Jaleshwar, headquarters of Mahottari district in Nepal’s Madhesh Province, takes its name from the ancient Jaleshwarnath Mahadev temple — a revered Shiva shrine where the lingam sits in a pool of water, drawing great crowds in the month of Shravan and on Mahashivratri.
A Maithili-speaking town close to the open border with Bihar, Jaleshwar is one of the chain of Madhesh district capitals — Janakpur, Jaleshwar, Rajbiraj — through which the cultural life of northern Mithila flows.