Kathmandu Valley
The Kathmandu Valley known as Nepal Valley or Nepa Valley, lies at the crossroads of ancient civilizations of the Indian subcontinent and the broader Asian continent, has at least 130 important monuments, including several pilgrimage sites for Hindus and Buddhists. There are seven World Heritage Sites within the valley; the valley and adjoining areas made up a confederation known as the Nepal Mandala. Until the 15th century, Bhaktapur was its capital, when two other capitals and Lalitpur, were established; the Kathmandu Valley is the most populated place in Nepal. The majority of offices and headquarters are located in the valley, making it the economic hub of Nepal, it is popular with tourists for its unique architecture, rich culture that includes the highest number of jatras in Nepal. The valley itself was referred to as "Nepal Proper" by British historians. In 2015, Kathmandu Valley was hit by the April 2015 Nepal earthquake; the earthquake caused thousands of deaths and destruction of many infrastructures across the Kathmandu Valley, which includes the towns of Lalitpur, Madhyapur Thimi, Bhaktapur making the total population to five million people and the municipalities across Kathmandu valley.
Kathmandu is the largest metropolis in the Himalayan hill region. Kathmandu is not the native name used by the indigenous Nepa people of the valley; the term "Nepa-al" was traditionally used to refer this valley. The Pahari name Kathmandu comes from a structure in Durbar Square called by the Sanskrit name Kāsṣtha mandapa "Wooden shelter"; this unique temple known as the Maru Sattal, was built in 1596 by King Lakshminarasimha Malla. The entire structure contained no iron nails or supports and was made from wood. Legend has it. City of Banepa and Dhulikhel is considered part of Kathmandu valley as it has a similar culture; the Kathmandu Valley may have been inhabited as early as 300 BCE, since the oldest known objects in the valley date to a few hundred years BCE. The earliest known inscription is dated 185 CE; the oldest dated building in the earthquake-prone valley is over 2,000 years old. Four stupas around the city of Patan that are said to have been erected by a Charumati, a purported daughter of the Maurya emperor Ashoka, in the third century BCE, attest to the ancient history present within the valley.
As with the tales of the Buddha's visit, there is no evidence supporting Ashok's visit, but the stupas date to that century. The Licchavis, whose earliest inscriptions date to 464, were the next rulers of the valley and had close ties with the Gupta Empire of India; the Mallas ruled the Kathmandu Valley and the surrounding area from the 12th until the 18th century CE, when the Shah dynasty of the Gorkha Kingdom under Prithvi Narayan Shah conquered the valley as he created present-day Nepal. His victory in the Battle of Kirtipur was the beginning of his conquest of the valley; the Newars are the indigenous inhabitants and the creators of the historic civilization of the valley. Their language is today known as Nepal Bhasa, they are understood to be the descendants of the various ethnic and racial groups that have inhabited and ruled the valley in the two-millennium history of the place. Scholars have described the Newars as a nation, they have developed a division of labour and a sophisticated urban civilization not seen elsewhere in the Himalayan foothills.
They are known for their contributions to art, architecture, literature, industry, trade and cuisine, left their mark on the art of Central Asia. Newa architecture consists of the pagoda, shikhara and other styles; the valley's trademark is the multiple-roofed pagoda which may have originated in this area and spread to India, China and Japan. The most famous artisan who influenced stylistic developments in China and Tibet was Araniko, a Newar who traveled to the court of Kublai Khan in the 13th century AD, he is known for building the white stupa at the Miaoying Temple in Beijing. At present, people from other parts of Nepal tend to migrate to the valley for a better life due to its high level of cultural and economic development. With urbanization taking pace, the Newars have sustained their culture in Kathmandu Valley. According to Swayambhu Puran, the Kathmandu Valley was once a lake, deemed by scientists as Paleo Kathmandu Lake; the hill where the Swayambu Stupa rests had lotus plants with flowers in bloom.
One story says that the God Manjusri cut a gorge at a valley called Kashapaal with a sword called Chandrahrasha and drained away the waters in order to establish a habitable land. According to Gopal Banshawali, Krishna cut the gorge with his Sudarshana Chakra to let the water out, he handed the drained valley to the Gopal Vansi people, who were nomadic cow herders. Kathmandu valley is bowl-shaped, its central lower part stands at 1,425 metres above sea level. Kathmandu valley is surrounded by four mountain ranges: Shivapuri, Phulchowki and Chandragiri; the major river flowing through the Kathmandu Valley is the Bagmati. The valley is made up of the Kathmandu District, Lalitpur District and Bhaktapur District covering an area of 220 square miles; the valley consists of the municipal areas of Kathmandu, Bhaktapur and Madhyapur Thimi.
Vishnu
Vishnu is one of the principal deities of Hinduism, the Supreme Being or absolute truth in its Vaishnavism tradition. Vishnu is the "preserver" in the Hindu triad that includes Shiva. In Vaishnavism, Vishnu is identical to the formless metaphysical concept called Brahman, the supreme, the Svayam Bhagavan, who takes various avatars as "the preserver, protector" whenever the world is threatened with evil and destructive forces, his avatars most notably include Rama in the Krishna in the Mahabharata. He is known as Narayana, Vasudeva and Hari, he is one of the five equivalent deities worshipped in Panchayatana puja of the Smarta Tradition of Hinduism. In Hindu iconography, Vishnu is depicted as having a pale or dark blue complexion and having four arms, he holds a padma in his lower left hand, Kaumodaki gada in his lower right hand, Panchajanya shankha in his upper left hand and the Sudarshana Chakra in his upper right hand. A traditional depiction is Vishnu reclining on the coils of the serpent Shesha, accompanied by his consort Lakshmi, as he "dreams the universe into reality".
Yaska, the mid 1st-millennium BCE Vedanga scholar, in his Nirukta, defines Vishnu as viṣṇur viṣvater vā vyaśnoter vā, "one who enters everywhere". He writes, atha yad viṣito bhavati tad viṣnurbhavati, "that, free from fetters and bondages is Vishnu"; the medieval Indian scholar Medhātithi suggested that the word Vishnu has etymological roots in viś, meaning to pervade, thereby connoting that Vishnu is "one, everything and inside everything". Vishnu means "all pervasive". Vishnu is a Vedic deity, but not a prominent one when compared to Indra and others. Just 5 out of 1028 hymns of the Rigveda, a 2nd millennium BCE Hindu text, are dedicated to Vishnu, he finds minor mention in the other hymns. Vishnu is mentioned in the Brahmana layer of text in the Vedas, thereafter his profile rises and over the history of Indian mythology, states Jan Gonda, Vishnu becomes a divinity of the highest rank, one equivalent to the Supreme Being. Though a minor mention and with overlapping attributes in the Vedas, he has important characteristics in various hymns of Rig Veda, such as 1.154.5, 1.56.3 and 10.15.3.
In these hymns, the Vedic mythology asserts that Vishnu resides in that highest home where departed Atman reside, an assertion that may have been the reason for his increasing emphasis and popularity in Hindu soteriology. He is described in the Vedic literature as the one who supports heaven and earth. In the Vedic hymns, Vishnu is invoked alongside other deities Indra, whom he helps in killing the symbol of evil named Vritra, his distinguishing characteristic in Vedas is his association with light. Two Rigvedic hymns in Mandala 7 refer to Vishnu. In section 7.99 of the Rgveda, Vishnu is addressed as the god who separates heaven and earth, a characteristic he shares with Indra. In the Vedic texts, the deity or god referred to as Vishnu is Surya or Savitr, who bears the name Suryanarayana. Again, this link to Surya is a characteristic Vishnu shares with fellow Vedic deities named Mitra and Agni, where in different hymns, they too "bring men together" and cause all living beings to rise up and impel them to go about their daily activities.
In hymn 7.99 of Rigveda, Indra-Vishnu are equivalent and produce the sun, with the verses asserting that this sun is the source of all energy and light for all. In other hymns of the Rigveda, Vishnu is a close friend of Indra. Elsewhere in Rigveda and Upanishadic texts, Vishnu is equivalent to Prajapati, both are described as the protector and preparer of the womb, according to Klaus Klostermaier, this may be the root behind post-Vedic fusion of all the attributes of the Vedic Prajapati unto the avatars of Vishnu. In the Yajurveda, Taittiriya Aranyaka, Narayana sukta, Narayana is mentioned as the supreme being; the first verse of Narayana Suktam mentions the words paramam padam, which mean highest post and may be understood as the supreme abode for all souls. This is known as Param Dhama, Paramapadam or Vaikuntha. Rig Veda 1.22.20 mentions the same paramam padam. In the Atharvaveda, the mythology of a boar who raises goddess earth from the depths of cosmic ocean appears, but without the word Vishnu or his alternate avatar names.
In post-Vedic mythology, this legend becomes one of the basis of many cosmogonic myth called the Varaha legend, with Varaha as an avatar of Vishnu. Several hymns of the Rigveda repeat the mighty deed of Vishnu called the Trivikrama, one of the lasting mythologies in Hinduism since the Vedic times, it is an inspiration for ancient artwork in numerous Hindu temples such as at the Ellora Caves, which depict the Trivikrama legend through the Vamana avatar of Vishnu. Trivikrama refers to "three strides" of Vishnu. Starting as a small insignificant looking being, Vishnu undertakes a herculean task of establishing his reach and form with his first step covers the earth, with second the ether, the third entire heaven; the Vishnu Sukta 1.154 of Rigveda says that the first and second of Vishnu's strides are visible to the mortals and the third is the realm of the immortals. The Trivikrama describing hymns integrate salvific themes, stating Vishnu to symbolize that, freedom and life; the Shatapatha Brahmana elaborates this theme of Vishnu, as his herculean effort and sacrifice to create and gain powers that help others, one who realizes and defeats the evil symbolized by the Asuras after they had usurped the three worlds, thus Vishnu is the savior of the mortals and
Nepalese scripts
The expression Nepalese Scripts refers to alphabetic writing systems employed in Nepala Mandala by the indigenous Newars for writing Nepalbhasa and for transcribing Sanskrit. There are some claims they have been used to write the Parbatiya language but all Pahari languages were traditionally written with the Takri alphabet and now Devanagari; the older alphabets, known as Nepal Lipi or Nepal script, were in widespread use from the 10th to the early 20th-century A. C. E, but have since been supplanted by the modern script known as Devanagari. Of the older scripts, about 50,000 manuscripts written in Nepal Lipi have been archived. Outside of Nepal, Brahmi scripts have been used to write Sanskrit, Maithili and Braj Bhasha languages, they have been used to inscribe mantras on funerary markers as distant as Japan as well. Nepal or Nepalese script appeared in the 10th century; the earliest instance is a manuscript entitled Lankavatara Sutra dated Nepal Era 28. Another early specimen is a palm-leaf manuscript of a Buddhist text the Prajnaparamita, dated Nepal Era 40.
One of the oldest manuscript of Ramayana, preserved till date, was written in Nepal Script in 1041. The script has been used on stone and copper plate inscriptions, palm-leaf documents and Hindu and Buddhist manuscripts. Among the different scripts based on Nepal script, Ranjana and Prachalit are the most common. Ranjana is the most ornate among the scripts, it is most used to write Buddhist texts and inscribe mantras on prayer wheels, shrines and monasteries. The popular Buddhist mantra Om mani padme hum (meaning is written in Ranjana. Besides the Kathmandu Valley and the Himalayan region in Nepal, the Ranjana script is used for sacred purposes in Tibet, Japan, Mongolia, Bhutan and Ladakh; the Jokhang Temple in Lhasa, Tibet is ornamented with mantras embossed in Ranjana script, the panels under the eaves are numbered using Nepal Lipi. Among the famed historical texts written in Nepal Lipi are Gopalarajavamsavali, a history of Nepal, which appeared in 1389 AD, the Nepal-Tibet treaty of Nepal Era 895 and a letter dated Nepal Era 535 sent by Chinese Emperor Tai Ming to Shakti-simha-rama, a feudatory of Banepa.
The different scripts derived from Nepal script are as follows: Ranjana script Nepal script Bhujimol typeface Litumol typeface Kunmol script Kwenmol script Golmol script Pachumol script Hinmol script Prachalit Nepal script Nepalese scripts saw a widespread use for a thousand years in Nepal. In 1906, the Rana regime banned Nepal Bhasa, Nepal Era and Nepal Lipi from official use as part of its policy to subdue them, the script fell into decline. Authors were encouraged to switch to Devanagari to write Nepal Bhasa because of the availability of moveable type for printing, Nepal Lipi was pushed further into the background. However, the script continued to be used for ceremonial purposes till the 1950s. After the Rana dynasty was overthrown and democracy established in 1951, restrictions on Nepal Bhasa were lifted. Attempts were made to study and revive the old scripts, alphabet books were published. Hemraj Shakyavamsha published an alphabet book of 15 types of Nepalese alphabets including Ranjana and Pachumol.
In 1952, a pressman Pushpa Ratna Sagar of Kathmandu had moveable type of Nepal script made in India. The metal type was used to print the titles of the articles in Thaunkanhe monthly. In 1989, the first book to be printed using a computer typeface of Nepal script, Prasiddha Bajracharyapinigu Sanchhipta Bibaran by Badri Ratna Bajracharya, was published. Today, Nepal Lipi has gone out of general usage, but it is sometimes used in signage and greeting cards, book and CD covers, product labels and the mastheads of newspapers. A number of private organizations are engaged in its promotion. Nepal Lipi was approved for inclusion in Unicode 9.0.] Nepal Bhasa literature Nepal Bhasa renaissance
Nepal
Nepal the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is located in the Himalayas but includes parts of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. With an estimated population of 26.4 million, it is 48th largest country by population and 93rd largest country by area. It borders China in the north and India in the south and west while Bangladesh is located within only 27 km of its southeastern tip and Bhutan is separated from it by the Indian state of Sikkim. Nepal has a diverse geography, including fertile plains, subalpine forested hills, eight of the world's ten tallest mountains, including Mount Everest, the highest point on Earth. Kathmandu is largest city. Nepal is a multiethnic nation 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 India when Hinduism was founded, the predominant religion of the country. In the middle of the first millennium BCE, 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, 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 architecture. By the 18th century, the Gorkha Kingdom achieved the unification of Nepal; the Shah dynasty established the Kingdom of Nepal and formed an alliance with the British Empire, under its Rajput Rana dynasty of premiers. The country was never colonized 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 proclamation of a secular republic in 2008, ending the world's last Hindu monarchy. The Constitution of Nepal, adopted in 2015, establishes Nepal as a federal secular parliamentary republic divided into seven provinces.
Nepal was admitted to the United Nations in 1955, friendship treaties were signed with India in 1950 and the People's Republic of China in 1960. Nepal hosts the permanent secretariat of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, of which it is a founding member. Nepal is a member of the Non Aligned Movement and the Bay of Bengal Initiative; the military of Nepal is the fifth largest in South Asia. Local legends have it that a Hindu sage named "Ne" established himself in the valley of Kathmandu in prehistoric times, that the word "Nepal" came into existence as the place was protected by the sage "Nemi", it is mentioned in Vedic texts. According to the Skanda Purana, a rishi called. In the Pashupati Purana, he is mentioned as a protector, he is said to have taught there. The name of the country is identical in origin to the name of the Newar people; the terms "Nepāl", "Newār", "Newāl" and "Nepār" are phonetically different forms of the same word, instances of the various forms appear in texts in different times in history.
Nepal is the learned Sanskrit form and Newar is the colloquial Prakrit form. A Sanskrit inscription dated 512 CE found in Tistung, a valley to the west of Kathmandu, contains the phrase "greetings to the Nepals" indicating that the term "Nepal" was used to refer to both the country and the people, it has been suggested that "Nepal" may be a Sanskritization of "Newar", or "Newar" may be a form of "Nepal". According to another explanation, the words "Newar" and "Newari" are vulgarisms arising from the mutation of P to V, L to R. Neolithic tools found in the Kathmandu Valley indicate that people have been living in the Himalayan region for at least eleven thousand years. Nepal is first mentioned in the late Vedic Atharvaveda Pariśiṣṭa as a place exporting blankets, in the post-Vedic Atharvashirsha Upanishad. In Samudragupta's Allahabad Pillar it is mentioned as a border country; the Skanda Purana has a separate chapter, known as "Nepal Mahatmya", with more details. Nepal is mentioned in Hindu texts such as the Narayana Puja.
Legends and ancient texts that mention the region now known as Nepal reach back to the 30th century BC. The Gopal Bansa were one of the earliest inhabitants of Kathmandu valley; the earliest rulers of Nepal were the Kiratas, peoples mentioned in Hindu texts, who ruled Nepal for many centuries. Various sources mention up to 32 Kirati kings. Around 500 BCE, small kingdoms and confederations of clans arose in the southern regions of Nepal. From one of these, the Shakya polity, arose a prince who renounced his status to lead an ascetic life, founded Buddhism, came to be known as Gautama Buddha. By 250 BCE, the southern regions had come under the influence of the Maurya Empire of North India and became a vassal state under the Gupta Empire in the 4th century CE. There is a quite detailed description of the kingdom of Nepal in the account of the renowned Chinese Buddhist pilgrim monk Xuanzang, dating from about 645 CE. Stone inscriptions in the Kathmandu Valley are important sources for the history of Nepal.
The kings of the Lichhavi dynasty have been found to have r
Hindus
Hindus are persons who regard themselves as culturally, ethnically, or religiously adhering to aspects of Hinduism. The term has been used as a geographical and religious identifier for people indigenous to the Indian subcontinent; the historical meaning of the term Hindu has evolved with time. Starting with the Persian and Greek references to the land of the Indus in the 1st millennium BCE through the texts of the medieval era, the term Hindu implied a geographic, ethnic or cultural identifier for people living in the Indian subcontinent around or beyond the Sindhu river. By the 16th century, the term began to refer to residents of the subcontinent who were not Turkic or Muslims; the historical development of Hindu self-identity within the local South Asian population, in a religious or cultural sense, is unclear. Competing theories state that Hindu identity developed in the British colonial era, or that it developed post-8th century CE after the Islamic invasion and medieval Hindu-Muslim wars.
A sense of Hindu identity and the term Hindu appears in some texts dated between the 13th and 18th century in Sanskrit and regional languages. The 14th- and 18th-century Indian poets such as Vidyapati and Eknath used the phrase Hindu dharma and contrasted it with Turaka dharma; the Christian friar Sebastiao Manrique used the term'Hindu' in religious context in 1649. In the 18th century, the European merchants and colonists began to refer to the followers of Indian religions collectively as Hindus, in contrast to Mohamedans for Mughals and Arabs following Islam. By the mid-19th century, colonial orientalist texts further distinguished Hindus from Buddhists and Jains, but the colonial laws continued to consider all of them to be within the scope of the term Hindu until about mid-20th century. Scholars state that the custom of distinguishing between Hindus, Buddhists and Sikhs is a modern phenomenon. Hindoo is an archaic spelling variant. At more than 1.03 billion, Hindus are the world's third largest group after Muslims.
The vast majority of Hindus 966 million, live in India, according to India's 2011 census. After India, the next 9 countries with the largest Hindu populations are, in decreasing order: Nepal, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, United States, United Kingdom and Myanmar; these together accounted for 99% of the world's Hindu population, the remaining nations of the world together had about 6 million Hindus in 2010. The word Hindu is derived from the Indo-Aryan and Sanskrit word Sindhu, which means "a large body of water", covering "river, ocean", it was used as the name of the Indus river and referred to its tributaries. The actual term'hindu' first occurs, states Gavin Flood, as "a Persian geographical term for the people who lived beyond the river Indus", more in the 6th-century BCE inscription of Darius I; the Punjab region, called Sapta Sindhu in the Vedas, is called Hapta Hindu in Zend Avesta. The 6th-century BCE inscription of Darius I mentions the province of Hidush, referring to northwestern India; the people of India were referred to as Hinduvān and hindavī was used as the adjective for Indian in the 8th century text Chachnama.
The term'Hindu' in these ancient records is an ethno-geographical term and did not refer to a religion. The Arabic equivalent Al-Hind referred to the country of India. Among the earliest known records of'Hindu' with connotations of religion may be in the 7th-century CE Chinese text Record of the Western Regions by the Buddhist scholar Xuanzang. Xuanzang uses the transliterated term In-tu whose "connotation overflows in the religious" according to Arvind Sharma. While Xuanzang suggested that the term refers to the country named after the moon, another Buddhist scholar I-tsing contradicted the conclusion saying that In-tu was not a common name for the country. Al-Biruni's 11th-century text Tarikh Al-Hind, the texts of the Delhi Sultanate period use the term'Hindu', where it includes all non-Islamic people such as Buddhists, retains the ambiguity of being "a region or a religion". The'Hindu' community occurs as the amorphous'Other' of the Muslim community in the court chronicles, according to Romila Thapar.
Wilfred Cantwell Smith notes that'Hindu' retained its geographical reference initially:'Indian','indigenous, local', virtually'native'. The Indian groups themselves started using the term, differentiating themselves and their "traditional ways" from those of the invaders; the text Prithviraj Raso, by Chanda Baradai, about the 1192 CE defeat of Prithviraj Chauhan at the hands of Muhammad Ghori, is full of references to "Hindus" and "Turks", at one stage, says "both the religions have drawn their curved swords. In Islamic literature,'Abd al-Malik Isami's Persian work, Futuhu's-salatin, composed in the Deccan in 1350, uses the word'hindi' to mean Indian in the ethno-geographical sense and the word'hindu' to mean'Hindu' in the sense of a follower of the Hindu religion"; the poet Vidyapati's poem Kirtilata contrasts the cultures of Hindus and Turks in a city and concludes "The Hindus and the Turks live close together. One of the earliest uses of word'Hindu' in religious context in a European language, was the publication in 1649 by Sebastiao Manrique.
Other prominent mentions of'Hindu' include the epigraphical inscriptions from Andhra Pradesh kingdoms who battled military expansion of Muslim dynasties in the 14th century, where the word'Hindu' implies a religious identity in contrast to'Turks' or Islam
Standard Tibetan
Standard Tibetan is the most spoken form of the Tibetic languages. It is based on the speech of an Ü-Tsang dialect. For this reason, Standard Tibetan is called Lhasa Tibetan. Tibetan is an official language of the Tibet Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China; the written language is based on Classical Tibetan and is conservative. Like many languages, Standard Tibetan has a variety of language registers: Phal-skad: the vernacular speech. Zhe-sa: the formal spoken style prominent in Lhasa. Chos-skad: the literary style in which the scriptures and other classical works are written. Tibetan is an ergative language. Grammatical constituents broadly have head-final word order: adjectives follow nouns in Tibetan, unless the two are linked by a genitive particle objects and adverbs precede the verb, as do adjectives in copular clauses a noun marked with the genitive case precedes the noun which it modifies demonstratives and numerals follow the noun they modify Unlike many other languages of East Asia and Chinese, another Sino-Tibetan language, there are no numeral auxiliaries or measure words used in counting in Tibetan although words expressive of a collective or integral are used after the tens, sometimes after a smaller number.
In scientific and astrological works, the numerals, as in Vedic Sanskrit, are expressed by symbolical words. Tibetan is written with an Indic script, with a conservative orthography that reflects Old Tibetan phonology and helps unify the Tibetan-language area, it is helpful in reconstructing Proto Sino-Tibetan and Old Chinese. Wylie transliteration is the most common system of romanization used by Western scholars in rendering written Tibetan using the Latin alphabet. Tibetan pinyin, however, is the official romanization system employed by the government of the People's Republic of China. Certain names may retain irregular transcriptions, such as Chomolungma for Mount Everest; the following summarizes the sound system of the dialect of Tibetan spoken in Lhasa, the most influential variety of the spoken language. Tournadre and Sangda Dorje describe eight vowels in the standard language: Three additional vowels are sometimes described as distinct: or, an allophone of /a/; these sounds occur in closed syllables.
The result is that the first is pronounced as an open syllable but retains the vowel typical of a closed syllable. For instance, zhabs is pronounced and pad is pronounced, but the compound word, zhabs pad is pronounced; this process can result in minimal pairs involving sounds. Sources vary on whether the phone and the phone are distinct or identical. Phonemic vowel length exists in a restricted set of circumstances. Assimilation of Classical Tibetan's suffixes ‘i, at the end of a word produces a long vowel in Lhasa Tibetan. In normal spoken pronunciation, a lengthening of the vowel is frequently substituted for the sounds and when they occur at the end of a syllable; the vowels /i/, /y/, /e/, /ø/, /ɛ/ each have nasalized forms: /ĩ/, /ỹ/, /ẽ/, /ø̃/, /ɛ̃/ which results from /in/, /en/, etc. In some unusual cases, the vowels /a/, /u/, /o/ may be nasalised; the Lhasa dialect is described as having two tones: high and low. However, in monosyllabic words, each tone can occur with two distinct contours.
The high tone can be pronounced with either a flat or a falling contour, the low tone can be pronounced with either a flat or rising-falling contour, the latter being a tone that rises to a medium level before falling again. It is safe to distinguish only between the two tones because there are few minimal pairs that differ only because of contour; the difference occurs only in certain words ending in the sounds or. In polysyllabic words, tone is not important except in the first syllable; this means that from the point of view of phonological typology, Tibetan could more be described as a pitch-accent language than a true tone language, in which all syllables in a word can carry their own tone. The unaspirated stops /p/, /t/, /c/, /k/ become voiced in the low tone and are pronounced, respectively; the sounds are regarded as allophones. The aspirated stops, are lightly aspirated in the low tone; the dialect of the upper social strata in Lhasa does not use voiced stops in the low tone. The alveolar trill is in complementary distribution of the alveolar approximant.
The voiceless alveolar lateral approximant resembles the voiceless alveolar lateral fricative found in languages such as Welsh and Zulu and is sometimes transcribed ⟨ɬ⟩. The consonants /m/, /ŋ/, /p/, /r/, /l/, /k/ may appear in syllable-final positions; the Classical Tibetan final /n/ is still present, but its
Changu Narayan
The ancient Hindu temple of Changu Narayan Listen is located on a high hilltop, known as Changu or Dolagiri. The temple was surrounded by a small village known as Changu; the temple is located in Changunarayan VDC of Nepal. This hill is a few miles north of Bhaktapur; the Manahara River flows beside the hill. This shrine is held in special reverence by the Hindu people; this temple is considered to be the oldest temple in the history of Nepal. The Kashmiri king gave Champak, in marriage to the prince of Bhaktapur. Changu Narayan Temple is named after her. In ancient times, a Gwala, or cow herder, had brought a cow from a Brahmin named Sudarshan; the cow was known for producing large quantities of milk. The Gwala used to take the cow to Changu for grazing. At that time Changu was a forest of Champak trees. While grazing, the cow always went to the shade of a particular tree. In the evening, when the Gwala took the cow home and started milking her, he got only a small amount of milk; this continued for several days.
He grew sad, so he called on the Brahmin saying the cow was not giving enough milk. After observing this with his own eyes, Sudarshan agreed with the Gwala they should observe the cow's daytime activity while she was grazing in the forest. Brahmin and Gwala both hid behind the tree. To their surprise, a small black boy started drinking the cow milk; the two men were furious because they thought the boy must be the tree must be its home. So the Brahmin cut down the champak tree; when he was cutting it down, fresh human blood came out of the tree. Both Brahmin and Gwala began to cry. Lord Vishnu told the Brahmin and Cowherd it was not their fault. Vishnu told the story of how he had committed a heinous crime by unwittingly killing Sudarshan’s father while hunting in the forest. After that, cursed for the crime, he wandered the earth on his mount, ‘Garuda’ descending on the hill at Changu. There he lived in anonymity; when Brahmin cut down the tree, Vishnu was beheaded. After hearing these words from Vishnu and Gwala resolved to worship the place and established a small temple in the name of Lord Vishnu.
Since the site has been sacred. Today, we find Sudarshan's descendant as a priest of the temple and the Gwala's descendants as Ghutiyars. There's another legend too. About 400 years ago, a mighty warrior named anjal lived, he still lives today. He was the strongest in the entire country. Another warrior known all over Nepal named. Changu defeated him and won the hearts of Nepalese people, so as a tribute to him this temple.written by Rohit awal and urbar duwal Changu Narayan Temple is situated at the top of the hill surrounded by a forest of Champak tree. On the main way to temple courtyard, we can find a human settlement. People from Newar community live around Changu Narayan area. With the development of tourism in this place, we can find many medium and small sized hotels, souvenir shops, etc. An ancient stone tap is located on the way to Changunaran, believed to have existed since the time of Lichhavi. Changu Narayan is considered to be the oldest temple of Nepal, it remains a milestone in Nepali temple architecture with rich embossed works.
The two-storey roofed temple stands on a high plinth of stone. According to Professor Madhan Rimal, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Tribhuvan university the temple is neither in Shikhara style nor the pagoda style, it has an architectural style. Many similar features are found at Gokarna Mahadev; the temple is surrounded by arts related to Lord Vishnu. We can find the temples of Lord Shiva, Ashta Matrika, Chhinnamasta and Krishna inside the courtyard of the main temple. There are four entrances to the temple and these gates are guarded by life-size pairs of animals such as lions, sarabhas and elephants on each side of the entrances; the ten incarnations of Lord Vishnu and the other idols are carved in the struts, which support the roof. The entrance door is gilded with carvings of Nāaga. On the main entrance gate, we can find the Chakra, Sankha and Khadga all at the top of a stone pillar; these stone pillars have an inscription in Sanskrit. This inscription is considered to be the oldest inscription of Nepal and the stone inscription pillar was erected by Licchavi King Manadeva in 464 AD.
The following monument is located while visiting the temple from the right side after entering from the main entrance to the courtyard. Historical pillar erected by Mandeva in 464 AD Garuda:- flying vehicle of Lord Vishnu which has got a human face and is a devotee of Vishnu. Statue of Bhupalendra Malla, King of Kantipur and his queen BhuwanLakshmi. Chanda Narayan:- a 7th century stone sculpture of Vishnu riding on Garuda; this sculpture has been depicted in the 10 rupee paper note issued by Nepal Rastra Bank Sridhar Vishnu:- 9th century stone sculpture of Vishnu and Garuda which stands on the pedestals of various motifs. Vaikuntha Vishnu:- 16th-century sculpture of Vishnu seated on the Lalitasan position on the six armed Garuda and Laxmi seated on the lap of Vishnu Chhinnamasta:- Temple dedicated to Chhinnamasta Devi, who beheaded herself, offered her own blood to feed the hungry Dakini and Varnini. Vishworup:- 7th century stone sculpture- beautifully carved that depicts the scene from the Bhagwat Git
Inscription at Swayambhu, Kathmandu.
Inscription of Nepal Era 1021 (1901) at Dhalasikwa, Kathmandu.
Nepal Bhasa inscription dated Nepal Sambat 902 (1782) at Swayambhu.
Inscription in Nepal Bhasa at Asan dated Nepal Sambat 1044 (1924).
Inscription in Nepal script at Swayambhu, Kathmandu.
Inscription in Nepal Bhasa and Nepal script dated Nepal era 821 (1701).
Inscription at Balambu
Inscription dated 25 March 2014 at Kamalachhi
