Historical Analysis of Nepalese Society from Population Perspective

From the analysis of historical documents, it becomes clear that Nepal is a very ancient land from the point of view of human settlement. Human settlement was there in this land from Vedic period itself. According to culture expert Janakhal Sharma, many valleys can be found on the land stretching from Mechi to Mahakali of Nepal. They are Surkhet Valley, Dang Deukhuri Valley, Pokhara Valley, Chitwan-Nawalpur Valley, Kathmandu Valley, Sindhuli-Madhi Valley and many other valleys or river banks. According to geologists/Scholars, these valleys were filled with water before and later water flowed out of them almost about 250000 years ago. Probably, the water of all of these vallyes opened after that Forests might have developed there after the flowing out of water and animals might have moved there in search of food. After the primitive man entered these areas for the purpose of hunting. Though nomadic in the beginning, human life because more stable and settled later on. Ten thousand years ago man was still in the order of the old stone age. However, before 7-5 thousand years (B.C.) ago man entered into Neolithic age. By now, man had started doing farming. Man also improved its weapons. Even today, we can find the weapons of Neolithic age in the places between Siwalik and Mahabharat Mountains. Such weapons can also be found in the upper part of Mahabharat range. But these weapons are found abundance between the two Mountains. Today the people of this region call such weapons 'Bajradhungo'. In the absence of knowledge such weapons full form the sky in the places where khajuro (centipede) is found. In fact such bajradhungas are the weapons of ancestors of Nepali people. Three such bajradhungas were found by the writer of these lines on May 1, 1978 on the bank of Danda river.

There are no clear-out records regarding the origin of human in Nepalese society. However, archaeologists have said that the fossil of Ramapithekas found near Tinau River in Butwal of Nepal can be 1000000 years old. This shows that we can believe in the fact that the history of human settlement in Nepal is very old. From different excavations done in Palpa, Dang, Nepalgunj, Udayapur, Bardriya, Morang, Jhapa, Dolkha, Charikot, Lumbini, Lalitpur etc and the fossils found there show that there were pre-historic human settlements in Nepal. From this we can guess that there was stone age or Neolithic human settlement. On the other hand, the statement that in pauranic or very ancient time Manjushree let the water of the valley flow out of chovar and settlement developed there, has great importance. These are also sayings that in this land many sages meditated from 3000 B.C.

Looking at ancient Nepal, Mongols from north and Aryans from southwest came to Nepal and developed Nepali society and culture. These statements are also equally believable. Despite this, no reliable evidences have been found regarding who were the main aboriginal people of Nepal. In the process of inflow of people to Nepal from the north and the south, Gopal, Mahisapal, kirant and Lichchhavis had entered Nepal in ancient time. During medieval period, many people of Indian origin had come to Nepal to be safe from Muslim invasion. Similarly, during the sepoy mutiny of 1857, many Indians had entered Nepal. Likewise, because of the legal reform in Burma, many people of Nepali origin had come to Nepal in 1964 A.D. In addition, many Tibetans have come to Nepal and lived here as refugees.