Portal:Nepal

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स्वागतम् / Welcome to the Nepal Portal
Mount Everest,Koshi,Nepal

Budhanilkantha Temple in Budhanilkantha, Nepal

Nepal, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mainly situated in the Himalayas, but also includes parts of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China to the north, and India to the south, east, and west, while it is narrowly separated from Bangladesh by the Siliguri Corridor, and from Bhutan by the Indian state of Sikkim. Nepal has a diverse geography, including fertile plains, subalpine forested hills, and eight of the world's ten highest mountains, including Mount Everest, the highest point above mean sea level on Earth. Kathmandu is the nation's capital and its largest city. Nepal is a multi-ethnic, multi-lingual, multi-religious, and multi-cultural state, with Nepali as the official language.

The name "Nepal" is first recorded in texts from the Vedic period of the Indian subcontinent, the era in ancient Nepal when Hinduism was founded, the predominant religion of the country. In the middle of the first millennium BC, Gautama Buddha, the founder of Buddhism, was born in Lumbini in southern Nepal. Parts of northern Nepal were intertwined with the culture of Tibet. The centrally located Kathmandu Valley is intertwined with the culture of Indo-Aryans, and was the seat of the prosperous Newar confederacy known as Nepal Mandala. The Himalayan branch of the ancient Silk Road was dominated by the valley's traders. The cosmopolitan region developed distinct traditional art and architecture. By the 18th century, the Gorkha Kingdom achieved the unification of Nepal. The Shah dynasty established the Kingdom of Nepal and later formed an alliance with the British Empire, under its Rana dynasty of premiers. The country was never colonised but served as a buffer state between Imperial China and British India. Parliamentary democracy was introduced in 1951 but was twice suspended by Nepalese monarchs, in 1960 and 2005. The Nepalese Civil War in the 1990s and early 2000s resulted in the establishment of a secular republic in 2008, ending the world's last Hindu monarchy. The Constitution of Nepal, adopted in 2015, affirms the country as a federal parliamentary republic divided into seven provinces. In September 2025, protests against a social media ban and economic inequality caused riots, resulting in casualties and resignation of the prime minister.

Nepal's foreign policy focuses on neutrality, sovereignty, and multilateral cooperation. Nepal was admitted to the United Nations in 1955, and friendship treaties were signed with India in 1950 and China in 1960. Nepal hosts the permanent secretariat of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), of which it is a founding member. Nepal is also a member of the Non-Aligned Movement and the Bay of Bengal Initiative. Nepal's foreign relations also emphasize development assistance, trade partnerships, and promoting peace and stability in South Asia. (Full article...)

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... that the Nepali term "sukumbasi" refers to squatters, who typically avoid using the word because of its negative connotations?
... that Anjali Lama, Nepal's first transgender model, worked with Calvin Klein in 2019?
... that white moths are suspected to cause seasonal hyperacute panuveitis in Nepal?

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Nepal Sambat (Newar: 𑐣𑐾𑐥𑐵𑐮 𑐳𑐩𑑂𑐧𑐟‎, nepāla samvat, meaning "Nepal Era") is the lunisolar calendar used by the Newar people of Nepal. It was the official calendar of Nepal since its inception on 20 October 879 till the end of the Malla dynasty in 1769. During the period, Nepal Sambat appeared on coins, stone and copper plate inscriptions, royal decrees, chronicles, Hindu and Buddhist manuscripts, legal documents and correspondence. After the conquest of Nepal by the Shahs in 1769, the official calendar of the country was replaced with Shaka era and then later by the Bikram Samvat.

The calendar still holds cultural significance in Nepal, especially among the Newar people, whose festivals are based on this calendar system. Owing to its cultural and historical significance, the government of Nepal declared to include Nepal Sambat in official government documents alongside Vikram Sambat since 11 November 2023. (Full article...)

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Posthumous portrait by Anandamuni Shakya, 1937

Bhimsen Thapa (Nepali: भीमसेन थापाlisten (August 1775 – 29 July 1839)) was a Nepalese statesman who served as the Mukhtiyar (equivalent to prime minister) and de facto ruler of Nepal from 1806 to 1837. He is widely known as the longest-serving prime minister of Nepal and was inducted into the "National heroes of Nepal" by King Mahendra Bir Bikram Shah.

Born into an ordinary military family in the Gorkha Kingdom, Bhimsen first came close to the Crown Prince Rana Bahadur Shah at an early age in 1785. In 1798, he was recruited as a bodyguard for the King by his father. Thereafter, he rose to influence after helping the exiled ex-King Rana Bahadur Shah engineer his return to power in 1804. In gratitude, Rana Bahadur made Bhimsen a Kaji (equivalent to a minister) of the newly formed government. Rana Bahadur's assassination by his stepbrother Sher Bahadur Shah in 1806 led Bhimsen to initiate investigations into the context in which he ordered the death penalty for ninety-three people popularly known as the 1806 Bhandarkhal massacre, after which he claimed the title of Mukhtiyar (equivalent to prime minister) himself. The death of King Girvan Yuddha Bikram Shah in 1816 at the immature age of 17, with his heir, King Rajendra Bikram Shah being only 3 years old, along with the support from Queen Tripurasundari (the junior queen of Rana Bahadur Shah) allowed him to remain in power even after Nepal's defeat in the Anglo-Nepalese War. After the death of Queen Tripurasundari in 1832, the intrigues of the newly adult King Rajendra, the conspiracies and infightings with the British envoy Brian Houghton Hodgson, Senior Queen Samrajya Laxmi Devi and the rival courtiers (especially the Kala Pandes, who held Bhimsen Thapa responsible for the death of Damodar Pande in 1804) finally led to his imprisonment on false charges of the murder of an infant prince and ultimately his death by suicide in 1839. (Full article...)

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Kathmandu Durbar Square in front of the old royal palace of the former Kathmandu Kingdom is one of three Durbar (royal palace) Squares in the Kathmandu Valley in Nepal, all of which are UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

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Manisha Koirala is a Nepalese actress known for her work in Hindi and Tamil films. Koirala's acting debut was in the Nepali film Pheri Bhetaula (1989). Two years later, she made her Bollywood debut in Subhash Ghai's Saudagar, which was a commercial success. However, she followed this by appearing in a series of films which performed poorly at the box office, including First Love Letter (1991), Anmol (1993), and Dhanwan (1993). Koirala's career had a turnaround when she starred as the daughter of a freedom fighter in Vidhu Vinod Chopra's 1942: A Love Story (1994). Her performance was critically acclaimed and she earned a nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Actress. The following year, Koirala received the Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actress, and the Filmfare Award for Best Actress – Tamil for playing a Muslim married to a Hindu during the 1992–1993 Bombay riots in the Mani Ratnam-directed Tamil drama Bombay (1995).

For playing the daughter of a mute and deaf couple in Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Khamoshi: The Musical (1996), Koirala garnered a second consecutive Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actress. She followed this with leading roles in Agni Sakshi (1996) and Gupt: The Hidden Truth (1997), which were among the highest-grossing Indian films of their respective years. She played a terrorist opposite Shah Rukh Khan in Dil Se.. (1998), the first Indian film to reach the top ten in the United Kingdom box office. However, Koirala's roles in films which performed poorly at the box office, such as Dil Ke Jharokhe Mein (1997), and Achanak (1998), led to a decline in her film career. She made her television debut in 2000 as the co-host of the game show Sawaal Dus Crore Ka with Anupam Kher. The show's poor ratings led to both Kher and Koirala being fired. For her role as a gangster's girlfriend in Ram Gopal Varma's 2002 crime drama Company, she received her third Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actress. Koirala also appeared in the controversial film Ek Chhotisi Love Story in which she played a woman secretly spied upon by a teenage voyeur. The following year, her portrayal of Bengali writer Sushmita Banerjee in the drama Escape from Taliban garnered her the Bengal Film Journalists' Association Award for Best Actress (Hindi). (Full article...)

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Jimbu is an herb belonging to the onion family, used extensively in some regions of Nepal and in some central Himalayan states of India, such as Uttarakhand, where it is called jamboo or faran. It is composed of two species of Allium, A. hypsistum and A. przewalskianum. The herb, which has a taste in between onion and chives, is most commonly used dried. In the Mustang district of Nepal and Kumaon region of Uttarakhand, it is used to flavor vegetables, pickles, and meat. In the rest of Nepal it is most commonly used to flavor urad dal or lentils. The dried leaves are fried in ghee to develop their flavor. After harvest, people store jimbu dried for later use since it is a seasonal herb (main harvest between June and September). (Full article...)

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... that Birjis Qadr, the Nawab (leader) of Awadh state in northern India, became a poet while in exile in Nepal?

... that Nepalese Prime Minister Khadga Prasad Oli praised the 2019 sports drama Captain for "delivering patriotism"?

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Wiki Loves Nepal

The following pages at Wikimedia Commons contain a plethora of images taken in Nepal.

Wiki Loves Earth is an international photographic competition to promote natural heritage sites around the World through Wikimedia projects (mainly Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons).

Wiki Loves Earth 2019 in Nepal

2018 • 2017 • 2016 • 2015 • 2014 • More information • Main category page

Wiki Loves Monuments is an international photographic competition to promote cultural monuments around the World through Wikimedia projects (mainly Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons.

Wiki Loves Monuments 2018 in Nepal

2017 • 2016 • 2015 • 2014 • 2013 • More information • Main category page

Provinces

Below is a clickable map of Nepal's Provinces

NEPAL

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The following are images from various Nepal-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1Nepali Pahadi Hindu marriage at Narayangadh, Chitawan (from Culture of Nepal)
Image 2Nepali Pahadi groom (from Culture of Nepal)
Image 3Ascension of King Gyanendra, 2001 (from History of Nepal)
Image 4Procession of Nepali Pahadi Hindu Wedding (from Culture of Nepal)
Image 5Women in cultural costume at Ubhauli Kirati festival 2017 at Gough Whitlam Park, Earlwood (from Culture of Nepal)
Image 6The old king's palace on a hill in Gorkha (from History of Nepal)
Image 7Nepali traditional Pahadi dress used for dance (from Culture of Nepal)
Image 8Procession of Nepali Hindu Wedding; Groom being carried by a bride brother or relatives (from Culture of Nepal)
Image 9A Buddhist monastery in southern Nepal. (from Culture of Nepal)
Image 10"Nēpāla" in the late Brahmi script, in the Allahabad Pillar inscription of Samudragupta (350-375 CE). (from History of Nepal)
Image 11Mohar of king Prithvi Narayan Shah dated Saka Era 1685 (CE 1763) (from History of Nepal)
Image 12Senior offering Dashain Tika to junior (from Culture of Nepal)
Image 13A 1905 painting of Nepalese woman (from Culture of Nepal)
Image 14Senior offering Dashain Tika on great Nepali Hindu festival at a traditional home. (from Culture of Nepal)
Image 15Statue of the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara, gilded bronze, Nepal, 16th century CE (from Culture of Nepal)
Image 16Procession of Nepali Hindu Wedding (from Culture of Nepal)
Image 17A family in a Maoist-controlled valley, 2005 (from History of Nepal)
Image 18Bhakti Thapa leading Gorkha men at Anglo-Nepalese War (from History of Nepal)
Image 19Costumed Hindu girls of Kathmandu during festival time in Nepal (from Culture of Nepal)

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