The Mahabharata already knows them: the Kiratas (किराँत) are listed among the Himalayan mountain peoples, fighting under Bhagadatta at Kurukshetra, sending tribute to Yudhishthira. When one of them — Yalambar (यलम्बर) — defeated Bhuvan Singh, the last Mahispal king, and took the valley, Nepal entered its third dynasty and its longest early reign.महाभारतले उनीहरूलाई चिन्छ: किराँतहरू हिमाली जनजाति भनी उल्लेख छ। यलम्बरले भुवनसिंहलाई हराएर उपत्यका लिएपछि नेपालको तेस्रो र सबैभन्दा लामो सुरुको वंश सुरु भयो।
The King on the Field of Kurukshetraकुरुक्षेत्रको मैदानमा राजा
Tradition says Yalambar travelled to the Kurukshetra war intending to fight on whichever side was losing — an oath that made him too dangerous to admit. Krishna, fearing the war would drag on forever if this mighty archer joined the losing side, cut off his head. In Kathmandu, that head is worshipped as Akash Bhairav (आकाश भैरव) at Indra Chowk — the great mask is carried out publicly during Indra Jatra, making Yalambar the only prehistoric king of Nepal still worshipped as a living deity.कथाअनुसार यलम्बर कुरुक्षेत्र गए — जुन पक्ष हार्छ, त्यहीतर्फ लड्ने शपथ लिएर। कृष्णले उनको शिर काटिदिए — जुन काठमाडौंमा आकाश भैरवको रूपमा पूजिन्छ। इन्द्रजात्रामा त्यो मुख बाहिर निकालिन्छ।
The King Listराजा-सूची
Two chronicle traditions preserve the list. The Gopalarajavamshavali counts 32 Kirat generations ruling 1,958 years; the Kirkpatrick/Wright tradition counts 29 kings over roughly 1,225 years. Historian Baburam Acharya dated their entry into the valley to around 700 BCE. Whatever the true length, the range runs from Nepal's mythic dawn to the verge of the epigraphic age — from Yalamber to Gasti.दुई परम्पराले सूची जोगाएका छन् — गोपालराजवंशावलीले ३२ पुस्ता/१९५८ वर्ष, वर्म्स-परम्पराले २९ राजा/लगभग १२२५ वर्ष। इतिहासकार बाबुराम आचार्यले उनीहरूको प्रवेश ७०० ईसापूर्व मान्छन्।
Aramudi — the King Who Captured a Kashmiri Emperorअरमुदी — कश्मीरी राजालाई कैद गर्ने राजा
One Kirat-period king appears in an outside source: Kalhana's Rajatarangini, the 12th-century chronicle of Kashmir. It records that Jayapida, the Karkota king of Kashmir, marching through Nepal, was defeated and captured by Aramudi (अरमुदी), "protector of Nepal," on the bank of the Kali Gandaki. A minister named Devasarman sacrificed himself, floating downriver, to create a diversion by which Jayapida escaped. Historians debate whether Aramudi was a Kirat, a Gandaki-region chief, or a Licchavi-era ruler — but the episode stands as one of ancient Nepal's proudest military memories.कश्मीरको राजतरंगिणीमा अरमुदीको उल्लेख छ: कश्मीरका जयपीडले काली गण्डकी किनारमा नेपालका अरमुदीसामु पराजित भई बन्दि भए — एक मन्त्रीको बलिदानबाट भागे। यो नेपालको प्राचीन विजयको स्मृति हो।
Administration and Tradeप्रशासन र व्यापार
The Kirat state ran law-courts called Kuther, Shuli, Lingwal and Mapchok, and its towns — Matatirtha, Shankhamul, Thankot, Gokarna, Khopung (Bhaktapur) — are the ancestors of today's valley settlements. Its exports, wool and herbs, were famous enough that Kautilya's Arthashastra records Nepali woolen blankets selling well in Magadha. Trade routes ran to Tibet, China and India.किरातका अदालत — कुथेर, शुलि, लिङ्वाल, मापचोक — थिए; उनीहरूका बस्ती आजका उपत्यकाका बस्तीका पुर्खा हुन्। ऊन र जडीबुटी निर्यात थियो — कौटिल्यको अर्थशास्त्रले पनि उल्लेख गर्छ।