The main issues pertaining to Social History of Nepal from earliest times to the 1950 movement have been analyzed with necessary cross references of the post-revolutionary period in this book.

The subject matter of this book is divided into ten chapters. First chapter analyses the socio-anthropological aspects of the Nepali people in historical perspective. Second chapter presents the changing structure of the Nepali society. Family system of Nepal is the subject matter of third chapter. Fourth chapter gives a vivid picture of habitational sites of Nepal, specially during the ancient and medieval period. Position of women and the Nepali food habits have been discussed in the fifth and sixth chapters respectively. In the seventh chapter, dress and ornaments of the Nepali people have been analyzed. Eighth chapter highlights on a descriptive account of the social entertainments enjoyed by the Nepali people throughout the pages of history. Ninth chapter deals with the types of the education of Nepal through ages. In the last chapter the changing trend of Nepali society has been analyzed in its historical perspective.

Dr. T.R. Vaidya (b. 1940) obtained his M.A. and Ph.D. from Allahabad University in 1960 and 1974 respectively. Formerly, Head of Central Department of History, and Dean, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu, Professor Vaidya is a seasoned teacher having over three decades professional standing. Presently Dr. Vaidya is Controller of Examinations, Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu (Nepal).

Tri Ratna Manandhar did his M.A. and Ph.D. from Tribhuvan University and D.H.S. from Cambridge University (U.K.). His main publications include Nepal: The Years of Trouble (1877-83); Some Aspects of Rana Rule in Nepal; Crime and Punishment in Nepal; Nepal's Quinquennial Missions to China, etc. He is the Professor and Head of the Central Department of History, Tribhuvan University and has participated and presented papers in International Seminars at Dhaka, Colombo, and Hong Kong.

Dr. Shankar Lal Joshi (b.1940) obtained his M.A. (History) and Ph.D. from Tribhuvan University. He taught in Sri Thakur Ram College in 1966 and later in Padma Kanya Campus from 1974 to the present time. Presently he is Associate Professor in History in the same institution. He has written many research articles and undertaken research projects.

The present work is the revised version of a project report submitted to the Research Division, Tribhuvan University in 1986. In this book we have tried to analyse the main issues pertaining to Social History of Nepal from earliest times to the 1950 movement, with necessary cross references of the post revolutionary period.

The report is divided into ten chapters, dealing with the different aspects of Nepali social history. The first chapter analyses the social-anthropological aspects of the Nepali people in historical perspective; and the second chapter presents the changing structure of the Nepali society. Family system is the subject of third chapter, and the fourth chapter gives a vivid picture of habitational sites of Nepal. specially during the ancient and medieval periods. Position of women and the Nepali food habits have been discussed in the fifth and sixth chapters respectively. In the seventh chapter, dress and ornaments of the Nepali people (from royal family to poor peasants) have been analyzed in historical perspective. Eighth Chapter gives a descriptive account of the social entertainments enjoyed by the Nepali people throughout the pages of history. Ninth chapter deals with the types of the education of Nepal through ages. In the last chapter, we have tried to analyze the changing trend of Nepali society in its historical perspective.

This book is mainly based on documentary sources- published and unpublished. The unpublished documents have been obtained from different archival offices of India and Nepali and for the published sources we have depended on the writings of contemporary scholars and a few valuable edited works of Nepali scholars. We have suppressed the foot notes and bibliographical accounts, keeping in view the length of the book.

We have received help and co-operation from many persons in completing the book, and it is not possible to mention them all. We are thankful to Dr. Madhav Raj Pande and Sri Dhana Bajra Bajracharya, for their valuable comments and suggestions, and Sri Santa Bahadur Gurung the then Chief, Research Division, T.U. for giving us an opportunity to under- take this research project.

The shortcomings of this book are wholly ours, and we invite healthy criticism and comments to make the work more comprehensive.