Name of Nepal

Last updated
"Nepala" in the late Brahmi script, in the Allahabad Pillar inscription of Samudragupta (350-375 CE). Napala in the Allahabad Pillar inscription.jpg
"Nēpāla" in the late Brahmi script, in the Allahabad Pillar inscription of Samudragupta (350–375 CE).

The Himalayan country named Nepala with its capital in Kathmandu Valley was well-known in the Indian sub-continent by at least 2,500 years ago. Historical discussions on the etymology of Nepal incorporated elements of Hindu and Buddhist History. The origin of the term Nepal is an area of ongoing investigation. Multiple hypotheses have been put forward by modern scholars to varying level of support. It is generally accepted that Nepal and Newar—the latter refers to the ethnic group indigenous to the Kathmandu Valley—are different forms of the same word.

Contents

Etymology of Nepal

The precise origin of the term Nepāl is uncertain. Academic attempts to provide a plausible theory are hindered by the lack of a complete picture of history, and insufficient understanding of linguistics or relevant Indo-European and Tibeto-Burman languages. [2]

According to Hinduism, Nepal derives its name from an ancient Hindu sage called Ne, referred to variously as Ne Muni or Nemi. According to Pashupati Purana, as a place protected by Ne, the country in the heart of the Himalayas came to be known as Nepal. The word pala in Pali language means to protect. Consequently, Nepala translates to protected by Ne. [3] [4] According to Nepal Mahatmya, of 30 chapters about the Nepal Tirtha (pilgrimage) region, a regional text that claims to be a part of the Skanda Purana , the largest Mahāpurāṇa , Nemi was charged with protection of the country by Pashupati. [5]

According to Buddhist mythology, Manjushri Bodhisattva drained a primordial lake of serpents to create the Nepal valley and proclaimed that Adi-Buddha Ne would take care of the community that would settle it. As the cherished of Ne, the valley would be called Nepal. [6]

According to Gopalarajvamshavali, the genealogy of ancient Gopala dynasty compiled circa 1380s, Nepal is named after Nepa the cowherd, the founder of the Nepali scion of the Abhiras. In this account, the cow that issued milk to the spot, at which Nepa discovered the Jyotirlinga of Pashupatinath upon investigation, was also named Ne. [2]

Norwegian Indologist Christian Lassen had proposed that Nepala was a compound of Nipa (foot of a mountain) and -ala (short suffix for alaya meaning abode), and so Nepala meant "abode at the foot of the mountain". He considered Ne Muni to be a fabrication. [7] Indologist Sylvain Levi found Lassen's theory untenable but had no theories of his own, only suggesting that either Newara is a vulgarism of sanskritic Nepala, or Nepala is Sanskritisation of the local ethnic; [8] his view has found some support though it does not answer the question of etymology. [9] [10] [11] [2] It has also been proposed that Nepa is a Tibeto-Burman stem consisting of Ne (cattle) and Pa (keeper), reflecting the fact that early inhabitants of the valley were Gopalas (cowherds) and Mahispalas (buffalo-herds). [2] Suniti Kumar Chatterji thought Nepal originated from Tibeto-Burman roots- Ne, of uncertain meaning (as multiple possibilities exist), and pala or bal, whose meaning is lost entirely. [12]

History

The Mahabharata refers to Nepal as Kiratadesa (lit. 'the country of Kiratas'), providing no other clue as to the location or extent of the country. Aside from that, ancient texts mention only of the people, the Kiratas, inhabiting the northern frontier of the Indian sub-continent, often associating them with the Chinese. These include the Rigveda, Ramayana, Manusmriti, the Chinese text P'ou-Yeo king (translated in 308) which refers to them by the name "Yi-Ti-Sai" (barbarians to the north), and the writings of Periplus and Ptolemy, both of whom place the Kirata country at the mouth of the Ganges. [13]

Kautilya's is the first known writing to mention the country by the name Nepala. Since then, Nepala has continually referred to the Himalayan country with its capital in the Kathmandu Valley, though its extent fluctuated throughout history. [13]

Names of modern Nepal

In its early days after unification, Nepal was known as the "Gorkha kingdom" or "Gorkha empire", having been founded by conquests of the Gorkha kingdom. In his Dibyopadesh, Prithvi Narayan Shah proclaimed Nepal "Asal Hindustan", or the true land of the Hindus, as a Hindu state which had not been conquered by the Mughals or the British.

As a monarchy, Nepal was officially the "Kingdom of Nepal". After the 2006 revolution, Nepal shed off the monarchy to become the "State of Nepal". It officially became the "Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal" with the promulgation of the new constitution in 2015.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kathmandu</span> Capital and largest city in Nepal

Kathmandu, officially "Kathmandu Metropolitan City", is the National capital Territory and most powerful city of Nepal with 845,767 inhabitants living in 105,649 households as of the 2021 Nepal census and approximately 4 million people in its urban agglomeration. It is located in the Kathmandu Valley, a large valley surrounded by hills in the high plateaus in central Nepal, at an altitude of 1,400 metres.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of Nepal</span>

Nepal is a multi-ethnic, multiracial, multicultural, multi-religious, and multilingual country. The most spoken language is Nepali followed by several other ethnic languages.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kingdom of Nepal</span> 1768–2008 sovereign kingdom in South Asia

The Kingdom of Nepal was a Hindu kingdom in South Asia, formed in 1768 by the expansion of the Gorkha Kingdom, which lasted until 2008 when the kingdom became the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal. It was also known as the Gorkha Empire, or sometimes Asal Hindustan. Founded by King Prithvi Narayan Shah, a Gorkha monarch who claimed to be of Thakuri origin from chaubisi, it existed for 240 years until the abolition of the Nepalese monarchy in 2008. During this period, Nepal was formally under the rule of the Shah dynasty, which exercised varying degrees of power during the kingdom's existence.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nepal</span> Country in South Asia

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 to the north, and India to the south, east, and west, while it is narrowly separated from Bangladesh by the Siliguri Corridor, and from Bhutan by the Indian state of Sikkim. Nepal has a diverse geography, including fertile plains, subalpine forested hills, and eight of the world's ten tallest mountains, including Mount Everest, the highest point on Earth. Kathmandu is the nation's capital and the largest city. Nepal is a multi-ethnic, multi-lingual, multi-religious and multi-cultural state, with Nepali as the official language.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Newar language</span> Sino-Tibetan language of central-eastern Nepal

Newar is a Sino-Tibetan language spoken by the Newar people, the indigenous inhabitants of Nepal Mandala, which consists of the Kathmandu Valley and surrounding regions in Nepal. The language is known officialy in Nepal as Nepal Bhasa, a name that has been historically used for the language. The term "Newari" is also used to refer to the language, although the Indic -i suffix is considered inappropriate by some Newar speakers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Newar people</span> Indigenous native ethnic group of Nepal

Newar, or Nepami, are primarily inhabitants in Nepal's Kathmandu Valley and its surrounding areas and the creators of its historic heritage and civilisation. The Newar are a distinct linguistic and cultural group, primarily Indo-Aryan and Tibeto-Burman ethnicities, who share a common language, Nepal Bhasa, and predominantly practice Hinduism. Newars have developed a division of labour and a sophisticated urban civilisation not seen elsewhere in the Himalayan foothills. Newars have continued their age-old traditions and practices and pride themselves as the true custodians of the religion, culture and civilisation of Nepal. Newars are known for their contributions to culture, art and literature, trade, agriculture and cuisine. Today, they consistently rank as the most economically and socially advanced community in Nepal, according to the annual Human Development Index published by UNDP. Newars are ranked the 8th largest ethnic group in Nepal according to the 2021 Nepal census numbering 1,341,363 people constituting 4.6% of the total population.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yakkha people</span> Ethnic group of South Asia

Yakkha or Dewan is an indigenous ethnic group from the Indian subcontinent, mainly in modern-day Nepal and present-day India. It is one of the descendants of Nepal's prehistoric Kirat dynasty. The Yakkha people are subsistence farmers who inhabit the lower Arun valley in eastern Nepal. They number only a few thousand and their language is nearly extinct.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Buddhism in Nepal</span>

Buddhism in Nepal started spreading since the reign of Ashoka through Indian and Tibetan missionaries. The Kiratas were the first people in Nepal who embraced the Buddha’s teachings, followed by the Licchavis and Newar people. Buddhism is Nepal's second-largest religion, with 8.2% of the country's population, or approximately 2.4 million people, identifying as adherents of Buddhism in a 2021 census.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kathmandu Valley</span> Valley and proposed territory in Nepal

The Kathmandu Valley, also known as the Nepal Valley or Nepa Valley, National Capital Area, is a bowl-shaped valley located in the Himalayan mountains of Nepal. It lies at the crossroads of ancient civilizations of the Indian subcontinent and the broader Asian continent, and has at least 130 important monuments, including several pilgrimage sites for Hindus and Buddhists. There are seven World Heritage Sites within the valley.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kirata</span> Historical and mythological group of people from the Indian subcontinent

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bodo–Kachari people</span> Group of ethnic peoples in Northeast India

Bodo–Kacharis is a name used by anthropologist and linguists to define a collection of ethnic groups living predominantly in the Northeast Indian states of Assam, Tripura, and Meghalaya. These peoples are speakers of either Bodo–Garo languages or Assamese. Some Tibeto-Burman speakers who live closely in and around the Brahmaputra valley, such as the Mising people and Karbi people, are not considered Bodo–Kachari. Many of these peoples have formed early states in the late Medieval era of Indian history and came under varying degrees of Sanskritisation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kirati people</span> Indigenous ethnic groups of the Himalayas

The Kirati people, also spelled as Kirant or Kiranti, are Sino-Tibetan ethnolinguistic groups and indigenous peoples of the Himalayas, mostly the Eastern Himalaya extending eastward from Nepal to North East India.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of Himachal Pradesh</span>

Himachal Pradesh was established in 1948 as a Chief Commissioner's Province within the Union of India. The province comprised the hill districts around Shimla and southern hill areas of the former Punjab region. Himachal became a part C state on 1951 with the implementation of the Constitution of India. Himachal Pradesh became a Union Territory on 1 November 1956. On 18 December 1970 the State of Himachal Pradesh Act was passed by Parliament and the new state came into being on 25 January 1971. Thus Himachal emerged as the eighteenth state of the Indian Union.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gopala-Krishna</span> Cow-protector form of Hindu deity Krishna

Gopala Krishna refers to a form of the Hindu deity Krishna, as featured in the Harivamsha and the Puranas. The narratives of Gopala Krishna are set in the cowherd settlement of the Vraja region called Gokulam, where he is raised by his foster-parents, Nanda and Yashoda.

Phutung is a village and former Village Development Committee that is now part of Tarakeshwar Municipality in Kathmandu District in Province No. 3 of central Nepal. At the time of the 2011 Nepal census it had a population of 4,792 living in 1,064 households.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nepal Mandala</span> Cultural region in central Nepal

Nepal Mandala is the ancient geographic division of Nepal into different regions. It was characterized by three major divisions: “Purwanchal”, “Madhyamanchal”, and “Pashchimanchal”. These divisions were further subdivided into smaller areas known as “Mandals.” The concept of Nepal Mandal has historical significance, reflecting the administrative and cultural organization of the region in earlier times. It is marked by cultural, religious and political boundaries that lies in present-day central Nepal. It consists of the Kathmandu Valley and surrounding areas. The rule of the indigenous Newars in Nepal Mandala ended with its conquest by the Gorkha Kingdom and the rise of the Shah dynasty in 1768.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Kirtipur</span> 1767 battle in Nepal

The Battle of Kirtipur occurred in 1767 during the Gorkha conquest of Nepal, and was fought at Kirtipur, one of the principal towns in the Kathmandu Valley. Kirtipur was then a walled town of 800 houses and part of the kingdom of Lalitpur. It is spread along the top of a ridge.

Gopala Dynasty was a first dynasty founded by King bhuktaman in the Kathmandu Valley. The Lunar dynasty is the origin of the Gopala. The Kings of Gopala Bansha ruled over Nepal for 505 years. It was replaced by rulers of Mahisapala dynasty. Both the Krishna and Mahisapalas have connections to the Gopalas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mahisapala dynasty</span> Ancient Yadava-Abhira dynasty of Nepal

The Mahisapala Dynasty also known as the Ahir dynasty was a dynasty established by an Abhira that ruled the Kathmandu Valley. They were also known as Mahispalbanshi. They took control of Nepal after replacing the Gopala dynasty. The Gopalas and the Mahisapalas were together known as Abhiras. Three kings of Mahisapala dynasty ruled the valley before they were overthrown by the Kiratas.

The earliest inhabitants of modern Nepal and adjoining areas are believed to be Australoid people. 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, Nepal was being mentioned in various Hindu texts, such as the late Vedic Atharvaveda Pariśiṣṭa and in the post-Vedic Atharvashirsha Upanishad. 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 who ruled for over 16 centuries by some accounts. According to the Mahabharata, the then Kirata king went to take part in the Battle of Kurukshetra. In the south-eastern region, Janakpurdham was the capital of the prosperous kingdom of Videha or Mithila, that extended down to the Ganges, and home to King Janaka and his daughter, Sita.

References

  1. ↑ Fleet, John Faithfull (1888). Corpus Inscriptionum Indicarum Vol. 3. pp. 6–10.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Malla, Kamal P. (1983). Nepāla: Archaeology of the Word (PDF). 3rd PATA International Tourism & Heritage Conservation Conference (1–4 November). The Nepal Heritage Society Souvenir for PATA Conference. Kathmandu. pp. 33–39. Archived from the original on 22 March 2012. Retrieved 5 May 2011.
  3. ↑ Nanda R. Shrestha (1917). Historical Dictionary of Nepal. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. p. 19. ISBN   9781442277700.
  4. ↑ Daniel Wright (1877). History of Nepāl. University Press. p. 107.
  5. ↑ Prasad, Ishwari (1996), The Life and Times of Maharaja Juddha Shumsher Jung Bahadur Rana of Nepal, New Delhi: Ashish Publishing House, pp. 1–7, ISBN   817024756X – via Google Books
  6. ↑ Hasrat, Bikram Jit (1970), History of Nepal: As told by its own and contemporary chroniclers, Hoshiarpur, p. 7{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  7. ↑ Lassen, Christian (1847), Indische Alterthumskunde [Indian Archaeology], Bonn, H.B. Koenig; [etc., etc.], p. 76
  8. ↑ Levi, Sylvain (1905). Le Népal: étude historique d'un royaume hindou (in French). University of Michigan. E. Leroux. pp. 66–70.
  9. ↑ Majupuria, Trilok Chandra; Majupuria, Indra (1979), Glimpses of Nepal, Maha Devi, p. 8
  10. ↑ Turner, Ralph L. (1931), A Comparative and Etymological Dictionary of the Nepali Language, London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, archived from the original on 14 July 2012, retrieved 8 May 2011
  11. ↑ Hodgson, Brian H. (1874), Essays on the Languages, Literature and Religion of Nepal and Tibet, London: Trübner & Co, archived from the original on 11 November 2012, retrieved 8 May 2011 Page 51.
  12. ↑ Chatterji, Suniti Kumar (1951). Kirata- Jana- Krti, The Indo- Mongoloids. p. 38.
  13. 1 2 Regmī, Ḍillīramaṇa (1960). Ancient Nepal. Mukhopadhyay.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.