Mahottari lies in the Mithila region of Nepal's southern Terai, a cultural zone historically associated with the ancient Videha kingdom and the Ramayana. The district's name-town, Jaleshwar, grew around the Jaleshwar Mahadev Temple, an ancient Shiva shrine whose lingam lies submerged in water, giving the town its name, which means 'God in Water'. Matihani on the Indian border is linked in local tradition to the Ramayana as the site where the Matkor wedding ceremony of Sita and Rama was performed in the Treta Yuga, and its Yajnavalkya Lakshminarayan Vidyapeeth is documented as one of Nepal's oldest Sanskrit schools, established by the Sena dynasty. In the modern era, the cross-border Jaynagar railway began as a 762 mm freight railway in 1937, became a passenger line, closed in 2014 for conversion to broad gauge, and reopened in 2022 as Nepal's only operational passenger railway at the time, with an extension toward Bardibas under construction. The current local bodies were formed in the 2014-2017 restructuring: Gaushala Municipality in May 2014, Bardibas Municipality in December 2014 (expanded 2017), and Matihani Municipality in 2017.
Researched by the ChillNepal team from published sources. Spot something out of date? Tell us from the place's page.
