Kushma is a small city and the headquarter of Parbat District in

Nepal Nepal, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mainly situated in the Himalayas, but also includes parts of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China Ch ...

. Kushma municipality was formed by merging thirteen village development committees Pang, Khurkot, Durlung, Shivalaya, Chuwa, Katuwa Chaupari, Pipaltari and Pakuwa on 18 May 2014. This city lies in the western part of Nepal just about 57 km from

Pokhara Pokhara ( ) is a metropolis, metropolitan city located in central Nepal, which serves as the capital of Gandaki Province. Named the country's "capital of tourism" it is the List of cities in Nepal, second largest city after Kathmandu, with 599,5 ...

and 12 km from Baglung. Kushma falls under Western Development Region and Dhaulagiri Zone of

. It is located at 28°13'06N 83°40'45E at an altitude of 1294 meters. Kusma Bazaar straddling a narrow and high strip of land between the banks of Kaligandaki and Modi is the main market centre of the municipality. A bridge joins Kushma with Gyadichour located on the other side of the deep Modi river canyon.

History

From early times Kusma has been an important stop for travellers from Baglung on their way to Pokhara, Palpa and Butwal. Businesses catering to these travelers started to spring up leading to the establishment of a small market. As more settlers arrived Kusma was declared the headquarters of Parbat district.

Demographics

At the time of the

2011 Nepal census Nepal conducted a widespread national census in 2011 by the Nepal Central Bureau of Statistics. Working in cooperation with the 58 municipalities and the 3,915 Village Development Committees at a district level, they recorded data from all the m ...

, Kushma Municipality had a population of 40,374. Of these, 94.9% spoke Nepali, 2.8%

Gurung Gurung (exonym; ) or Tamu (endonym; Gurung language, Gurung: ) are a Tibetan people, Tibetan ethnic group living in the hills and mountains of Gandaki Province of Nepal. Gurungs speak Tamu kyi which is a Sino-Tibetan language derived from the ...

, 1.1%

Newar Newar (; , endonym: Newa; , Pracalit script: ), or Nepami, are primarily inhabitants in Kathmandu Valley of Nepal and its surrounding areas, and the creators of its historic heritage and civilisation. Page 15. Newars are a distinct linguisti ...

, 0.3% Magar, 0.2% Maithili, 0.2%

Bhojpuri Bhojpuri may refer to: * Bhojpuri language, an Indo-Aryan language of India and Nepal * Bhojpuri grammar, grammatical rules of the language * Bhojpuri nouns, nouns of the language * Bhojpuri people, people who speak the language * Bhojpuri region ...

, 0.1%

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

, 0.1% Tamang and 0.3% other languages as their first language. In terms of ethnicity/caste, 42.0% were Hill Brahmin, 13.9%

Chhetri Chhetri (Kshetri, Kshettri, Kshetry or Chhettri), ( ; IAST: ''Kṣetrī'') historically called Kshettriya or Kshetriya or Khas are Nepali language, Nepali speaking people historically associated with the warrior class and administration, some of ...

, 9.1% Sarki, 8.6%

Kami are the Deity, deities, Divinity, divinities, Spirit (supernatural entity), spirits, mythological, spiritual, or natural phenomena that are venerated in the traditional Shinto religion of Japan. ''Kami'' can be elements of the landscape, forc ...

, 7.6%

Damai Damai ( ; IAST: ''Damāĩ'') is an occupational caste found among indigenous people comprising 45 subgroups. Their surnames take after the subgroup they belong to. People belonging to this caste are traditionally tailors and musicians capable o ...

/Dholi, 4.2% Magar, 3.7%

, 3.6%

, 2.9% Sanyasi/Dasnami and 4.4% others. In terms of religion, 93.9% were

Hindu Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also be ...

, 4.8%

Buddhist Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

, 0.7%

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

, 0.4%

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

and 0.2% others.

Transportation

Kushma Bazaar is linked with the national road network by Pokhara Baglung Highway. Buses are the primary means of transportation in Kushma. Small size automobiles and jeeps are used for cab services within Kushma Bazar and surrounding settlements. Motorbikes are popular among the youth. Ownership of private cars in Kushma has increased in recent years. The Baglung Airport located across the Kaligandaki river in Balewa of Baglung provided air travel before its closing. Now re-opening of the airport is under consideration.Location of Kusma - Falling Rain Genomics
/ref> Recently a cable car bridge has come into operation connecting Kushma Bazar and Balewa reducing two long hours of walking to a five-minute ride.

Climate

References

External links

UN map of the municipalities of Parbat District
{{Parbat District Populated places in Parbat District Parbat District Nepal municipalities established in 2014 Municipalities in Gandaki Province