The history of Nepal goes a long way back.

They were divided as:

• The ancient period ( Beginning to 935 B.S)
• The medieval period (935 B.S to 1825 B.S)
• The modern period (1825 B.S onwards)

Altogether there were four dynasties that ruled Nepal during the ancient period

• The Gopal Dynasty
• The Manishpal Dynasty
• The Kirat Dynasty
• The lichchhavai Dynasty.

The Origin of Gopal Dynasty:

The beginning of the myth

It is unclear but the mystery surrounding this country is magnificent. The starting of the rulers and dynasties that ruled over the land called Nepal is filled with stories and myths. There is no doubt that the present Kathmandu Valley was once a massive pond and that’s where it is believed that the origin of the valley began.

Danasur was believed to be the demon who filled the Kathmandu valley with water. According to the mythological period this was the time of the Copper Age also known as Dwaparyuga. This period called as the time of salvation is also reffered as the ladder period of salvation or Muktisopan. alo calle

So, in order to kill the demon Danasur Lord Krishna came to Nepal (Kathmandu) killed Danasur, and drained the water through the gorge of the place called Chobar. Now a large number of people followed Lord Krishna and they were cow herds. Since then they decided to settle down in the Kathmandu Valley and started the Gopal Dynasty. They were also called as NEPA so after the ruling dynasty Nepal was formed.

On the other hand at that period a sage called NE lived in penance on the confluence of the Bagmati and Bisnumati rivers. He was the sole advisor of the King, So it is another contradiction that Nepal came come to the name of the sage. According to the myth of the vague facts the sage Ne appointed BHUKTAMAN (BHUMIGUPTA)to be the first king of Nepal.

Another version of Gopal Dynasty

The kings of Gopalbansi were the first to rule over Nepal. The term ‘Gopal’ refers to the people who rear cows or the community of milkmen. In whatever way the water was drained out of the Kathmandu valley, it is obvious that after that only this valley became suitable for settlement. After that Gopals of the ‘Nep’ caste started entering the valley from the south. In the encounter of the Gopals with the native ‘Naag’ peoples around the valley, the Naag people were defeated and fled towards the south. Then after the Gopal people’s dominance was established in Nepal Valley.

We can find different stories regarding the history of Nepal in genealogies. According to one of them, a cow named ‘Bahuhri’ of one of the Gopals of that time used to drop the milk out of her nipples in a place on the bank of the Bagmati River. Surprised by seeing such an activity of the cow when the place was dug the Jyotirlinga of Pashupatinath revealed at the same place. According to another story a sage named ‘Ne’ who used to meditate on the river conjunction at Teku had crowned Bhuktaman (Bhumigupta) as the king of the Gopal dynasty. He was not just the founder of the Gopal Dynasty, but was also the first king of the country ‘Nepal’. According to the genealogy of the Gopal Dynasty, 8 kings including Bhumigupta, Jayagupta, Dharmagupta, Harshagupta, Bhaumagupta, Manigupta, Bishnugupta and Jeetgupta, respectively had ruled over Nepal.

The end of Gopal Dynasty

According to the genealogy of the Gopal Dynasty, the Mahispals had established their dynasty in Nepal by defeating the king of the Gopal Dynasty Jitgupta in a battle. However, some historian have stated that similar to cow rearing people were entitled as ‘Gopal’ buffaloes rearing people were entitled as ‘Mahispal’ or ‘Avir’. Another belief stated that Gopal and Mahispal belonged to the same dynasty and they were divided into two communities only on the basis of rearing cow and buffalo.

In the genealogy of Kirkpatrick, it is written that Avirs were the milkmen of the Rajput Dynasty, being equipped with arms and weapons they used to rear buffaloes in large numbers in the plainland between Simrongadh and Janakpur and they even entered the valley and established their own regime by defeating the king of Gopal Dynasty.

‘Barsing’ is the first king of the Mahispal Dynasty. According to the genealogy of the Gopal Dynasty, three kings mainly: Barsingh, Jaya Singh, and Bhuwan Singh ruled for 49 years, 71 years 2 months, and 41 years respectively making a regime of a total of 161 years and 2 months of the Mahispal Dynasty in Nepal.

A very vague dynasty

However, some historians have stated that even though the genealogy of the Gopal Dynasty has mentioned two different monarchical dynasties, they belonged to the same Avir Dynasty. Gopals who reared cows and Mahispal who reared buffaloes may only have professional division. Due to the lack of an organized political system at that time, the different professionals of the same dynasty may fight together to become the ruler of the area and hence they might have been acknowledged as different dynasties.

“They tell us that our ancestors were the first kings of Nepal. I am glad that we Gopalis still exist to date and that we have our own settlement. In my village (Gopali Gaun in the backdrop) everyone is a Gopali. Everyone.”– Sita Gopali, Gopali Gaun, Makawanpur