Nepal is a cultural mosaic state comprising different caste and ethnic groups belonging to mainly the
Tibeto-Burman and Indo-Aryan linguistic families, which is indicative
of the waves of migrations that have occurred for over 2000 years from
the north and south, respectively. The Tibeto-Burman or Mongoloid group
having arrived from the north and east and by Indo-Aryan(Caucasoid)
group that migrated from the
south and west. It has been said that Nepal

is a nation forged in migration (Gellner, 2007).

Nepal history timeline will shows that Nepal was never a Hindu nation.
2000 BCE: Kiratas was living at Indus-Saraswoti region. (Prof. Sudarshan Raj Tiwari, 2002)
To be more exact, Kirat ancestral homeland was in Sapta Sindhu (present day Jammu Kashmir and Himachal in northwest India), which was called Indus-Saraswoti Region over 5000 years ago.

The Battle of the Ten Kings (dasarajna) for territory and ideology took place. It is mentioned in
the Rigveda. The 7th Mandala of the Rigveda contains references to the
Battle of the Ten Kings (notably hymns 18 and 83), where king Suda
defeated a confederation of hostile Aryan and Dasyu tribes.
The Aryan called the aboriginal people of ancient India as "Dasyu" and to those who fought the Aryan as "Asura" and "Mlceeha" Upon translation, Dasyu is "dark-skinned" people, while Asura literally
mean demons or sinful person and Mlceeha means barbarians, foreigner.

Shiva Raj Shrestha wrote, "The famous war between Kirat emperor Sambara and king Divo-das
of Sindhu-Saraswoti Region is described even in Rigveda. Lord Indra is
highly praised in the Rig-Veda for helping King Divo-dasa in this
famous war. Sage Bharadwaja was Divo-dasa's royal priest. He had ordered the King, to eliminate
Kiratas and keep fighting till the time not a single Kirata is in
existence in the northern frontier of Sapta Sindhu (Jammu Kashmir and
Himanchal of present day). This is how the Aryans of Early Rig-Vedic
times kept on moving towards the east, fighting both with
Kiratas(Mongoloid race) as well as Nishadhas(Indo-Australoid race)".

After the first Great War, Kiratas long painful march to the east of
Himalayasand arrived in present day Northeast India (Assam &
Sikkim) around 1100BCE- 1000BCE where already other Mongoloid people
were living.

700 BCE: Some Kirat arrived at Kathmandu valley (present day Nepal) and open upa human civilization. Yalambar became the first king of Kirat dynasty in Nepal. In the Mahabharata epic, there is a historical reference on Yalambar in thechapter of
Prashtuti where the preparation of war is described before the
Kurushkhetra war. The Kurushkhetra war is seen as the second Great War
where the indigenous people of ancient India fought vedic Aryan
conquest and dominance of their land and culture. Yalambar is said to
be killed by Krishna but stop the invasion of Aryan into Himalayas for
awhile.

563 BCE: Prince Siddhartha Gautama (Lord Buddha)
was born in Lumbini, southNepal. He was born into King Suddhodana
Gautama and his queen Mayadevi, rulersof the Shakya tribe of Kapilavastu region near Lumbini. He came to Kathmandu valley with his several disciples during the rule of the 7th Kirati ruler, King
Jitedasti. Please note Shakya is Mongoloid in race.

239 BCE: During the 14th Kirati King Sthunko, the Indian Emperor Ashoka
visited Kathmandu Valley with his daughter, princess Charumati. During
his stay in the valley, he had four stupas built in four directions and
one in the centre of Patan. The stupa still stands in the Patan outside
Lagankhel market today.

6th BCE: During the rule of 15th Kirat King Jinghri, another religious doctrineJainism was being preached by Mahavira in India. In this regard, Acharya Bhadrabahu, a disciple of Mahavira came to Nepal. But comparatively, Jainism could not gain popularity like Buddhism in Nepal.

4th BCE: The term "Nepal" first starts to appear in 'Atharva Parishista'.
All along before 4th BCE, the Himalayas region from Himachal Pradesh (northwest India) Nepal central) to Tripura (northeast India) and all the way to Chittagong (Bangladesh) in the
south was referred as "Kiratdesh"or Land of Kiratas. When it means
"Kiratdesh", it simply means Mongol country or land of
Mongol. The "Kirata" is a term broadly used by Vedic Aryans for theMongoloid race.

In support, Neolithic tools found in the Kathmandu Valley and around
other regions like Dang and Sikkim proved that Tibeto-Burman ethnicity
have been living in the Himalayan region including Nepal for at least
10,000 years. This is quite a findings released by the Journals of the
Department of Archaeology
of Nepal, published 2003.

In Nepal history class, we are taught that the term Nepal originated
from Hindu sage named "Ne" established himself at the valley of Kathmandu during prehistoric times and that the word "Nepal" came into existence
as the place protected ("pala" in Sanskrit) by the sage "Ne". The
etymology of the name Nepal means, "the country looked after by Ne".
But in fact, Suniti Kumar Chatterji, the Chairman of the Asiatic
Society and a professor at the Calcutta University in India, has verified this
historical fact that the term Nepal is derived from the Tibetan
language Nebal meaning "a house of wool". This is one of the many
fictitious myths that are taught in Nepal's school away from telling
the truth but to misguide the
Nepalese that Nepal was a Hindu nation founded by Hindu sages.

300AD: Invasion by Aryan Licchavis from northern India into Nepal begins.
The 28th Kirati King Paruka was at the throne when the Sombanshi ruler
attacked his regime many times from the west. Although he successfully
repelled their attacks, he was forced to move to
Shankhamul from Gokarna. He had built a royal palace called "Patuka"
when he shifted to Shankhamul. Today this royal palace "Patuka" is no
more to be seen now except its ruins in the form of mound. But Patuka
had changed Shankhamul into a beautiful town.

330AD: The last King of the Kirat dynasty was Gasti.
He was a weak ruler and was overthrown by the Licchavis. It brought to
the end of the powerful Kirat dynasty that had lasted for about 1225
years.

After the Licchavis defeated the Kirat, they brought Hinduism with them. The Licchavis also built many Hindu temples in the Kathmandu valley. The original Kirat temples Bal Kumari mandir
of Chyagal, Patan and the Pasupatinath Temple were converted into
Hindutemples. (Temples of the Nepal Valley, 2009)

The Kirati people were then, as many Kirati jaats(clan) such as Rai,
Limbu, Gurung, Magar, Chhantyal, Dhimal and other indigenous Nepalese
still are today, animists: worshipers of nature and ancestors’ spirits
- believers in shamanism and magic.

After the defeat some Kirat again march in search for new settlements.
Others stay back to form the matrix of Kathmandu valley race vis a vis
Newars.  Keith Dowman in his work (Power Places of Kathmandu) wrote
"With the establishment of a stable Licchavi dynasty, the Kathmandu
Valley entered the mainstream of classical Indian culture with a
sophisticated urban society. The Brahmin priests who accompanied the
Licchavis accelerated the process of "sanskritization", which brought
the mongoloid people into the Indian
fold." While many Kiratas left the Kathmandu valley after the defeat,
those who remained or were left behind form the matrix of valley race.
Hence through the sanskritization, the indigenous mongoloid people that
were most influenced by Hinduism were the Kiratas who remained in the
valley, forming a
new race, "Newar". The defeated Kiratas arrived in the eastern and western hills of Nepal.

G.P Singh had already identified the Newaris, Gurungs, Magars and
Lepchas as Kiratas. He even stated that the Thadus or Tharus occupying
the Tarai region from Nepal and eastern Rohilkhanda along the frontiers
of Oudh to Gorakhpur are supposed to be identical with the Kiratas.(The
Kiratas in Ancient India, 1990)
Dor Bahadur Bista through linguistic had identified that Kiratas are
all the Indo-Mongoloid group. He wrote that the Kirat descendants
include all Indo-Mongolian people speaking various Tibeto-Burmese
dialects as their mother tongue, the principal of which are the Rai,
Limbu, Yakkha, Sunuwar, Jirel, Hayu, Gurung,
Magar, Tamang, Thami and Chepang in the hills, and the Tharu, Danuwar,
Bote Majhi, Dhimal, Meche, Koche in the plains. He also cited that the
earliest Newar of Kathmandu are also thought to belong to this
group.(Fatalism and Development, 1991)
This was reported in early 90's but then the government of Nepal turned a deaf ear regarding the findings of Bista and Singh.

The two long painful march in search of new land shows that Kirat
people are resilient and independent. Kiratis did not like living under
the invaders and instead move on.Finally the destruction of Nepali
society and bringing Nepalese into caste system became more integrated when the Indian Brahmin
(Sankaracharya) from south India was appointed the head priest of Pashupathinath temple in 14th century
by the Malla King. The Indian Brahmin priest was also responsible for
claiming Nepal to be Hindu nation though Nepalese have their own way of
life and culture.

In 17th century, a Hindu King Prithvi Narayan Shah founded modern Nepal. To rule the diverse indigenous Nepalese who were
never Hindus, P.N Shah formulated a story with the help of a
Sankaracharya Brahmin that the Nepal Hindu king was an incarnation of Lord Vishnu, a Hindu God. This work for almost 200
years
as the majority of Nepalese were simple and illiterate they took it as
the truth. This is how the Shah-Rana Kings together with Brahmins has
been ruling Nepal. Therefore it is one wise decision by new Nepali
government to kick Indian priests out from the Pashupathinath temple.

But for over 200+ years, though Kirat history so rich and colorful was hidden from the Nepalese and to
the world. This was partly because the previous Hindu Shah and Rana
rulers did not respect the Kirat's culture and history. Kirat's history
was never taught in Nepal school fully. Though the Nepali history class
mentioned about Kirat, the book always stops it by saying "Not much is
known about them" and
goes on to Licchavis era, Thakuri era, Malla era and finally Shah and
Rana era. Licchavis, Thakuri, Malla, Shah and Rana history are
mentioned the most in Nepal's history class because these are all
Hindus. But the mostly Shah and Rana gets all the credits for nations
building and even a museum is built in honor to all the Shah and Rana
rulers when the fact was that it was during the 240 years of Shah and
Rana period, Nepal as a nation went downhill. Caste system flourished as Nepal was declared a Hindu nation by the Shah rulers. As
for the indigenous communities of Nepal who are not even Hindus, they
were discriminated in every field especially in running of Nepal. Nepal
became one of the poorest nations and the state it is right now is
largely accredited to the Hindu Shah and Rana government who
discriminated the indigenous
communities. The Shah and Rana rulers made Nepal as a tool for making
money for them but not for the nation. But this is another side of the
story.

Therefore all the Nepalese should realize this that Nepal was never a
Hindu nation nor do Nepalese accept caste, dowry and other system
formulated by the Hindu Kings and Brahmins for benefits
of few over others.  All the Nepalese should accept that King Yalambar
was indeed our first true King who started the human civilization in
the Kathmandu valley over 5000+ years ago. King Yalambar is probably
the best Nepali icon beside Mt. Everest and Lord Buddha which the world knows about.  It's just so sad because kingYalambar was
secretly kept aside from history of present Nepal until today hence
majority of Nepalese do not have any idea about Nepal first king. I
understood that Nepalese in United Kingdom
and Hong Kong observed and celebrated “Yalambar Day” last year. We as Nepalese especially
in Nepal should observe Yalambar Day too and celebrate this into a great festival in coming years.

source:
Temples of the Nepal valley By Sudarshan Raj Tiwari, 2009
Fragile Mountains By MK Limbu, 2005
Namah Shivaya Shantaya By Shrii Shrii Anandamurti, 2005
The brick and the bull: an account of Handigaun, the ancient
capital of Nepal By Sudarshan Raj Tiwari, 2002
The ancient settlements of the Kathmandu Valley By Sudarshan Raj Tiwari, 2001
A Cultural History of the North-East India: [The Kiratas (Bodo etc.) By B.
Chakravarti, 2000
In The Kingdom Of The Gods By Desmond Doig, 1999
Politics of Culture: A Study of Three Kirata Communities in the Eastern
Himalayas By Tanka Bahadur Subba, 1999
Ancient communities of the Himalaya By Dinesh Prasad Saklani, 1998
Nepali Rajniti ma Adhekhai Sachai (Hidden facts in Nepalese Politics) By Gopal
Gurung, 1994
Social history of Nepal By Tulasi Rama Vaidya, Triratna Manandhara, Shankar Lal
Joshi, 1993
The Kiratas in Ancient India By G.P Singh, 1990
Kirata-jana-krti (The Indo-Mongoloids-The Contribution To The History And
Culture Of India)
By Suniti Kumar Chatterji, 1974
History of Nepal By Shew Shunker Singh, Gunanand and Daniel Wright, 1966

The Vedic-Aryan Entry Into Contemporary Nepal
[A Pre-Historical Analysis Based on the
Study Of Puranas] By Shiva Raj Shrestha "Malla"

with support from the "ANCIENT NEPAL"
Journal of the Department of Archaeology, (Number 147, June 2001)
here's the link:
http://himalaya.socanth.cam.ac.uk/collections/journals/ancientnepal/pdf/ancient_nepal_147_full.pdf

and in the articles "A victim of the Mahabharata" of NepaliTimes,
ISSUE #29 (09 FEB 2001 - 15 FEB 2001)

http://www.ayo-gorkhali.org/