Evolution of Nepali Culture and Society

Geographically Nepal was under this sea millions of year ago. That paticulture part rose above water because of geological movement and later Mountains, Hills, plain and forms came into existence. As many land forms have been formed through the process we can speculate that Nepal was also formed through a similar process. Based on the study of fossils got from excavation it is guessed that the remains of the ancient Man Ramapithekas found near Tinau Khola(river) in Butwal is also about eleven million years old. The excavations done after this ahow that development of pre-stone age and stone Age societies. Facts have been found that settlements and civilization in Nepal developed before three thousand B.C . The historical outline of Nepalese society developed after the arrival, interaction and interrelationship of Aryans and Mongols from the North Southern relationship of Aryans and Mongols from the North Southern parts.

In the contexts of origin of Nepali culture and society, some ethnic and linguistic words related to the word Nepal have special meanings and importance. The very idea that how did the word Nepal come into being and what ethnic and linguistic meaning it has helps us to understand what kind of people have lived here from the ancient time. We can understand the institution of Nepalese culture and society from this. Many speculations have been made based on different ethnicities, languages, genealogy and ancient writings regarding how the word Nepal come into existence.

This is given as follow:

1. Newar community used to call Nepal Nepa- Its meaning was – Ne (mid) pa (country) mid country. Later la suffix was added and it became Nepal.
2. In Tibetan language ‘Ne’ means house and ‘Pal’ means wool or the house of wool. According to Nepal’s geographical structure, many sheep can be reared and for that reason, this country’s name was Nepal from the ancient time.
3. In Kiranti language ‘Ne’ means mid and ‘Pa’ means country. From ancient time Nepal has remained in the mid hilly region and for that reason this land was named mid-country. In course of time suffix la was added to Nepa and it become Nepal.
4. In Limbu language Nepal means plain land. There were some plain lands in the mid Hills where Limbus lived and the country came to be known as Nepal.
5. In Lepcha language ‘Ne’ means holy and pal means cave. In the context of Nepal having many caves and holy places the name of this country come to be Nepal.
6. According to genealogy and Nepal Mahatma (1654 A.D.) A sage called ‘Ne’ took care of (Nepalese) the people of this country and on the basis of that and with the addition of suffix la it became Nepal. We can find the facts that according to geology in Pashupati Paran (1504 A.D), Shayambhu Puran (1558 A.D.) the sage had taken care of the people of this country.
7. To look at, from the point of view of Sanskrit word,Neep means bottomland and Alaya means settlement. Seen from this meaning, as the people of country came to be known as Nepal.
8. From the ethnic point of view, the cowherds (Gopal) were the aboriginal people of this country. They were also called ‘Neep’. In due course, of time, Nepal was derived from ‘Nep’and the name of this country come to remain Nepal.
9. Some of the valley dwellers can be traced back to the Nair of India and from Nair it becomes Newar and then Newar became Nepal
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Regarding the time of origin of the word ‘Nepal’, we can find evidence in many records that the word Nepal has been in use from the ancient time. As the word Nepal was marked in vedic age, we can say that Nepal has been in existence from ages back. In the Puranas and events of Mahabharat epoch (Nearly 5000 years ago) we can find the use of the word Nepal. In the fourth decade of B.C. we find the word Nepal used in Kautilya’s economics and other ancient Lichchhavi records. Thus, the use of the word Nepal, its importance and the use of the events related to the word Nepal has been there from the ancient time.

It is necessary to understand the historical events, and contexts related to the word Nepal in order to understand the historical situation, from and process of Nepalese culture and society. It is necessary to understand these kinds of historical contexts to know about the religion, language and ethnicities of this country. This kind of study helps a lot in sociological and anthropological understanding. Historical perpective is very important in Anthropological study. Trying to understand Nepalese society and culture from these perspectives, it becomes clear that there have been people of many grounds to claim that from the ancient time. We can find many grounds to claim that from the ancient time Nepal was a common ground for many languages and communities. We can also conclude that Nepalese civilization, art, culture, etc. have Pauranic (Ancient) importance. Thus, many aspects related with the word Nepal have an importance in sociological and anthropological study.