Gorkha District ( ne, गोरखा जिल्ला ), a part of

Gandaki Province Gandaki Province ( ne, गण्डकी प्रदेश ) ), is one of the seven federal provinces established by the current constitution of Nepal which was promulgated on 20 September 2015. Pokhara is the province's capital city. It borde ...

, is one of the 77

districts of Nepal Districts in Nepal are second level of administrative divisions after provinces. Districts are subdivided in municipalities and rural municipalities. There are seven provinces and 77 districts in Nepal. After the state's reconstruction of admi ...

, which is the fourth largest district (by area) of Nepal and connected historically with the creation of the modern Nepal and the name of the legendary Gorkha soldiers. The district, with

Gorkha Municipality Gorkha ( ne, गोरखा, formerly known as Prithbinarayan Municipality) is a municipality in Gorkha District in Gandaki Province of Nepal created in 1996. It was initially named "Prithibinarayan" after King Prithvi Narayan Shah, who was born ...

(previously known as Prithivi Narayan Nagarpalika) as its district headquarters, covers an area of and has a population of 252,201 according to the

2021 Nepal census The 2021 Nepal Census was the twelfth nationwide census of Nepal conducted by the Central Bureau of Statistics. The census was originally scheduled from 8 June to 22 June 2021, but was postponed to November 2021 due to surge in COVID-19 cases. ...

. Gorkha district is the site of the Manakamana Temple. The temples of Gorakh Nath and Gorakh Kali are found in the district. Several major rivers—the Chepe, Daraudi,

Marsyangdi The Marshyangdi (or Marsyangdi) (Nepali: , marśyāṅdī) is a mountain river in Nepal. Its length is about 150 kilometres. The Marshyangdi begins at the confluence of two mountain rivers, the Khangsar Khola and Jharsang Khola, northwest of ...

, Budi Gandaki, and Trishuli—run through the district.

Origin"Gorkha"

* * Myth holds that a saint named

Gorakhnath Gorakhnath (also known as Goraksanath, c. early 11th century) was a Hindu yogi, saint who was the influential founder of the Nath Hindu monastic movement in India He is considered one of the two notable disciples of Matsyendranath. His followe ...

appeared for the first time in Nepal in Gorkha. There remains a cave with his ''

paduka ''Paduka'' is an ancient form of footwear in India, consisting of a sole with a post and knob which is positioned between the big and second toe. It has been historically worn in South Asia and Southeast Asia. ''Paduka'' exist in a variety of f ...

'' ('footprint') and a likeness which supports the myth. As the city was established in the place where Sage Gorakhnath appeared, it was named ''Gorkha''.

Geography and climate

Mountains

Manaslu Manaslu ( ne, मनास्लु, also known as Kutang; muh-NAA-slu) is the eighth-highest mountain in the world at above sea level. It is in the Mansiri Himal, part of the Nepalese Himalayas, in the west-central part of Nepal. The name Man ...

(8,163 m) *

Himalchuli Himalchuli (also sometimes written as two words, Himal Chuli) is the second-highest mountain in the Mansiri Himal, part of the Nepalese Himalayas, and the 18th-highest mountain in the world (using a cutoff of 500 meters prominence, or re-ascent ...

(7,895 m) * Shringi Himal (7,177 m) *

Buddha Himal Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha, was a śramaṇa, wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist tradition, he was ...

(6,674 m) *

Ganesh Himal __NOTOC__ Ganesh Himāl ( ne, गणेश हिमाल) is a sub-range of the Himalayas located mostly in north-central Nepal, but some peaks lie on the border with Tibet. The Trisuli Gandaki valley on the east separates it from the Langtan ...

(7,422 m) * Ngadi Chuli (7,871 m) * Nar Phu : Peri Range 5748 m * Ganesh VI : Ganesh Himal range (6480 m) * Tobsar Peak : Shringi Himal range (6100m)

Transport

Gorkha town has daily bus services to and from Kathmandu (six hours) and Pokhara (three hours).

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 with the 58 municipalities and the 3915 Village Development Committees at a district level, they recorded data from all the municipalities and ...

, Gorkha District had a population of 271,061. Of these, 72.9% spoke

Nepali Nepali or Nepalese may refer to : Concerning Nepal * Anything of, from, or related to Nepal * Nepali people, citizens of Nepal * Nepali language, an Indo-Aryan language found in Nepal, the current official national language and a language spoken ...

, 13.3%

Gurung Gurung (exonym; ) or Tamu (endonym; Gurung: ) are an ethnic group indigenous to the hills and mountains of Gandaki Province of Nepal. Gurung people predominantly live around the Annapurna region in Manang, Mustang, Dolpo, Kaski, Lamjung, Go ...

, 4.7% Magar, 3.9% Tamang, 1.1% Ghale, 2.6%

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
'' Newari, 2.6% Miya 0.6% Kumal, 0.6% Chepang, and 0.5%

Bajjika Bajjika is an Indo-Aryan language variety spoken in parts of eastern India and Nepal. It is closely related to Maithili (of which it is often considered a dialect). Territory and speakers Bajjika is spoken in the north-western part of Bihar, ...

as their

first language A first language, native tongue, native language, mother tongue or L1 is the first language or dialect that a person has been exposed to from birth or within the critical period. In some countries, the term ''native language'' or ''mother to ...

Khas Khas people (; ne, खस) popularly known as Khas Arya are an Indo-Aryan ethno-linguistic group native to the Himalayan region of South Asia, what is now present-day Nepal, Indian states of Uttarakhand, West Bengal and Sikkim. Historicall ...

are largest aboriginal group in this region they make 38% of total dist population. Pahadi Brahmin second largest group in dist population. Make 21%. Gurungs third largest group in dist population make 16%. 24.7% of the population in the district spoke

, 0.8%

and 0.5% Magar as their

second language A person's second language, or L2, is a language that is not the native language ( first language or L1) of the speaker, but is learned later. A second language may be a neighbouring language, another language of the speaker's home country, or a ...

Health care

Following is the data obtained from the PHASE Nepal website: *Central/regional/zonal hospitals: 0 *District hospitals: 2 *Primary healthcare centres: 3 *Health posts: 10 *Sub-health post: 55 *Number of doctors: 8 A district hospital is in Gorkha, the municipal hospital in Amppipal is supported by a German NGO. The small health centers in many village development committees (VDCs) are without Auxiliary Health Workers (AHWs), Auxiliary Nurse Midwives (ANMs) and Community Health Workers (CHWs). So, people seeking emergency health assistance have to travel a long distance to the district headquarters or Kathmandu or end up dying because of lack of treatment. Many people still believe in Dhami and Jhakri and are against taking medicine or going to the hospital for the treatment. An NGO, PHASE Nepal provides many health care facilities and training programs to three VDCs: Sirdibas, Bihi/Prok and Chumchet. Many people residing in these VDCs have benefited from the program.

Educational status

As per the National Population and Housing Census of Nepal 2011, the literacy rate of Gorkha is 66.34%. The female literacy rate is 59.44% and the male literacy rate is 75.09%. * Drabya Saha Multiple Campus, Gorkha Muniplicity-8, Laxmi Bazar * Gorkha Campus, Gorkha Muniplicity, Gorkha * Bhawani Multiple Campus, Palungtar, Gorkha * Dullav Campus, Masel, Ghyampesal, Gorkha * Paropakar Adarsha Multiple Campus, Jaubari, Gorkha

* Bheemodaya Multiple Campus, Aarughat, Gorkha

Administration

The district consists of 11

Municipalities A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the ...

, out of which two are urban municipalities and nine are

rural municipalities A rural municipality is a classification of municipality, a type of local government, found in several countries. These include: * Rural municipalities in Canada, a type of municipal status in the Canadian provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, ...

. These are as follows: *

* Palungtar Municipality * Sulikot Rural Municipality *

Siranchowk Rural Municipality Siranchok Rural Municipality (Nepali : सिरानचोक गाउँपालिका) is a Gaunpalika in Gorkha District in Gandaki Province of Nepal. On 12 March 2017, the government of Nepal implemented a new local administrative struc ...

* Ajirkot Rural Municipality * Tsum Nubri Rural Municipality * Dharche Rural Municipality * Bhimsen Thapa Rural Municipality * Sahid Lakhan Rural Municipality *

Aarughat Rural Municipality Arughat Municipality (Nepali :आरूघाट गाँउपालिका) is a Gaunpalika in Gorkha District in Gandaki Province of Nepal. It is divided into 10 wards. On 12 March 2017, the government of Nepal implemented a new local adm ...

* Gandaki Rural Municipality

Former Village Development Committees

Prior to the restructuring of the district, Gorkha District consisted of the following municipalities and

Village development committees A village development committee ( ne, गाउँ विकास समिति; ''gāum̐ vikās samiti'') in Nepal was the lower administrative part of its Ministry of Federal Affairs and Local Development. Each district had several VDCs ...

* Aanppipal * Aaru Arbang * Aaru Chanuate * Aarupokhari * Asrang * Baguwa * Bakrang * Bhirkot * Bhumlichok * Bihi * Borlang * Barpak * Bunkot * Chhaikampar * Chhoprak *

Chumchet Chumchet is a village development committee in Gorkha District in the Gandaki Zone of northern-central Nepal. At the time of the 1991 Nepal census it had a population of 979 and had 221 houses in the village. Background The village of Chumchet is ...

* Chyangli * Darbhung * Deurali * Dhawa * Dhuwakot * Gaikhur * Gakhu * Ghairung * Ghyachok * Ghyalchok * Gorakhkali *

* Gumda * Hansapur * Harmi * Jaubari * Kashigaun * Kerabari * Kerauja * Kharibot *

Khoplang Khoplang is a Village development committee (Nepal), village development committee in Gorkha District in the Gandaki Zone of northern-central Nepal. At the time of the 1991 Nepal census it had a population of 5,227 and had 1054 houses in the town. ...

* Laprak * Lapu * Lho * Makaising * Manakamana *

Manbu Manbu is a village development committee in Gorkha District in the Gandaki Zone of northern-central Nepal. At the time of the 1991 Nepal census The 1991 Nepal census was a widespread national census conducted by the Nepal Central Bureau of St ...

Masel Masel is a Village development committee (Nepal), village development committee in Gorkha District in the Gandaki Zone of northern-central Nepal. At the time of the 2011 Nepal census it had a population of 12000+ and had 1000+ houses in the town. R ...

* Mirkot * Muchhok * Namjung *

Nareshwar Nareshwar was a village development committee in Gorkha District in the Gandaki Zone of northern-central Nepal. It was merged into Gorkha Municipality in 2014. At the time of the 1991 Nepal census The 1991 Nepal census was a widespread national c ...

* Palungtar Municipality * Panchkhuwadeurali * Pandrung *

Phinam Phinam ( ne, फिनाम) was a village development committee in Gorkha District in the Gandaki Zone of northern-central Nepal. It was merged into Gorkha Municipality in 2014. At the time of the 1991 Nepal census, it had a population of 2,99 ...

* Phujel * Prok * Ranishwara * Samagaun *

Saurpani Saurpani is Ward no.4 Sulikot Gaupalika (previously village development committee) in Gorkha District in the Gandaki Zone of northern-central Nepal. At the time of the 2011 Nepal census it had a population of 5,958 and had 1,325 houses in the ...

* Srinathkot * Simjung * Sirdibas *

Swara Svara or swara (Devanagari: स्वर, generally pronounced as ''swar'') is a Sanskrit word that connotes simultaneously a breath, a vowel, the sound of a musical note corresponding to its name, and the successive steps of the octave or '' ...

Taklung Taklung is a village development committee in Gorkha District in the Gandaki Zone of northern-central Nepal. At the time of the 1991 Nepal census The 1991 Nepal census was a widespread national census conducted by the Nepal Central Bureau of Sta ...

* Takukot * Takumajhalakuribot * Tandrang * Tanglichok * Taple * Tara Nagar * Thalajung * Thumi * Uiya * Barpak

References

External links

* * {{Authority control Gandaki Province Gurkhas Districts of Nepal established during Rana regime or before