Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. Nepali Literature refers to literature written in the Nepali language. It is not necessarily written by Nepali nationals nor all the literature written in Nepal, because it is widely used in some parts of India and Bhutan. In fact the official language of Indian state of Sikkim is Nepali. There are many prominent writers of Nepali literature from other countries, especially from India like Parijat. Also there is a diversity of languages spoken in Nepal like Maithali, Bhojpuri, Nepal Bhasa etc. The Nepali language evolved from Sanskrit and it is difficult to state the ancient history of Nepali literature because most scholars wrote in Sanskrit, especially religious literature. However Nepali literature can be roughly divided into five periods.