Brief Background Of Culture of Nepal

Today's Nepal is a unified Nepal. Present Nepal is the result of the unification of 46 smaller kingdoms. This unification was carried by the then His Majesty King Prithvi Narayan Shah. Nepal is lauded worldwide for its remarkable cultural practices. Today we will look how the present art and culture of Nepal came into existence and how its continuous development of took place in various instances of history.

• Three to four thousands year ago, the Neolithic matriarchal groups of Mongol, China and Bhote entered today's Kathmandu Valley. Since the Kathmandu valley was a lake then, these group settled themselves in the higher region of the hills surrounding the lake. Some of these places were Sankwo(today's Bajrayogini) and Puchwo(today's Phulchowki). The primary means of living were hunting and livestock. They also killed humans for meat. Only after learning the making of pots, these savage group started decreasing their nomadic behavior. Gradually they learn to start farming grass for livestock and afterward they started building huts too.

• Manjushree is a very important figure in Nepal's history. He cut a part of the lake-encompassing hill and let the water of the lake to flow out. It was about 3000 years ago. The name Manjushree is believed to have come from "Manchu Sesan". "Manchu" in the Chinese language means Mongol and "Sesan" means Teacher. Later the name "Manjushree" might have emerged from hearing confusion. 

• As the water level in the valley declined, various settlements of higher places started to descend. The Phulchowki settlement descends to Godavari and bajrayogini settlement to Sankhu. In the Chinese language, "ko" means "country". The country of Bhote was thus called "Sanye Ko" and gradually after the arrival of Aryans, this was pronounced as "Sankhu" as it is today. Also, the origin of name Phulchowki is related to Chinese. "Phan" means "the wind" and "chwo" means "apex or summit" in Chinese. Thus Phulchowki meaning is a windy hill.

• In Hindu Vedas, a battle between Aryans and Kirats is mentioned. This battle took place in Nalapani, which today lies in India. Kiratis lost the battle and is believed that they moved to the east and thus making way to the Nepal Valley( present Kathmandu Valley) nearly about 3000 years ago. Yalambar was the first Kirati king of Kathmandu. The ancient name of Kathmandu and Patan were "Yen" and "Yala" respectively which emerged from the name of the king himself. Even today, in Tamang language( the language of Tamang people of Nepal), Kathmandu is called "Yamboo", Patan is called "Yala "which shares its origin with the first Kirati king. 

• Some 2500 years ago, the influence of Buddhism started in Nepal. Hinduism as well Buddhism were soaring in Nepal. In 200 AD(1800 years ago) Lichavis from India came to Nepal and started ruling. The base and the foundation of today's Nepali culture is believed to be established during the Lichavi period. Then some 800 years ago, Malla dynasty took the power of Nepal. Malla period flourished art and culture and the economic activities increased significantly. They promoted art and culture very well. Most of the today's art, temples. sculptures, shrines of Nepal is credited to Malla dynasty and most of them today are enlisted in World Heritage Sites by UNESCO.

• Nepal is rich in its ethnicity. Various tribes in ancient Nepal were developed in Slavery Age when the masters used to slave people to execute specific works. Though today these tribes are not constrained to those specific works, but the names of these tribes are prevalent today as surnames of indigenous communities of Bhaktapur. Some of the tribes are "Sikarmi"(carpenters) for those who worked on woods, "Nakarmi" for those who worked on iron, "Dakarmi"(masons) for those who worked on bricks and houses., "Tama" for those working on copper or metals. 

• The surrounding played a great role in the development of culture. People living near forest would tame animals like lions, elephants, beer, snakes etc. Many of the dances in are found to be influenced by these animals. In Bhaktapur, these dances are even practiced today. Singha Dance (Lion Dance), Majur Dance(Peackock Dance), Bhalu Dance(Beer Dance) etc. are some the famous dances. Also, the tribes were named according to the animals they tamed. For example, "Phanju"(for those who tamed pigs), "Makaju"(for hose who tamed monkeys), "Kisiju"(for those who tamed elephants) etc. 

• The progress from Lichavi to Malla gave a tremendous asset to Nepal. Later, when India was attacked by the Muslim attackers and also by British, the development of art and culture in India was thwarted. Then, the pundits and other religious activist moved to Nepal where the art and culture were at its acme. These incidents also ignite various cultural accretion in Nepal. Nepal was also called "Museum of Ancient India" for the reason that the art and culture of Ancient India remained conserved in Nepal.  

As we now have a broader scenario of art and culture in Nepal, we can clearly see that present rich Nepali culture is a result of continuous development and modification throughout centuries. Various minor studies are still to be carried out in Nepal to grasp a complete comprehension. It's certain that there is a huge extent to which researchers can dwell in Nepal and have considerable success. Having said that, the current generation must be aware of the graveness to preserve this quintessence of art & culture.

For the reference purpose, I used a book named " Bhaktapur: After a Century" written by Mr. Narayan Man Bijukchhen.  Also, thanks to the various internet sites that helped me understand the facts vividly.