Nepal Sambat (Nepal Bhasa:, Nepali: नेपाल सम्वत् ) is a lunisolar calendar used by Nepalese people. On October 20, 879 AD, the Calendar period began, with 1146 in Nepal Sambat equating to the years 2025–2026 AD. Coins, stone and copper plate inscriptions, royal decrees, chronicles, Hindu and Buddhist scriptures, legal documents, and communications all featured Nepal Sambat. Despite the fact that Nepal Sambat has been designated as a national calendar and is extensively used in Nepal, it is mostly used by the Newar population, with Bikram Sambat (B.S) remaining the dominant calendar throughout the country.
LEGEND OF NEPAL SAMBAT, SANKHAHAR SAKHWA
In popular folklore, Nepal Sambat epoch corresponds to 879 AD, which honors a trader named Sankhadhar Sakhwa paying all of the Newar people’s debts. According to mythology, an astrologer from Bhaktapur predicted that the sand at the confluence of the Bhacha Khushi and Bishnumati Rivers in Kathmandu would turn to gold at a specific hour, so the monarch dispatched a team of employees to the city to collect sand at the appointed time. Before returning to Bhaktapur, a local trader called Sankhadhar Sakhwa noticed them sleeping with their sand baskets at a traveler’s shelter in Maru near Kathmandu Durbar Square.
He persuaded the workers to give him the sand instead, believing it to be odd if they were harvesting it. Sakhwa discovered his sand had changed to gold the next day, but Bhaktapur‘s king was left with a pile of ordinary sand dug up by his porters after the auspicious hour had gone. Sankhadhar utilized the gold to pay off the Nepalese people’s obligations.
History Of NEPAL SAMBAT
Nepal Sambat 866 is written on an inscription on a stupa in Panauti (1746 AD).
Outside the Nepal Mandal, Nepal Sambat has been utilized in India, China, and Myanmar, among other countries. In Gorkha, the date Nepal Sambat 704 is carved into a stone inscription at the Bhairav Temple in Pokharithok Bazaar (1584 AD). Nepal Sambat 912 is written on an inscription in the Khas language at a rest house in Salyankot (1792 AD). An inscription on the Bidyadhari Ajima Temple in Bhojpur, dated Nepal Sambat 1011, records the donation of a door and tympanum (1891 AD)Nepal Sambat 950 (1830 AD).
Nepal Sambat was also used by Newar merchants in Tibet (Lhasa Newars) in official documents, communication, and inscriptions marking votive gifts. The donation of a tympanum at the shrine of Chhwaskamini Ajima (Tibetan: Palden Lhamo) in the Jokhang Temple in Lhasa is recorded on a copper plate dated Nepal Sambat 781 (1661 AD).
