Nepal

Nepal

Nepal is one of the richest countries in the world in terms of bio-diversity due to its unique geographical position and altitude variation. The elevation of the country ranges from 60 meters above sea level to the highest point on earth, Mt. Everest at 8,848 meters, all within a distance of 150 kilometers resulting in climatic conditions from sub-tropical to arctic.

This wild variation fosters an incredible variety of ecosystems, the greatest mountain range on earth, thick tropical jungles teeming with a wealth of wildlife, thundering rivers, forested hills and frozen valleys.

Within this spectacular geography is also one of the richest cultural landscapes anywhere. The country is a potpourri of ethnic groups and sub-groups who speak over 93 languages and dialects. Nepal offers an astonishing diversity of sightseeing attractions and adventure opportunities found nowhere else on earth. And you can join in the numerous annual festivals that are celebrated throughout the year in traditional style highlighting enduring customs and beliefs.

The most exhilarating titles with which Nepal has been admired and praised by various renowned travel writers in recognition of her cultural richness:

• Living cultural Museum
• Shangri-La
• Roof of the World
• Birth place of the Apostle of Peace
• Country of Living Goddess
• City of Golden Pagodas and Parasols
• Himalayan Pilgrimage
• Nature amphitheatre
• Melting pot of Hinduism and Buddhism
• A tiny Kingdom of 103 ethnic groups and 93 spoken languages
• Birth place of Sita
• Abode of Shiva
• Land of Mysticism & Exoticism
• Land of non-stop festivals

are explicit and self-explanatory. They tell the world about our incomparable & prosperous cultural heritage.

Nature

The biggest natural museum in the world
Nepal covers a span of 147,181 sq. kilometers ranging from altitude of 70 meters to 8,848 meters. Mountains, mid hills, valleys and plains dominate the geography of landlocked Nepal that extends from the Himalayan range in the north to the Indo-Gangetic lowlands in south. Mt. Everest, the highest point of the Himalayas is in Nepal.

Physical features also include green paddy terraces, wind-swept deserts, dense forests and marshy grasslands. The country is well endowed with perennial rivers, lakes and glacial lakes that originate in the Himalayas. Twenty percent of the land in the country is used for agriculture, where 0.49 percent is used for permanent crops, mainly rice.

Climatic conditions of Nepal vary from one place to another in accordance with the geographical features. In the north summers are cool and winters severe, while in south summers are sub tropical and winters mild.

The variety in Nepal’s topography provides home to wildlife like tigers, rhinos, monkeys, bears, yaks, leopards and different species of insects and birds. Nepal is a home to almost 10 percent of the world’s bird species among which 500 species are found in the Kathmandu Valley.

The country has managed to preserve some endangered species of Asia in its extensive parks and protected natural habitats. The most abundant natural resource in Nepal is water. Other resources found here are quartz, timber, lignite, copper, cobalt, iron ore and scenic beauty.

People and Culture

The population of Nepal was recorded to be about 25 million as of July 2002. Eighty-six percent of Nepalis follow Hinduism, while eight percent follow Buddhism and three percent follow Islam. The population comprises various groups of different races which are further divided into different castes. The distinction in caste and ethnicity is understood more easily with a view of customary layout of the population.

Some of the main groups are such: Gurungs and Magars who live mainly in the western region; Rais, Limbus and Sunwars who live in the eastern mid hills; Sherpas, Manangpas and Lopas who live near the mountains of Everest, Annapurna and Mustang respectively; Newars who live in and around the capital valley of Kathmandu; Tharus, Yadavas, Satar, Rajvanshis and Dhimals who live in the Terai region; and Brahmins, Chhetris and Thakuris generally spread over all parts of the country.

Nepali is the official language of the state, spoken and understood by 100 percent of the population. Multiple ethnic groups speak more than a dozen other languages in about 93 different dialects. English is spoken by many in government and business offices. It is the mode of education in most private schools of Kathmandu and some other cities.

Ethnic Distribution
The Northern Himalayan People
In the northern region of the Himalayas are the Tibetan-speaking groups namely Sherpas, Dolpas, Lopas, Baragaonlis, Manangis. The Sherpas are mainly found in the east in the Solu and Khumbu region; the Baragaonlis and Lopas live in the semi-deserted areas of Upper and Lower Mustang in the Tibetan rain-shadow area; the Managis live in Manang district area; while the Dolpas live in Dolpa district of West Nepal, one of the highest settlements on earth at 4,000 meters.

The Middle Hills and Valley People
Several ethnic groups live together in harmony in the middle hills and valleys. Among them are the Magars, Gurungs, Tamangs, Sunuwars, Newars, Thakalis, Chepangs and majority of Brahmans and Chhetris. The Brahmans and Chhetris have long dominance in all pervading social, religious and political realms. There are also some occupational castes namely: Damai (tailor), Sarki (cobbler), Kami (blacksmith) and Sunar (goldsmiths). Though, there exist numerous dialects, the language of unification is the national language, Nepali.

Ethnic Diversity in the Kathmandu Valley
Kathmandu Valley represents a cultural cauldron of the country, where, people from varied backgrounds have come together to present a melting pot. The natives of the Kathmandu Valley are the Newars. Newari culture is an integration of both Hinduism and Buddhism. The Newars of Kathmandu Valley were traders or farmers by occupation in the old days.

The Terai People
The main ethnic groups in Terai are Tharus, Darai, Kumhal, Majhi and other groups that have roots in India. They speak north Indian dialects like Maithili, Bhojpuri. Owing to the fertile plains of Terai, most inhabitants live on agriculture. There are, however, some occupational castes like Majhi (fisherman), Kumhal (potter) and Danuwar (cart driver).

Kumari: Living Goddess

Kumari: Legend Into Flesh During my visit to Nepal, my group was taken to see many sights. On one afternoon, we were taking a tour of Kathmandu's Durbar Square. I had grown quite accustomed to being an outsider in this country. The hawkers swarm around you as they try to sell you their wares. They shove interesting items into your face while they are pushing past each other to gain your attention. These were the circumstances as we were trying to make our way down a street. The sellers were swarming around us while the traffic was erratic as usual with no plan of movement. The travelers tried to swerve all around us, the hawkers, and the random animals that were loose in the streets. Between the chaos of the honking of cars and the chatter of the hawkers, I almost missed our guide motioning for us to move through a doorway. When I finally got to where I could hear him, he was saying in his accented English, "Hurry! Hurry! You'll be able to see her." "What's going on?", I asked. He gently pushed me on into the doorway saying, "You're going to miss her! Go! Go!" I went on through the small doorway, and walked to the edge of a covered porch-like structure. Steps were set into the edge and they led down into a courtyard. I chose not to go on down

The Kumari

where other people were standing. I looked around as I wondered what was happening. The courtyard was lit by sunbeams that slanted into the open space giving a sense of peacefulness to the quiet there. There were many ornamentally carved wooden windows set into the brick of the building across from us. On the third level there was a very large window intricately carved in ornamental wooden designs. As I was looking around, I heard a soft gasp from the people around me. I followed their gazes and saw a young girl looking out of the largest window. She had an expressionless look on her face and was wearing ceremonial makeup. As she looked among the people, her eyes met mine for about two seconds, and my heart stood still. She looked out of the window for about thirty seconds, and as quickly as she had appeared, she was gone. The natives there seemed very thankful for what had just happened. I was not sure what had occurred, but I knew that it must have been of great importance. During the other people taking their leave, our guide began to tell us about the Kumari. As we left, I felt as if I was in a state of shock. After all, I had just looked into the eyes of a living goddess. What I experienced will affect the rest of my life, and I will always feel that I have been deeply blest. What is the Kumari? Nepal has many different gods and goddesses. Many are Hindu and others are Buddhist. The Nepalese have many facets to their religious pantheon; and many are incarnations, manifestations, and aspects of the different major gods and goddesses. However, they have one unique aspect of their Hindu religion, the Kumari Devi. She is an actual living goddess in the flesh. Her titles are the Kumari Devi, the Royal Kumari, or the Virgin Goddess. She is worshiped as the incarnation of the Goddess Teleju Bhawani or the young incarnation of the Goddess Durga. Her worshipers consists of Hindu devotees and the Nepalese Royal Family. The high priest of the Taleju temple, worships her daily. There are other Kumari's besides the royal one. There is a Kumari in every town and village in the Kathmandu Valley. However, the Royal Kumari is the most important one. If the rural people can not make it to worship her at one of her festivals then they worship their youngest daughters as the Kumari. Worship of the Virgin Goddess was established in the 16th century. There are three legends alluding to the beginning of Kumari worship. The first tells of a Malla king having sex with a pre-pubescent girl. She dies from the encounter, and he begins the practice of installing a young girl as a living goddess to redeem himself. The next is about a Malla king who plays dice with the patron protective goddess of Kathmandu Valley, Taleju Bhawani. It appears that the king makes an unwarranted pass at the Goddess and she takes away her protection of the Valley. After a time, she relents and promises to return in the form of a young girl. The third tale is about a young girl being banished from the kingdom, because she is possessed by the Goddess Durga. The queen is angered by the banishment. She orders her husband to return the girl and establish her as an incarnation of Durga. Once the Kumari is selected she moves to Kathmandu with her family. They live in a temple/house called the Kumari Chhen on the southern end of Durbar Square. Her normal life consists of playing with the children of her attendants and having a private tutor. Every day attendants adhere to her every need. They bathe her and adorn her in sparkling red robes and glittering jewelry. They paint black lines around her eyes and draw a third eye on her forehead. Her public duties consist of making occasional appearances at a carved window at Kumari Chhen; and engaging in about six ceremonial festivals a year. The largest is the August-September festival of Indra Jatra. During this festival the Kumari is taken through the city on a temple chariot for three days and she blesses the King of Nepal. The young girl stays the Kumari until she has her first menstrual cycle or suffers a serious loss of blood. At this point she is thought to have lost her divinity, and the search for a new Kumari must begin. While being a Kumari, she is supported by temple income. When she retires from being the Kumari, she is paid a grand dowry. The bad part is that it is considered unlucky to marry an ex-Kumari.

The Selection of the Kumari

Five senior priests choose girls from the Newar Shakya caste of silver and goldsmiths. The girls must meet 32 strict physical requirements. These requirements range from eye color and shape of teeth to the sound of their voices. They have to be between the age of four and puberty. Horoscopes must match that of the King's to ensure compatibility, because the Kumari has the power to confirm the King's rule. The girls who meet the physical requirements are subjected to many rigorous tests. The most intense test is when the girls are surrounded by terrifying noises in a dark room. Men dance around them in horrific masks and they are subjected to bloody buffalo heads that are remains of sacrifices to Kali during the Dasain festival. The frightening occurrences in the dark should not scare or upset a real goddess, much less one that is an incarnation of Durga. The young girl who remains calm during this last test is obviously the Kumari. As the final confirmation, the girl has to choose the items of clothing and decoration worn by her predecessor.

Incarnation of Durga Leads to Shakti of Shiva

The best way to do this is to work backwards, starting with the Kumari. The Kumari is worshiped as an incarnation of Taleju Bhawani or of Durga. An incarnation is a deity transformed into a physical body. The deity appears in the flesh as something materially real. Now, Taleju Bhawani is the tutelary deity of the King, and the principal patroness of Kathmandu. Taleju Bhawani is also a manifestation of Durga. A manifestation is what a deity shows itself as. For example, Shiva is the God of 1,000 names; but these names are not 1,000 other gods. They are 1,000 different manifestations of Shiva. So, the Kumari is considered by some to be the incarnation of Taleju Bhawani, who is also a manifestation of Durga. Or, the Kumari is just worshiped as the incarnation of

Durga directly. Either way, we have established the connection to Durga. Now, Durga the Terrible holds a variety of weapons in her 10 hands, struggles with demons and rides a lion. Durga is also one of the manifestations of Parvati. Parvati is Shiva's consort and is peaceful, but dominant and energetic in their sexual relationship. However, Parvati is a manifestation of Shiva's shakti. Shakti is the creative energy of the gods. It is most often manifested as their consorts. Parts of a god's personality are often symbolized as a shakti. Shiva is both the god of creation and of destruction. It is his shakti Parvati, manifesting as Kali or Durga, who often conducts destruction and demands blood sacrifices. These sacrifices are usually made to the female manifestation. Shakti has also come to mean any goddess in her energetic and dynamic mode, such as Parvati in her sexual relationship with Shiva. So, Shiva's shakti is a manifestation of a part of his personality. Now, Shiva is the creator, destroyer, and reproducer. However, he is one of three physical representations of one omnipresent god. The other two representations are Brahma and Vishnu. Here we can see that the Kumari can be linked to the spiritual whole of Hinduism. She is traced from Kumari to Taleju Bhawani, to Durga, to Parvati, to shakti, to Shiva, to the heart of Hinduism. She is ultimately a manifestation of a part of Shiva's personality, and therefore a part of the encompassing omnipresent god. To have her as a physical entity to worship, creates a more tangible connection between the people and their deities.

Mt Everest Facts

EVEREST FACTS

Age of Everest:Everest was formed about 60 million years ago

Elevation:29,035 (8850m)-found to be 6' higher in 1999

Name in Nepal:Sagarmatha (means: goddess of the sky)

In Tibet:Chomolungma: (means: mother goddess of the universe)

Named after:Sir George Everest in 1865 ,the British surveyor-general of India. Once known as Peak 15

Location:Latitude 27° 59' N.....Longitude 86° 56' E It's summit ridge seperates Nepal and Tibet

First Ascent:May 29,1953 by Sir Edmund Hillary, NZ and Tenzing Norgay, NP, via the South Col Route

First Solo Ascent:Aug. 20,1980, Reinhold Messner, IT, via the NE Ridge to North Face

First winter Ascent:Feb. 17,1980 -L.Cichy and K. Wielicki, POL

First Ascent by an American:May 1,1963, James Whittaker, via the South-Col

Mt. Everest rises a few milimeters each year due to geological forces

Everest Name:Sir George Everest was the first person to record the height and location of Mt. Everest, this is where Mt."Everest" got its name from(In american language)

First Ascent by a Woman:May 16,1975, Junko Tabei, JAP, via the South-Col

First Ascent by an American Woman:Sep.29,1988, Stacey Allison, Portland, OR via the South-East Ridge

First Oxygenless Ascent:May 8, 1978- Reinhold Messner, IT, and Peter Habeler, AUT, via the South-East Ridge

First woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest from both north & south sides:Cathy O'Dowd (S.A.) South May 25,1996/North '99

Fastest Ascent from South:Babu Chhiri Sherpa 34, NP-16 hours and 56 minutes (5-21-2000)

Fastest Ascent (north side):Hans Kammerlander (IT) May,24,1996, via the standard North Col Ridge Route, 16 hours 45 minutes from base camp

Youngest person:Temba Tsheri (NP) 15 on May,22,2001

Oldest Person:Sherman Bull May,25,2001 -64 yrs

First Legally Blind Person:Erik Weihenmeyer May,25,2001

Most Ascents:Eleven, 24th May 2000 Appa Sherpa became the first person to climb Everest 11 times-Ten, Ang Rita Sherpa, Babu Chiri Sherpa all ascents were oxygen-less.

Best and Worst Years on Everest:1993, 129 summitted and eight died (a ratio of 16:1); in 1996, 98 summitted and 15 died (a ratio of 6½:1)

Highest cause cause of death:Avalanches-about a (2:1) ratio over falls

Country with most deaths on mountain:Nepal-46

Most dangerous area on mountain:Khumbu Ice Fall-19 deaths

First ski descent:Davo Karnicar (Slovenia) 10-7-2000

Last year without ascent:1974

Last year without ascent:1977

Corpses remaining on Everest:about 120

Longest stay on top:Babu Chiri Sherpa stayed at the summit full 21 hours and a half

Largest team:In 1975, China tackled Everest with a 410-member team.

Fastest descent:In 1988, Jean-Marc Boivin of France descended from the top in just 11 minutes, paragliding.

Only climber to climb all 4 sides of Everest:Kushang Sherpa, now an instructor with Himlayan Mountaineering Institute

First person to hike from sea level to summit, no oxygen.:11th May 1990,Tim Macartney-Snape, Australian

Largest number to reach the top in one day:40, on May 10, 1993

First person to summit Everest twice:Nawang Gombu-Nepal(once with Whitaker in '63,and again two years later in '65)Gombu now works for the Himalayan mountaineering institute

The oldest woman to summitAnna Czerwinska May 22, 2000.

Mt Fishtail

The 6997m high mountain awakes to a cold and sleepy dawn.This view is from a sunrise point in Pokhara, Nepal. The sunrise point is called "Sarangkot View Point" and is 1600m high. The city we were in (Pokhara) is 884m (above sea level). This is the most prominent mountan-tip of the Annapurna range thats in view in Pokhara.Sun just rose and only the highest peaks got the light. The name Machhapuchare (translated as Fish Tail) of the mountain comes from it looking like a fish tail from some angle.

Swyambhu Stupa

In Kathmandu Vally there are two big and famous Stupa (chaityas). One main Stupa is Swyambhu Stupa. This is one of the world's glorious Buddhist Chaityas (stupa) . It is said to be 2000 years old. The Chaitya which forms the main structure is made of a solid hemisphere of brich and clay supporting a lofty conical spire capped by a pinnacle of copper gift. Painted on the four-sides of the spire bases are the all- seeing eyes of Lord Buddha. It is three kilometers west of Kathmandu city, and is situated on a hillock about 77m above the level of the Valley. The hills ls is a mosaic of small Chaityas and pagoda temple.

"Hadigaun " historical place " kahi nabhaye ko jatra hadigaun ma "

HadiGaun, the very famous and historical place in Kathmandu .Hadigaun was the very famous and important place from the time of Kirat and Lichhivi region. Manmaeshori temple, Gahana pokhari, Dabali, Dunge Dhara, Bhatbhateni temple, Tudaldevi [vaisnawidevi] temple, Satyanarayan Sthan, Dhan Ganesh are some important historical and cultural place. It is also believe that the historical great palace 'Kailashkut Vhaban' built by Ansuvarma was in hadigaun.Visit nepal and hadigaun. Visit to see Kahi nabha ko jatra hadigaun ma