Before Nepal’s emergence as a nation in the latter half of the eighteenth century, the designation ‘Nepal’ was applied only to the king kathmandu Valley. Thus up until the unification of the country. Nepal’s history is largely the history of the Kathmandu Valley.
References to Nepal in famous Hindu epics such as the Mahabharata, Purans and also Buddhist and jain scripture, establish the country ‘s antiquity as an independent political and territorial entity. The Vamshavalis or chronicles, the oldest of which was written during the fourteenth century are the only fairly reliable basis for Nepal’s ancient history. The vamshivalis mention the rule of several dynasties the Gopalas, the rule of these lengendary dynasties. The documented history of Nepal begins with the Changu Narayan temple inscription of King Manadeva )C.A.D. 564) of the Lichchhavi dynasty.
The Lichchhavis:-
The Lichchhavis are said to have migrated into Nepal from north india in around 250 A.D. the first Lichchavi King of historical importance was Manadeva.
Another important Lichchhavi monarch was Amshuvarma, who opened trade routes to Tibet. One of his daughters, Bhrikuti who was married to the Tibetan ruler Tsrong-tsen Gompo, was instrumental in spreading Buddhism in Tibet and china, Amshuvarma has been referred to as a man of many talents in the accounts of the Chinese traveler Huen Tsang, who visited India in the seventh century A.D. Narendradeva, another Lichchhavi king, initiated friendly relations with China and his successors laid the foundations of friendship with india by entering into matrimonial alliances with the Indian royal families. For several hundred years after the fall of the LIchchhavi Kingdom in A.D. 897, there are no written records. Frequently called the Transition periods, this era was marked by continued refinement of stone and bronze sculpture and the early development of architecture. The Mallas:-
Mallas rule began with Ari Malla in the thirteenth century. Over the next two centuries large empire was built before disintegrating into small principalities, later known as the Baisi (the twenty to principalities). This was more or less coincidental with the emergence of the Chabusi (twenty-four principalities) to the west of Kathmandu. The history of these principalities) to the west of Kathmandu. The history of these principalities remains shrouded up until the time when they joined other kingdoms both large and small, to form the unified kingdom of Nepal.
Jayasthiti Malla, with whom commences the later Malla period in Kathmandu Valley, reigned towards the end of the fourteenth century. Though his rule was rather short his place among the rulers in the Valley is eminent for his various social and economic reforms such as the ‘ Sanskritzation ‘ of the valley people and new methods of land measurement and allocation. Yakshya Malla, the grandson of Jayasthiti Malls, ruled the Kathmandu Valley until almost the end of the fifteenth century. After his demise the valley was dividend into three independent Kingdoms-Kathmandu, Bhaktapur and patan-in about A.D. 1484. This division led the Malla rulers into internecine was for territorial and commercial gain. Mutually debilitating wars gradually weakened them and by the time of Prithvi Narayan shah’s invasion of the valley, they had by themselves reached the brink of political disintegration.
The last rulers were rulers were Jaya Prakash Malla, Tej Narshing Malla of Kathmandu, Patan and Bhaktapur respectively.
The Shah Dynasty : Unification of Nepal:-
Prithivi Narayan Shah )1769-1775), with whom we move into the modern period of Nepal’s history, was the nine generation descendant of Dravya Shah (1559_1570r), the founder of the ruling house of Gorkha, a small kingdom in central Nepal. Sagacious and farsighted, King Prithivi Narayan Shah was quite aware of the political situation of the valley Kingdoms as well as of the Baisi and Chaubisi Principalities and set himself to the task according. His assessment of the situation among the hill principalities was correct and the principalities were subjugated fairly easily. King Prithvi Narayan Shah’s victory march began with the conquest of Nuwakot, which lies between kathmadu Valley. The valley’s communication with the outside world were thus cut of. The occumpation of the Kuti pass in about 1756 stopped the Valley’s trade with Tibet.
Finally, king Prithivi Narayan Shah entered the Valley, after the victory over the hilltop town of Kirtipur. King Jaya Prakash Malla of kathmandu sought help from the British, and the East india Company responded with a contigent of soldiers under Caption Kinloch in 1767. The British completely shattered the hopes of king Jaya Prakash Malla.
The capture of Kathmandu (September 25, 1768) was dramatic. As the people of kathmandu were celebrating the festival indra jatra. Prithvi Narayan Shah and his men marched into the city. A throne was put in the palace courtyard for the king of kathmandu . Prithvi Narayan Shah sat on the throne and was hailed by the people as the king of kathmandu. Jaya Prakash Malla managed to escape with his life and took asylum in Patan. When Patan was captured a few weeks later, both Jaya Prakash Malla and the King of Patan, Tej Narsingh Malla, took refuge in Bhaktapur, which was also captured after the capital of modern Nepal in 1769.
Once the foundation of the Kathmandu of Nepal wa laid Prithivi Narayan Shah turned his attention towards the east. The Sena Kingdom of Chaudandi was acquired in 1773 and Vijayapur another Sena Kingdom was annexed shortly after, Prithivi Narayan Shah died in January, 1775 at the age of 52. The Kingdom of Nepal then extended to the Marsyangdi river in the west and to the Mechi and Kankai rivers in the east and comprise more than one third of the present territory of the Kingdom of Nepal.
King prithivi Narayan shah was succeddful in bringing together diverse religio-ethnic groups under one national banner and inculcating in them a sense of national pride and belonging. He was a nationalist in his outlook and was in favour of adopting a closed door policy with regard to the British Not only his social economic course for a long time, but his use of the image, ‘a yam between two boulders’ in Nepali’s geo-political context, formed the principle guideline of the country’s foreign policy for future centuries.
King Prithivi Narayan Shah was succeeded by his eldest son Pratap Sing Shah (1775-1777r) who had a quite brief rule.
King Pratap Singh Shah was succeeded by his infant son Rana Bahadur Shah (1777-1799r). The guardianship of the infant King was a first given to Bahadur Shah, the king’s uncle. But later, Rajendra Laxmi, the widowed queen mother, took over the regency herself and forced Bahadur Shah into exile. Most of the Chaubisi principalities were annexed to the Kingdom of Nepal during her regency.
Bahadur Shah came back from exile a few days before the queen mother’s death and took up the regency in 1785. The rest of the Baisi and Chaubisi principalities were annexed to the Kingdom of Nepal during his regency (1785-1749r).
Nepal’s boundary in the west was extended as far as kamau(Almorah) in 1972. When the country became entangled In a war with china following Nepal’s armed attacks on Tibet in 1788 and 1791 over a trade dispute. The war was concluded with the war the extension of territory to the west was resumed and the areas up to Kanga of the nineteenth century.
The War with the British:-
The Nepalese had differences of opinion with the East India Company regarding the ownership of land in the western Terai particularly Butwal and Seoraj. The outcome of the conflict was war with the British. The British launched their attack in the Nepali frontier, at the close of 1814. Though the Nepalese were able to inflict heavy losses on the British army of the British proved too strong. The Nepali army evacuated the suguali was singed with the British in 1816. Among other things this treaty took away a large chunk of the Terai from Nepal. And the rivers Mahakali and Mechi were fixed as the country’s western and eastern boundaries. At this time, king King Girvana Yuddha Bikram shah occupied the throne of Nepal and power of state was in the hands of Prime Minister Bhimsen Thapa, who wielded enormous power during the rule of the King and his son King Rajendra Bikram Shah.
The Rana Century (1846-1951)
Bhimsen Thapa’s death in 1839, combined with the loss of the hold on state affairs by King Rajendra Bikram Shah, ultimately led to a power struggle among the nobles in the court. In this power struggle Jung Bahadur , the founder of the Rana oligarchy in Nepal, emerged as the most powerful leader. The notorious Kot massacre of 1846, in which Jung Bahadur put a large number of his rivals to death, was the most sanguine step on his rise to power. He dethroned King Rajendra Bikram Shah and his son Surendra Bikram Shah (1847-1881) was made king. He appointed all his brothers to the key posts of the country. Later on, through a royal edict, the Prime Minister ship was institutionalized in the Rana.
The Dawn of Democracy
Popular protests against the Ranas has starte gaining some momentum from as far as the early 1940s.
In 1940 , a number of young men when were put to death and long-term rigorous jail sentences were meted out to several other’s seeking to bring about political changes. An organized underground movement against the Rana became stronger with the passing years. The independence of India in 1947. Also consolidated the movement against the Rana in Nepal. Bound as was the fate of the Ranas with that of the Britis rule in india, the termination of the British rule sealed the fate movement against the Ranas had gathered momentum.
Tensions went to mounting against the ruling Rana regime, which resulted in the collapse of their rule in February, 1951, the first ever general election on the basis of multiparty democratic system was held in Nepal. At that the Nepali government was formed. Shortly system of democracy was replaced by the partyless panchayat system.
In responses to the interests of the people, on may 24, 1979, His majesty King Birendra announced a national referendum, in which the people were urged to vote their choice between a multiparty system or the continuation of the Panchayat System with timely reforms. Approximately one year later, on May 2, 1980 polls of the national referendum were held. The partyless Panchayat System with timely reforms was voted in by a singal majority.
From the beginning of 1990, the movement for the restoration of parliamentary democracy accelerated and gained popular support throughout the country. All the parites previously system banned formed a joint front to overthrow the Panchayat System and restore multiparty democracy. On April 8, 1990 the ban on political parties was lifted and multiparty democracy was restored with a midnight announcement following the announcement the restoration of multiparty democracy was celebrated throughout the country.
On april 1990, an interim government, composed of representatives of the major political parties, intellectuals and indepdents, was formed under the Prime Ministership of the new democratic constitution of the Kingdom of Nepal was promulgated on November 9, 1990
Forests are usually found on the higher elevations whereas the lower and gentle slopes are used for terraced cultivation. North of this range and south of the Himalaya lies the extensively cultivated braod hill complex of the Pahad or Hill region which covers about 64 percent of the total land area, the major area of Nepalese settlement. Topographically rather subdued in character, the Hill region has a generally salubrious climate.
Braod fertile valleys including the kathmandu valley are the areas of densest settlement in this ragion.
