Nepali Language | Britannica

History

Patterns of phonological change suggest that Nepali is related to the languages of northwestern India, and particularly to Sindhi, Lahnda, and Punjabi. Comparative reconstructions of vocabulary have supported this appraisal, relating Nepali to proto-Dardic, Pahari, Sindhi, Lahnda, and Punjabi.

Investigations of archaeology and history indicate that modern Nepali is a descendant of the language spoken by the ancient Khasha people. The word Khasha appears in Sanskrit legal, historical, and literary texts such as the Manu-smriti (c. 100 ce), Kalhana’s Rajatarangini (1148 ce), and the Puranas (350–1500 ce). The Khashas ruled over a vast territory comprising what are now western Nepal, parts of Garhwal and Kumaon (India), and parts of southwestern Tibet. Ashoka Challa (1255–78 ce) called himself khasha-rajadhiraja (“emperor of the Khashas”) in a copperplate inscription found in Bodh Gaya. His descendants used old Nepali to inscribe numerous copperplates during the 14th century.

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After the Muslim conquest, the Rajputs of Chittaurgarh, the Brahmans of Kannauj, and many others fled to the foothills of the Himalayas for shelter. The pressure of the migrants and the rising ambition of the local powers caused the Khasha kingdom to fissure into smaller principalities. Some Khasha moved to the eastern parts of present-day Nepal, where their language became a lingua franca for the region’s linguistically diverse ethnic groups.

Eventually Prithvi Narayan Shah (1723?–75) unified the smaller principalities. During and after unification, the Nepalese were identified as Gurkha or Ghurkhalis, while their language was referred to by the singular forms of those names. With the growth of linguistic nationalism, the name Nepali became increasingly popular among the Nepalese living in Nepal and India.