages) form the prominent majority populati ...
.
Stella Kramrisch Stella Kramrisch (May 29, 1896 – August 31, 1993) was an American pioneering art historian and curator who was the leading specialist on Indian art for most of the 20th century. Her scholarship remains a benchmark to this day. She researched ...
(1964) mentions a substratum of a race of Pre-Dravidians and Dravidians, who were in Nepal even before the
Newars Newar (; , endonym: Newa; , Pracalit script: ), or Nepami, are primarily inhabitants in Kathmandu Valley of Nepal and its surrounding areas, and the creators of its historic heritage and civilisation. Page 15. Newars are a distinct linguisti ...
, who formed the majority of the ancient inhabitants of the valley of Kathmandu.


Legends and ancient times

Although very little is known about the early history of Nepal, legends and documented references reach far back to the 30th century BC. Also, the presence of historical sites such as the Valmiki ashram, indicates the presence of ''Sanatana'' (ancient) Hindu culture in parts of Nepal at that period. According to legendary accounts, the early rulers of Nepal were the ''Gopālavaṃśi ('' Gopal Bansa) or "cowherd dynasty", who presumably ruled for about five centuries. They are said to have been followed by the ''Mahiṣapālavaṃśa'' or "buffalo-herder dynasty", established by a
Yadav Yadavs are a grouping of non-elite, peasant-pastoral Quote: "The Yadavs were traditionally a low-to-middle-ranking cluster of pastoral-peasant castes that have become a significant political force in Uttar Pradesh (and other northern states l ...
named Bhul Singh. The
Shakya Shakya (Pali, Pāḷi: ; Sanskrit: ) was an ancient Indo-Aryan clan of the northeastern region of South Asia, whose existence is attested during the Iron Age in India, Iron Age. The Shakyas were organised into a Gaṇasaṅgha, (an Aristocrac ...
clan formed an independent oligarchic republican state known as the Śākya Gaṇarājya''' during the late
Vedic period The Vedic period, or the Vedic age (), is the period in the late Bronze Age and early Iron Age of the history of India when the Vedic literature, including the Vedas (–900 BCE), was composed in the northern Indian subcontinent, between the e ...
(c. 1000 – c. 500 BCE) and the later so-called
second urbanisation Anatomically modern humans first arrived on the Indian subcontinent between 73,000 and 55,000 years ago. The earliest known human remains in South Asia date to 30,000 years ago. Sedentariness began in South Asia around 7000 BCE; by 4500 B ...
period (c. 600 – c. 200 BCE). Its capital was Kapilavastu, which may have been located either in present-day
Tilaurakot Tilaurakot is a neighborhood in Kapilvastu Municipality in Kapilvastu District, in the Lumbini Province of southern Nepal. Previously it was a Village development committee. At the time of the 1991 Nepal census it had a population of 5684 peo ...
,
Nepal Nepal, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mainly situated in the Himalayas, but also includes parts of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China Ch ...
.
Gautama Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha (),* * * was a śramaṇa, wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist lege ...
(c. 6th to 4th centuries BCE), whose teachings became the foundation of
Buddhism Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...
, was the best-known Shakya. He was known in his lifetime as "Siddhartha Gautama" and "Shakyamuni" (Sage of the Shakyas). He was the son of
Śuddhodana Śuddhodana (; Pali: ''Suddhodana''), meaning "he who grows pure rice," was the father of Siddhartha Gautama, better known as the Buddha. He was a leader of the Shakya, who lived in an Oligarchy, oligarchic republic, with their capital at Kapil ...
, the elected leader of the Śākya Gaṇarājya.


Kirat dynasty

The context of Kirat Dynasty ruling in Nepal before Licchavi dynasty and after Mahispal (Ahir) dynasty are depicted in different manuscripts. Delineating the area between the
Sun Koshi The Sunkoshi, also spelled Sunkosi, is a river that is part of the Koshi River, Koshi or Saptkoshi River system in Nepal. Sunkoshi has two river source, source streams, one that arises within Nepal in Choukati, and the other more significant stre ...
and Tama Koshi rivers as their native land, the list of Kirati kings is also given in the Gopal genealogy. By defeating the last king of the Avir dynasty Bhuwan Singh in a battle, Kirati King Yalung or
Yalamber Yalamber or Yalung, Yalambar, Yalamwar, Yalamver ( Nepali: यलम्बर) was a Kirati warrior and first king of the Kirata kingdom in Nepal, which he established in 800 B.C.Kirat Yoyakhha His capital was Yalakhom, present day Kathmand ...
had taken the regime of the valley under his control. In Hindu mythological perspective, this event is believed to have taken place in the final phase of
Dvapara Yuga ''Dvapara Yuga'' (International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration, IAST: ''Dvāpara-yuga'') (Devanagari: द्वापर युग), in Hinduism, is the third and third-best of the four ''yugas'' (world ages) in a ''Yuga Cycle'', preceded b ...
or initial phase of
Kali Yuga ''Kali Yuga'' (Devanagari: कलियुग), in Hinduism, is the fourth, shortest, and worst of the four '' yugas'' (world ages) in a '' Yuga cycle'', preceded by '' Dvapara Yuga'' and followed by the next cycle's '' Krita (Satya) Yuga''. I ...
or around the 6th century BC. Descriptions of 32, 28 and 29 Kirati kings are found according to the Gopal genealogy, language-genealogy and Wright genealogy respectively. By means of the notices contained in the classics of the East and West, the
Kiranti people The Kirati people, also spelled as Kirat or Kirant or Kiranti, are Tibeto-Burman ethnolinguistic groups living in the Himalayas, mostly the Eastern Himalaya extending eastward from Nepal to North East India (predominantly in the Indian state ...
were living in their present whereabouts for the last 2000 to 2500 years, with an extensive dominion, possibly reaching at one time to the delta of the
Ganges The Ganges ( ; in India: Ganga, ; in Bangladesh: Padma, ). "The Ganges Basin, known in India as the Ganga and in Bangladesh as the Padma, is an international which goes through India, Bangladesh, Nepal and China." is a trans-boundary rive ...
.


Licchavi dynasty

The kings of the Lichhavi dynasty (originally from Vaishali in modern-day India) ruled what is the Kathmandu valley in modern-day Nepal after the Kirats. It is mentioned in some genealogies and Puranas that the "Suryavansi Kshetriyas had established a new regime by defeating the Kirats". The ''Pashupati Purana'' mentions that "the masters of Vaishali established their own regime by confiding Kiratis with sweet words and defeating them in war". Similar contexts can be found in Himbatkhanda''', which also mentions that "the masters of Vaishali had started ruling in Nepal by defeating Kirats". Different genealogies state different names of the last Kirati king. According to the Gopal genealogy, the Lichhavis established their rule in Nepal by defeating the last Kirati King 'Khigu', 'Galiz' according to the language-genealogy and 'Gasti' according to Wright genealogy. In
641 __NOTOC__ Year 641 ( DCXLI) was a common year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar. The denomination 641 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe ...
,
Songtsen Gampo Songtsen Gampo (Classical , pronounced ) (; (601–683 CE, reign 614-648) was the 33rd Tibetan king of the Yarlung dynasty and the founder of the Tibetan Empire. The first of three Dharma Kings of Tibet, he formally introduced Buddhism to Tib ...
of the
Tibetan Empire The Tibetan Empire (,) was an empire centered on the Tibetan Plateau, formed as a result of expansion under the Yarlung dynasty heralded by its 33rd king, Songtsen Gampo, in the 7th century. It expanded further under the 38th king, Trisong De ...
sends Narendradeva back to Licchavi with an army and subjugates
Nepal Nepal, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mainly situated in the Himalayas, but also includes parts of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China Ch ...
. Parts of Nepal and Licchavi was later under the direct influences of the Tibetan empire.


Notes


References


Sources

* {{Cite book , first=Perceval , last=Landon , author-link=Perceval Landon , url=http://archive.org/details/nepal01perc, title=Nepal, Vol. 1 , date=1928 , publisher=Constable & Co. (Edinburgh) , others=Public Resource , via=
Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American 501(c)(3) organization, non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including web ...
, isbn=8-120-60724-4 Ancient Nepal