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Nepal is a multi-ethnic, multiracial, multicultural, multi-religious, and multilingual country. The most spoken language is Nepali followed by several other ethnic languages.
The Licchavis of Nepal was a kingdom which existed in the Kathmandu Valley, Nepal from approximately 450 CE to 750 CE. The Licchavi clan originated from a branch of Licchavis of Vaishali who ruled in the territory of modern-day Bihar and who later conquered the Kathmandu Valley. The Licchavis were ruled by a maharaja, aided by a prime minister and other royal officials, but in practice local communities were controlled by caste councils.
Bhrikuti Devi (Sanskrit: भृकुटी, known to Tibetans as Bal-mo-bza' Khri-btsun, Bhelsa Tritsun, or simply, Khri bTsun was a princess of the Licchavi kingdom in Nepal. In c.622 Bhrikuti became the first wife and queen of the king of Tibet, Songtsen Gampo. Bhrikuti was seen as an incarnation of Green Tara, and is credited for bringing Buddhism to Tibet, together with the Jowo Mikyo Dorje statue for which the Jokhang Temple in Lhasa was built.
Harshavardhana was emperor of Kannauj from 606 until his death in 647 CE. He was the son of Prabhakaravardhana, the king of Thanesar who had defeated the Alchon Huns, and the younger brother of Rajyavardhana, son of Prabhakaravardhana and last king of Thanesar. He was one of the greatest kings of the Kingdom of Kannauj, which under him expanded into a vast realm in northern India.
Amshuverma or Amshu Verma was a king of Nepal from around 605–621 CE. Initially a feudal lord, he rose to the position of Mahasamanta in about 598 CE when Shivadeva I of the Licchavi dynasty was the ruling monarch and by 604, Shivadeva was reduced to a mere figurehead. He is considered to have died in 621 AD and was succeeded by Udaydeva, the son of Shivadeva I.
Songtsen Gampo, also Songzan Ganbu, was the 33rd Tibetan king of the Yarlung dynasty and he founded the Tibetan Empire. As also the first of three Dharma Kings of Tibet, he formally introduced Buddhism to Tibet, and built the Jokhang with the influence of his Nepali queen Bhrikuti, of Nepal's Licchavi dynasty. He unified several Tibetan kingdoms, conquered lands adjacent to Tibet, and moved the capital to the Red Fort in Lhasa. His minister Thonmi Sambhota created the Tibetan script and Classical Tibetan, the first literary and spoken language of Tibet.
The Malla dynasty also known as the Malla confederacy, was the ruling dynasty of the Kathmandu Valley in Nepal from 1201 to 1779. This dynasty was founded by Arideva Malla. Though the latter Mallas were regarded as belonging to the Raghuvamsha dynasty, they were also seen as continuations and descendants of the Licchavi dynasty. Later Malla kings also traced one section of their lineage from Nanyadeva, the founder of the Karnat dynasty of Mithila. The term malla means wrestler in Sanskrit. The first use of the word malla in the Kathmandu Valley began in 1201.
Wang Xuance was a Chinese diplomat, military general, and travel writer. In 648, Tang Taizong sent him to India in response to Harshavardhana sending an ambassador to China. However once in India he discovered Harshavardhana had died and the new king Aluonashun attacked Wang and his 30 mounted subordinates. This led to Wang Xuance escaping to Tibet and then mounting a joint of over 7,000 Nepalese mounted infantry and 1,200 Tibetan infantry and attack on the Indian state on June 16. The success of this attack won Xuance the prestigious title of the "Grand Master for the Closing Court." He also secured a reported Buddhist relic for China. 2,000 prisoners were taken from Magadha by the Nepali and Tibetan forces under Wang. Tibetan and Chinese writings document describe Wang Xuance's raid on India with Tibetan soldiers. Nepal had been subdued by the Tibetan King Songtsen. The Indian pretender was among the captives. The war happened in 649. Taizong's grave had a statue of the Indian pretender. The pretender's name was recorded in Chinese records as "Na-fu-ti O-lo-na-shuen". The war had lasted 3 days, ending in the fall of the Indian Pushyabhuti dynasty.
The bilateral relations between Nepal and China are defined by the Sino-Nepalese Treaty of Peace and Friendship signed on April 28, 1960, by the two countries. Though initially unenthusiastic, Nepal has been of late making efforts to increase trade and connectivity with China. Relations between Nepal and China got a boost when both countries solved all border disputes along the China–Nepal border by signing the Sino-Nepal boundary agreement on March 21, 1960, making Nepal the first neighboring country of China to conclude a border treaty with China. The governments of both Nepal and China ratified the border treaty on October 5, 1961. From 1975 onward, Nepal has maintained a policy of balancing the competing influence of China and Nepal's southern neighbor India, the only two neighbors of the Himalayan country after the accession of the Kingdom of Sikkim into India in 1975.
During Tang dynasty rule in China (618–907), a complex relationship between imperial China and Tibet regime was developed. During this period Chinese and Tibetan forces had many battles since both parties were military powers, but there were also years of peace and friendly relations.
The history of the city of Kathmandu, which is inseparable from that of the Kathmandu valley, dates back to ancient times. ka
Pratap Malla was a Malla king and the eighth King of Kantipur from 1641 until his death in 1674. He attempted to unify Kathmandu Valley by conquering Lalitpur and Bhaktapur, but failed in the effort. He was successful in extending and securing the borders of Kantipur and was responsible for the monopoly over trade with Tibet. The resulting prosperity led to the construction of the majority of the buildings around Durbar Square during his reign. His reign is seen as a cultural and economic high point of the Malla dynasty.
The earliest coin minted in today's territory of Nepal was in Shakya Mahajanapada, along the India–Nepal border at around 500 BCE. Shakya coins were an example of a coin invented in the Indian subcontinent which continued to be used in Nepal alongside India for over 1500 years.
Arunāsva was the ruler of the Kingdom of Kannauj, and prior to this the governor of Tirabhukti.
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.
In the 11th century, a powerful empire of Khas people emerged in western Nepal whose territory at its highest peak included much of western Nepal as well as parts of western Tibet and Uttarakhand of India. By the 14th century, the empire had splintered into loosely associated Baise rajyas, literally 22 states as they were counted. The rich culture and language of the Khas people spread throughout Nepal and as far as Indo-China in the intervening centuries; their language, later renamed the Nepali language, became the lingua franca of Nepal as well as much of North-east India. In south-eastern Nepal, Simraungarh annexed Mithila around 1100 AD, and the unified Tirhut stood as a powerful kingdom for more than 200 years, even ruling over Kathmandu for a time. After another 300 years of Muslim rule, Tirhut came under the control of the Sens of Makawanpur. In the eastern hills, a confederation of Kirat principalities ruled the area between Kathmandu and Bengal.
Jishnu Gupta, often spelled Jishnugupta, was a de facto ruler of Nepal in the 7th-century during the time of the Lichchhavi dynasty. Initially sharing the administrative powers with Dhruvadeva from 624 CE, he became the highest authority in the realm from around 627. He belonged to the Abhira-Gupta dynasty.
Udaydeva was the son of Shivadeva I and a Lichchhavi king of Nepal. He succeeded Amshuverma in 621 CE but was soon ousted by Jishnu Gupta, and his brother Dhruvadeva. He is also believed to be the father of Bhrikuti.
Dhruvadeva, also spelled Dhruva Deva, was a son of Shivadeva I of the Licchavi dynasty and a king of Nepal in the 7th century. He deposed his brother Udaydeva with the help of Jishnu Gupta and reigned as a figurehead monarch.
Bhimarjunadeva was a son of Dhruvadeva of the Licchavi dynasty and a king of Nepal in the 7th century. He succeeded his father in c. 630 and reigned as a figurehead monarch.
References
- 1 2 3 4 Shrestha, D.B.; Singh, C.B. (1972). The History of Ancient and Medieval Nepal (PDF).
- ↑ Shrestha, Nanda R. (2003). Historical dictionary of Nepal. Keshav Bhattarai. Lanham, Md.: Scarecrow Press. ISBN 0-8108-4797-3. OCLC 51931102.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Shaha, Rishikesh. "Ancient and Medieval Nepal". University of Cambridge.
- ↑ Sen, Tansen (2003-01-01). Buddhism, Diplomacy, and Trade: The Realignment of Sino-Indian Relations, 600-1400. University of Hawaii Press. ISBN 978-0-8248-2593-5.
- ↑ Charles D. Benn (2002). Daily life in traditional China. Internet Archive. Greenwood Press. ISBN 978-0-313-30955-7.
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