Since we have already covered the area upto Indrachowk from Ason Bazar mentioning the myths, legends, history and monuments in the way, we’ll be continuing this heritage walk from Indrachowk area and then move towards Kathmandu Durbar square area. We’ll be covering about the old royal palace : Hanuman Dhoka Durbar in the next blog. Once again let’s thank our facilitator Mr. Sambid Bilas Pant for sharing his knowledge about the place through the Rotaract Event : Walk through the History. You can know more about ancient history, culture, myths and legends associated about Nepal through his social media here. Now let’s start from where we left it last time.
Temple of Seto Matsyendranath:
Just before entering Indrachowk area from Ason, we’ll have to pass through the temple of “Seto Matsyendranath” at Janabahal Area. Seto Matsyendranath is considered as more of a feminine diety and considered as god of rain, prosperity and compassion. Seto Matsyendranath is also considered to be amalgamation of dieties : Avalokitesharva, the buddhist god of compassion and Matsyendranath, a Hindu saint and yogi.
According to a legend, people bathing in Bishnumati river and then worshipping swoyambhunath started directly going to heaven after their death. Realizing this, the god of death : Yamraj, himself inspected the case and found the sculpture of Seto Matsyendranath on bishnumati river after which Jatra of Seto Matsyendranath was
started to be celebrated in Kathmandu valley from 11th Century. The festival involves the procession of diety’s chariot from its temple in Jana Bahal to Indrachowk, where it is stationed for several days. The chariot is pulled through the streets of Kathmandu by devtotees, accompanied by music, dance and religious rituals.Following the historical facts, the sculpture existed from around 700 AD which was stolen by invaders at around 1100 AD and fell in Bishnumati River while crossing it which was later found by locals while bathing in the river and Seto Matsyendranath’s festival started. As we can see how history, myths and legends are intertwined in a religious medieval community and how history becomes legends and myths.
How Kantipur got its name ?
Before the name of this place changed into Kathamandu, It used to be called as “Kantipur”. As the name itself holds some history, we’ll get to know about a popular legend on how exactly this place got it’s name. It’s associated with a monument at Indrachwok, so keep your eyes open and mind alert next time you visit this place and you’ll definitely see it.
As we move towards Indrachowk, we can see the Intersection of 6 different roads from different directions. At its center, lies a small rectangular arena of almost 5ft X 3ft dimension with a “Trishul”: Three pronged spear of Lord shiva embeded on its center. The arena is fenced by metal in all four directions and has a basic worshipping setup like stands for traditional oil lamp called “diyo” and vessels for offering milk to the god. If you look closely, you can see tip of a shiva linga which has been buried under the ground level due to modern road constructed around it.
The statue of shiva linga present in the arena is believed to be of Kanteshwor Mahadev from around 7th century : The Lichhavi period. Kanteshowr Mahadev is believed to be one of the form of lord Shiva, highly worshipped diety in Hindusm as he is considered as the lord of destruction. It is the same Kanteshwor Mahadev after whom the early kathmandu is believed to be named as Kantipur.
Aakash Bhairav, Yalambar and Mahabharat
You might know a place famous for lassi in Indrachowk. There are series of lassi vendor in an old building claiming to be the first and original lassi shop at Indrachowk. But do you really know what that building really is?, it’s the temple of Aakash Bhairav. Regarded as a fierce form of lord shiva, Aakash Bhairav is worshipped during the days of Indrajatra and has a lot of myths and legends correlating to different era of the history.
According to one of such legends, during the Mahabharat war, there used to be a fierce fighter named Barbarik who decided to participate in war between Pandavs and Kauravs under a unique condition. He wanted to fight the war on the side of losing party to demonstrate his bravery by turning the tide of the war (which was kaurav’s side as they were losing). Lord Krishna (Pandav’s side) who knew the capabilities of Barbarik tricked Barbarik to cut off his head and give it to him by conditioning him to cut off anybody’s head he sees first in the war and then showing him the mirror. Barbarik bound to his words agreed to do so with a small request to lord Krishna to let his head watch the entire Kurukshetra (the place where Mahabharat war took place) war which was made possible by Lord Krishna by placing his head on top of a hill near Kurukshetra.
It is believed that Yalambar, the first king of Kirat Dynasty was Barbarik in Mahabharat war. Yalambar is also worshipped by the Kiratis in Nepal. And it is also believed that it’s the same head of Yalambar/Barbarik that is now kept at temple of Aakash Bhairav while others believe that it’s the mask that Yalambar/Barbarik used to wear during the wars he participated in. So the temple is believed to have been existed from the time of Mahabharat war.
Temple of Taleju Bhawani
You can see a huge temple of Taleju bhawani as you enter the Kathmandu Durbar square area from indrachowk. This sacred goddess is considered as royal and guardian goddess of Nepal and is a form of hindu goddess durga. The temple of Taleju bhawani is considered extremely sacred and only opened for general public during special occasions like Indra Jatra and Bijaya Dashami.The worship of Taleju Bhawani is closely linked to Tantra, which is a form of esoteric Hinduism that focuses on the worship of the divine feminine. Tantra is based on the belief that the universe is created and sustained by the interplay of the divine masculine and feminine energies. The worship of the goddess is an important aspect of Tantra, and it is believed that by invoking her, one can access the divine feminine energy and achieve spiritual enlightenment.
According to legends, Taleju Bhawani was brought to Nepal by King Narendra Deva of the Licchavi dynasty in the 7th century. Narendra Deva is believed to have come to Nepal from the Kingdom of Simraungadh at Kuljapur, India through the hills of sindhuli and settled in Changunarayan. The king was believed to have received a vision of the goddess (who was the clan diety of Narendra Deva) , who instructed him to bring her to along with him and build a temple for her. Since then, the worship of Taleju Bhawani has been an integral part of the religious and cultural traditions of Nepal. The temple for Taleju Bhawani was later constructed by Jayprakash Malla at current location on 1565 A.D. during Malla era after the Kathmandu valley was divided into three kingdoms by Yaksha malla
Why are Kumaris worshipped in Nepal ?
You might have seen or heard of a unique tradition of worshipping a god named “Kumari” in Nepal. Considered as a living goddess she wears ornaments and jewelries just like gods and goddess in Hindu mythology with a third eye on her forehead. Kumari is believed to have embodied the divine feminine energy of Taleju Bhawani, the sacred royal guardian goddess of Nepal.
According to myths, King Jay prakash malla the king of Kathmandu used to play dice along with goddess Taleju Bhawani every mid-night. Once, the queen became suspicious to the king’s activity and followed him to finally spectate King Jay prakash malla playing dice with goddess Taleju Bhawani. The Bhawani then disappeared, as she could not be seen by anyone except the king himself. Taleju Bhawani not only used to play but also was supposed to help the king in planning the rules, military strategy and also give him certain rituals to follow which would enable him to rule for 12 more years.
Shocked by the disappearance of Taleju Bhawani, the king started to meditate rigorously and had a dream where Taleju Bhawani said him that she’ll come embodied in a virgin girl and he can worship her to extend his rule by 12 more years. Thus, Kuamri Temple was established at Kathmandu Durbar square and Kumari were started to have been worshipped.
Fun fact: There’s horse stable at the temple of Taleju Bhawani as it still houses the white horse that is considered as “bahan” of Taleju. “Bahan” in hindu religion are animals that are associated along with the gods, like Shiva with Ox, Saraswati with Swan etc.
Guru Gorakhnath, Prithivi Narayan Shah and the Legends
Just Infront of Taleju Bhawani Temple, you can find a huge tree with a small temple like structure at the bottom. The temple has almost blended along with the roots of the trees. Inside the small temple you can see a pair of footwears. What exactly are they and why are they placed there?
Well, those are believed to be footwears of guru Gorakhnath : the patreon diety of Shah kings who ruled in kathmandu after the Malla kings. It might be the reason for it being placed along with Taleju Bhawani, the guardian goddess. According to a legend, King Prithivi Narayan Shah was offered a cup of yoghurt which was half eaten by guru gorakhnath. Considered it to be contaminated, Prithivi Narayan Shah threw the Yoghurt into the ground. As he threw it, his 10 fingers touched the yoghurt and guru gorakhnath forecasted Shah Dynasty to last for next 10 generations. Surprisingly, the Monarchy ended in Nepal after 10th generation of Shah kings just as the legends had it. There is also a legend connected to it which tells that, as king Prithivi Narayan Shah threw the Yoghurt, it fell down on his toes and thus he was blessed with ability to win wars wherever he would place his feet on.
These were some myths, legends, monuments and history as we moved from Indrachowk to Kathmandu Durbar square area. We’ll soon be moving towards the palaces and the area around it to cover more history, myths, legends and much more from walk through Kathmandu Durbar Square Area,