Pilgrims travelling to Muktinath and salt-for-grain traders used a trade route along the Kaligandaki since ancient times, but the Baglung Bazaar plateau shows no evidence of settlement before the 16th century. The first confirmed settlement dates to the reign of King Pratapi Narayan of the Parbat (later Galkot) Kingdom in the early 16th century; in 1534 AD he established the goddess Kalika at Baglung and his caretaker Chakra Panwar, titled Khadka, founded the bazaar. Three centuries later, after Gorkha annexed the Parbat kingdom, Newar traders from Bhaktapur built permanent trading houses and Baglung was proclaimed a 'choti gauda' (district headquarters), a status it kept through the Rana regime to the present. Galkot, in the mid-west of the district, was one of the 24 Chaubisi rajya petty kingdoms ruled by Malla kings before Nepal's unification. In the early 1960s Dhorpatan was chosen as a resettlement site for Tibetan refugees, and during the 1996-2006 civil war Maoist insurgents seized control of the Dhorpatan Hunting Reserve area.
Researched by the ChillNepal team from published sources. Spot something out of date? Tell us from the place's page.
