History of Nepal

Nepal's history is broadly divided into three phases - Ancient, Medieval and Modern. Nepal is one among the foremost diverse places on earth, its culture and other people as varied as its scenic attractions. The history of the Nepalese monarchy has been the complete and inseparable part of the history of Nepal. Nevertheless, Nepal has much more than Monarchs when it comes to the realm of history. It has a Vedic past to boast about and a bright feature to seem to.

Pre-History of Nepal

Nepal's history dates back to 11000 years. The recent excavation within the Kathmandu valley has acknowledged Neolithic tools. These tools were used at the advent of the Neolithic era and many of them date back to 9000 B.C. This tells about the pre-Aryan settlement within the then Nepal. These people were of Bhutanese-Mongoloid parentage. Nepal once more gets mentioned within the Hindu epic of Ramayana. It is said that Janakpur, within the Tarai Nepal, has been the birthplace of Sita, the wife of Rama.

Nepal is mentioned as Kirat Pradesh within the epic Mahabharata that's said to be composed around 1000 B.C. This place has been mentioned many times in the epic. It is mentioned that the concerned king supported Kauravas against the Pandavas in the battle. In the years around 500 B.C, Nepal had many small kingdoms and therefore the most powerful among them were Shakyas of Kapilvastu. It was within the house of 1 of the Shakya kings that Gautam Siddhartha was born.

Gautam Siddhartha got the name of Buddha when he was enlightened. In the later era, Nepal falls under the rule of the Maurya. Ashoka finds mention in many of the rock commands. In the post-Christ era, the Licchhavis of Bihar commanded Nepal. Many historical edicts glorify the reign of Licchhavis.

Medieval History of Nepal

Nepal remained largely undisturbed within the medieval period. Mallas used to rule Nepal and were largely confined to their territories. In the sultanate era, there have been some attempts of assault on Nepal but they were met with sporadic successes only. The relief and therefore the climate of Nepal have always served as its military generals. It was king Jaisthitimalla who proposed to bring Nepal following one reign within the late 14th century.

The union was short-lived and Nepal got divided into 3 areas namely, Kathmandu, Patan and Bhadgaon. Apart from these, in the medieval period, Nepal was very peaceful. Maybe that silence was going to bring a severe storm.

Modern History of Nepal

The modern history of Nepal starts with the establishment of the Gorkha kingdom by Prithvi Narayan Shah within the 18th century. From 1765 the Gorkha king started joining all the lands and states and ethnicities of Nepal, and it’s varied land, split into mountains, and of Hindu and Buddhist majority areas, into modern Nepal. He was largely successful in his efforts of attack. He annexed an outsized area of Bhutan and Tibet.

His ideas were later put to action by his followers. Their attempts hit a roadblock at the arrival of the 19th century. The British East India Company got apprehensive of their manoeuvres and took them head-on. The kingdom was soundly humiliated and routed in the Anglo-Nepalese War of 1816. They had to comply with a number of the very insulting terms, on the negotiation table. They conceded the entire Garhwal and Kumaon region to British India. In the same decade, Jung Bahadur, one among the valiant generals of Shahs tried to topple the regime. The queen met the forces with the bloody counter actions.

This led to various massacres on both sides. The Kot massacre is taken into account to be the bloodiest of all of them where on the brink of 30,000 Nepalese were chopped to death during a matter of hours. This began the century-long battle between the Shahs and Ranas, the descendants of Jung Bahadur. In later years close to the 20th century, both the warring dynasties established matrimonial relations between them and started to rule Nepal jointly.

This pact is clear on the flag of Nepal also. The two triangular flags, that are a part of one flag, represent these two dynasties. Nepal assisted Britain within the Indian, revolt of 1857, and saw it’s own royal massacres of itself within the 1840s.