A Nepalese Miscellany

About the Book Kesar Lall writes about a living legend of Kathmandu a little girl who, in her utter innocence, protects the royalty and peoples of Nepal; a 17-year old architect who, in the 13th century, travelled to China and built monuments for Kublai Khan; and about others whose remarkable stories have been told here for the first time.

This book is also about the interaction of Su people and ideas in Nepal and other countries as well as about some people whose love for this Himalayan kingdom is manifest in many ways.

Preface THIS book is about some of the common and not so common people of Sherpas tending yaks in the high mountains, of housewives in the hills hoping for the return of their husbands from the wars, of a little girl who in her utter innocence protects Nepal's royalty and people, of a 17-year old Newar architect who built monuments in China for Kublai Khan and from whom in all probability Marco Polo had heard about Nepal and others whose remarkable stories have not been told before.

Yet another aspect I have tried to write about, albeit briefly, is the interaction of people and ideas in Nepal and other countries now and in the past when it was a closed land. It is also about some people of other countries whose love for Nepal is made manifest in different ways. For me personally this book means much. For the reader, I hope, it I will be of some interest in as much as it tells a story about Nepal in a different way. But for the encouragement of Mr. Govind Shrestha of M/s. Ratna Pustak Bhandar this collection of essays written and published at different times would not have come out in the present form. For this I am very thankful to him.

**Contents and Sample Pages**