Panauti

Panauti is a municipality in Kavrepalanchok District in Bagmati Province of Nepal, about 32 kilometres south-east of Kathmandu. It is a medieval Newar town whose architectural complex was nominated by Nepal as a UNESCO tentative site in 1996. Its recorded history reaches back to the first century AD, and it grew as a trading hub on the old salt route between Tibet and India until the salt trade ended in the 1950s and the Arniko Highway bypassed it in the 1960s. The Indreshwar temple, begun in 1294, is described as the oldest surviving temple in Nepal and survived the 2015 earthquake. The 2021 census counted 51,504 people, of whom 58.4 percent spoke Nepali and 21.1 percent Tamang as a first language, and the national information technology park lies within the municipality.