Kathmandu is named after a shelter built from the wood of one tree
Around the tenth century, King Gunakama Deva had a large wooden pavilion raised from the timber of a single tree. It was called Kasthamandapa, and the city that grew around it eventually took the name Kathmandu. A few centuries later, a Nepali craftsman named Araniko would carry the pagoda style to China.
Even the country's name is contested. One theory reads it as Tibetan for house of wool, reflecting sheep-herding settlers from the north. The Newar people of the Kathmandu valley link it to a word for the middle country, while Hindu tradition credits a sage called Ne. A Buddhist legend combines the ideas: the deity Manjushri drained a lake that filled the valley, and the sage Ne looked after the land that emerged, pala meaning protector.
Written records begin only in the fifth century AD, and early history is thin. The Kirat people appear as the first documented rulers. Nepal's most famous son came from the Shakya clan, whose republic had its capital at Kapilavastu, possibly present-day Tilaurakot: Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha, son of its elected leader Śuddhodana. The Mauryan emperor Ashoka later raised pillars and stupas in the region, including an inscribed pillar at Lumbini, and is credited with founding the city of Lalitapatan in 249 BCE. Samudragupta's inscription lists Nepal among frontier kingdoms paying him tribute.
Lichhavi kings from Vaishali followed the Kirats in the valley, and when their line ended, Raghava Deva launched the Nepal Era, starting on 20 October 879 CE. Kantipur was founded by Gunakama Deva, king from 949 to 994, who also began the Indra Jatra festival; a later king introduced worship of the Kumari, young girls revered as living goddesses. Shivadeva III covered the Pashupatinath temple roof in gold.
Under the later Malla kings, beginning with Jayasthiti Malla in the late 14th century, the valley flourished; its monuments now on the UNESCO World Heritage list date from that era. In about 1484 the valley split into rival kingdoms, including Kathmandu, Bhaktapur and Patan, whose feuding weakened them until Prithvi Narayan Shah of Gorkha conquered them. The modern kingdom he began in 1768 lasted until parliament voted to end the monarchy, and Nepal became a federal republic in 2008.
Source: History of Nepal
