It is not surprising that the Newar people were influenced by Tibet and India. What is surprising is their creativity response to this stimulus, which actually led to a genuine exchange with their giant neighbors. Mediaeval Near society has left a religious architectural and artistic legacy that is unique, and spectacular by any standard.
Today there are around 600,000 Newars largely centered in the Kathmandu Valley. Always traders and merchants, the Newars continue to fill this role throughout the kingdom. Their proximity to the center of power has also led to them having a disproportionate influence in the bureaucracies of Kathmandu. many now live in heartbreakingly ugly bungalows on the outskirts of the city proper, and many of their traditions are on the wane.
Comments
Newar is part of Kirat family that includes rai-limbu-yakkha-sunuwar-dhimal-jirel-tharu etc.
Take no offense but after looking at the behavior, culture
and appearance, it appears that Jyapus are more closer to Rais and Limbus than any other Newar clans.
"Some of the Newar Jaats of Kathmandu, particularly the
Prajapatis(Kumv ahkaraKumharaKu mhale), Maharjans, Dongols, Nayos, Tepehoys, etc., are said to be descendants of the Kiratas". ~Prof. Sudarshan Raj
Tiwari
Slusser has simply summed up Newar origin. "On the basis of varied evidence—litera ry, historical, anthropological , linguistic, and that of tradition—we may then speculate that the Kirata, metamorphosed by millennia of miscegenation and acculturation, form the matrix of the Kathmandu Valley population, which in contemporary Nepal is designated Newar" (SLUSSER:11). ~ The Roots of Tantra Edited by Katherine Anne Harper & Robert L. Brown
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