Studies done so far in different countries of the world have shown there was inadequate knowledge and unfavorable attitude of nurses towards mental illness. Also Knowledge and attitude of nurses were associated with variety of factors which were rooted with socio-demographic characteristics, type of training taken, institution of graduation, work experience and profession. Despite the increased burden of mental disorders, still there is information gap showing the knowledge and attitude of nurses towards mental illness. Therefore the results of this study will be used as base line data for planning to improve the knowledge and attitude of nurses and for further studies on the subject area.