Pyuthan (also known as Pyuthan Khalanga) is a municipality in the Pyuthan District in the

Lumbini Province Lumbini Province ( ne, लुम्बिनी प्रदेश, Lumbinī pradēśa) is a province in western Nepal. It borders Gandaki Province and Karnali Province to the north, Sudurpashchim Province to the west, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar o ...

of Nepal. It is also the District Headquarter and the administrative center of district. The municipality was established on 18 May 2014 by merging the existing

Pyuthan Khalanga Pyuthan (also known as Pyuthan Khalanga) is a municipality in the Pyuthan District in the Lumbini Province of Nepal. It is also the District Headquarter and the administrative center of district. The municipality was established on 18 May 2014 by ...

Bijubar Bijuwar is a town and market center in Pyuthan Municipality in Pyuthan, a ''Middle Hills'' district of Rapti Zone, western Nepal. The former Village Development Committee along with Pyuthan Khalanga, Bijubar, Dakha Kwadi, Bijaya Nagar, Dharmaw ...

Dakha Kwadi Dakha Kwadi is a town and market center in Pyuthan Municipality in Pyuthan, a ''Middle Hills'' district of Rapti Zone, western Nepal. The former Village Development Committee along with Pyuthan Khalanga, Bijubar, Dakha Kwadi, Bijaya Nagar B ...

Bijaya Nagar Bijaya Nagar is a town and market center located in Pyuthan Municipality in Pyuthan, a ''Middle Hills'' district of Lumbini Province, western Nepal. The formerly Village Development Committee along with Pyuthan Khalanga Pyuthan (also known as ...

Dharmawati Dharmawati is a town and market center in Pyuthan Municipality in Pyuthan, a ''Middle Hills'' district of Rapti Zone, western Nepal. The former Village Development Committee along with Pyuthan Khalanga, Bijubar, Dakha Kwadi, Bijaya Nagar, Dhar ...

Maranthana Maranthana is a town and market center in Pyuthan Municipality in Pyuthan, a ''Middle Hills'' district of Rapti Zone, western Nepal. The formerly Village Development Committee along with Pyuthan Khalanga, Bijubar, Dakha Kwadi, Bijaya Nagar ...

and Khaira village development committees. In 2017, when GoN restructured the local level bodies into 753 units, Pyuthan Municipality was also restructured excluding ward no. 1, 2, 3, 5 and 18 from old structure, further two other VDC; Majhkot and Dumri added and managed the municipality into 10 new wards. The town is situated on a about 500 meters above the intensively cultivated floodplain of Jhimruk Khola about 15 kilometers north of the

Mahabharat Range The Lower Himalayan Range ( ne, पर्वत शृङ्खला parbat shrinkhalā) – also called the Middle Himalayas or Lesser Himalayas or Himachal – is a major east–west mountain range with elevations 3,700 to 4,500 m (12,000 to ...

in the ''Middle Hills''. Besides expansive views of Jhimruk valley there are limited views of a few peaks in the western part of the

Dhaulagiri Dhaulagiri is the seventh highest mountain in the world at above sea level, and the highest mountain within the borders of a single country (Nepal). It was first climbed on 13 May 1960 by a Swiss-Austrian-Nepali expedition. Annapurna I () is ...

range off to the north. The town is populated by government officials, by soldiers and police of '' Magar'' and other "hill tribes" and their mostly ''

Chhettri Chhetri (Kshetri, Kshettri, Kshetry or Chhettri), ( ne, क्षेत्री ; IAST: ''Kṣetrī'') historically called Kshettriya or Kshetriya or Khas are Nepali speakers of Khas community, some of whom trace their origin to migration from ...

'' officers, by '' Newar'' merchants, by civil servants recruited mostly from local ''

Bahun Bahun ( ne, बाहुन) or Khas Brahmin ( ne, खस ब्राह्मण) is a caste ( ''Varna'') among Khas people of Nepal. Their origins are from the Indo-Aryan Khasa tribe of Nepal and South Asia. According to the 2011 Nepa ...

'' and Chhetri castes, as well as menial castes who labor as tailors, cobblers, blacksmiths and construction workers. Before

King Gyanendra Gyanendra Shah ( ne, ज्ञानेन्द्र शाह, born 7 July 1947) is a former monarch who was the last King of Nepal, reigning from 2001 to 2008. As a child, he was briefly king from 1950 to 1951, when his grandfather, Tribhuva ...

was removed from office in 2008, this district center was virtually a

royalist A royalist supports a particular monarch as head of state for a particular kingdom, or of a particular dynastic claim. In the abstract, this position is royalism. It is distinct from monarchism, which advocates a monarchical system of governm ...

island in a republican sea. Pyuthan district was the home base of

Mohan Bikram Singh Mohan Bikram Singh (born 15 April 1935), often referred to as MBS, party name Gharti, is a Nepalese communist politician. His father was a wealthy landlord in Pyuthan District who was close to King Tribhuvan. MBS however joined the opposition ...

who was a charter member of the

Communist Party of Nepal The Communist Party of Nepal ( ne, नेपाल कम्युनिस्ट पार्टी), abbreviated CPN, was a communist party in Nepal from 1949 to 1962. It was founded on 15 September 1949 to struggle against the autocratic Rana ...

. Singh did extensive organizational work in his home district and other parts of Rapti Zone, resulting in local opposition to the

Shah dynasty The Shah dynasty ( ne, शाह वंश), also known as the Shahs of Gorkha or the Royal House of Gorkha, was the ruling Chaubise Thakuri dynasty ; and the founder of Gorkha Kingdom from 1559 to 1768 and later the unified Kingdom of Nepal ...

that largely ran the country. Although M. B. Singh was marginalized in leftist politics before the

Nepalese Civil War The Nepalese Civil War was a protracted armed conflict that took place in the former Kingdom of Nepal from 1996 to 2006. It saw fighting between the Nepalese royal government and the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) throughout the country ...

broke out in 1996, his organizational work helped make Rapti Zone the "heartland" of the insurgency and left the district center vulnerable and isolated for the duration. Pyuthan has scheduled bus service via the east-west

Mahendra Highway Mahendra Highway (), also called East-West Highway () runs across the Terai geographical region of Nepal, from Mechinagar in the east to Bhim Datta in the west, cutting across the entire width of the country. It is the longest highway in Nepal ...

and a spur road from Bhalubang along the

West Rapti River West Rapti, also known as the Kuwano drains Rapti Zone in Mid-Western Region, Nepal, then Awadh and Purvanchal regions of Uttar Pradesh state, India before joining the Ghaghara—a major left bank tributary of the Ganges known as the Karnal ...

. This road has been paved for all-weather use.

Etymology

''Khalanga'' ( ne, खलङ्गा) means military barracks. It generally signifies a military post larger than a ''kot'' ( ne, कोट).

Media

To promote local culture Pyuthan has two

community radio Community radio is a radio service offering a third model of radio broadcasting in addition to commercial and public broadcasting. Community stations serve geographic communities and communities of interest. They broadcast content that is popula ...

stations; Radio Mandavi - 97.0 MHz and Radio Pyuthan - 92.0 MHz.

Settlements that are part of Pyuthan

References

External links

UN map of VDC boundaries, water features and roads in Pyuthan District
{{Pyuthan District Populated places in Pyuthan District Nepal municipalities established in 2014 Municipalities in Pyuthan District