Gulmi Districtगुल्मी जिल्ला

Gulmi is a densely settled mid-hill district of 1,149 km² between the Kali Gandaki river on its northern rim and the ridges bordering Arghakhanchi and Palpa, with farmed slopes running from warm river valleys around 460 m to temperate ridgetops above 2,500 m. Its demographic story is stark: the 2021 census counted 246,494 people, down from 280,160 in 2011 — a decline of 1.23% per year, the fastest in the province — and the sex ratio of 83.31 males per 100 females is the second-lowest in Nepal, the signature of generations of men leaving for Indian, Gulf and Malaysian employment.

Khas communities (Bahun, Chhetri and associated castes) make up about two-thirds of the population and Magars most of the rest, with Nepali spoken by over 95%. Gulmi's claim on the national economy is coffee: in 1938 the hermit Hira Giri planted seeds brought from Burma at Aapchaur, the first coffee grown in Nepal, and after commercial cultivation took off in the mid-1980s the district became the pioneer of the country's organic arabica industry, which now exports most of its crop. Oranges from the Dhurkot area and terraced grain farming round out an agricultural economy heavily supplemented by remittances.

The headquarters Tamghas sits below Resunga, a forested sacred ridge of meditation retreats that gives its name to the surrounding municipality. On the district's eastern edge, where the Ridi Khola meets the Kali Gandaki, the pilgrimage town of Ridi (Ruru Kshetra) and its Rishikesh temple draw bathers and devotees, especially at Maghe Sankranti; the fort-palace site of Gulmi Darbar, seat of one of the Chaubisi principalities absorbed during unification, survives in the name of a rural municipality. With two municipalities and ten rural municipalities, Gulmi has more local levels than any other hill district in the province.