Saturday, November 26, 2011

Kirtipur


Kirtipur

Kirtipur is an ancient city in Nepal. It is located in Kathmandu District of Bagmati Zone 5 km south-west of the Kathmandu. It is one of the five municipalities of the Kathmandu Valley.


Etymology

The name Kirtipur comes from Kirti (Glory) and pur (city). It is also said that once a queen named 'Kirti' ruled over this place so, it might have been named after same queen since 'pur' means city, and it states Kirtipur means city of 'Kirti'.


Demographics

Originally a Newari foundation, Kirtipur is still a centre of Newari culture. It has been merged with surrounding villages to form the municipality of Kirtipur with a population of around 50,000. But now, people of many cast and religion stay in this place. So it consists of many temples, Gumbas and Churches too. But there is no any clash between people in name of caste and religion.

History

In 1826 B.S. (Bikram Sambat) it was annexed to the Gorkhali kingdom of Nepal by King Prithvi Narayan Shah on his third attempt, after bribing the doorman of the city. After he did this, to spite the city of Kirtipur, he cut off the noses of all the men in the city.
This was the site of an inspirational peaceful demonstration of the people in the 2006 mass uprising that overthrew the powers of the king. It is considered to be an anti-monarchy city due to its bitter history against the Shah dynasty whose modern founder conquered the city insultingly, which was followed by negligence of the administration and development by subsequent rulers

References

Gopal Singh Nepal. The newars: An Ethno-Sociological Study of a Himalayan Community. Himalayan Book Sellers. ISBN.

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