Editing Nepal (section)

== Etymology ==
{{Main|Name of Nepal}}

Before the [[unification of Nepal]], the [[Kathmandu Valley]] was known as ''Nepal''.{{efn|The entire territory controlled by the monarch seated in Kathmandu at any given time would also be referred to as ''Nepal''. Thus, at times, only the Kathmandu valley was considered ''Nepal'' while at other times, ''Nepal'' would encompass an area comparable to and largely overlapping with the modern state of Nepal.<ref>{{Cite book |title=A history of ancient and early medieval India: from the Stone Age to the 12th century|last=Singh|first=Upinder|year=2008|location=New Delhi|publisher=Pearson Longman|isbn=9788131716779|page=477}}</ref>}} The precise origin of the term ''Nepāl'' is uncertain. ''Nepal'' appears in [[ancient Indian]] literary texts dated as far back as the fourth century AD.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Michaels |first= Axel |year= 2024 |title= Nepal: A History from the Earliest Times to the Present |location= New York, NY |publisher= [[Oxford University Press]] |isbn= 978-0-197-65093-6 }} p.&nbsp;10. The word first appears an inscription of [[Samudragupta]].</ref> An absolute chronology can not be established, as even the oldest texts may contain anonymous contributions dating as late as the [[early modern period]]. Academic attempts to provide a plausible theory are hindered by the lack of a complete picture of history and insufficient understanding of linguistics or relevant Indo-European and Tibeto-Burman languages.<ref name=Malla>{{cite conference |title=Nepāla: Archaeology of the Word|last=Malla|first=Kamal P.|author-link=Kamal P. Malla|work=The Nepal Heritage Society Souvenir for PATA Conference|pages=33–39|conference=3rd PATA International Tourism & Heritage Conservation Conference (1–4 November)|location=Kathmandu|year=1983|url=https://www.kpmalla.com/?attachment_id=285|access-date=5 May 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120322214352/https://www.kpmalla.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Nepala.pdf |archive-date=22 March 2012}}</ref>

According to [[Hindu mythology]], Nepal derives its name from an ancient Hindu sage called ''Ne'', referred to variously as ''Ne Muni'' or ''Nemi''. According to ''Pashupati Purāna'', as a place protected by ''Ne'', the country in the heart of the Himalayas came to be known as ''Nepāl''.<ref name="Shreshta">{{cite book|author=Nanda R. Shrestha| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qZapDQAAQBAJ| title=Historical Dictionary of Nepal| publisher=Rowman & Littlefield Publishers|year=1917|isbn=9781442277700|page=19}}</ref><ref name="Wright">{{cite book|author=Daniel Wright| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mHE5hkHc7kcC| title=History of Nepāl|publisher=University Press|year=1877|page=107}}</ref>{{efn|The word ''pala'' in [[Pali]] language means ''to protect''. Consequently, ''Nepala'' translates to ''protected by Ne''.}} According to ''Nepāl Mahātmya'',{{efn|''Nepalamahatmya'', of 30 chapters about the Nepal ''Tirtha'' (pilgrimage) region, is a regional text that claims to be a part of the ''[[Skanda Purana]]'', the largest ''[[Puranas#Mahapuranas|Mahāpurāṇa]]''.}} ''Nemi'' was charged with protection of the country by [[Pashupati]].<ref name=Prasad>{{Cite book |title=The Life and Times of Maharaja Juddha Shumsher Jung Bahadur Rana of Nepal|last=Prasad|first=Ishwari|year=1996|publisher=Ashish Publishing House|location=New Delhi|isbn=817024756X|via=Google Books|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yEvbH8Fv-boC}}</ref> According to [[Buddhist mythology]], [[Manjushri]] [[Bodhisattva]] drained a primordial lake of [[Nāga|serpents]] to create the Nepal valley and proclaimed that ''[[Adi-Buddha]]'' ''Ne'' would take care of the community that would settle it. As the cherished of ''Ne'', the valley would be called ''Nepāl''.<ref>{{Cite book |title=History of Nepal: As told by its own and contemporary chroniclers|last=Hasrat|first=Bikram Jit|year=1970|location=Hoshiarpur|page=7}}</ref> According to ''Gopalarājvamshāvali'', the [[genealogy]] of ancient [[Gopal Bansa|Gopala dynasty]] compiled {{circa|1380s}}, Nepal is named after ''Nepa'' the cowherd, the founder of the Nepali scion of the [[Abhira tribe|Abhiras]]. In this account, the cow that issued milk to the spot, at which ''Nepa'' discovered the ''[[Jyotirlinga]]'' of [[Pashupatinath Temple|''Pashupatināth'']] upon investigation, was also named ''Ne''.<ref name=Malla/>

The ''Ne Muni'' etymology was rightly dismissed by the early European visitors.<ref>For example, [[William Kirkpatrick (East India Company officer)|William Kirkpatrick]], who visited Nepal in 1793, for whom it was based on "fairy tales", and [[Francis Buchanan-Hamilton]], who concurred with him. {{Cite book |last= Kirkpatrick |first= Col. William |year=1811 |title= An Account of the Kingdom of Nepaul |url= https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.49850/mode/ |location= New Delhi |publisher= Manjusri Publishing House |page= 169 |postscript= none }}; {{Cite book |last= Hamilton (Buchanan) |first= Francis |year= 1819 |title= An Account of the Kingdom of Nepal |location= Edinburgh |publisher= Archibald Constable & Co. |page= 187 }}</ref> Norwegian [[Indology|indologist]] [[Christian Lassen]] proposed that ''Nepāla'' was a compound of ''Nipa'' (foot of a mountain) and ''-ala'' (short suffix for ''alaya'' meaning abode), and so ''Nepāla'' meant "abode at the foot of the mountain".<ref>{{Cite book |title=Indische Alterthumskunde|url=https://archive.org/details/indischealterth08lassgoog|trans-title=Indian Archaeology|last=Lassen|first=Christian|author-link=Christian Lassen|year=1847–1861|publisher=Bonn, H.B. Koenig; [etc., etc.] }}</ref> Indologist [[Sylvain Levi]] found Lassen's theory untenable but had no theories of his own, only suggesting that either ''[[Newar people|Newara]]'' is a [[vulgarism]] of [[sanskrit]]ic ''Nepala,'' or ''Nepala'' is [[Sanskritisation]] of the local ethnic;<ref>{{Cite book |title=Le Nepal : Etude Historique d'Un Royaume Hindou|last=Levi|first=Sylvain|author-link=Sylvain Lévi|location=Paris|publisher=Ernest Leroux|year=1905|volume=1|pages=222–223}}</ref> his view has found some support though it does not answer the question of etymology.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Majupuria |first1=Trilok Chandra |last2=Majupuria |first2=Indra |year=1979 |title=Glimpses of Nepal |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jDNuAAAAMAAJ|publisher=Maha Devi |page=8}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Turner |first=Ralph L. |url=https://dsal.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/philologic/contextualize.pl?p.1.turner.1333792 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120714053644/https://dsal.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/philologic/contextualize.pl?p.1.turner.1333792 |url-status=dead |archive-date=14 July 2012 |title=A Comparative and Etymological Dictionary of the Nepali Language |publisher=London: Routledge and Kegan Paul |year=1931 |access-date=8 May 2011}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Hodgson |first=Brian H. |url=https://archive.org/details/essaysonlanguage00hodg |title=Essays on the Languages, Literature and Religion of Nepal and Tibet |publisher=London: Trübner & Co |year=1874 |access-date=8 May 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121111204021/https://archive.org/details/essaysonlanguage00hodg |archive-date=11 November 2012 |url-status=live }} Page 51.</ref><ref name=Malla/> It has also been proposed that ''Nepa'' is a [[Tibeto-Burman languages|Tibeto-Burman]] stem consisting of ''Ne'' (cattle) and ''Pa'' (keeper), reflecting the fact that early inhabitants of the valley were ''Gopalas'' (cowherds) and ''[[Mahisapala dynasty|Mahispalas]]'' (buffalo-herds).<ref name=Malla/> [[Suniti Kumar Chatterji]] believed ''Nepal'' originated from Tibeto-Burman roots – ''Ne,'' of uncertain meaning (as multiple possibilities exist), and ''pala'' or ''bal'', whose meaning is lost entirely.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Kirata-Jana-Krti: The Indo-Mongoloids: Their Contribution to the History and Culture of India|last=Chatterji|first=Suniti Kumar|author-link=Suniti Kumar Chatterji|year=1974|location=Calcutta|publisher=The Asiatic Society|edition=2|page=64}}</ref>