Kirtipur

Kirtipur is one of the oldest settlements in the Kathmandu Valley. This small town is recorded as an ancient capital of Nepal. Kirtipur means “Brave town” in Nepali language is also known as “kipu” and “kyapu”. At the initial phase Kirtipur is named as "Padmakastha giri". All of the town was surrounded by jungle and at the middle of the jungle there is a small inhabitant of newar people. After time laps the name "Kirtipur" is been frequently changed as "Padmakasthapur" and "Kirtipur". Till now the newars of Nepal mandal area call Kirtipur as Kipoo. The location of this small town is different from the other main towns of the valley in the same that occupies the top of a steep rocky hill. This city of glory is inhabited by Newars, which are the earliest settlers in the Valley with their own language and culture. The name Kirtipur comes from  vegetable radish which was named by old saint who came in kirtipur dada .It is also called the queen Kirtilakshmi ruled in kirtipur who was the daughter of kaji dhanwant. Kirti (Glory) and pur (city). It is also said that once a queen named 'Kirti' ruled over this place so, it might have been named after same queen since 'pur' means city, and it states Kirtipur means city of 'Kirti'.


In 1826 B.S. (Bikram Sambat) it was annexed to the Gorkhali kingdom of Nepal by King Prithvi Narayan Shah on his third attempt. After he did this, to spite the city of Kirtipur, he cut off the noses of all the men in the city according to the different historian. This was the site of an inspirational peaceful demonstration of the people in the 2006 mass uprising that overthrew the powers of the king. It is considered to be an anti-monarchy city due to its bitter history against the Shah dynasty whose modern founder conquered the city insultingly, which was followed by negligence of the administration and development by subsequent rulers.
                                             Kirtipur Municipality is part of the Kathmandu District and lies in the hilly region. Geographically, Kirtipur lies in between longitude 27˚ 38’ 30” and 27˚ 41’ 30” E and latitude 85˚ 13’ and 85˚ 19’ N, at altitudes ranging from 1284m to 1524m above mean sea level. The general decline of elevation is from south-west to north-east. The Kathmandu Metropolitan City lies in the northern side, while the Bagmati River separates the Lalitpur District with the Lalitpur Sub-Metropolitan City on the eastern side. Chalnakhel VDC borders Kirtipur Municipality in the south and Macchegaun VDC in the west.

 Originally a Newari foundation, Kirtipur is still a centre of Newari culture. It has been merged with surrounding villages to form the municipality of Kirtipur with a population of around 50,000. It consists of many temples, Gumbas and Churches too. Due to the presence of Tribhuvan University, Kirtipur is also popular area for out-of-town students and professors to rent houses and they are major contributors to the local economy. Relationship between the locals and the non-locals is generally harmonious.

To show the histroy of kirtipur , a young and an energetic team has made a historical movie called Kirtipur " the legend of kirtilakshmy. This movie is based on the historical novel "Bhairab Singh"of Basu pasa in which King Prithivinarayan Shah attack Kirtipur for several times and Queen of kirtipur called Kirtilakshmy plays a vital role during war with gorkhali . She fight with Gorkhali force by changing her identity as male called Bhairab singh.