[19] The name Khōpring is a combination of two words from an early form of the Newar language, "kho" and "pring" which translate to "cooked rice" and "village," respectively.

[22] Geological surveys conducted by Swiss geologist Toni Hagen proved that the Kathmandu Valley was in fact a lake which formed when the Lower Himalayan Range was being created due to the collision between the Indian and Eurasian plate.

[22] Believed to be a saint from Greater China, Manjushri is said to have cut a gorge from his sword in order to drain the valley so that he could worship and gain wisdom from Swayambhunath Buddha who resided in the lake.

[22] Manjushri is believed to have entered the Katmandu Valley from the east and his resting place has been made into a shrine where the people of Bhaktapur make a pilgrimage to every year during late winter and before the festival of Shree Panchami.

[27] Finally, a third inscription recovered at Tālako district in the southwestern part of Bhaktapur mention the place name as "mākhoduluṃ" which was probably a separate village from Khōpring.

[26] It is said that the Rajkulo canals, which supplies water in hitis were built and managed by Tulā Rāni, a mythical queen who is believed to have lived in Bhaktapur during the Licchavi dynasty.

[26] In folklore, Tulā Rāni made and repaired the Rajkulo canals as she is said to only weigh a single tola or 11 grams and hence float on water.

[28] In the 14th century Gopal Raj Vamshavali, Ananda Deva, who ruled Nepal Mandala from 1146 to 1167 is credited to have established the city of Bhaktapur.

[30][31] Ananda Deva also established a royal court named Tripura Rājkula in the central part of Bhaktapur and declared it as the new capital of Nepal.

[36] Her husband Harisimhadeva died on the way while Devaladevi and her family arrived at her birth kingdom of Nepal Mandala where she was welcomed by her brother Rudra Malla.

[36] In 1326, Nayakdevi was married to Harishchandra, the prince of Kashi by her grandmother but the court rebelled against him after the death of Padma Lakshmi at the age of sixty seven in July 1332 and was eventually assassinated in May 1335.

[39] According to the Gopal Raj Vamshavali, Bhaktapur was ransacked and set on fire by the invaders which lasted for seven days and the populace were either killed or escaped in the mountains.

[40] After the invasion, which destroyed much of the city, Bhaktapur was entirely rebuilt under Devaldevi, who like Ananda Deva, did so on the basis of Sanskrit treatises in architecture.

[43] In September 1354, a nine year old Jayasthiti, a Danwar noble from Mithila was brought into Bhaktapur and was eventually married to Rajalladevi Malla in January 1355.

[44] It is said that Jayasthiti Malla brought Brahmins from Mithila and South India and under their recommendation, revived and improved the already present Hindu caste system based on occupation.

[46] He also made it mandatory for all citizens of Bhaktapur regardless of caste or wealth, to repair and maintain the defensive walls and moats during the annual festival of Sithi Nakha.

After its defeat in 1769, Bhaktapur lost most of its political and cultural importance to Kathmandu and Lalitpur, the capital of the newly formed Kingdom of Nepal.

[61][62] Bhaktapur was visited by Colonel Kirkpatrick of East India Company in 1792 and in his book described the city as being in a better state than Kathmandu or Lalitpur.

[63] Bhaktapur played a small role during the rise of Jung Bahadur Rana as its former palace was where King Rajendra Bikram Shah was imprisoned in 1847.

[77] Due to the malaise economy and cash-strapped budget, Bhaktapur was unable to revamp these broken canals, as a result, fresh water became scarce in the city..

[76] In the 1950s, when the tyrannical Rana dynasty ended and Nepal was open up to the outside world, Kathmandu and the other cities around it like Patan saw a considerable rise in urbanization and population.

[76] Diseases and pandemics were rampant and greatly affected the farmers composing the majority population of Bhaktapur, who couldn't afford necessary modern medicine.

[5] Under the Bhaktapur Development Project which was funded by West Germany, the city's physical infrastructure and heritage sites were all revitalized and renovated.

[87] However, many of the murals in the palace were damaged when it used as a post office and a police station in the 20th century and the painter's signature has unfortunately been rubbed off, with only his address remaining readable today.

[92] The Luṁ dhvākā or the Golden gate which serves as an entrance to the inner courtyards of the former royal palace was constructed between 1751 and 1754 by Subhākara, Karuṇākara and Ratikara.

[99] Kamal Pokhari (bāhre pukhu), another large pond on the eastern part of town is believed to be from the Licchavi dynasty, though no definitive proof has been found of its antiquity.

[115] Among royal writers, Ranajit Malla and his queen consort Briddhi Lakshmi who are among the most popular historical authors, the former mostly remembered for his plays and the later for her poems.

[123][124] The square also contains the courtyard of Til Mādhav Narayana, the Aesāmārhi satta (often called the Kasthamandap of Bhaktapur)[125], the Betala temple and a golden hiti.

At the entrance are two large sculptures of the Jaiput wrestlers(locally known as kutuwo), Jaimala and Pata (as in the Nyatapola Temple), a "Chakra", and a gilded metal statue of Garuda, a bird-like divinity.

[133][129] In 1974, Pier Paolo Pasolini used Bhaktapur, along with other places in Nepal, as locations for his film Il fiore delle Mille e una notte (Arabian Nights).