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Kathmandu Valley
By arrna Published: 11/02/2009
The Kathmandu Valley, located in Nepal, lies at the crossroads of ancient civilizations of Asia, and has at least 130 important monuments, including several places of pilgrimage for the Hindus and the Buddhists. The valley today consists of 3 districts, Kathmandu,Bhaktapur, Lalitpur 'Patan' and several villages which present a high style of Newar 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 culture still exists vibrantly.
Kathmandu valley was accorded the status of a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in the year 1979.
The Kathmandu Valley may have been inhabited as earlier 300 BC, since the oldest known objects in the valley dates to a few hundred years BC. The earliest known inscription is dated 185 BC. The oldest firmly dated building in the earthquake-prone valley is almost 1,992 years old. Four stupas around the city of Patan are said to have been erected by a certain Charumati, a purported daughter of Ashoka the Great, a Mauryan king, in the 3rd century AD 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 Kirats 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 whose earliest inscriptions date back to 464 AD were the next rulers of the valley and had close ties with the Gupta Dynasty of India. The Malla Dynasty, who ruled Kathmandu Valley and the surrounding area from the 12th century AD till the 17th century AD, when the Shah Dynasty 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 era.
The Newars, generally acknowledged to be the original habitants of the valley, are understood to be the descendents of the various ethnic and racial groups that have inhabited and ruled the valley in the 2-millenia 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, 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 occurence of both vibrant circulations of peoples and cultures around the sub-continent during the last 2 millenia 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."
According to Swayambhu Puran, Kathmandu Valley was once a lake. The hill where the Swambhu stupa rests, had lotus plants with beautiful lotus flowers abloom. One story says that the god Manjushree cut a gorge at a place called Kashapaal (later called Chobhar) with a sword called Chandrahrasha and drained away the waters to establish a habitable land.
According to Gopal Banshawali, Krishna cut the gorge with his Sudarshana Chakra to let the water out. He then handed the drained valley to the Gopal Vansi people, who were nomidic cow herders.
This valley hosts an UNESCO World Heritage Sites composed by seven different Monument Zones: The centers of the three primary cities, Kathmandu Hanuman Dhoka, Patan and Bhaktapur, the two most important Buddhist stupas, Swayambhunath and Boudhanath and two famous Hindu shrines, Pashupatinath temple and Changu Narayan. Since 2003 the site has been inscribed in the World Heritage List as being "in danger" out of concern for the ongoing loss of authenticity and the outstanding universal value of the cultural property.Kathmandu Durbar Square
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