Municipality Background :
Ratnanagar Municipality is located in Central Development Region of Nepal bordering with the third tourism destination of Nepal, Chitwan National Park and also recognized one of the suitable region for habitation. Since East-West Highway (Mahendra Highway) intersects the Municipality, it is easy to outreach every region within the municipality. Ratnanagar Municipality was formed by merging Ratnanagar VDC and Panchakanya VDC in 2053/10/11 B.S. In 2071/8/16 B.S. two more VDCs, Pithuwa VDC and Bachhyauli VDC were added under the decision of Nepal Government. Ratnanagar is enriched with abundant fertile agricultural land, forest of Barandaabhaar region, rare wild animals and birds along with wetland.
Historical Background :
Initially the aborigine Tharu community have been living in Ratnanagar Municipality region. There was widespread of Malaria epidemic previously. However after the mitigation of the epidemic, there was large migration of people from various parts of the country. Presently the majority of people are those migrated from other region with a nominal population of indigenous community. Though varieties of people have been living from various parts, there is a harmonious environment of coexistence and brotherhood in society.
There are various hearsay regarding the origin of name of various places of this region. Among them, one is of Laurighol. It is believed during Treta Yug, Lord Shree Krishna used to come here to graze his cattle and used to bore hole with his stick (lauri) in the ground to generate water (ghol) for cattle, hence named Laurighol. Another hearsay is that according to Shiva Puran , Agni's wife Rati meditated Lord Shiva wishing to have Agni as her husband in this sacred land. And since the wish was fulfilled, it is heard that deriving from her name (Rati) and the land was named Ratnanagar. Also there has been saying that after the visit of contemporary Queen Ratnarajya Laxmi Shah to Devauli Village Panchayat , Devauli region name was changed to Ratnanagar VDC and then to Ratnanagar Municipality.
