The natives of Kathmandu, the Newars, are mainly traders. With a purpose to trade, they are scattered across the country; with greater concentration in the Kathmandu Valley, Banepa, Dulikhel, Bhojpur, Bandipur and Tansen . In Kathmandu valley ,they make 44% of total population. Nationally, however, they make about 5.6% of total population. Despite the small percentage numerically, they contribute significantly in the history, art , architecture and business activities in the country. They are in to the business and government services; business being their main profession. They have negligible representations in the army and police services.

Newars speak their own language, ' Newari' better known as Nepal Bhasa which belongs to Tibeto - Burman family of languages. It has its own scripts and has no linguistic connection to Nepali, Hindi or Sanskrit. The Newari script, the 'Ranjana lipi' is exceptional. The Newari literature is also very rich.

There are both Buddhist and Hindu Newars. Like elsewhere in the country, religioius syncretism is blended into the culture and tradition.

They celebrate numerous feasts and festivals throughout the year.

Newars have a well defined occupational caste system among themselves. Though some Newars have Mongoloid features, they rather represent a community of different elements mixed together.

Besides their rich cultural heritage, festivals , the Newars are impeccable artists and architects.

To quote Prakash A. Raj, the kathmandu valley with all its temples and palaces compares no less to Florence in Italy. The Newars, of course, remained pivotal in the arts and architecture found in the vallley.

Among the Newar community, an interesting ancient tradition, known as 'Ihi or Bel Biha' , requires that a young girl often 7 or 8 years old, be married to a certain tree called 'Bel tree' or to its green fruit called ' Bel'. The tree and the fruit symbolizes a deity called ' Hiranya Garbha'. Among the deities, Hiranya Garbha is one of the immortals. Thus marriage with ' Hiranya Garbha' is considered to be everlasting.

To put it in a nutshell, the Newars, though small in numbers, have a very strong and dominating influence in Nepal's economy, politics and society in general