Nepal Sambat 1132 is being celebrated in Kathmandu valley and many parts of the country amid traditional fanfare by people of Newar community on Thursday.

Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai addressed a programme organised on the occasion of Nepal Sambat 1132 at the historic Khullamanch, the open theater, in the capital this afternoon.

Earlier today morning, various ethnic organizations belonging to Kathmandu’s Newar community took out a cultural rally that went to different parts of the city before converging into Khullamanch. Wearing a flower in his ear like a traditional Newar man, PM Bhattarai, who was the chief guest of the programme, read out a speech written in Nepal Bhasa, or Newari, though he is not proficient in the language. His wife, a mid-rung Maoist leader and former minister, belongs to the Newar community.


Given that his predecessors, as chief guests, used to read out speeches in Nepali language in the largely Newar gathering in the past, Bhattarai’s decision to read his speech in Nepal Bhasa was greeted with a large round of applause.

Wishing everybody Nhu daya Bhintuna (which is Happy New Year in Nepal Bhasa), PM Bhattarai said, “Nepal Sambat doesn’t only belong to Newar community… it belongs to the whole country because there is long history attached to it. Let no body fall under any illusion on this.”Bhattarai informed that his government had earlier this week adopted Nepal Sambat as a national calendar, bringing it into practice in official works along with Bikram Sambat.

Speaking on the occasion, chief of Nepal Bhasa Manka Khala, Padma Ratna Tuladhar thanked the prime minister for addressing the programme in Nepal Bhasa, adding that Bhattarai’s speech was historic as well as important in that it send out the message that all languages are equal in the multi-cultural and secular New Nepal.


“This is a huge victory for those like me who are involved in language movement,” said Tuladhar, a former politician and human rights activist who played an instrumental role in the people’s movement of 2006. He also urged PM Bhattarai to address programmes of Gurung community in Gurung language, Tamang community in Tamang language and Maithali community in Maithali.

Tuladhar said this is important to turn Nepal into a truly multi-lingual, multi-ethnic and secular country.

Nepal Sambat, a unique calendar which is named after the country, is based on lunar calendar and is believed to have started during 880 AD when Shankhadhar Shakhwa, a local merchant from Kathmandu, paid off the debts of common people on his own, thus emancipating thousands of people from serfdom.

Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai waves to the crowd as he. The Nepal Sambat calendar was in use for 888 years and it was banned at the state level in 1960 Bikram Sambat year, according to historical records.

Different efforts were made to reinstate the Nepal Sambat since the establishment of democracy in 2007 BS.

The government declared Shankhadhar Sakhwa who propounded the Nepal Sambat calendar and made notable contribution to society and the nation as national luminary in 2055 BS.

Former prime minister and Unified CPN-Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal-led government had given recognition to the Nepal Sambat as the national calendar in 2064 BS. nepalnews.com

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