, subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = , subdivision_type1 =

Province A province is an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire, Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

, subdivision_name1 = Lumbini , subdivision_type2 =

District A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municip ...

, subdivision_name2 = Nawalparasi (West of Bardaghat Susta) district , established_title = , founder = Golden King , parts_type = No. of

Ward Ward may refer to: Division or unit * Hospital ward, a hospital division, floor, or room set aside for a particular class or group of patients, for example the psychiatric ward * Prison ward, a division of a penal institution such as a pris ...

s , parts = 13 , seat_type = , seat = , government_footnotes = , government_type =

Mayor–council government A mayor–council government is a system of local government in which a mayor who is directly elected by the voters acts as chief executive, while a separately elected city council constitutes the legislative body. It is one of the two most comm ...

, governing_body = Sunwal City Municipality Government , leader_title = Mayor , leader_name = Bimala Aryal ( UML) , leader_title1 = Deputy mayor , leader_name1 = Surya Prasad Dubey ( UML) , unit_pref = Metric , area_total_km2 = 173.50 , area_metro_km2 = , elevation_m = 131 , population_footnotes = , population_as_of =

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

, population_total = 72,621 , population_density_km2 = , population_rank = 27th , population_metro = 0.11 million , population_blank1_title = Municipal rank , population_blank1 = 29th , timezone1 =

Nepal Standard Time Nepal Standard Time (NPT) is the time zone for Nepal. With a time offset from Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) of UTC+05:45 all over Nepal, it is one of only three time zones with a 45-minute offset from UTC.The others are Chatham Island Stan ...

, utc_offset1 = +05:45 , postal_code_type = Postal Code , postal_code = 33000 , area_code = 078 , area_codes = , iso_code = , website = , module = , footnotes = , other_name = Sunawal, Golden Place, Golden Wall Sunwal City, officially the Sunwal Municipal City, is the urbanized and the most populous city of Parasi District with 72,621 native inhabitants living in 18,689 households in

and 0.11 million people in its urban agglomeration. It is located 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 ...

at an altitude of . The city is one of the oldest continuously inhabited places in Lumbini, founded in the 15th century. The city was historically called the " Sunawal" and has been the home of the Brahmin, Chhetri, Gurung, Magar and Newar people, a cosmopolitan urban civilization in the Himalayan foothills. Today, it runs with the local government of the Nepalese republic, established in 2015, and is part of the Lumbini Province.

Demographics

At the 2011 Nepal census, Sunwal City had a population of 39,846 people living in 8,639 individual households. After the announcement of the municipality by combining two VDCs, the total population of Sunwal Municipality increased to more than 100,000, which is the highest for any municipality in Nawalparasi district. Swathi alone had a population of 10,629 with 2,102 individual households. There are

informal settlements Informal housing or informal settlement can include any form of housing, shelter, or settlement (or lack thereof) which is illegal, falls outside of government control or regulation, or is not afforded protection by the state. As such, the info ...

of squatters at Kerabari, Ramuwapur, Simaltari Charpala, Sirjanatole and Sundarbasti.

Nearby tourist attractions

The Ramagrama stupa is a

stupa In Buddhism, a stupa (, ) is a domed hemispherical structure containing several types of sacred relics, including images, statues, metals, and '' śarīra''—the remains of Buddhist monks or nuns. It is used as a place of pilgrimage and m ...

located in Ramgram Municipality, about 11 km from Sunwal. This

Buddhist pilgrimage The most important places in Buddhism are located in the Indo-Gangetic Plain of southern Nepal and northern India. This is the area where Gautama Buddha was born, lived, and taught, and the main sites connected to his life are now important plac ...

site, which was constructed around 2500 BCE, contains

relics In religion, a relic is an object or article of religious significance from the past. It usually consists of the physical remains or personal effects of a saint or other person preserved for the purpose of veneration as a tangible memorial. Reli ...

Gautama Buddha 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 lege ...

. According to

Buddhist texts Buddhist texts are religious texts that belong to, or are associated with, Buddhism and Schools of Buddhism, its traditions. There is no single textual collection for all of Buddhism. Instead, there are three main Buddhist Canons: the Pāli C ...

, after Buddha's

Mahaparinirvana In Buddhism, ''Parinirvana'' (Sanskrit: '; Pali: ') describes the state entered after death by someone who has attained ''nirvana'' during their lifetime. It implies a release from '' '', karma and rebirth as well as the dissolution of the ''sk ...

, his cremated remains were divided and distributed among the princes of eight of the 16 mahājanapadās. Each of the princes constructed a stupa at or near his capital city, within which the respective portion of the ashes was enshrined. One of them was Rāmagrāma, a major city of the

Koliya Koliya (Pāli: ) was an ancient Indo-Aryan clan of north-eastern South Asia whose existence is attested during the Iron Age. The Koliyas were organised into a (an aristocratic republic), presently referred to as the Koliya Republic. Locat ...

kingdom (sometimes referred to as ''Koliyanagara'') at that time. As of today, the Ramagrama stupa is the only intact and original stupa which contains relics of Buddha. The high stupa is now buried under a mound of earth and is awaiting further research.

Notes

References

External links

Cost of Living Index in Nepal - Statistics & Graphs of Nepalese Citizen's Economic Power
January 10, 2014
Central Bureau of Statistics, Final result of population and housing - census 2011, VDC/Municipality, Table 2 (p. 8)
{{Parasi District Cities in Nepal Nepal municipalities established in 2014 Populated places in Parasi District