Introduction

Khokana, a traditional and tiny Newari village eight kilometers south of Kathmandu (on the outskirts of Patan), which has its own history and has retained its tradition and culture. It is a living museum and recalls medieval times. The farming community of Newars who live here are mostly dependent on agriculture and much of their daily activities take place outside of their dwellings.
There are women sitting outside spinning, men crushing seeds, and other daily activities. The village is famous for its unusual mustard-oil harvesting process in which a heavy wooden beam is used to crush the mustard seeds in order to extract the oil. It is believed that a share system was used in the past here. This oil can be consumed if desired, but it can also be used for therapeutic massage. This was also the first village, indeed the first habitation, to be electrified, before Kathmandu.

In the center is a three-storey temple, Shree Rudrayani, with a particularly wide main street, especially for a village of such small size. Khokana has been nominated to be listed as a World Heritage Site, Khokana, representing a vernacular village and its mustard-oil seed industrial heritage.
"Khokana is a unique village which can be taken as a model of a medieval settlement pattern with a system of drainage and chowks. It houses chaityas and a Mother Goddess temple. The mustard-oil seed industry has become the living heritage of the village

 There were four main public mustard oil mills in 2000 AD. Now all of them are barely in use. Each mill has its members from almost every household in the past. In the course of time, a large number of members sought their fate in other professions, since they could not compete with the corporate products. Eventually, the members ebbed away. The gradual declination in use of mills over a decade and unhealthy market competition were the obvious reasons behind the extinction of traditional oil-mill for a time being. However, UNESCO backed the shareholders of the mills to renovate and bring them back into use. This oil is primarily used for cooking, but also used it for therapeutic massage.