Kathmandu valley has long been a melting pot of diverse cultures and traditions. Traders from Tibet and Persia traveled and lived here as far back as the first century AD, perhaps even earlier. Hinduism and Buddhism flourished side by side. With the valley repeatedly raided by Muslim rulers from India, there was also some influence of Islam. Catholic Christians came later, early in the 18th century. Yet before King Prithvi Narayan Shah’s conquest of Kathmandu in 1768, the valley was a hub of a flourishing Newar civilization, particularly during the reign of the Malla kings between 13th and 18th centuries.
Some historians believe the Gorkhali kings left the valley’s native cultures and traditions largely intact. Other historians reckon Kathmandu’s takeover by the Shah kings, and its amalgamation into Nepal, started a process of the gradual decline of the native Newari culture and heritage. What is less in doubt is that the subsequent prioritization of Nepali language—a trend which reached its apogee with King Mahendra’s promotion of ‘one language-one dress’ in the 20th century—helped marginalize other regional languages and customs in Nepal.
One of the best examples of this kind of cultural marginalization is the bastardization of the traditional Newari names of the places in Kathmandu valley: “Than Bahee” became “Thamel”, “Nwakhusicho” became “Thapathali” (just because some Thapas came to later reside in the area), “Khuntoo” became “Naya Baneshwor” (See main story, Page 7). With the overthrow of monarchy and heralding of a republic, Newa activists now want to reclaim the lost names and thereby also their rich heritage.
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