Nepal — books & literature

The story of Nepal

Nepal's story reaches back to the Kathmandu Valley's ancient Licchavi and Malla dynasties, and further still to Lumbini in the southern plains, the birthplace of Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha, around the 6th century BCE. The modern state was forged in 1768, when Prithvi Narayan Shah of Gorkha conquered the Kathmandu Valley and unified a patchwork of hill kingdoms into a single Nepal. Expansion northward brought conflict with the British East India Company, ending in the Anglo-Nepalese War and the 1816 Treaty of Sugauli, which fixed Nepal's borders while it remained the only South Asian nation never colonized. From 1846 the hereditary Rana family ruled as absolute prime ministers behind a figurehead king, until the monarchy was restored in 1951. Decades of royal and multiparty rule followed, punctuated by a pro-democracy movement in 1990 and a decade-long Maoist insurgency that ended in 2006. In 2008 Nepal abolished its 240-year-old monarchy and became a Federal Democratic Republic. A devastating 2015 earthquake tested the young republic, which adopted its current constitution the same year and continues building a democracy in the shadow of the world's highest mountains.

Timeline — key moments

1. circa 563 BCE

   Siddhartha Gautama, the future Buddha, is born in Lumbini.

2. circa 400-750

   The Licchavi dynasty rules the Kathmandu Valley, shaping early Newar civilization.

3. 1768

   Prithvi Narayan Shah conquers the Kathmandu Valley and unifies Nepal.

4. 1814-1816

   Anglo-Nepalese War; the Treaty of Sugauli sets Nepal's modern borders.

5. 1846

   The Rana family seizes power, ruling as hereditary prime ministers for over a century.

6. 1951

   Rana rule ends; the monarchy is restored under King Tribhuvan.

7. 1990

   A pro-democracy movement (Jana Andolan) establishes a multiparty constitutional monarchy.

8. 1996-2006

   A decade-long Maoist insurgency (civil war) reshapes national politics.

9. 2008

   The monarchy is abolished; Nepal becomes a Federal Democratic Republic.

10. 2015

    A magnitude-7.8 earthquake strikes; a new constitution is adopted on 20 September.

Top 10 things to know about Nepal

1. Nepal is home to eight of the world's ten highest mountains, including Mount Everest.
2. Lumbini, in southern Nepal, is the birthplace of Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha.
3. Nepal was never colonized by a foreign power, one of very few nations in Asia that can say so.
4. The country became a federal democratic republic in 2008, ending 240 years of Shah monarchy.
5. Nepal's flag is the only non-rectangular national flag in the world, formed of two stacked pennants.
6. The Kathmandu Valley holds seven UNESCO World Heritage Sites in a small area.
7. Nepali, written in the Devanagari script, is the official language.
8. More than 120 languages are spoken across Nepal by over 100 recognized ethnic groups.
9. The Sherpa people of the Himalayas are renowned as expert high-altitude mountaineers and guides.
10. Hinduism and Buddhism are practiced side by side, often sharing the same temples and festivals.

Famous people from Nepal

Say it in Nepal's language

Did you know?

• ★Nepal's flag is the only national flag in the world that isn't rectangular , two stacked triangular pennants.
• ★Nepal and China jointly recalculated Mount Everest's height in 2020, agreeing on 8,848.86 metres.
• ★Nepal has never been colonized, a rare claim among South Asian nations.

Nepal culture

• Dashain, a 15-day Hindu festival honoring the goddess Durga, is Nepal's biggest annual celebration.
• Tihar, the festival of lights, honors animals such as crows, dogs, and cows alongside the goddess Laxmi.
• Dal bhat (lentils and rice with vegetables) is the everyday national meal eaten across the country.
• Newari culture in the Kathmandu Valley is known for intricate wood and stone carving on temple architecture.

Why read Nepal's books

Nepal's literary tradition grew from centuries of Sanskrit and Newari scholarship into a modern Nepali-language canon shaped by poets, statesmen, and mountain storytellers alike. Its books trace a nation moving from monarchy to mountains to democracy.