Biratnagar

Sister cities

• Colombo

History

In Nepali, Birat () refers to King "Virata" of the Matsya Kingdom and Nagar () means "city"; literally King Virata's City. In 1914, Colonel Jit Bahadur Khatri, the then district governor, laid the foundations of modern Biratnagar by moving the hospital, post office, prison and the customs, land registry, forestry and auditor offices to Gograha Bazaar from Rangeli, the then district capital of Morang. The recorded history of Biratnagar dates back to the beginning of the 7th century, when King Mung Mawrong Hang came to prominence in the terai lands of Limbuwan (present-day Sunsari, Morang, and Jhapa areas). He cleared much of the forest area in present-day Rangeli, east of Biratnagar, and built a town there. He named his Kingdom Morang after his name and rose to power. The old name of Biratnagar was Gograha Bazaar. The ruins of temples, palaces, and ponds are scattered in a vast area to the south of the current city, in Vedhyari, Buddhanagar. The preservation of this heritage has been a major problem citing the encroachment of newcomers into the city. The town was named Biratnagar in 1919 (1976 BS) by Keshar Shamsher Rana after the ruins of a palace, thought to be of King Virat, and other objects of historical importance were found. On 4 March 1947, the first anti-Rana movement in Nepal started in Biratnagar at the Biratnagar jute mills under the leadership of Girija Prasad Koirala and B. P. Koirala. This sparked a countrywide anti-Rana demonstration that eventually led to the abolishment of Rana rule in Nepal. During the panchayat system in Nepal the Pradhan Pancha who also happened to manage district level body for Biratnagar was Govinda Bahadur Baruwal. He was also the committee member of Mahendra Morang Adarsh Multiple Campus (MMAMC) which is one of the oldest,…

Geography

Biratnagar is the administrative center of the Greater Birat Development Area, which aims to connect Biratnagar with major nearby towns—including Itahari, Gothgau, Biratchowk, and Dharan—along the Koshi Highway, representing a combined, densely populated urban corridor sharing an estimated total population of 804,300 people across 159,332 households. Geographically, Biratnagar lies east of Kathmandu, 362 kilometers south of Kimathanka - the Nepalese counterpart of the Nepal-China border at Zhentang, and north of Jogbani - the bordering town in the Indian state of Bihar. Its connection with Kathmandu runs primarily through the East-West highway and secondarily through the mid-hill highway, with that of Kimathanka through the Koshi highway, and with that of Jogbani through the Rani Path (the old highway), the Koshi Path (the new highway), and the recently proposed Jogbani-Biratnagar rail link.