Location
Province: Gandaki Province
Manakamana Temple is located in Shahid Lakhan Village Council in Gorkha district. The temple is located at an altitude of 4,360 feet (1315 metres) from the sea level. The roof of the two-storey temple is made up of copper. The pinnacle of the temple is made up of gold. Among the five stones, the big stone is the symbol of Manakamana. This temple had a stone laying ceremony during the rule of the Gorkha King Ram Shah.
How to Travel
While there was no cable car facility in the past, one had to walk uphill from Abukhaireni. However, now it can be reached within 12-15 minutes through cable car from Kurintar in Prithvi Highway. Kurintar is located some 104 kilometers away from Kathmandu. Pokhara is 96 kilometers away, while Narayangarh is 40 kilometers away from Kurintar.
Significance and Public Belief
As the legend goes, it is believed that the Queen Lilawati of King Ram Shah was a woman with the divine power. It is believed that she used to talk with the gods and goddesses time and again. The King started launching a search mission as Queen Lilawati and her favorite person Lakhan Thapa started disappearing time and again.
One day, he saw his Queen and Lakhan Thapa travelling to the hill side with other gods and goddesses sitting on the lion. As he followed them he saw a golden palace like structure. He could not enter the structure, as it was guarded by the lion. As the story goes, the next day, he asked the Queen about what he saw. She answered ominously by saying, “If you hadn’t gone to the place yesterday, you would have become Chakrabarti King. ” It is belived that after that incident, the king suddenly fell ill and died.
As per the tradition at that time known as Sati Pratha, when the husband died, his wife was burned with him. The queen also agreed. Lakhan Thapa started to grieve for the situation. The queen is believed to have reassured Lakhan Thapa, “Don’t worry. I will appear near you again in the form of stone. Don’t stop me from dying.” And so, she died.
It is said that where the Manakamana temple is located now, a farmer was ploughing the field when the top of the halo struck with a stone and blood and milk started to pour from that place. The incident was reported to the palace. Lakhan Thapa visited the site and regarded that stone as a depiction of the dead queen following which Manakamana Goddess was established in the temple and people started worshipping the shrine.
Lakhan Thapa was blessed with the divine power from Gorakhnath. Mr. Thapa was from Magar Thapa clan. It is believed that the Priests of Manakamana are still his descendants. The stone recovered by the priest in the past is worshipped as a symbol of goddess inside the Manakamana temple.
After closing the doors at 6:30 am local time, the priest offers flowers, fruits and incense sticks among others to the goddess. This puja is known as Chaa Puja. After the completion of worshipping inside, flowers and vermillion powder with rice grains are sprinkled in the surrounding of temple, after which the main offering is made to the goddess. This special offering known as Maha Prasad is prepared at the home of priest by mixing rice, salt, vegetable and turmeric powder and without using the spatula. It is then served in a silver plate and covered by the red piece of cloth. There is a belief that nobody should see or touch this Maha Prasad.
After the offering to the goddess, finally the visitors can worship in the temple. The devotees usually offer incense stick, oil lamp, fruits and flowers, cloth, bangles, beads, mirror and bindi, coconut and animal sacrifices. The temple remains open after the morning Puja. There is an everyday ritual of offering rice to the goddess. The everyday puja is performed from the tantric method. The morning routine puja is based on Panchopachar. The visitors can come and worship at any time. After the completion of evening Arati with lighting of oil lamps by the priest and playing of conch shell, the door of the temple is finally closed.
Major Festivals and Processions
• There is a special puja in the temple on Saturdays and Tuesdays
• Asthami, Nawami of every months and Shrawan Sankranti (July 15, 16)
• Asthami, Panchami, Chaturdashi, Purmima (full moon) of every month and Sankranti (one of the 14, 15, or 16th of English month).
• Barshabardan twice in a year [Chaite dashain (April/May) and another one in Dashain in Asoj (Septj/October)]
• Special puja offers from Kartik Shukla Chaturdashi (November) to Panchami (November) and Baisakh Suklapakchya (May to Jestha Asthami (May/June).
• On the day of Vijaya Dashami, (September/October) the flowers and tika brought from Gorakhkali is offered to Manakamana. During worshipping, a specific method is followed as per which Ganesh, Kumari, Manakamana and Bhairav is worshipped in respective manner.
• During 12 Purnimas (full moon) in a year, there is a tradition of sacrificing a goat, separate than the regular routine puja. This sacrifice is performed inside the temple of goddess Manakamana.
