Heritage tour
Guheshwori Temple

By Razen Manandhar

The speciality of the Shiva worshipping in the Kathmandu Valley is that here people cannot worship Shiva alone but remember his consort also. That is why the Nepalis never forget to visit the temple of Guheshowri, whenever they visit Pashupatinath.

According to a popular legend of Swasthani, Shiva married Shatidevi but she killed herself when her loving husband was insulted in her presence. Shiva, in total bereavement, went around the world carrying the wife’s dead body. Her decayed body fell on the ground piece by piece. This shrine is considered to be the place where her private parts fell. So this temple is often interpreted as the Secret Goddess.

The goddess is represented by a holy hole (Kunda), symbolising fertility, where one can find water up to its brim. It is covered by a gold-plated Kalash. Bhairab, in the form of a shallow dome with eight-petalled lotus around is there next to it. The pilgrims offer gallons of alcohol, hundreds of eggs or dry fish but its level never changes, neither does it change with underground water level.

This is one of the most widely worshipped temples of female deities in Nepal. From the royal families to the poor public, all visit the temple with a belief that the goddess will fulfill their wishes. Series of gilded statutes of worshippers in pillars there also proves its popularity. While the Hindus take her to be a form of Durga, the Buddhists call her Pragyaparmita, Agni-Yogini or Nairatma.

The Buddists consider this shrine even older than Swayambhu. They say when the Kathmandu Valley was a lake, Guheshwori was the place where there was the seed of the lotus from where Swayambhu was planted by a Buddha millions of years ago. The temple of Guheshowri is situated in a peaceful courtyard, surrounded by Malla and Rana period buildings with richly carved windows and doors.The roofless temple is heavily decorated with repousse walls and false doors around it. Over two dozen realistic bronze lions sitting around the temple are other features of attraction there. There are two doors at one side but no traditional windows to make it appear like a temple.

It has artistic Torans that portray the abstract goddess in an urn’s form flanked by Ganesh and Kumar from both sides. This might signify that the prime goddess is Parbati, the mother of both the guards.

People unmistakably consider Guheshwori equivalent to Pashupatinath but it is strange the tradition of worshipping of Guheshwori seems relatively new. We can find abundant evidences of Lichhivi kings worshipping Pashupatinath, but there are few evidences of finding the shrine worshipped earlier than five centuries ago.

According to a historic chronicle, during the regime of King Pratap Malla, a Khadgadhari and a Telkar found the shrine in the jungle of Pashupatinath, under the guidance of a Narashingh Thakur. Or, if we follow another chronicle, it was King Pratap Malla himself, who covered the divine flame of the shrine and started the tradition of worshipping the deity in 1654 AD. In a way or other, we have to believe that there was no sign of the famous shrine before the Mediaeval period. However, a colophon entry establishes her existence under this name by at least 1405 AD, according to Dr Regmi.

On the other hand, Mary Slusser states that an insane Brahman sacrificed to Guheshwori a horse during the reign of King Girvan Youdha Bikram Shah, 1806-37 AD. But no direct animal sacrifice is allowed at Guheshwori these days. The most important part of the monument is the people’s continuous attachment to the temple. The tradition of offering various expensive objects to the shrine started right from the beginning which still continues. The temple premises has lots of inscriptions with names of kings and the public who contributed decorating or restoring the ancient monument at different times.

The major festival of Guheshwori takes place on the dark ninth day of Mangshir (in September). On this day, a replica of Guheshwori is taken there to the temple in a palanquin from Hanumandhoka Durabar. It is kept there overnight and offered a series of worshipping from various clans of people. And then it is returned to Hanumandhoka where it is kept for one more day. The presence of representatives from various administration offices of Pashupati used to be a must on the second day. The procession was commenced by King Jagajjaya Malla in 1722 AD. He also allocated 95 ropanis of land property for the procession. A sword is brought during the procession which is considered to be King Jagajjaya Malla’s.

It is strange that the ambitious master plan of Pashupati Area Development Trust can evacuate hundreds of families from the ancient settlement but it has no plan how to develop this shrine which is according to the local tradition, as important as that of Pashupatinath itself.

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