Khotang खोटाङ

Khotang is best known for the Halesi Mahadev cave complex, 26 km west of the district headquarters at Diktel — a limestone labyrinth at around 1,300 metres whose natural rock formations are venerated simultaneously as Shiva lingas, as the meditation cave of Guru Padmasambhava, and as a sacred site in Kirati cosmology. This triple significance earns it the title 'Pashupatinath of the East', and it draws pilgrims in greatest numbers at Shivaratri and Janai Purnima. The rest of the district is quiet Rai and Chamling country, terraced at the mid-hill elevations that characterise the Sagarmatha zone east of the main trekking highways.

Khotang sees a modest, steady flow of domestic pilgrims but very few foreign visitors outside organised pilgrim tours. The population is predominantly Rai, with Chamling — one of the larger Kirati languages — spoken across much of the countryside. For travellers drawn by the Halesi pilgrimage, the site works well combined with a night in Diktel Bazaar; for those on the Jiri-to-Everest foot trail, the district's eastern ridges form part of the older, less-walked approach to the Khumbu.