Nepal

Kingdom of Nepal
नेपालको महाराजहामी
Nēpālakō mahārājahāmī

state flag roundel
Cities
Capital	Kathmandu
Coordinates	latitude: 27° 42' 0" N longitude: 85° 20' 0" E
Government	constitutional monarchy
Legislature
Upper House	Senate Maha Sabha
Lower House	House of Representatives Pratinidhi Sabha
Head of State	Her Royal Majesty Maharani Shruti (2001)
Head of Government	Mr. Ram Baran Yadav
Demonym	Nepali
Formation
Foundation	c. 800 BCE
Documented History	c. 500
The Shah Dynasty	c. 1769
Constitution	1959.
League of Nations	1962
Himalayan Confederacy	1975
Himalayan Postal Union	1978
Area	147,181 km² 56,827 mi²
Population	29,300,000
Ethnicities	Nepalese (Gurkha) 42% Tibetan (Bhotia, Sherpa, Thakali) 24% Old Nepalese (Newar, Limbu) 18% numerous indigenous peoples 16%
Languages
Official	Nepali 52%
Other	Kumaoni 5% Garhwali 4% numerous indigenous 5%
Religions
Official	Shaivism 81%
Other	Newar Buddhism 11% Mundhum 4% Yuma Samyo 1%
Currency	1 Himalayan Rupee (Rs) = 20 annas (a) = 240 paise (p)
Time zone	UTC +6 DST not observed
ISO Code	NEP
International Registration Number	NEP
Telephone Code	445
Radio prefix	NEP nn
Organizations	League of Nations Himalayan Confederacy
Sports
Official	soccer
Other	cross-country skiing archery

History

The Shah Maharajas of Nepal

Name	Succeeds	Born	Reign	Died	Notes
1) Prithvi Narayan		1/17/1723	1768-1775	1775	united Nepal
2) Pratap Singh	father	4/16/11751	1775-1777	1777
3) Rana Bahadur	father	5/25/1775	1777-1799	1805	succeeded at age of 2; mother and uncle as regents; extended kingdom to Garhwal and Kumaon (*here's* Uttarakhand); abdicated; murdered by stepbrother Sher Bahadur
4) Girvan Yuddha Bikram	father	10/19/1797	1799-1816	1816	grandmother and uncle as regents
5) Rajendra	father	12/3/1813	1816-1847	1881	succeeded at age 3; queen mother as regent; abdicated
6) Surendra Bikram	father	10/20/1829	1847-1881	1881
7) Prithvi Bir Bikram	grandfather	8/18/1875	1881-1911	1911	installed nation's water and sanitation systems; names daughter crown princess until brother born
8) Tribhuvan Bir Bikram	father	6/23/1903	1911-50, 1951-1955	1955	succeeded at age 5; mother as regent; exiled ended reign of Ranas as prime ministers on 6/28/1920, the regent signs the edict forbidding sati
9) Mahendra Bir Birkram	father	6/11/1920	1955-1972	1972	constructs Mahendra Highway across entire Terai
10) Birendra Bir Bikram	father	12/29/1944	1972-2001	2001	murdered by crown prince in family massacre on June 1
11) Shruti	father	10/15/1976	2001		married Gorakh Shamsher Jang Bahadur Rana on 5/7/1997 POD: survives massacre; hospitalized for two months daughters Yuvarajadhiraj Girvani Rajya Laxmi (born on 1/22/1998) and Girvani Rajya Laxmi (born on 1/22/1998).

Toponymy

• Scholars believe that the word Nepal is derived from the word "Nepa", which refers to the Newar Kingdom, the present day Kathmandu Valley. With Sanskritization, the Newar word Nepa became Nepal.

Government

Law of Royal Succession

• Article I – Membership in the Royal House
  • §1. Membership in the Royal House is determined by the reigning Maharaja.
  • §2. All legitimate descendants of a reigning Maharaja are members of the Royal House.
  • §3. Any children adopted by a member of the Royal House are members of the Royal House (but see Article II,3).
  • §4. Children must not have reached the age of eighteen to be adopted by a member of the Royal House.

• Article II – Succession to the Throne
  • §1. Succession to the Throne, whether by death or by abdication, takes place in the direct descent of undifferenced legitimate primogeniture from the reigning Maharaja.
  • §2. In default of direct and legitimate descent, the succession will pass to the eldest legitimate sibling of the reigning Maharaja and his or her direct and legitimate descendants.
  • §3. Adopted children are not in the line of succession.
  • §4. The child of a woman pregnant at the moment of the death or abdication of the reigning Maharaja shall be deemed already born. If it is stillborn it shall be deemed to have never existed.
  • §5. Children born after an abdication and their descendants shall be excluded from the hereditary succession.
  • §6. If the heir referred to in §2 has died or has renounced his or her right to the throne, then the succession will pass to his or her direct and legitimate descendants.
  • §7. If succession to the Throne can not be realized by means of the previous Articles, then recourse will be had to the most recent collateral line of the most previous reigning Maharaja.
  • §8. Succession may only pass to one who was a citizen of the Maharajadom at the time of the death or abdication of the reigning Maharaja.
  • §9. A successor to the Throne may be appointed by the Rashtriya Sabha, §8 notwithstanding, if it appears that there will otherwise be no successor.

• Article III – Regency
  • §1. In the case of a vacancy to the throne, or in the case of the minority of the Prince Hereditary, a regency will be established by the Rashtriya Sabha which will rule in place of the Prince Hereditary until his or her majority.
  • §2. The regency can be exercised only by one who is a citizen of the Duchy.
  • §3. The regency may be conferred on only one person.
  • §4. The Royal prerogative shall be exercised by a Regent:
    • a. until the Prince Hereditary has attained the age of eighteen;
    • b. if the title to the Throne is vested in an unborn child;
    • c. if it has been resolved that the reigning Maharaja is unable to exercise the Royal prerogative;
    • d. if the reigning Maharaja has temporarily relinquished the exercise of the Royal prerogative;
    • e. in the absence of a successor following the death or abdication of the reigning Maharaja.
  • §5. In case of incapacity, the reigning Maharaja can, by a sovereign ordinance, delegate the exercise of his powers to the Prince Hereditary if he is of age or, lacking one, to the closest heir of age in the succession order.
  • §6. In the absence of such a delegation, the inability of the reigning Maharaja to exercise his powers is established by His Serenity’s Privy Council in consultation with the Rashtriya Sabha.
  • §7. The regency is then exercised by the Prince Hereditary if he is of age, or lacking one, by the spouse of the incapacitated Maharaja who has guardianship of the minor Prince Hereditary, or lacking one, by the heir of age closest to the reigning Maharaja in the succession order.
  • §8. If the regency cannot be exercised by a member of the Royal Family according to §5, or in case of inability of the Regent to exercise this function, it is exercised by the Regency Council which shall consist of the ???.
  • §9. All acts of the Regency are made in the name of the incapacitated Maharaja or minor Prince.

• Article IV – Marriage in the Royal House
  • §1. The consent of the reigning Maharaja, or of the Regent, is required for any member of the Royal House to marry.
  • §2. Marriage by any member of the Royal House without the consent of the reigning Maharaja removes that member, and that member only, from the line of succession.
  • §3. The consent, approval, or advise of the Sabha is in no way required for the marriage of the reigning Maharaja or any member of the Royal House.
  • §4. By marrying without the approval of the reigning Maharaja, the member’s Nepali title is forfeited. However, in case of annulment of the marriage and in the absence of any issue from it, the heir who had contracted that marriage shall recover his right to the Throne if no succession took place in the meantime.

• Article V – Abdication
  • §1. Abdication takes the form of a sovereign ordinance by which the reigning Maharaja transmits the sovereign powers to the Prince Hereditary.
  • §2. A renunciation of the Prince Hereditary to his rights to the Throne takes the form of a written declaration handed to the reigning Maharaja who immediately acknowledges it by a sovereign ordinance.
  • §3. A renunciation is definitive and irrevocable.
  • §4. The renunciation to his rights to the Throne of the Prince Hereditary shall not be applicable to any of his children living at the time of the abdication.

Provinces

Province anchal	Capital	Area	Population	Prefecture jilla	Notes
Dhankuta (D)	Dhankuta	20,960 km² 8,0930 mi²	4,021,000	Sagarnatha (Rajliraj) (DS) Koshi (Biratnagar) (DB)
Kathmandu (K)	Kathmandu	27,410 km² 10,583 mi²	8,022,000	Bagmati (Kathmandu) (KB) Narayani (Birgunj) (KN) Janakpur (Janakpur) (KJ)
Pokhara (P)	Pokhara	23,579 km² 9,104 mi²	4,331,000	Dhawalagiri (Baglung) (PD) Gandaki (Pokhara)(PG) Lumbini (Butwal) (PL)
Birendranagar (B)	Birendranagar	21,944 km² 8,473 mi²	1,162,000	Karnali (Jumla) (BK) Bheri (Nepalgunj) (BB) Rapti (Tulsipur) (BR)
Dipayal (Y)	Dipayal	18,755 km² 7,241 mi²	2,187,000	Mahakali (Mahendranagar) (YM) Setei (Dipayal-Silgadhi) (YS)
Garhwal (G)	Pauri	32,769 km² 12,652 mi²	4,087,000	Chamoli (Chamoli) (GC) Rudraprayag (Rudraprayag) (GR) Pauri (Pauri) (GP) Uttarkashi (Uttarkashi) (GU) Tehri Garhwal (Tehri)(GT) Dehadrun (Dehardrun) (GD) Hardwar (Hardwar) (GH)
Kumaon (M)	Nainital	21,056 km² 8,130 mi²	3,494,000	Pithoragarh (Pithoragarh) (MP Bageshwar (Bageshwar) (MB) Almora (Almmora) (MA) Champawat (Champawat) (MC) Nainital (Nainital) (KN)

Thus, the total area of the maharajadom is 166,473 km² (64,276 mi²), slightly smaller than *here's* Uruguay and slightly smaller than *here's* American state of Wisconsin.

Borders

• Nepal is bordered on the
  • North by Tibet, Lo
  • East by Sikkim
  • South by Bengal, Awadh
    • Southwest by Samraj
  • West by Samraj
  • Northwest by Jammu

• The Kingdom of Nepal is contiguous with *here's* Republic of Nepal (minus the Mechi zone and the districts of Dolpa, Mustang, and Manang which constitute the Rajadom of Lo) and the Indian state of Uttarakhand.

Physical Description

Geography

• For a small territory, the Nepali landscape is uncommonly diverse, ranging from the humid Terai in the south to the lofty Himalayas in the north. Eight of the world's ten highest mountains are in Nepal.
  • Chomolangma (Saint Mother) (Everest) (8,848 m)
  • K2 (8,611 m)
  • Kangchenjunga (8,586 m)
  • Lhotse (8,511 m)
  • Makalu (8,463 m)
  • Cho Oyu (Turquoise Goddess) (8,201 m)
  • Dhaulagiri (White Mountain) (8,167 m)
  • Manaslu (Mountain of the Spirit) (8,163 m)
  • Nanga Parbat (8,125 m)
  • Annapurna (Full of Food) (8,091 m)
• Nepal lies in the Eastern Himalayan alpine shrub and meadows, an area of 121,300 square kilometres (46,800 sq mi), extending along the north and south faces of the Himalaya Range from the Kali Gandaki Gorge in Lo eastwards through Tibet, Sikkim, Bhutan, and on into India's Arunachal Pradesh state, and northernmost Myanmar.
• The alpine shrub and meadows lie between approximately 4,000 and 5,500 metres (13,000 and 18,000 ft) elevation. Permanent ice and snow lie above 5,500 metres (18,000 ft). The Eastern Himalayan subalpine conifer forests lie below 3,000 metres (9,800 ft) along the southern slopes of the range, from Lo to Bhutan.

Economy

• The chief occupations, which employ more than 60% of the workforce, are small-scale subsistence farming (rice, corn, root crops, citrus fruit, barley, wheat, potatoes) and the raising of yaks, cattle, sheep, pigs, and tanguns, a sturdy breed of pony valued in mountain transportation.
• Wood and leather products, processed foods, alcoholic beverages, calcium carbide, textiles, and handicrafts are also important.
• Fuels, grain, machinery, vehicles, and fabrics are the major imports.
• Cardamom and other spices, gypsum, timber, handicrafts, fruit, and precious stones are the primary exports.
• Hydroelectric power is a most important resource, with some electricity being exported to India.
• Tourism is a significant though restricted activity, and it is the country's largest source of foreign exchange.

Culture

National symbols

• National mammal: cow
• National bird: Himalayan monal (danfe) (Lophophorus impejans)
• National fish: golden mahseer (sahar) (Tor putatoria)
• National reptile: gharial (Gavialis gangeticus)
• National flower: rhododendron (Rhododendron arboreum)
• National dish: Dal Bhat
• National emblem: Gules, in chief a stylized crescent moon with eight rays visible out of sixteen and in base a stylized twelve-rayed sun white bearing human faces, a bordure azure.
  • For a crest, standing on a snow-capped mountain a monal proper.
  • For supporters, standing on a grassy compartment on the dexter a zebu bull and on the sinister a zebu cow rampant proper, charged on their shoulders with a dharma wheel or.
  • All in front of a rhodedendron tree proper.
• National dress: daura suruwal for men; sari for women
• National anthem:

Shri man gumbhira

Shri man gumbhira nepali prachanda pratapi bhupati

Shri pach sarkar maharajadhiraja ko sada rahos unnati

Rakhun chi rayu eeshale praja phailiyos pukaraun jaya premale

Hami nepali bhaeesarale.

May glory crown you

May glory crown you, illustrious Sovereign,

You, the gallant Nepalese,

Shri Pansh Maharajadhiraja, our glorious ruler,

May he live for many years to come

And may the number of his subjects increase.

Let every Nepalese sing this with joy.

• National sport: kapardi
• National dance: mahakali, lakhev
• National instrument: sarangi
• National colors: red and blue

Nepali public holidays

Date	Name	Notes
24 January 2015	Saraswati Puja	Celebration in honor of Saraswati
17 February	The Bada Maharaja's Birthday	Fathers' Day - Her Majesty's husband was born in 1969
6 March 2015	Holi	A spring festival celebrating Vishnu's defeat of Hinanyakashipu
20 March 2015	Vasant Navratri	Festival worshiping Shakti
21 April 2015	Naya Varsha	Nepali New Year
1 June	Memorial for Victims	Anniversary of the Royal Massacre in 2001
1 July	The Maharani's Coronation	Her Majesty was crowned in 2001
5 September 2015	Krishna Janmashtami	Krishna's birthday
2nd Monday in September	Election Day	In the even-numbered years; local and federal alternating, e.g., local in 2010, federal in 2012.
13-27 October 2015	Dashain	Victory of the goddess Durga - a 15-day holiday of which the first and last days are legal holidays
16 October	The Queen's Birthday	Mothers' Day - Her Majesty was born in 1976
11 November 2015	Divali	Commemoration of the return of Rama from his exile and his vanquishing Ravana
9 November	Constitution Day	The constitution was approved by King Birendra in 1990
21 December	Independence Day	The nation was founded in 1768

Infrastructure

• There is less than one telephone per 19 people. Landline telephone services are not adequate nationwide but are concentrated in cities and district headquarters. Mobile telephony is in a reasonable state in most parts of the country with increased accessibility and affordability. There were around 175,000 internet connections in 2005.

Transportation

Road Travel

• Internally, the poor state of development of the road system makes volume distribution unrealistic. Landlocked, rugged geography, few tangible natural resources and poor infrastructure are all factors in stunting the economic growth.
• The hilly and mountainous terrain in the northern two-thirds of the country has made the building of roads and other infrastructure difficult and expensive. There are just over 8,500 km. (5,282 mi.) of paved two-lane roads.

License Plates

• Vehicle registration plates are issued by the provincial governments.
• The vehicle registration plates of the Maharajadom of Nepal are composed of three Latin letters and four digits embossed in red on a blue background. They measure six inches by twelve inches.
• नेपाल is printed along the top of the plate, Nepal along the bottom.
• There is a three-letter prefix. The first two letters represent the prefecture where the vehicle is garaged.
• The second letter designates the vehicle's use.

J (nijī) – privately owned

S (sarakāra) – government owned

K (kampanī) – company owned, including taxi cabs.

P (pulisa) – police

N (sēnā) – military

• The plates shall be issued in sequential order from 0001 to 9999. When 9999 is reached, an alphanumeric designation shall be used: A001 to A999, B001 to B999, etc.
• A blue sticker with red digits gives the expiration date of the plate, the number of the month in the lower left corner, the year in the lower right corner.
• License plates for vehicles belonging to the diplomatic corps shall use three letters and three digits. The letters are those of the nations' three-letter country code. The numbers shall run from 001 to 999. Cars bearing these plates have diplomatic immunity.
• These plates are to be placed on both the front and the back of the vehicle, with the exception of bicycles, motorcycles, and animal-drawn conveyances.
• If the vehicle is sold, inherited or totally destroyed, the plates are returned to the Motar Vaahan Vibhaag (Department of Motor Vehicles). A new owner must re-register the vehicle.

Air Travel

• Nepal remains isolated from the world's major air routes although, within the country, aviation is in a better state, with aerodromes in the major cities and towns.

Rail Travel

• The Trans-Confederacy rail line links Kathmandu with Jammu City to the west and Darjeeling to the east.