Chisapani

  Chisapani  

An ancient Newar village of Ramechhap, Chisapani, a place with less rainfall and a scarcity of freshwater springs, has been thirsty for centuries.

Locals spent 500 years fetching water from Tama Koshi, which took at least two hours.

An interesting old tradition of Chisapani is still followed to this day, where they carry 100 pails of water up the village. This tradition is organized the same way every year.

Chisapani village is divided into two parts, lower and upper sections and residents of both sections participate in the tradition with separate groups which has preserved the tradition.

Manthali is the headquarters of the Ramechhap district which lies on the BP highway connecting Bardibas to Kathmandu at a distance of around 15 Km from Khurkot.

The road can take you to Charikot, Dolakha District’s headquarters. You can go all the way to Jiri via this roadway as well.

There is a bridge to Tama Koshi, and both regions of the bridge fall within the Ramecchap district.

  Chisapani Village  

Chisapani village has existed here for more than 500 years. A village settled on the Northern slope of a mountain, consisting of traditional houses and accompanied by Newar modern concrete houses.

A clustered village it looks quite captivating, it is a village that was established by the Newar who came from Kathmandu and have been able to preserve their identity despite various challenges.

It has been around 500-550 years since this village was established there, people had been living on the banks of Tama Koshi river.

Although the name of this place is Chisapani, the major issue of this place was none other than water.

The residents of this place faced this challenge for more than 10 generations. After exploring various alternatives, the residents could water here about a decade ago.

They came up with the idea of storing water at a height with the help of lifting technology and they succeeded as well, after 500 years the residents were able to drink water without much worry.

There is a stairway beginning from Tama Koshi up to the village and it looks quite impressive and it’s quite long as well.

  Bhimsen Temple  

Right at the top of the village is the Bhimsen temple, and there is a Chautara (rest stop) at the top of the village. we have to go beyond the Chautara to get to the Bhimsen Temple.

The conclusion of the Maghe Bhajan program so, that the devotees have carried the Jal Dhara from the river to the temple there.

After the special Puja, the Jal Dhara is brought back to the village.

  Bhatere  

On the way to Chisapani Fort, we can see one place called Bhatere, this place is also related to the Chisapani Ghadi troop that was established here in this way.

When the war between Nepal and the English began back then, a troop of soldiers was in the fort.

It is believed that when enemies were captured, they were brought here for imprisonment and some death penalties.

During that time the soldiers came here to eat and when this spot became usual for lunch, it started to be called Bhatere in this way.

  Chisapani Fort   

Chisapani Gadhi (fort) situated at the top of Chisapani village is a historic place where the backup Gorkhali troops were held during the Nepal-English war.

There is a stairway leading up the fort from there around 10-15 minutes to get to the fort.

It’s quite interesting out there you can see all the surrounding regions from up there and a wall area at the top of this mountain.

There is a bunker-like pit in the vicinity of the fort, it is believed that the enemies captured during the war were then held in this bunker.

During the Nepal-English war, Nepali troops were based there to protect Sindhuli Gadhi as their main fort.

The weapons that were seized during the battles were also stored in this location. there are many mysterious sites in and around this area, it’s said that there was a bunker nearby.

We can assume that these were large pits dug in the ground to store various things.

Chisapani Gadhi which still retains the brave history of Nepalese, is an example of old war strategies.

This place holds great potential in terms of tourism as well, you can get a 360-degree view of the surrounding regions from up there.

Mahabharat mountain range to the south, we can also see the Sindhuli Gadhi from up there and see the flatlands to the East and the Manthali Bazar.

A walking trail has been constructed towards the Siddha Baba temple, it’s quite relaxing to be in this cool environment amongst these pine trees.

We can find special rocks below the fort, these rocks are believed to have been brought there from Tama Koshi.

  Sindhuli Ghadhi   

If we look back at the history of this place, in 1814 when the Nepal-English war began many forts were established in various places, and Sindhuli Gadhi was also established during that time.

This place is at a short distance from Sindhuli Gadhi, a group of Nepali soldiers were based here on this fort as a backup for Sindhuli Gadhi.

If additional soldiers were required at Sindhuli Gadhi, they were sent from Chisapani Gadhi. it’s said that the captured enemy soldiers were sentenced there.