Rapti Zone - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Rapti Zone

Encyclopedia

Rapti Anchal are the indigenous people and the creators of the historical civilization of Nepal's Kathmandu Valley. The valley and surrounding territory have been known from ancient times as Nepal Mandala, its limits ever changing through history.Newas have lived in the Kathmandu...

merchants. Rolpa district mainly lies along Mardi Khola, the other large Rapti tributary that is more eroded into an inner gorge and less suited to traditional irrigation projects.

Pyuthan and Rolpa extend north to a rugged 3-4,000 meter ridgeline marking the limits of the Rapti

West Rapti River

Not to be confused with the East Rapti in Chitwan Valley some to the east, this Rapti drains Rapti Zone in Mid-Western Region, Nepal, then Awadh and Purvanchal regions of Uttar Pradesh state, India before joining the Ghaghara a major left bank tributary of the Ganges.The West Rapti is notable for...

basin. Kham Magar
Kham Magar
Kham Magar and Northern Magar are descriptive terms invented by academic linguists and anthropologists for a nationality in the Middle Hills of mid-western Nepal inhabiting highlands extending through eastern Rukum and northern Salyan, Rolpa and Pyuthan Districts in Rapti Zone as well as adjacent...

live in small villages throughout these highlands up to about 2,500 meters. They herd sheep, goats and cattle in high summer pastures as far north as the western Dhaulagiri

Dhaulagiri

Dhaulagiri is Earth's seventh highest mountain at ; one of fourteen over eight thousand metres. Dhaulagiri was first climbed May 13, 1960 by a Swiss/Austrian expedition....

Himalaya in Rukum district, moving south to the Mahabharat Range in winter. Kham also cultivate subtropical and temperate fruit trees such as mulberry, citrus and Asian pear as cash crops. Until it was outlawed in the 1970s they cultivated hemp and made hashish bought by government agents to be sold in monopoly stores. Termination of these arrangements increased Kham outmigration in search of employment and contributed to discontent with the Shah regime.

Salyan resembles Pyuthan in having a mix of rice-growing lowlands inhabited by caste Hindus, and uplands inhabited by Kham peoples. It is drained by the Babai and Bheri River

Bheri River

The Bheri River is a major tributary of the Karnali River draining the western Dhaulagiri range in western Nepal. It has three important upper tributaries. Sani Bheri drains southern slopes of this range while Thuli Bheri drains northern slopes. Another tributary Uttar Ganga drains Dhorpatan...

s.

Rukum is Rapi Zone's northernmost, most mountainous district including the western part of Dhaulagiri

Dhaulagiri

Dhaulagiri is Earth's seventh highest mountain at ; one of fourteen over eight thousand metres. Dhaulagiri was first climbed May 13, 1960 by a Swiss/Austrian expedition....

Himalaya drained by the Bheri River
Bheri River
The Bheri River is a major tributary of the Karnali River draining the western Dhaulagiri range in western Nepal. It has three important upper tributaries. Sani Bheri drains southern slopes of this range while Thuli Bheri drains northern slopes. Another tributary Uttar Ganga drains Dhorpatan...

. At lower elevations it is populated by Hindu

Hindu

Hindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...

Khas people said to be ancestral to most of Nepal's Bahun

Bahun

Bahun is a colloquial Nepali term for a member of the Pahari or "hill" Brahmin caste, who are traditionally educators, scholars and priests of Hinduism. They are also known as Barmu in Newari. By tradition—and by civil law until 1962—they represented the highest of the four Hindu...

s and Chhetris living further east. Kham Magars live higher up. A notable valley called Rukumkot
Rukumkot
Rukumkot is a town located in a valley in Rukum district, Nepal approximately 350 kilometres west of Kathmandu. Nearby is a pond called Rukmini Tal Rukumkot is a town located in a valley in Rukum district, Nepal approximately 350 kilometres west of Kathmandu. Nearby is a pond called Rukmini Tal...

lies near the district's geographical center.

Rapti Zone has a history of radical politics since the mid-20th century and in the 1990s became a center of the Maoist (maobadi) rebellion against the royal government and the fragile democracy that the late King Birendra eventually supported.

See also