Monday, August 5, 2013

The Kiratis





 Mongoloid people arrived from the east around the 7th or 8th century BC are the first known rulers of the Kathmandu Valley. King Yalambar (the first of their 29 kings) is mentioned in the Mahabharata, the Hindu epic, but little more information is given about them.

Prince Siddhartha Gautama was born into the Shakya royal family of Kapilavastu, near Lumbini in the 6th century BC,later embarking on a path of meditation and thought that led him to enlightenment as the Buddha. The religion that grew up around him continues to shape the face of Asia. He is known as light of Asia.

Around the 2nd century BC, the great Indian Buddhist emperor Ashoka  visited Lumbini and erected a pillar at the birthplace of the Buddha. Popular legend recounts how he then visited the Kathmandu Valley and erected four pagoda around Patan, but there is no evidence that he actually made it there in person. In either event, his Mauryan empire (321-184 BC) played a major role in popularising. Buddhism in the region, a role continued by the north Indian Buddhist Kushan empire (1st to 3rd centuries).

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