The region south of the Himalayas developed as a stronghold of the Kham Magar people, a Sino-Tibetan community, and lay in the orbit of successive powers including the Kirata, Kushan, Gupta, Maurya, Tibetan and Khasa kingdoms, producing a long synthesis of Hinduism, Shamanism, Masto worship, Bon and Buddhism. After the 11th century the region was ruled by Khasa Kingdom rulers; when that kingdom disintegrated, a descendant named Pitambar is recorded to have ruled the region after defeating the Magar king Bokshe Jad, before it broke into principalities that the Shah kings integrated into modern Nepal (1777-1799). Before 1975 substantial portions of the area were territorially merged with Palpa district under the Rana regime and with Baglung district during the Panchayat era, and the district was once a prosperous heartland of hashish production until the 1976 Drug Trafficking and Abuse Act banned cannabis and abruptly ended that affluence. From 1996 to 2006 Eastern Rukum, a Magar-majority area, was one of the historical base areas of the People's War of Nepal, providing foot soldiers, commanders, leaders and martyrs, which pivoted the country into a democratic federal republic in 2008; in 2018 the district was declared fully literate with a literacy rate over 95%. Eastern Rukum was formally created as a separate district on 20 September 2015, when Rukum District was split into Western Rukum and Eastern Rukum in the state's reconstruction of administrative divisions.
Researched by the ChillNepal team from published sources. Spot something out of date? Tell us from the place's page.
