Kathmandu Valley

History

The Kathmandu Valley may have been inhabited as early as 300 BCE, since the oldest known objects in the valley date to a few hundred years BCE. The earliest known inscription is dated 185 CE. The oldest firmly dated building in the earthquake-prone valley is almost 1,992 years old. Four stupa
Stupa
A stupa is a mound-like structure containing Buddhist relics, once thought to be places of Buddhist worship, typically the remains of a Buddha or saint...

s around the city of Patan, said to have been erected by a certain Charumati, a purported daughter of Ashoka the Great, a Mauryan king, in the 3rd century BCE
3rd century BC
The 3rd century BC started the first day of 300 BC and ended the last day of 201 BC. It is considered part of the Classical era, epoch, or historical period.-Overview:...

, attest to the ancient history present within the valley. As with the tales of the Buddha's visit, there is no evidence supporting Ashoka's visit, but the stupas probably do date to that century. The Kirat
s are the first documented rulers of the Kathmandu Valley; the remains of their palace are said to be in Patan near Hiranyavarna Mahavihara (called "Patukodon"). The Licchavi Dynasty
Licchavi
Licchavi was an ancient kingdom in Nepal, which existed in the Kathmandu Valley from approximately 400 to 750....

whose earliest inscriptions date back to 464 CE were the next rulers of the valley and had close ties with the Gupta Dynasty of India
India
India, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the west, and the Bay of Bengal...

. The Malla Dynasty
Malla (Nepal)
The Malla Dynasty was a ruling dynasty of Nepal from the twelfth century to the eighteenth century. Malla kings of Nepal visited Lumbini in the 11th and 12th century...

ruled Kathmandu Valley and the surrounding area from the 12th century CE until the 18th century CE, when the Shah Dynasty
Nepalese monarchy
The Kingdom of Nepal was a monarchy in South Asia, established in 1768 under Prithvi Narayan Shah and abolished in 2008 when the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal was proclaimed.-Unification:...

under Prithvi Narayan Shah
conquered the valley as he created present-day Nepal. Most of ancient Nepali architecture present in Nepal

today is from the Malla
Malla
Malla may refer to the following:*Malla was an ancient dynasty in India, one of the sixteen Mahajanapadas.*Malla was a dynasty in Nepal.*Malla a caste or social group from Andhra Pradesh in India.*a Sanskrit term for a wrestler or boxer, see Malla-yuddha...

era.

Newars
The Newars, generally acknowledged to be the original inhabitants of the valley, are understood to be the descendants of the various ethnic and racial groups that have inhabited and ruled the valley in the 2-millennia history of the place. Although in today's state of Nepal, the Newars stand apart ethnically from the other groups on the basis of their composite Hindu-Buddhist religious culture and Nepal Bhasa
Nepal Bhasa
Nepal Bhasa is one of the major languages of Nepal. It is one of roughly five hundred Sino-Tibetan languages, and belongs to the Tibeto-Burman branch of this family. It is the only Tibeto-Burman language to be written in the Devanāgarī script...

, today spoken by all Newars as their mother tongue, the multifarious castes in the numerous caste systems within Newar society betray a surprising racial diversity. The similarities between the various cultural traits and complexes within Newar culture and those of many other ethnic groups in the Indian sub-continent lead us to hypothesize the occurrence of both vibrant circulations of peoples and cultures around the sub-continent during the last 2 millennia and a continuous and steady of diffusion of these ideas into the valley. Indologists/anthropologists and Newarologists describe Newar society as a "pre-dominantly Mongoloid people practicing an Indo-Aryan culture."

The valley is made up of the Kathmandu District
, Lalitpur District
Lalitpur District, Nepal
Lalitpur District, a part of Bagmati Zone, is one of the seventy-five districts of Nepal, a landlocked country of South Asia. The district, with Patan as its district headquarters, covers an area of 385km² and has a population of 337,785...

and Bhaktapur District
Bhaktapur District
Bhaktapur district, a part of Bagmati zone, is one of the seventy-five districts of Nepal, a landlocked country of South Asia. The district, with Bhaktapur as its district headquarters, covers an area of 119 km² and has a population of 225,461....

. The valley consists of Kathmandu Metropolitan City
, Lalitpur Submetropolitan City

, Bhaktapur municipality
Bhaktapur
Bhaktapur , also Bhadgaon or Khwopa is an ancient Newar town in the east corner of the Kathmandu Valley, Nepal. It is located in Bhaktapur District in the Bagmati Zone...

, Kirtipur Municipality
Kirtipur
Kirtipur is an ancient city in Nepal. It is located in Kathmandu District of Bagmati Zone 5 km south-west of the Kathmandu. It is one of the five municipalities of Kathmandu Valley.-Demographics:...

, Madhyapur Thimi Municipality
and several villages which present a high style of Newar
Newar
The Newa are the indigenous people of Nepal's Kathmandu Valley. Newars are a linguistic community with Tibeto-Burman and Indo ethnictiy/race, bound together by a common language....

art and architecture. The valley is a cultural and political hub of Nepal. Mixed with all the other cultures, many of whom have recently arrived from different parts of Nepal, Newar
Newar
The Newa are the indigenous people of Nepal's Kathmandu Valley. Newars are a linguistic community with Tibeto-Burman and Indo ethnictiy/race, bound together by a common language....

culture still exists very vibrantly. The Kathmandu valley was accorded the status of a World Heritage Site
World Heritage Site
A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a site that is on the list that is maintained by the international World Heritage Programme administered by the UNESCO World Heritage Committee, composed of 21 state parties which are elected by their General Assembly for a four-year term.A World Heritage Site is a...

by UNESCO
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations established on 16 November 1945..in the year 1979.Through the Kathmandu Valley flows the Bagmati

river. Important monuments of Kathmandu valley include:
• Kathmandu Durbar Square

• Patan Durbar Square

• Bhaktapur Durbar Square
• Thimi Durbar Square
• Changu Narayan

• Swayambhunath
Stupa
Stupa
A stupa is a mound-like structure containing Buddhist relics, once thought to be places of Buddhist worship, typically the remains of a Buddha or saint...


• Boudhanath Stupa
• Pashupatinath temple

• Balkumari Temple/Thimi
• Wakachhen Mahadev/Thimi
• Golden Window/Thimi
• Chabahil

• Manjushree Temple in Majipa, Manjushree Tole
• Aditnath Temple in Chobharhttp://www.chobhar.com hill village
• Palanchok Temple in kavre, east from middle of Kathmandu