The Newars are regarded as the original inhabitants of the KathmanduValley, but their origins are
shrouded in mystery. They speak a Tibeto-Burmese language, which indicates they
originated in the east, but their physical features range from distinctively Mongoloid,
again suggesting to east, to Indo-Aryan, which of course points to India.
In balance, it seems most like that the Kathmanduvalley has long been a cultural and racial melting pot, with people coming from
both east and west. This fusion has resulted in the unique Newar culture that
is responsible for the valley's superb art and architecture.
The Newar golden age peaked in the 17th century when the
valley consisted of small city-states, and Nepalwas a vitally important trading link between Tibetand the north Indian plains. the valley's visible history is inextricably
entangled with the Malla kings. It was during their reign, particularly in the
1600's and 1700's, that many of the valley's finest temples and palaces were
built. Competition between the cities was intense and an architectural
innovation in one place, such as the erection of a column bearing a statue of
the ruling king, would inevitably be copied in the other cities.
Sorting out who built what and when is considerably
complicated by the fact that at any one time there was not just one Malla king.
Each of the three city-states in the valley – Kathmandu,
Patan and Bhaktapur – had its own.
The unification of Nepalin 1768 by Gorkha's king Prithvi Narayan Shah signaled the end of the KathmanduValley's fragmentation. Nepali, an
Indo-European language spoken by the Khas of western Nepal.
replaced Nepalbhasa as the country's language of administration.
