Former administrative units of Nepal
I made this blog post as I was unable to find any reliable data on what was the administrative structure of Nepal before it was divided into 75 district by King Mahendra in 1961AD.
Before Rana Era
During the rule of King Rajendra Bikram and PM Bhimsen thapa in 1816 AD(1873BS) Nepal was divided into 10 District. Very little written documents were available of the time. All areas east of Dudhkoshi River were one district, Dhankuta. No reference image was found and this information itself is referenced from historical background of Dhankuta district which dictates following
"श्री ५ राजेन्द्रविक्रम शाह र प्रधानमन्त्री भीमसेन थापाको शासनकालमा प्रशासनिक दृष्टिकोणले वि.सं.१८७३ साल पश्चात देश १० जिल्लामा विभाजन भयो । विभाजन अनुसार दूधकोशी पुर्व माझकिराँत तथा पल्लोकिराँत मेची सिमानासम्मको भू-भाग चैनपूर धनकुटा जिल्ला अन्तर्गत पर्दथ्यो । राणाकालका तेस्रो प्रधानमन्त्रीका रुपमा वि.सं. १९४२ साल तिर बीर शम्सेर भए । यिनैको कार्यकालमा शाहकालीन नेपालको १० जिल्लाहरुलाई बत्तीस जिल्लामा विभाजन गरियो । यसै समयदेखि जिल्लाहरुको स्वरुपमा एकरुपता आएको र सामान्य परिवर्तन वाहेक राणाकालको अन्त्यसम्म जिल्लाहरुको त्यही स्वरुप रहेको देखिन्छ । पहाडी बीस जिल्लाहरुमा साधारणतया एक जना वडाहाकिम रहने व्यवस्था लागु गरियो । तर ति बीस जिल्लामध्ये पाल्पा, धनकुटा र डोटी जिल्लाहरुलाई बिशेषस्थान प्राप्त भयो । पश्चिममा पाल्पा र डोटी, पूर्वमा धनकुटा जिल्लालाई गौंडा बनाइयो ।"
During Rana Era
During the rule of prime minister Bir Shumsher Jang Bahadur Rana (1885-1901) Nepal was divided into 32 districts. Hilly region had 20 districts and Terai had 12 districts. Doti, Palpa and Dhankuta were 3 gaunda (गौंडा) or Cantonment, a main military center for the region. While Salyan, Pyudhan, Dailekh, Baitadi and Jumla were assigned as Choti Gauda (Small Cantonment). Terai districts were reffered as Tahasil (तहसिल).Each district were meant to be under Bara Hakim.
The Bara Hakim (बडा हाकिम) was assigned overall charge of the district administration, both revenue and police. On the revenue side, the Bara Hakim is assited by one or more Mal Subbas (माल सुब्बा) who is concered with collection of land revenue and rent. In most places, a heriditary official called Zimmval (जिम्बाल) was responsible for collection of Land revenue. This was somtimes done by Mukhiya (मुखिया) who performed the work of record keeping and revenue collection.
There are again no maps showing this division. There is however a map prepared during this period. This map was prepared in 1948 AD (2006 BS) drawn by Dil Bahadur Chitrakar and involving Satya Mohan Joshi who has discribed the process in his article.
There were three towns reffered to as Town Panchayats
Namely Kathmandu, Patan, Bhaktapur, Birgunj
 |
| Administrative Map of Nepal. Source: Setopati |
The above map does not show the actual number of districts as it shows more divisions than present at the time. The actual name and no of District is clearly mentioned in प्रशासकीय पुनर्गठन समिति (बुच कमिशन) को प्रतिवेदन, २००९. Which is as follows
The Government of Nepal Act, 2005 however have slight changes as it includes Glumi District and omits Bajhang. Most probably the boundary of districts were changed as per convinience during the period.
After Rana Era (before 75 districts)
After 1951AD (2007 BS) there were lots of changes in district structure regularly as a part to restructure the district as has been documented in the report प्रशासकीय पुनर्गठन समिति (बुच कमिशन) को प्रतिवेदन, २००९. . And duing the 1950s the map of Nepal was published within Nepal for the first time. I have incluced two versions of the map both of which indicates the same district demarkation showing in total 37 district while many documents shows the no of district to be 35.
 |
| Geographical Map of Nepal prepared & published in 1950s |
Here is the another map published in 1965AD(2023BS) which included the data collected by Peace Crop volunteers between 1963-65AD. While by then Nepal was divided into 14 Zones and 75 districts by King Mahendra the map boundary shows old districts. The numbers has been added later for indication
 |
| 1965 Map of Nepal prepared for Peace Crops Volunteers in Nepal |
I georeferenced this map in QGOS to see how boundaries aligned up to districts today. The result and the georeferenced image are provided below.
Key intriguing points are size of Palpa and Dhankuta which were really huge at the time
 |
| The above map geo-referenced to present district boundary |
14 Zones and 75 Districts
On 1961 (2018 BS) Nepal was divided into 14 Zones and 75 districts by King Mahendra.
This district boundary has remained fairly intact but on 2017 August under new province restructuring Nawalparasi and Rukum were split into two making total of 77 districts.
References
I have tried to make it as accurate as possible, but as always if you have any comments and suggestions regarding the topic it would be welcome.
Comments
Post a Comment