Pyuthan is a municipality in the

Pyuthan District Pyuthan District ( , is a "hill" district some west of Kathmandu in Lumbini Province in midwestern Nepal. Pyuthan covers an area of with population of 212,484 in 2001 and 226,796 in 2011. Pyuthan Khalanga is the district's administrative c ...

in the

Lumbini Province Lumbini Province () is a Provinces of Nepal, province in western Nepal. The country's Provinces of Nepal, third largest province in terms of area as well as List of Nepalese provinces by population, population, Lumbini is home to the World Herita ...

of Nepal. This municipality is named after the district name Pyuthan. It is also the major market center and the administrative center of district. The municipality was established on 18 May 2014 by merging the existing VDCs Khaira, Dakha Kwadi, Bijaya Nagar, Bijuwar, Dharmawati,

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 Pyuthan is a municipality in the Pyutha ...

and Khalanga 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 VDCs; Majhkot and Jumrikanda added, Khalanga separated and managed the municipality into 10 new wards. Nayabajar Jumri and Bijuwar are the major markets of Pyuthan Municipality. The town is situated about 500 meters above the intensively cultivated floodplain of Jhimruk Khola about 15 kilometers north of the

Mahabharat Range The Lower Himalayan Range, also called the Lesser Himalayas and Mahabharat Lekh or Himachal, is one of the four parallel sub-ranges of the Himalayas. It has the Great Himalayas to the north and the Sivalik Hills to the south. It extends from th ...

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

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

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 ...

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

Brahmin Brahmin (; ) is a ''Varna (Hinduism), varna'' (theoretical social classes) within Hindu society. The other three varnas are the ''Kshatriya'' (rulers and warriors), ''Vaishya'' (traders, merchants, and farmers), and ''Shudra'' (labourers). Th ...

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

King Gyanendra Gyanendra Shah (born 7 July 1947) is the final monarch of Nepal, ruled from 2001 until 2008, when the monarchy was overthrown. He briefly held the throne as a child between 1950 and 1951, when his grandfather Tribhuvan and his family fled to In ...

was removed from office in 2008B.S, 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 gove ...

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 N ...

who was a charter member of the

Communist Party of Nepal The Communist Party of Nepal (), 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 regime, feudalism, and imperialism. The founding general secretary ...

. 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 (), also known as the Shahs of Gorkha or the Royal House of Gorkha, was the ruling Chaubise Thakuri dynasty and the founder of the Gorkha Kingdom from 1559 to 1768 and later the unified Kingdom of Nepal from 1768 to 28 May ...

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 then Kingdom of Nepal from 1996 to 2006. It saw countrywide fighting between the Kingdom rulers and the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), with the latter making ...

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 or NH01 (previously: H01) (), 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 th ...

and a spur road from Bhalubang along the

West Rapti River The West Rapti, also known as the Kuwano, is a river which drains Rapti Zone in Mid-Western Region, Nepal, then Awadh and Bhojpur- Purvanchal regions of Uttar Pradesh state, India before joining the Ghaghara. It is a major left bank tributa ...

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

Etymology

Pyuthan ''Khalanga'' () means military barracks. It generally signifies a military post larger than a ''kot'' ().

Media

To promote local culture Pyuthan has four

community radio Community radio is a radio service offering a third model of radio broadcasting in addition to commercial broadcasting, commercial and public broadcasting. Community broadcasting, Community stations serve geographic communities and communities o ...

stations; Radio Mandavi - 97.0 MHz and Radio Pyuthan - 92.0 MHz, Radio Kripalu and Radio Lisne Aawaj. Similarly weekly newspapers are also published.

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