Nepal

NEPAL. - I. GEOGRAPHY. - Nepal extends over the southern slope (central section) of the Himalayas, which separate it from Tibet.

Among the valleys through which the waters descending from the lofty mountain rampart (at least four peaks there exceed 8,000 m., among them Everest, 8,880 m., the highest in the world) run down to the Ganges, the one traversed by the Gandak river stands out for its abundance of crops (cereals, tobacco, oilseeds, fruit), for the intensity of its livestock raising and for the number of its inhabited centers. Within it are located, along with the capital of the small (140,000 sq. km.) State, Katmandu (110,000 inhabitants), the other major human settlements: Patan (105) and Bhagdaon (93).

In the population (7 million inhabitants, density 50 per sq. km.), ethnically mixed (Mongoloid natives and Asian peoples who came from the very densely populated Indian region), the dominant element is represented by a tribe of warlike Hindus, the Gurka, who subjugated the country in the 18th century and created there a strong independent monarchy, setting themselves in opposition, also by religion (Hinduism), to the aboriginal mass (Buddhists; there is an enormous number of priests living in temples and monasteries).

Nepal constitutes a hereditary principality, governed by a military oligarchy; the territory is closed to European penetration.

Giuseppe Caraci

II. EVANGELIZATION

At the beginning of the 18th century, in Nepal, then subject to the dominion of the Mughal emperor, the Capuchins had erected a few hospices in order to be able to penetrate into Tibet. The first foundation was at Kathmandu; Patan and Bhatgaon followed. Through the practice of medicine they opened the way to the conversion of those peoples. In the hospice of Bhatgaon the Capuchin fathers opened a small church. Between the years 1737-55 the children baptized in articulo mortis reached the number of 6 or 7 thousand. It is not known how many were the baptisms of adults, but it is clear that the missions of Nepal at that time were flourishing (Bullarium Ordinis Min. Cap., VII, Rome 1752, p. 252). Later the war waged by the King of the Gurkhas against the other kingdoms of Nepal endangered the future of the mission.

In 1766 there were only 7 fathers. Having won the war in 1769, the king of the Gurkhas ordered the missionaries to leave. Then the Capuchin fathers gathered the Catholics, crossed the Himalayas with them and stopped at Bettiah. Leaving Nepal, the missionaries believed in a truce, but the doors of this Kingdom were irrevocably closed to any foreign penetration. By a decree of Propaganda, dated 19 May 1893, the entire Kingdom of Nepal was added to the apostolic prefecture of Bettiah, today the diocese of Patna. But to this day no missionary has been able to evangelize the land of Nepal any further.

Nicola Kowalsky