Thakuri Dynasty

Thakuri Dynasty was a Rajput Dynasty
After Aramudi, who is mentioned in the Kashmirian chronicle, the Rajatarangini of Kalhana (1150 CE), many Thakuri kings ruled over the country up to the middle of the 12th century AD. Raghava Deva is said to have founded a ruling dynasty in 879 AD, when the Lichhavi rule came to an end. To commemorate this important event, Raghu Deva started the 'Nepal Era' which began on 20 October, 879 AD. After Amshuvarma, who ruled from 605 AD onward, the Thakuris had lost power and they could regain it only in 869 AD.
GUNAKAMA DEVA
After the death of King Raghava Dev, many Thakuri kings ruled over Nepal up to the middle of the 12th century AD. During that period, Gunakama Deva was one of the famous kings. He ruled form 949 to 994 AD. During his rule, a big wooden house was built out of one single tree which was called 'Kasthamandapa', from which the name of the capital, 'Kathmandu', is derived. Gunakama Deva founded a town called Kantipur, the modern Kathmandu. According to the Vamsavali, this cost him a hundred thousand rupees a day. He built more than eighteen thousand houses there. It was also Gunakama Deva who started the 'Indra Jatra' festival. He repaired the temple that lies to the northern part of the temple of Pashupatinath. He also initiated the practice of worshipping Lumadi, Raktakali, Kankeshwari, Panchalinga, Bhairab and Manamaiju. He introduced Krishna Jatra and Lakhe Jatra as well. He also performed Kotihoma.
SUCCESSORS OF GUNAKAMA DEV
Bhola Deva succeeded Gunakama Deva. The next ruler was Laksmikama Deva who ruled from 1024 to 1040 AD. He built Laksmi Vihara and introduced the custom of worshipping a virgin girl as 'Kumari'. Then, Vijayakama Deva, the son of Laksmikama, became the king of Nepal. Vijaykama Deva was the last ruler of this dynasty. He introduced the worship of the "Naga" and "Vasuki". After his death, the Thakuri clan of Nuwakot occupied the throne of Nepal.

Economy of Nepal

Nepal's gross domestic product (GDP) for 2008 was estimated at over $12 billion (adjusted to Nominal GDP), making it the 115th-largest economy in the world. Agriculture accounts for about 40% of Nepal's GDP, services comprise 41% and industry 22%. Agriculture employs 76% of the workforce, services 18% and manufacturing/craft-based industry 6%. Agricultural produce — mostly grown in the Terai region bordering India — includes tea, rice, corn, wheat, sugarcane, root crops, milk, and water buffalo meat. Industry mainly involves the processing of agricultural produce, including jute, sugarcane, tobacco, and grain.
Its workforce of about 10 million suffers from a severe shortage of skilled labour. The spectacular landscape and diverse, exotic cultures of Nepal represent considerable potential for tourism, but growth in this hospitality industry has been stifled by recent political events. The rate of unemployment and underemployment approaches half of the working-age population. Thus many Nepali citizens move to India in search of work; the Gulf countries and Malaysia being new sources of work. Nepal receives $50 million a year through the Gurkha soldiers who serve in the Indian and British armies and are highly esteemed for their skill and bravery. The total remittance value is worth around $1 billion, including money sent from the Persian Gulf and Malaysia, who combined employ around 700,000 Nepali citizens.

A long-standing economic agreement underpins a close relationship with India. The country receives foreign aid from India, Japan, the UK, the US, the EU, China, Switzerland, and Scandinavian countries. Poverty is acute; per-capita income is around $1,000.^[52] The distribution of wealth among the Nepalis is consistent with that in many developed and developing countries: the highest 10% of households control 39.1% of the national wealth and the lowest 10% control only 2.6%.
The government's budget is about $1.153 billion, with expenditure of $1.789 billion (FY05/06). The Nepalese rupee has been tied to the Indian Rupee at an exchange rate of 1.6 for many years. Since the loosening of exchange rate controls in the early 1990s, the black market for foreign exchange has all but disappeared. The inflation rate has dropped to 2.9% after a period of higher inflation during the 1990s.
Nepal's exports of mainly carpets, clothing, leather goods, jute goods and grain total $822 million. Import commodities of mainly gold, machinery and equipment, petroleum products and fertilizer total US$2 bn. India (53.7%), the US (17.4%), and Germany (7.1%) are its main export partners. Nepal's import partners include India (47.5%), the United Arab Emirates (11.2%), China (10.7%), Saudi Arabia (4.9%), and Singapore (4%).^[53]

Government and politics

Nepal has seen rapid political changes during the last two decades. Until 1990, Nepal was a monarchy running under the executive control of the king. Faced with a Communist movement against the absolute monarchy, King Birendra, in 1990, agreed to large-scale political reforms by creating a parliamentary monarchy with the king as the head of state and a prime minister as the head of the government. Nepal has also been noted for its recent speed of development, such as being one of the few countries in Asia to abolish the death penalty^[41] and the first country in Asia to rule in favor of same-sex marriage, which the government has a seven-person committee studying after a November 2008 ruling by the nation's Supreme Court, which ordered full rights for LGBT individuals, including the right to marry.^[42]
Nepal's legislature was bicameral, consisting of a House of Representatives called the Pratinidhi Sabha and a National Council called the Rastriya Sabha. The House of Representatives consisted of 205 members directly elected by the people. The National Council had 60 members: ten nominated by the king, 35 elected by the House of Representatives, and the remaining 15 elected by an electoral college made up of chairs of villages and towns. The legislature had a five-year term but was dissolvable by the king before its term could end. All Nepali citizens 18 years and older became eligible to vote.
The executive comprised the King and the Council of Ministers (the cabinet). The leader of the coalition or party securing the maximum seats in an election was appointed as the Prime Minister. The Cabinet was appointed by the king on the recommendation of the Prime Minister. Governments in Nepal tended to be highly unstable, falling either through internal collapse or parliamentary dissolution by the monarch, on the recommendation of the prime minister, according to the constitution; no government has survived for more than two years since 1991.
The movement in April 2006 brought about a change in the nation's governance: an interim constitution was promulgated, with the King giving up power, and an interim House of Representatives was formed with Maoist members after the new government held peace talks with the Maoist rebels. The number of parliamentary seats was also increased to 330. In April 2007, the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) joined the interim government of Nepal.

Geography of Nepal

Nepal is of roughly trapezoidal shape, 800 kilometres (497 mi) long and 200 kilometres (124 mi) wide, with an area of 147,181 km² (56,827 sq mi). See List of territories by size for the comparative size of Nepal.
Nepal is commonly divided into three physiographic areas: the Mountain, Hill, Siwalik region and Terai Regions. These ecological belts run east-west and are vertically intersected by Nepal's major, north to south flowing river systems.
The southern lowland plains or Terai bordering India are part of the northern rim of the Indo-Gangetic plains. They were formed and are fed by three major Himalayan rivers: the Kosi, the Narayani, and the Karnali as well as smaller rivers rising below the permanent snowline. This region has a subtropical to tropical climate. The outermost range of foothills called Shiwalik or Churia Range cresting at 700 to 1,000 metres (2,297 to 3,281 ft) marks the limit of the Gangetic Plain, however broad, low valleys called Inner Tarai (Bhitri Tarai Uptyaka) lie north of these foothills in several places


The Hill Region (Pahad) abuts the mountains and varies from 800 to 4,000 metres (2,625 to 13,123 ft) in altitude with progression from subtropical climates below 1,200 metres (3,937 ft) to alpine climates above 3,600 metres (11,811 ft). The Mahabharat Lekh reaching 1,500 to 3,000 metres (4,921 to 9,843 ft) is the southern limit of this region, with subtropical river valleys and "hills" alternating to the north of this range. Population density is high in valleys but notably less above 2,000 metres (6,562 ft) and very low above 2,500 metres (8,202 ft) where snow occasionally falls in winter.
The Mountain Region (Parbat), situated in the Great Himalayan Range, makes up the northern part of Nepal. It contains the highest elevations in the world including 8,848 metres (29,029 ft) height Mount Everest (Sagarmatha in Nepali) on the border with China. Seven other of the world's eight thousand metre peaks are in Nepal or on its border with China: Lhotse, Makalu, Cho Oyu, Kanchenjunga, Dhaulagiri, Annapurna and Manaslu.

Histiry of Nepal

Terai News writes, "Nepal has been highlighted for the last several centuries in Sanskrit literature like 'Skand Purana'. 'Skanda Purana' has a separate volume known as 'Nepal Mahatmya', which explains in more details about the beauty and power of Nepal. Nepal is also mentioned in Hindu scriptures such as the Narayana Puja and the Atharva Siras (800–600 BC) Around 1000 BC, small kingdoms and confederations of clans arose in the region. From one of these, the Shakya confederation, arose a prince named Siddharta Gautama (563–483 BC), who later renounced his royalty to lead an ascetic life and came to be known as the Buddha ("the enlightened one"). The 7th Kirata king, Jitedasti, was on the throne in the Nepal valley at the time. By 250 BC, the region came under the influence of the Mauryan Empire of northern India, and later became a vassal state under the Gupta Empire in the fourth century AD. In the fifth century, rulers called the Licchavis governed the majority of its area. There is a good and quite detailed description of the kingdom of Nepal in the account of the renowned Chinese Buddhist pilgrim monk Xuanzang, dating from c. 645 AD. The Licchavi dynasty went into decline in the late eighth century and was followed by a Newari era, from 879, although the extent of their control over the entire country is uncertain. By the late 11th century, southern Nepal came under the influence of the Chalukaya Empire of southern India. Under the Chalukayas, Nepal's religious establishment changed as the kings patronised Hinduism instead of the prevailing Buddhism.

Christianity in Nepal

Catholic Christianity

According to the historians, Jesuit fathers came to Nepal in the 14th and then in the 17th century. In their second visit, they were able to win the hearts of the Malla Kings in Bhaktapur. Unfortunately the Catholics, and for that case the Christians had to be expelled from the nation when the Mallas in Kathmandu fell to the advancing power of the Shah king from Gorkha. The third advent of the Catholic took place nearly two centuries later after the collapse of Rana regime in 1950. At present, there are some 7,000 Catholics in Nepal, for whom an Apostolic Prefecture was created in 1996. The prefect, Anthony Francis Sharma, a Nepalese Jesuit, was ordained bishop in 2007. Most of the Catholics are in the Terai region bordering India, though there are parishes in Kathmandu and Pokhara as well. Catholics in the east Terai have faced severe persecution in the hands of Hindu religious fundamentalist group, and the parish in Kathmandu came under attack in the year 2009 killing four and severely wounding over a dozen. The Catholics are the first Christian group that brought the modern education to Nepal. Two schools in Kathmandu valley; St. Xavier and St. Marry's are still the prominent schools in Nepal from where many of the political and wealthy elites have gotten their education.

Concern for the health of the church
(this section has been deleted because the writer(s) appeared to be vending their personal griviences in a place like this. Could someone write a proper article for a topic such as this?) The new Constitution of Nepal supposedly provides for religious freedom, ^[2] but proselytism is frowned upon.^[2] Some foreign preachers have been expelled from the country. ^[2]

Religion in Nepal

The country has an area of 54,363 square miles (140,800 km²) and a population of 28 million. Hindus constitute approximately 81 percent of the population; Buddhists, 11 percent; Muslims, the majority Sunni, 4.2 percent; and practitioners of Kirant (an indigenous animist religion) and others, 4 percent, of which 0.45 percent are Christian. Christian leaders conservatively estimated their number of adherents at more than 800,000. Press reports indicated that there are more than 170 Christian churches operating in Kathmandu alone. According to the chairman of the Madrassah Islamiyah Association, there are almost 2,500 madrassahs. Twenty thousand Tibetan Buddhist refugees reside in the country.
There were no missionaries officially operating in the country.

Nepal was formerly the world's only constitutionally declared Hindu state, but following the movement for democracy in early 2006 and the breaking of King Gyanendra's power, the Nepali Parliament amended the constitution to make Nepal a secular state.
According to the 2001 census, 80.6 percent of Nepalese are Hindu, 10.7 percent are Buddhist, 4.4% are Muslim^[1], 3.6 percent are Kirat (an indigenous religion with Hindu influence), 0.5 percent are Christian, and 0.4 percent are classified as other groups such as Bön religion. Although the population is mostly Hindu, since the 1971 census Hindus have shown the greatest decline as a proportion of the population, and Buddhists and Kirats have increased the most: in 1678 Hindus were 89.4 percent of the population, Buddhists 7.5 percent, and Kirats statistically 0 percent. However, statistics on religious groups are complicated by the ubiquity of dual faith practices, particularly among Hindus and Buddhists. Moreover, shifts in the population's religious composition also reflect political changes.

Rana era in Nepal

The Rana dynasty ruled the Kingdom of Nepal from 1846 until 1953, reducing the Shah monarch to a figurehead and making Prime Minister and other government positions hereditary. It is descended from one Bal Narsingh Kunwar of Kaski, who moved to Gorkha in the early 18th century and entered the service of Raja Nara Bhupal Shah around 1740. Originally, the Rana dynasty hails from the Sisodiya Rajput Royal family of Chittor now in India, capital of the Mewar region. The dynasty traces its roots to Maharaj Kumbhakaran Singh of Chittor, Mewar. Maharaj Kumbhakaran Singh was the younger brother of Rana Ratan Singh of Mewar. Rana Ratan Singh married Rani Padmini (She along with hundreds of other women undertook Jauhar and the male members performed Saka during the siege of the Chittorgarh fort by the ignominious sultan of Delhi, Allauddin Khilji ).
Jang Bahadur was the first ruler from this dynasty. He came to grasp such power through the infamous "kot massacre" where he murdered 36 powerful members of the palace hierarchy including the Prime Minister and relative of the King, Chautariya Fate Jung Shah (Jung was also married to his sister Maiya Maharani his favourite wife). Such were the court intrigues. These were unstable times and Jung brought stability to the country by putting himself firmly in control of the country and the royal court. His original family name was Rana but in Nepal people mistook his Rajput title of Kunwar for his family name, Kunwar is a title denoting royal lineage used by Rajput princes in northern India. Rana rulers were titled "Shri Teen" and "Maharaja", whereas Shah kings were "Shri Panch" and "Maharajdiraj". Both the Rana dynasty and Shah dynasty are Rajput caste in the Hindu tradition, in contrast with the native Himalayan culture which is largely Buddhist and Bön.
Jung Bahadur was the grandson of the famous Nepalese hero and Prime minister Bhimsen Thapa. Jung Bahadur brought a lot of upliftment and modernisation to Nepalese society, the abolishment of slavery, upliftment of the untouchable class, public access to education etc.

History of Kirata Kingdom

Kirata Kingdom in Sanskrit literature and Hindu mythology refers to any kingdom of the Kirata people, who were dwellers mostly in the Himalayas (mostly eastern Himalaya) and North-East India. They took part in the Kurukshetra War along with Parvatas (mountaineers) and other Himalayan tribes. They were widespread in the folds and valleys of Himalayas in Nepal and Bhutan, and in the Indian states of Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Assam and Tripura.
Though dwelling in the Himalayas and other inaccessible regions, Kiratas did not get the status of super-humans enjoyed by other tribes like the Gandharvas, Kinnaras, Kimpurushas and Yakshas. This was probably because of their greater interaction with the Vedic people, which resulted in their de-mystification. But literary meaning of the word Kirata-or Kirati- means people with lion nature. It is derived from two words Kira-Lion and Ti- people and it also means people from the mountains. These two references fits well with the description of mythical Kimpurushas and thus it is possible that they might have been referenced as such in some older texts at least.

Plants and Animal life

Forests occupy 27 percent of Nepal`s land area. The Terai supports extensive hardwood and bamboo forests in areas not cleared for agriculture or resettlement. On the lower slopes of the mountains, pines flourish  and amid oaks and wild flowers. Firs and shurbs thrive in the higher regions, most notably the tree Rhododendron, Nepal`s national flower, which produces beautiful red anf pink blooms from March to April. Smaller plants , such as mosses and grasses, grow at elevations above 3,700m (12,000 ft). Above the snow line of the Great Himalayas (higher than about 4,300 m/about 15,000 ft) no vegetation grows.

Deforestation is a major problem in Nepal.The country lost half its forests between 1950 and 1980 because of increased demand for fodder, fuelwood, and land for agrigulture and settelement. Much of the deforestation has taken place in Terai, although the Middle and Great Himalayan regions have also experienced serious deforestation. With the assistance of the United states and international agencies, Nepal has embarked on several programs to extend and restore its forest cover.

Nepal

                                                         INTRODUCTION


Nepal, officially Kingdom of Nepal, constitutional monarchy in South Asia. Locked within the rugged ranges of the Himalayas, Nepal is bounded by the Tibet regionof  China on the north and India on the south, East, and West. It was cut off from the rest of the world until the early 1950s, when a palace revolution and the subsequent overthrow of the autocratic Rana dynasty marked the begining of Nepal,s emergence into the modern world. Kathmandu is the capital and largest city.
Nepal covers an area of 147,181 sq km (56,827 sq km). It si divided into four tropographical zones: the Great Himalayas, the Middle Himalayas, the Outer Himalayas, and the Terai. The highest zone is located either wholly or partially in this area. These include Mount Everest(8,850 m/29,035 ft), Kanchenjunga (8,598 m/28,209 ft), Makalu (8,481 m/27,825 ft), Dhaulagiri (8,172 m/26,811 ft), and Annapurna (8,091 m/26,545 ft)