Manakamana
When I was in Nepal for the first time in 2000, my colleague, Jeet Joshee, and I were leading a group of students from the University of Connecticut on a three-week study abroad program. Jeet’s brother in Kathmandu had put the tour agenda together for us and it was a perfect introduction both for the students and for me. When we drove from Kathmandu to Pokara, we passed by the new cable car to Manakamana, but as that temple wasn’t on our itinerary, which was tight as it was, we didn’t stop. I had wanted to get to Manakamana on all my subsequent trips, but somehow never made it. This year, I was determined to finally get there.
The Manakamana Temple is one of the most famous in Nepal. Mana means heart and kamana is wish-fulfilling, so people come to ask the Goddess for a good marriage, successful children, a good business, and whatever is most pressing in their lives. The temple is dedicated to the Goddess Bhagwati, a form of Parvati-Durga. According to legend, a 17th c Gorkha Queen was really a goddess. She would leave the marriage bed every night to meet with local spirits and one night her husband, King Rama Shah, (or another one, the stories differ) became suspicious about her absence. He decided to secretly follow her and to his amazement, he saw his wife in her deified form in a hall with two lions as guardians. In the morning, he told his wife what he had seen in a dream. It is forbidden for a human to look directly at the goddess in her true form, and he died soon thereafter. As it was customary for a wife to commit sati, accompany her husband on the funeral pyre, the Queen was determined to abide by the tradition. Her devoted follower, Lakhan Thapa, begged her not to do so, but she told him that he would see her again in another form. She fulfilled the wifely expectations and committed sati. Years later, a farmer was tilling the ground nearby when he struck a stone. The stone bleed milk and blood. When Lakhan Thapa heard about this he was sure it was the Goddess. He built a temple where the stone was to honor her. Even today, the Manakamana Temple is not administered by priests, but rather by the descendants of Lakhan Thapa. There have been 17 generations of Thapa caretakers since the first temple was built. The current temple was built in the 19th c. and replaced the one Lakhan Thapa constructed. (Information from Sacred Sites website)
The temple is on the top of a hill just over 100 kilometers from Kathmandu, but the road is so bad that the drive takes about three and a half hours. Once one enters the gate to the cable car that takes one to the town around the temple, the dust and dirt from the main road disappear and a garden paradise appears. The Doppelmayr cable car costs RS700 for Nepalis and RS 2500 for foreigners. I was lucky that there was basically no line for the ride up. I had heard that there usually are very long lines and had prepared myself for a long wait. It was a very pleasant surprise to just be able to walk almost straight onto the eight-person cabin. The cable car trip takes less than ten minutes, and, on the way, there are tremendous views of the hills, the Trisuli River, the forests and rice paddies. Prior to the cable car, which was inaugurated in 1998, people walked up some steep and very tight switchbacks, a hike that probably took at least four hours. Once at the top, there are the normal prasad stalls selling coconuts, flowers, butter lamps, incense etc., all gifts for the Goddess. There was also a yard filled with goats and chickens, which were to be sacrificed. I had read that poultry sacrifice was no longer allowed, but the practice very definitely still continues. One shopkeeper said that only pigeons are no longer allowed to be sacrificed, but they are still caught and are for sale. They are then set free near the temple.
Around the temple is a kora path and, on the backside, there are small sculptures of the Goddess in nine of her forms, those that correspond to the nine goddesses of the valley. As one starts the walk, there is a fabulous view of Manaslu, Lamjung Himal and what I suspect must be Annapurna II, although she was mostly hidden behind the clouds. I had originally wanted to go into the temple itself, but the line to do so would have taken over an hour, and the pending drive to Lumbini over torn up roads meant that I passed on this opportunity.
On the drive from Manakamana to Lumbini, which took well over seven hours, my guide explained why banyan and pipal (bodhi) trees were so often near each other. It turns out that people plant the seeds of the two trees near each other so that when they grow tall, they will ‘get married.’ I find that to be a very nice tradition.
I also learned that the Trisuli River’s name comes from Shiva’s trident; Shiva is said to have driven his trident into the ground at Gosaikund, which created three springs that became the source of the river. I didn’t know that, and as we drove by, only remembered freezing in a rafting trip on the river in January 2000 with our group of UConn students.
On the drive from the airport yesterday into the city and again at the Manakamama Temple I kept seeing a small poster with Nagas, serpents. They were new, so I asked what they signified. I was told that people put these posters up after the monsoons to protect the house. As the Nagas live underground, they carry both earth and water energy, which is why Vishnu sleeps on a bed of Nagas, and Shiva has a Naga as a necklace/garland. The Nagas bring rain, which the agricultural community needs, so, in order to ensure a good harvest, people show their respect and give thanks to the demi-gods.
The other thing that I noticed on the drive, beyond the immense amount of construction, were the multicolored lights on the houses. I had forgotten that Diwali starts this Sunday. People are already preparing for the festival of lights.
After having left Kathmandu at 7am, we arrived at the hotel in Lumbini at about 8:15. It was a very long dusty drive.
