Excerpts from Books and Wikipedia
"Culturally and (until recently) economically, Nepal lies within India’s sphere of influence, but China’s presence here is being felt ever more strongly. Maoist-communist groups are supported by China but loathed by India (whose Naxalites espouse a similar ideology), resulting in fractious and contentious governance. China, as it does in some other parts of the world, is using its growing economic clout in Nepal as leverage to gain greater political influence. Nepal, located just to the northeast of India’s Hindu core area, has a population of 29 million, of whom 82 percent are Hindu. Nepal’s Hinduism, however, is a unique blend of Hindu and Buddhist ideals. Thousands of temples and pagodas, ranging from the simple to the ornate, grace the cultural landscape, especially in the Vale of Kathmandu, the country’s core area. The Nepalese are a people of many origins, including India, Tibet, and interior Asia. Even though well over a dozen languages are spoken, most of the people also speak Nepali, a language related to Indian Hindi. . . . This is a troubled country suffering from severe underdevelopment, recording the lowest per capita income in the realm, even below that of Afghanistan."