Notes | region and administrative unit in Mid-Western Nepal.
In the interim report of census published by the Department of Statistics in 1954, Aṭhāra Saya Kholā is enlisted under two administrative divisions: Paścima number 1 Dhading and Paścima number 2 Gorkha (N. A. VS 2011: 29, 36). This division came only later during the Rāṇā period while the large area stretching all the way to Dhading and Nuwakot was already known as Aṭhāra Saya Kholā even at the time of Gorkha King Rāma Śāha (1614-1636).
A document from 1852 CE mentions that the administration of the country was divided into 69 units during the time of Jaṅga Bahādura. However, they cannot be termed as districts, as the division appears to have been made for specific purposes (Vaidya and Manandhar VS 2053: 184). But the uniformity in the structure of districts came only during the reign of Vīra Samasera (1885-1901). Except for some minor changes, the structure of the districts remained the same throughout the Rāṇā period. There were 20 districts in the hill region while the terai region had 12 districts, making it 32 districts. The three districts of the Kathmandu Valley came under the central administration (Vaidya and Manandhar VS 2053: 185-186).
The name Aṭhāra Saya Kholā was retained even in the new arrangements by the Rāṇā regime but it converted the region into two separate administrative divisions. Paścima 1 No. Dhading had 27 villages with 1,545 houses with equal number of families then. Paścima 2 No. Gorkha had 32 villages with 913 families living in equal number of houses.
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