output gibberish unicode text properly from mysql database

[linux1880]

In my mysql database field the unicode text are like this

 

काठमाडौà¤, २४ माघ / संविधानसभा सदसà¥à¤¯à¤•à¥‹ रिकà¥à¤¤ ६ सिटका लागि आगामी चैत २८ गते हà¥à¤¨à¥‡
 

 

But when the above text is outputted in browser it is properly formatted unicode chatracters in my old website. I have written new php 5.3 website and echo the avove text , i get exactly same as above which is unreadable to visitors. I also have header as <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" /> still no luck.

 

I am wondering how the above text has rendered correctly on old site and not in new site ? I don't see any special function used in old site either. I am sure someone can help me out on this. Thanks