History
 For
centuries the Kingdom of Nepal remained divided into many principalities.
Kirats ruled in the east, the Newars in the Kathmandu Valley, while
Gurungs and Magars occupied the mid-west.
The Kirats ruled
from 300 BC and during their reign, Emperor Ashoka arrived from
India to build a pillar at Lumbini in memory of Lord Buddha. The
Kirats were followed by the Lichchhavis whose descendants today
are believed to be the Newars of the Kathmandu Valley. During this
period, art thrived in Nepal and many of the beautiful woodcarvings
and sculptures that are found in the country belong to this era.
With the end of the Lichchhavi dynasty, Malla kings came to power
in 1200 AD and they also contributed tremendously to Nepal's art
and culture.
However, after
almost 600 years of rule, the kings were not united among themselves
and during the late 18th century, Prithvi Narayan Shah, King of
Gorkha, conquered Kathmandu and united Nepal into one Kingdom. Recognizing
the threat of the British Raj in India, he dismissed European missionaries
from the country and for more than a century, Nepal remained in
isolation. During the mid-19th century, Jung Bahadur Rana became
Nepal's first Prime Minister to wield absolute power. He set up
an oligarchy and the Shah kings remained figureheads. The Ranas
were overthrown in a democracy movement of the early 1950s.
Today, Nepal
enjoys a multiparty democratic system with a constitutional Monarch.
Geography
The Kingdom
of Nepal covers an area of 147,181 square kilometers, and stretches
145-241 kilometers north to south and 850 kilometers west to east.
The country is located between India in the south and China in the
north. At latitudes 26 and 30 degrees north and longitudes 80 and
88 degrees east, Nepal is topographically divided into three regions:
the Himalayas to the north, the hills consisting of the Mahabharat
range and the Churia Hills in the middle, and the Terai to the south.
Elevations are varied in the kingdom. The highest point is Mt. Everest
(8848 m) in the north and the lowest point (70 meters above sea
level) is located at Kechana Kalan of Jhapa District. Altitude increases
as you travel south to north. To the north temperatures are below
-40 degrees Celsius and in the Terai, temperatures rise to 40 degrees
Celsius in the summer. During June, July and August, the kingdom
is influenced by monsoon clouds.
 The
People
The population
of Nepal is estimated at around 20 million. Nepal has an assortment
of races and tribes, of varying colors and contrasts; living in
different geographic regions; wearing various costumes and speaking
different dialects. The people live under quite diverse geographic
conditions, from low land in the south, northwards through the middle
hills and valleys, to the high Himalayan alpine patches.
Economy
Nepal
is a developing country with an agricultural economy. In recent
years, the country's efforts to expand into manufacturing industries
and other technological sectors have achieved much progress. Farming
is the main economic activity followed by manufacturing, trade and
tourism. The chief sources of foreign currency earnings are merchandise
export, services, tourism and Gurkha remittances. The annual Gross
Domestic Product (GDP) is about US$ 4.3 billion.
Eight out of
10 Nepalese are engaged in farming and it accounts for more than
40% of the GDP. Rolling fields and neat terraces can be seen all
over the Terai flatlands and the hills of Nepal. Even in the highly
urbanized Kathmandu Valley, large tracts of land outside the city
areas are devoted to farming. Rice is the staple diet in Nepal and
around three million tons are produced annually. Other major crops
are maize, wheat, millet and barley. Besides food grains, cash crops
like sugarcane, oil seeds, tobacco and jute are cultivated.
Religion
Religious
practices are an important part of the lives of the Nepalese people.
Mythologies of various Hindu gods and goddesses are found in abundance
in this country and cultural values are based on the philosophies
of holy books like the Gita, Ramayana, etc.
Women and children
visit neighborhood shrines at dawn to offer worship to the gods.
Holding plates of rice, flowers, and vermilion powder, they perform
puja by lighting incense, ringing the temple bell, and applying
'tika', a red paste, on their foreheads. Passersby stop at temples
and show their reverence to the gods by spending a few minutes praying.
Occasionally, groups of men sit near temples playing music and singing
hymns until late into the night.
In Nepal, Hinduism
and Buddhism are the two main religions. The two have co-existed
down the ages and many Hindu temples share the same complex as Buddhist
shrines. Hindu and Buddhist worshippers may regard the same god
with different names while performing religious rites.
Though Nepal
is the only Hindu Kingdom in the world, many other religions like
Islam, Christianity and Bon are practiced here. Some of the earliest
inhabitants like the Kirats practice their own kind of religion
based on ancestor worship, and the Tharus practice animism. Over
the years, Hinduism and Buddhism have been influenced by these practices,
which have been modified to form a synthesis of newer beliefs.
As a result,
visitors to this country may often find the religious practices
in Nepal difficult to follow and understand. But this does not prevent
one from enjoying the different traditional ceremonies and rituals
of Nepalese culture. It is indeed a totally new experience of religious
fervor.
Hinduism
Thousands of gods and goddesses make up the Hindu pantheon. Brahma,
Vishnu and Shiva are the three major Hindu gods who have their own
characteristics and incarnations. Each god has his own steed, which
is often seen kneeling faithfully at the feet of the deity or sometimes
outside that gods' temple. Symbolic objects are carried by the multiple
hands of each deity, which empowers them to perform great feats.
Buddhism
 Sakyamuni
Buddha is the founder of Buddhism who lived and taught in this part
of the world during the sixth century BC. The great stupas of Swayambhunath
and Bouddhanath are among the oldest and the most beautiful worship
sites in the Kathmandu Valley.
The spinning
of prayer wheels, prostrating pilgrims, collective chants and burning
of butter lamps are some Buddhist practices often encountered by
tourists. A slip of paper bearing a mantra is kept inside the prayer
wheels so that prayers are sent to the gods when the wheel is spun.
Scenes from the Buddha's life and Buddhist realms are depicted on
thangka scroll paintings, which are used during mediation and prayer
ceremonies. Many Buddhist followers are seen performing these practices
in Swayambhunath, Bouddhanath and at other Buddhist sites around
the valley.
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