Okhaldhunga

Okhaldhunga
—  Village development committee  —
Okhaldhunga Location in Nepal
Coordinates: 27°19′N 86°30′E / 27.317°N 86.5°E / 27.317; 86.5Coordinates: 27°19′N 86°30′E / 27.317°N 86.5°E / 27.317; 86.5
Country	Nepal
Zone	Sagarmatha Zone
District	Okhaldhunga District
Population (1991)
- Total	3,761
Time zone	Nepal Time (UTC+5:45)

Okhaldhunga is the capital of Okhaldhunga District, in the Sagarmatha Zone of Nepal. At the time of the 1991 Nepal census it had a population of 3761 living in 790 individual households.^[1] It is located at 27°19'0N 86°30'0E and has an altitude of 1561 m (5124 ft).^[2]
The district gets its name from Okhal, meaning a grinding stone. As if in evidence of the same, a big grinding stone still lies at the district headquarters, which is also named as Okhaldhuga. The district contains ancient forts such as Okhaldhunga Gadhi, Taluwagadhi, Chisankhukot, Bhaluithumkagadhi, and Chyanmakotgadhi that were important in :the history of Nepal. The birthplace of the famous Nepalese poet, Siddhicharan Shrestha, Okhaldhunga is also known as the 'District of Martyrs'. It is believed that more than 56 citizens of the area died in the Nepalese struggle for democracy. The district provides breathtaking views of snow-capped mountains Sagaramatha, Kanchenjanga, Gaurishankar, Tholedemba, Taklung, Rawadelu and many others. It also possesses many sparkling springs like Pokali, Lipu, Patle, Sepli, Dhikure and more, which descend along the hills from heights of around 300 metres. The district is known. as a good source of slate, especially on the cliffs like Khiji Khijee, Ragani and Dandapakha. The proper development of the slate industry, with procurement, processing and transporting to .lucrative markets could be a boon not just for Okhaldhunga but the entire nation. Other industries that could be developed are copper mining and iron ore mining as the district is said to be rich in these metals. In the agricultural sector the district is well known for various cash crops such as like tea, coffee, cardamom etc. The climate is most suitable for these crops as well as for many different citrus fruits.

Kathmandu to Khiji/Khijee Chandeshori village trekking route for Everest Base Camp

Tourist are attracted towards the beauty of Okhaldhunga Rafting-Rafting in Sunkoshi and Botekoshi attracts the tourist in Nepal. Water-falls – Pokali waterfalls attracts the tourists who are religious and loves natural beauty. If Pokali waterfall could be advertised within Nepal it would relief the public of Okhaldhunga. We can take an example of Pathibhara as a symbol of Devi temple in Taplejung district, the public in Ilam named it as Pathibhara. Visitors from Darjaling and Sikkim visit Pathibhara, this shows that if people have unity the work becomes successful. Gadhi – Historical corners “gadhi” are found to be constant. Repair and maintenance of gadhi could attract the tourist. Chasankhu gadhi of Diyale and Kotkateni gadhi of Thulachhap are also found to be not well taken care of. Cave – Cave has great significance throughout the world. Our ancestors used to live in the cave and wodhar? One of the most popular cave of Pokhara “Mahendra gufa” has demonstrated of attraction of tourist towards cave and wodhar . Chameru Gufa of Okhaldunga Bilandu has proved to be playground “kridasthal” of chameru. The darkness inside the chameru gufa makes it difficult for people to go inside. If proper arrangement could be done, travel would be convenient for the people in the district, and it would make it possible to collect the money as well. Religion- Okhaldhunga has a lot of religious conviction center. After Kathmandu the most faithful conviction center and ????? ?????? should be in Okhaldhunga district. The most popular Pokali water fall and forest shaman cave “ban-jhakri gufa” are found in the district, we have established an institution, “Pokali Jharana Sewa Samajh” to spread the information of these beauty and also to help the sufferers and the orphan locally. Okhaldhunga has the most faithful temples; Shree Champadevi temple in Bilandu -9, Kotika Kalika Devi temple in Chisankhu, Jageshwar Mahadev temple in Salleri Laglage, Pokhara devi temple in Tin Kanya Devi temple Pokhara-1, Namaideshwor Mahadev temple in Singhadevi Temple, Kuibhir -5, Mahadev temple of Thulibanshi in Bunnam and Kuntadevi temple of Khudampa in Diyale, Samanawati devi temple in Barnalu-9, Raghuwireshowr Mahadev temple in Okhaldhunga bazaar, and Kalikadevi in Saraswati sthan, Jalpadevi in Bhimsensthan, Watuk bhairab Ganesh temple. Involvement of local government bodies and local people of Okhaldhunga in spreading the information of these temple to people is seem to be important. Social and cultural institution should also play leadership role in the process. Gumba – 15% of Buddhist are in Okhaldhunga and we have eight popular gumba which are also not well informed to the public. Some popular gumba of the district are Tolthol gumba, Riyal gumba and Dolakhark gumba of Patle, Kimardin gumba of Bhusinga, Ketuke gumba of Ketuke, Bhirkhark gumba of Khiji, Ghunsa gumba of Baruneshwor and Lamja gumba of Ragani. These gumba attracts both national and foreign tourists, and nuns and monks. We need to do some fine-grained research studies on gumba of Manang, Mustang and Rasuwa. In reality it is not practical for Okhaldhunga if you stay in a room like you would if you were to make a development strategy for national planning in Kathmandu. The reason behind this is only the local public of Okhaldhunga knows the taste of water, and they have love and affection for Okhaldhunga. These local public of Okhaldhunga live their life and send the last minute of their life in Okhaldhunga due to which they should be devoted in development of the district and spreading the information to help growth of the tourism. We should be free from our misunderstanding of the Government employees, they are not going to benefit Okhaldhunga nor are they going to view Okhaldhunga with a sacred vision. Things to do to make Okhaldhunga a tourism sector: People living outside the district needs to spread the information of Okhaldhunga. Integrate the religious and racial unity in the district. Coordinate the plans and programs of Okhaldhunga to the Non-government organizations. A feeling of “Village development is development of your own home” should be developed. If we could adopt these above mentioned points, it will not take long for us to reach to our goals and objectives
Khijee Chandashwori Majh Gaun ward No.2 ED.By Mr.Durga Sunuwar (copy)

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1. ^ "Nepal Census 2001", Nepal's Village Development Committees (Digital Himalaya), http://www.digitalhimalaya.com/collections/nepalcensus/form.php?selection=1, retrieved 15 November 2009 .
2. ^ Location of Okhaldhunga - Falling Rain Genomics

External links

• UN map of the municipalities of Okhaldhunga District