Rabi is situated in Panchthar district of Nepal. It is one of the beautiful hill stations in the eastern part of Nepal. The hill lies at an altitude of 1800m above sea level. It is the main bazaar (city) of Miklajung Rural Municipality Panchthar. The total population in this place is 3686 according to the 2011 census of Nepal. There are about 678 individual households in this place. It is 484.3 KM far from Kathmandu (capital city of Nepal). It takes around 13-14-hours to reach Rabi by bus from Kathmandu.
The name Rabi is named after the name of Rabi Karna Rai. In 1870 BS on Baisakh Purnima, he invited people from different castes and established Indrani Bazaar for commercial selling of local products. Since the Indrani Bazaar was formed by Rabi Karna Rai, local people of that bazaar later rename the Indrani Bazar as Rabi Bazar. Every Saturday the bazaar is full of local buyers to buy the local produce produced by farmers.
Place to visit in Rabi, Panchthar
Mangmalung
Mangmalung is located in the southern part of Rabi Panchthar. In Mangmalung we can see the stone situated at the edge of another big stone in the hill between the jungle. It is said that the stone has lots of supernatural power, so lots of religious people came to worship the supernatural power of stone. Another interesting thing about this stone is, we can move the big Mangmalung stone by little finger but it will never fall down even if we push it with huge force.
There is also one small temple in Mangmalung. People belonging to the Kirant religion come to worship this temple. As the temple is located at the top of the hill, we can also view other different hills.
Bauli Dhunga
Bauli Dhunga is located in the high point of Rabi. The word Bauli means bride and Dhunga means stone. According to the local people, years before when the groom’s side were resting on a hill while bringing the bride to the groom’s house, suddenly the bride disappeared and was converted into stone. From that day the name of the stone is given as Bauli Dhunga, to represent the disappeared bride. From this place we can see the views of a green forest which is really amusing. The fresh air and the environment full of natural beauty is the main attraction of this place.
Yawarang and Lilwa Waterfalls
The short hike down from Rabi bazaar leads you to two famous waterfalls of Panchthar (Yawarang waterfall and Lilwa Waterfall). Both waterfalls are so amusing. The mesmerising sound of the waterfall really melts the heart of the visitor. During the summer we can see lots of local people swimming near waterfalls enjoying the views.
Senchalangma Tea Garden
Senchalangma tea gardens is also located 1 and half Km away from Rabi bazaar which is one of the beautiful places that can attract the visitor. The Tea garden at the top of hill will give you the vibes of Kanyam (famous tea garden in Ilam, Nepal). We can even buy organic tea from this tea garden. The tea gardener with traditional Nepali attire gives the extra beauty to the garden. The pine tree in between the tea garden makes the garden more beautiful.
-Article written by: Anita Khatri for Land Nepal
