The Sukunda and the Karuwa in Newari Sacred Traditions

Where does the sacred end and the profane begin?  It was difficult to tell often in Nepal, where ancient traditions were so much a part of daily life and rituals often were intermingled with practical actions.

When I visited my friends, the family home always contained a Karuwa water pot.  These vessels have a shape that I never saw anywhere else in the world but are very practical in terms of preventing silt and mud from any water source from being poured when the vessel is used.  The spout is in a position that keeps any impurities at the very bottom of the pot.  When my friends and I drank from it, we never allowed the spout to touch our lips.  In fact, it was a sort of accomplishment when I learned how to pour the water from a position that was about twelve inches from my mouth without spilling or causing an embarrassing mess!

The Sukunda lamp is a ritual item that is used in many processions and festivals as well as performance of puja but again, I saw these beautiful lamps lit on a regular basis in some homes.  Traditionally, mustard oil was used in the Sukunda by Newar families, but butter or ghee or indeed any sort of oil can be used instead.  I myself like butter or ghee because it does not leave the same heavy dark tar that mustard oil tends to leave behind.  It is easy to wipe the residue of ghee or butter from the dish, but it is very difficult to clean the remnants of burnt mustard oil.

People speak of the Sukunda and Karuwa as Buddhist but Buddhism and Hinduism to me are intertwined in Nepal and when Ganesh has place of honour on almost every Sukunda lamp, is that not recognition of a popular Hindu God?

Most old Sukunda lamps show at least some traces of red powder from puja rites.  The red powder is called kum kum powder and is used to bless not only sacred objects but people as well.  When I went with my girlfrineds to the local temple in the morning, we would be anointed with a 'tika' of the red powder.  Married women I believe often have the powder placed in the part in their hair rather than the centre of the forehead.

How I wish I could return to that time in my life to study everything more thoroughly!  I was a child and although rapacious always for knowledge, my opportunities were limited and any participation in local festivals and practices deeply frowned upon my my aunt and uncle.  Everything I did was done clandestinely and if caught, I paid a rather distressing price in being forced to listen to stern lectures late at night and predictions that I would be consumed by hellfire should I persist in these actions.    The whole business has given me a deep distaste for the 'private club' aspect of many religions....  I have an abiding faith and belief in the Divine but in the same way that the Romans believed that all roads led to Rome, I believe that all paths lead to God except for those actively harmful and steeped in negative actions and emotions such as hatred or envy.   It is people who corrupt religion, not God and I cannot believe that any true God, infinite and all-powerful, would have any use for petty rules and regulations or would 'play favourites', tribe against tribe, religion against religion.

Below are some more photographs of Nepalese ritual items, including Sukunda lamps both lit and unlit.  Where lit, butter is being burned.  The juxtaposition of the Nepalese items with some Ukrainian hand-carved wooden eggs and Trinity Candleabra is entirely coincidental.  No link is intended.

What is curious here is that Roman Catholics in our neighbourhood mistook the Trinity Candleabra for a Jewish menorah.  The three branches of the candleabra represent the Father, Son and Holy Spirit and have nothing whatsoever to do with Judaic beliefs or traditions and yet, neighbours walking down the road and spying it in the window during the Easter holiday period, immediately leapt to the erroneous conclusion that the household was Jewish, despite the presence of other Christian artifacts.  The man who in fact described the 'menorah' to me and asked if that were where I lived was a professor of History.  Such ignorance dismays me and yet I suppose I should not be surprised by anything in this day and age.

I expect actually that the number three and this sort of candleabra probably originated with very ancient religious practices, one of the oldest of which is the Trident.  One of the symbols of Lord Shiva is the Trident.  Similarly, it is associated with the god Poseidon.  The number five is another ancient holy number and the presence of the five naga or serpents on Sukunda lamps is not that different from the khamsa or Hand of Fatima, a popular Islamic talisman.  Nepalese Cinquefoil or 'five-finger grass', officially Potentilla Nepalensis, long has been used as a talisman as well when dried as the herb resembles a hand.  The flower has five petals but that is not the magical association at least among practitioners of herbal magick.

As far as the legends associated with the Sukunda and Karuwa are concerned, it is difficult to find anything that is universally accepted.  Many different legends exist, and most of them are from an oral rather than written source.

Sukunda means 'Beautiful Lake' and the legend is associated with Lord Buddha and the Naga.  It is said that originally the Valley of Kathmandu was a large lake inhabited by serpents.   In the very centre of the lake was an undying flame within a lotus of a thousand petals.  Buddha Mahamanjushree heard of the lake and journeyed from China to see the marvel.  With his potent magical sword, he struck the hills that surrounded the lake at the very south, draining the waters and opening the Valley to all.

The famous Stupa of Swayambhunath is believed to have been created from this magical lotus of flame.

The reservoir of the Sukunda lamp where the oil or butter is kept represents the magical lake, its mouth the unfolded lotus.  The five or seven heads of the Naga that are raised above the lamp like a parasol are the serpents vanquished by the Buddha, but at the same time, are a protective power.  The shallow dish where the wick is burned represents the flame of divinity within the Self.  That is the Buddhist meaning of the lamp.

Although the story features the Lord Buddha, the Sukunda lamp is very much involved with Hindu myths as well.  Lord Ganesh is the god who can overcome all obstacles and is the lord of prosperity.  Fire is a cleansing agent as well as a creator and destroyer.  The Garuda is the bird upon which Lord Shiva rides and is associated with the Goddess Durga as well.    The Lion is associated with the Goddess Durga and very often you will see a pair of Lions guarding the sacred flame.

As far as flames are conerned, they are very much a part of traditional Nepalese iconography and there is a very interesting symbol known as the Jwala Nhyekan which is a mirror of reflection made usually of brass or bronze.  It consists of a plain circle surrounded by stylised flames that come to a peak at the very top.  It usually includes a little stand so that it can be placed without support on an alter or wherever needed.  It is a very ancient Nepalese ritual item and is protective in nature.  Mirrors in general are ancient protective talismans that deflect evil and evil intent as well as reflecting power and positive energy.

Fire worship is one of the MOST ancient religions in the world and as Nepal is the seat of one of the most ancient civilisations, it is no wonder that flames feature in ritual objects, even if these objects later are associated with different religions and tradiitons.  It is possible that the Jwala Nhyekan has some old associations with the Sukunda legend of the lotus of a thousand flames in the centre of the sacred lake.  The round centre of the mirror could represent the sacred lake and the flames the original Lotus.

As mentioned above, Fire is an agent of purification and transformation.   Water likewise is a powerful agent both of purification and potential destruction.  Most festivals have both a water and fire component to them.

The photograph directly below is of a Jwala Nhyekan.  

The Many Faces of the Goddess and the Fine Art of Puja

When Freya was in my womb, I gave her the name of the greatest Goddess from our own European heritage.  Freya is the Goddess both of Love and of War, ancient beyond the God Odhinn who is called the All-Father.  It was Freya and her male twin Frey who held sway over the land, long before the nomadic worshippers of Odhinn and Thor came on horseback to wage war and ultimately, rather than there being a single victor, they were forced to share the power over the Nine Worlds between them.  In that sense, the old religion of Northern Europe is quite balanced.

Freya's first religious experiences probably were pagan.  I took her outside during a lunar eclipse when she was a toddler to cast a sacred circle and bless some silver coins in the water...  after an hour or so, she cried, 'Enough Magic, Mummy!  I am tired of the Magic!'  Typical child, even if she was named after the Great Goddess.

When she was four, I took her to Islamic School to learn Arabic.  Islam was part of the instruction and I did not object to that.  After all, when she was six, she was sent to a Roman Catholic School and I thought that it would be to her spiritual advantage to see how both were derived from the same root.

Unfortunately, you cannot do that to a child.  It is very hard even as an adult, not to belong fully to any private club or organisation and human religion, regrettably is mainly a private club that attempts to elevate its members at the expense of all outsiders.

The children at Islamic School accepted her better than those at St. Francis.  The Monsignor was the worst child of all.  He forbade her to take First Communion, telling me that my decision to allow her to attend Islamic School would send us both to hell.  I never will forgive that small-minded man for his narrow-minded cruelty.

Fortunately, there was another priest at St. Francis who was as close to being a saint as any human being can be.  His name was Father Marty Kern and may he be blessed to all eternity.

He said that he wanted his parishioners to think for themselves, to explore life and philosophy and that Knowledge should not be feared by the Church.   Freya finally was able to take First Communion and choose her religion.

I did not want my child to be a bigot.  I did not wish to subject her to any sort of literalism or fundamentalism.  Unfortunately, it seeps through the cracks of our lives, whether in politics, society or religion.  People's view of God is only as large as their own capacity to accept that they cannot control the Universe or indeed Life or Death.

When I was a child, I went to live in Nepal.  There I encountered the following religions and sects:  Hindus, Buddhists, Christian fundamentalist Protestants and Roman Catholics.  Although there are Muslims in Nepal, I did not meet any.

The local temple was dedicated to the Goddess Chandeshwari, after whom the village was named.  She is the local version of the Great Goddess Durga, a manifestation of Kali.  My girlfriends went to the temple almost every morning to perform puja or worship there.  They actually preferred the Goddess Saraswati, who is a more gentle Goddess, but the temple was devoted to Durga and it was Durga whom I saw when I accompanied them and obtained my tika from the priest.

The photographs are of some sacred items as well as a water pot that was to be found in almost every Newar house at one time.  The waterpot is a domestic item but it has sacred uses as well as Water is one of the Elements and one that is an intrinsic part of worship in almost every religion, including Hinduism.

The brass statues are of Durga.  The two that depict her riding her lion are very naturalistic in style.  The one on the far left is of Kali in her aspect of agent of Transformation.   It is the Eternal Dance of Creation and Destruction.  Statues of Shiva in this pose are more common than those of Kali and it was difficult for me, ignorant as I am, to finally realise it WAS Kali and not her consort.  The one aspect of the dancing god that made it certain to be Kali was her outstretched tongue.  Furthermore, the cobra next to the figure on which she has planted one foot signifies that this is a submissive Shiva and not a vanquished demon.

Unfortunately, one of the statues of Durga has been mutilated rather badly.  Evidently, there was some damage to the statue that could not be repaired, so some one simply sliced away arms that had been damaged as well as part of the lion's tail.  Does it matter in terms of the sacred nature of the statue?  Who knows???

Who is Durga?  The tales usually state that she was created by the gods for a specific purpose, to destroy a rival who had taken over both Earth and Heaven, banishing the Gods.  In Hindu lore, the Gods are opposed by a race known as the Asuras, who often are mistaken for pure Evil but in fact, I believe, occupy a position much like that of the Etins in the old Northern mythology.

They vie with the Gods for power and some do great evil but often Gods made bargains with them.  In fact, the reason for Durga's creation, according to most tales, was the fact that a specific Asura Mahisasura who had been given the boon of not being able to die at the hand of any God.  Thus, the creation of a Goddess who was exempt from the terms of the agreement!

The local temple of Chandeshwari was dedicated to this awesome creation who, like the great Goddess in the Canaanite epic, unleashed total destruction upon the Earth after she completed her primary task of slaying the enemy.  In the Hindu version, she becomes intoixcated and this intoxication augments her power in the great duel with the shapeshifter Mahishasura.  In the Canaanite epic, the gods cannot stop Anat's killing spree until they offer her intoxicants and she finally drinks herself into a stupour.

The Goddess Diurga often is shown with her tongue hanging out of her mouth, thus depicting in a very vivid fashion her insatiable thirst for blood.  She probably was worshipped long before Hinduism and the tale of her 'creation' by the Hindu gods probably was a gloss over a far more ancient and primal being.  Blood sacrifice usually is a fundamental part of any fertility religion and India practiced many blood sacrifices through the ages to bring fertility to the land.

In ancient Canaan, the original religion probably was a vegetation religion as well, with primary worship of the great god Mot, who lived in the Underworld and to whom all the dead belonged.  Life after death was very much a part of the belief system and tombs contained tables where the living would sup with their beloved dead regularly.

The God Ba'al, who is a sky god, probably was brought to Canaan by nomadic invaders and this marked the beginning of a cyclical reign wherein periodically Mot would be defeated by Ba'al and then rise again to become victorious over the God of the Earth.  In the myth, however, it is the Goddess Anat who defeats Mot and grinds him into pieces.  Mot is the ancient equivalent of course of the God of the Barley or Grain and his death describes the process by which grain is harvested, winnowed and ground into flour.  Ba'al is the God of Rain and thus has his own part to play in the fertility rites.  Like Dumuzi, Attis and Adonis, the sky or thunder god would go to the land of the dead for a period until brought back to life.  At the point of his dying, the women of the land would perform ritual mourning and supplications would be made for his return.

It is interesting to note that one of the Hindu festivals includes a tradition very like that of the 'Adonis plants' and contemporary Iranian tradition of New Year wherein green plants that mature quickly are planted and nurtured, then thrown into running water and their death mourned.

In fact, in the old Canaanite epic, Mot is described as follows: 'his tongue outstretched between heaven and earth' or, in another translation: 'one lip to earth, one lip to heaven and his tongue outstretched to the very stars' in order to be able to swallow the sky god, Ba'al...
Mot has an unquenchable thirst, like that of Kali.

Thus, we find the equivalent of the ancient war between the Gods and the Asuras in Canaan in the form of the duel between Mot and Ba'al and the equivalent of Durga is Anat.

I always have found the argument that a Pagan tradition should be rejected by Christianity totally absurd.  Christianity is rooted in all the ancient mystery religions and I really have come to believe that Christ was a follower of Dionysus or his equivalent and that his crucifixion and resurrection were familiar to contemporaries from the annual mystery of the death and resurrection of Attis and before that, Dumuzi.

There are many common factors that connect the old Vedic religion with the Canaanites and other pre-Arab religions.  Ba'al mates with a heifer, a sacred cow.  'He lies with her seven times and seventy times, Yes... eight times and eighty times and she conceives and bears a male'.  The sacred cow is part of the Hindu tradition of course and represents the Earth herself.

The Canaanite text that describes the ritual slaying of Mot is as follows:  'She seizes Mot the son of El, With a blade she cleaves him, With a shovel she winnows him, With fire she parches him, With a millstone she grinds him, In the field she sows him; His remains the birds eat, The wild creatures consume his fragments, Remains from remains are sundered.'

Of course, this is a description of the Death of the Barley God but it is mirrored as well by the ritual sacrifice of the King in ancient times, a sacrifice that still is enacted during the Festival of Durga in Nepal, when a Buffalo is killed and the remains cut into tiny pieces and flung to the devotees who sow the meat in their fields to bring a good harvest.  Once that sacrifice was human..

There are passages in the same Canaanite epic that describe the slaying of the dragon or serpent Yamm by Ba'al.  In Vedic myth, the ocean was churned by a great serpent for the Water of Life or immortality and a deadly poison that could have destroyed the entire universe emerged from the mouth of the great snake.  Shiva drank the poison in order to save the universe and thus his neck turned blue.    The serpent in the ocean, whether Yamm or Ouroboros (the snake who swallows its own tail) is a very universal motif and often one that, if not evil in itself, threatens the world somehow.  In the Northern mythology, the Midgard Serpent has Thor as its foe and once, when fishing, Thor brings up the World Serpent on his line and wrestles with it for a time, while the Midgard Snake drips blood and poison from its fangs.  It ultimately sinks back down into the ocean, allowing the world's cycle to continue for the day it rises completely from the waters marks the end of the world's cycle.

Thor, like Shiva is a Storm God, a Sky God and his Hammer Mjolnir is akin to Shiva's trisul or Trident.  In fact, the Hammer originally may have been a Trident as it has three sides to it, almost a stylised triangle rather than a cylinder like the hammers we use today.  

I do not know if Thor had hermaphrodite aspects ever but a famous myth places him in a disguise as the Goddess Freya at a wedding to one of the giants.  He goes in order to rescue his Hammer and succeeds in doing so.  Certainly both Odhinn the All=Father and Loki spent time as women and the latter actually gave birth to some very significant and powerful beings in his female aspect.

There is nothing new under the sun, is there?  To me, the fact that a tradition stretches back as far as human memory gives it legitimacy, and the rites of Yule and the birth of the God are valid partly because these rites predate the birth of Christ in Bethlehem.  God is Eternal and Infinite and tales of the Divine are simply small windows into a Great Mystery we never will be able to comprehend fully even though scientists have split the atom and learned the secrets of the Universe's power to generate both creation and destruction.  We are fools who become intoxicated with a little power and knowledge and then use it to attempt to elevate ourselves at the expense of any one who tells a slightly different version of the same story.


In any event, when early in April, I began to have vivid dreams about Nepal and finally decided that I could write about that very emotional and traumatic period in my childhood, I began to think about the Goddess Durga before all others in the Hindu pantheon.  What is interesting here perhaps is that, when Freya was little, we used to visit a local Hindu shop and I told her she could choose whatever brass statue she liked most.  She instantly chose a statue of the Goddess Kali or Durga.

Not the gentle Saraswati or Laxmi, the Mother of the ever-popular elephant-headed Ganesh.  Nor was she drawn primarily to Ganesh, who is so much like Babar, a character she loved.  No, she chose the Warrior Goddess Durga and indeed, the statue she wanted depicted the Goddess with spear in hand.

We did not do much with the statues of Durga.  I placed them on a shelf and they gathered dust there for years.  At that point in time, I still was trying to keep the door shut on my memories to some extent.  I was simply amused and somewhat pleased by my daughter's choice of a strong, fighting Goddess over any male power or a Goddess who, like Laxmi, devoted herself to a male deity.

Durga stands alone for the most part.  According to some traditions, she did have children, but her greatest attribute is her incredible ability to fight.

Dumezil, the great French comparitive mythologist, attempted to trace the Celtic and Nordic myths back to the Aryan traditions of India.  To some extent, he succeeded in making strong arguments for a clear line of descent from ancient Indian gods to the Northern pagan Gods but I think myth and religion are more complex than that.

For a start, the Indian traditions are later mutations of far more ancient traditions that no longer are known.  Hinduism is fairly new in the eternal scheme of things.    Secondly, I do believe that every group had its own unique traditions and belief systems that mirrored those of people halfway across the globe simply because some concepts are universal.

People ALWAYS traveled and shared ideas, as far back as the Neolithic age.  The fact that we do not have books of myths and religious rites from that era may make it a little more difficult to discover the names of the Gods the people worshipped but burial rites do provide clues as to their fundamental beliefs.

Tiamat is a very ancient powerful Mother Goddess.  She ultimately went to war with the other gods and gave birth to 'monsters' in order to provide herself with allies.  The God Marduk defeated her and split her in half, and there is the creation of heaven and earth as we know it.  In this ancient Sumerian myth, the Great Goddess is female and her army basically are the equivalent of the Asuras.  The male god Marduk is the champion and saviour of the Gods, the equivalent of Durga in Hindu myth.

Even in Christianity, there are the angels who essentially probably began as the equivalents of the Asuras, beings with great powers, almost Gods themselves.  Lucifer, the Star of the Morning, rebelled against the primal Deity and was cast out of Heaven but he was not evil per se.  The Asuras are not Evil per se, nor are the Etins.  In Northern myth, many of the Gods intermarried with Etin-kind.  Freya's wife Gerd is a Giant.  Loki married a Giant and from that union came the serpent that encircles the Earth, the Fenris Wolf and the Goddess Hel who has charge of the land of the Underworld.

Energies are neither good nor evil and many of the Gods and Asuras represent Energies of a primal nature.  The real battle probably is between Order and Chaos but both are necessary in order to fuel Life, Death and Rebirth in the form of Change.  Epic battles that end the World are all a part of this eternal need for Change, to sweep away the old and allow space for the new.  Ragnarok is one such battle.

One of the reasons I rather like the weblog concept is because one is not bound to any particular topic or format...  thus, I come finally to the little naturalistic statues of Durga in the photographs.

Is this a Goddess or a beautiful woman?  Can a true Goddess be a Beautiful Woman or does human female beauty diminish power to some extent?  I do know that I cannot fear Durga in these manifestations but if I see a primitive form of Her with long tongue outstretched, skulls hanging round her waist and weapons of destruction in every hand, I do fear her mightily.  Why then would I choose these pretty women?

I suppose it is an aesthetic choice as well as one that mirrors my love of beautiful dolls.  I like the idea of having a friend in a Goddess and of finding beauty in worship.  The statues I have of the Blessed Virgin are pretty women for the most part, made according to old Italian standards of beauty.  The woodcarvers working for Anri, for example, crafted gorgeous little statues of Our Lady and I love them.

In my own life now, I come face to face with pain and the gradual diminishment of my own life on a daily basis.  I suppose I do not need to be reminded of Kali's insatiable need for blood.  I feel it in the crumbling of my own bones, in the sharp pain to my nerves each time I move, in the way that I have lost the power to walk and run and do many of the things I loved most.

So I prefer to see Durga as a beautiful but still potent woman on her Lion, to perform my puja to a Goddess in a guise that is quintessentially feminine in human terms without losing her divine nature.  That is what I suspect in any event.

I do know that I cannot enter a room in a museum that is filled with Mesoamerican artifacts without being sick to my stomach.  Egyptian and Assyrian statues of Gods and Goddesses have a similar effect, albeit not quite as potent.  I can FEEL the effects of blood sacrifice, of the rapacious demands of those Aztec and Mayan Gods.  Have we experienced past lives?  Who knows?  I have had countless strangers approach me, claiming to have known me as an Aztec, Mayan or Egyptian from centuries past.  I do know that I have had horribly vivid dreams about these periods in history ever since I was a very young girl.  When we studied the Aztecs in grammar school, I immediately RECOGNISED the culture.  It was spooky, even terrifying.

In a similar way, the statues that survive of the Norse gods are primal and frightening in their raw power.  Great bulging eyes are the focal point of those rough-hewn wooden statues or colossal stone images.  They scream power to the worshipper even though the people who followed the religion certainly did not believe that their Gods resided in stone or wood.  They believed in the power of glades, of primeval forests and ancient deep lakes and rivers.  Godes cannot be pinned down in images or symbols.  Those images and symbols are only guideposts to the ultimate inchoate Power of Divinity.

Our Local Temple at Chandeshwari, from 'Nepal Back in Time'

Personal Note:  For a long time, I could not bear to write about my experiences as a child in Nepal.  The emotional and spiritual wounds remained raw and deep.  Now, however, I feel it is time to revisit that very significant period of my life and glean all that was good from it before it is too late.

Dedicated to Kaji Lal Shrestha and his family in Chandeshwari

As a child, I lived in a compound on a maidan (artificial mound) that had been constructed almost at the halfway point between the village of Banepa and the village of Chandeswari.  Banepa lay on the paved road that went from Kathmandu all the way to the Tibetan border and had been built by the Chinese.  Chandeswari, on the other hand, was a little less accessible, as the road was nothing more than a path.

My aunt and uncle had little interest in the native religions or legends but I made friends quickly with the village girls and participated in their puja rituals as often as possible.  Puja consisted of taking a platter filled with different rraditional offerings to the local temple in the morning, being blessed with sacred red paste or powder (tika) and then returning home.  All the young girls I knew performed puja.  I daresay my aunt and uncle would have been horrified had they known that I worshipped at the temple of Chandeswari with my friends.

I remember some of the offerings that were placed on the large round tal that was taken to the temple in the morning.  String incense was one of the items and it was placed in a small brass cup with a stand.  Another offering might be the head of a rooster.  Fresh flowers as well as the crushed rice known as chura in our village might be included as well.  The tika was the red paste that would be placed on the forehead of the person who brought the offering to the temple.

I hate to admit it but in my day, the temple was very dirty and very dark always.  We often did not wear shoes and I can remember quite vividly the feeling of flies, sticky old blood and bones from old sacrifices beneath my bare feet.  The inside of the temple hummed with feeding flies.  During the sacrifices, goat heads were piled high about the temple precinct.

The atmosphere was charged with power and magic.  Whenever I entered that dim, cool building, I shivered slightly and experienced a frisson of fear.   When I look at newer photographs of the temple, there is less power although I still see old bones from sacrifices scattered on the ground.

When I first went to Nepal, the smells and sights were overwhelming, but one soon became accustomed to it and indeed, I felt that the more I lived like one of the Nepalese, the better I would feel about life there.

I realise as well that in the West, our culture is extremely antiseptic and that destroys the fabric of reality upon which spiritual power traditionally was and is built.  Life and Death are very real and the flies that feast upon the blood as well as the maggots that eat the rotting flesh are part of the Great Goddess who oversees Death and Rebirth.  Kali or Durga or Chandeshwori as she is named in Napal is a terrifying Goddess in some of her aspects, with tongue extended to lap up fresh blood with an insatiable thirst.  At the same time, as any one who has studied any sort of mythology knows, there can be no Rebirth without Death.  Death is the Mother of Rebirth and the old and exhausted must be swept away in order to provide room for new life.

As an adult, I know far more about the Goddess Chandeswari than I did as a child.  She was a terrifying figure with eight arms, all brandishing weapons and other items of power.  It was she who, in the form of Durga (Chandeswari in Nepal) slew one of the most powerful of demons.  The tale varies from place to place.  I will recount the classical version of the tale after giving the local Nepalese version:

Now to recount the local legend of Chandeshwari in Nepal.

You may not realise how important the village of Chandeshwari is if you visit it without knowing of its history but it was here that the powers of Light defeated the evil Demon Chand.

Long, long ago, almost within reach of the dawn of Time, a great and powerful demon named Chanda set his will against the Gods and laid waste to the earth.  The gods engaged in battle against him and were defeated.  Indeed, they were cast out of Heaven itself in defeat and were forced to live in the forests near Banepa in a valley near a river with a trail that lead to the very heart of the Himals and to the greatest mountain of all, later to be known as Everest.  The river was the Punya Mata River and even in those days, there were a few houses near the river where people were born, lived and died to be burned on the ghats by the waters.

It was due to the fact that the God Shiva had granted a boon to the demon that their defeat had been certain for the demon could not be defeated either by any God or any man.

The Demon, in the way of most demons, delighted in mischief and destruction.  He laid waste to the land on the shores of the Punya Mata, even fouling the pure waters of the River.  The poor people who lived there became desperate as their goats, buffalo and chickens were slaughtered, disappearing into the maw of the Demon, whose appetite was unsatiable.  He roared with laughter to see their anguish  and the awful sound kept the people awake at night, while their bellies rumbled and they grew weaker and weaker.

There always have been brave warriors in Nepal and the young men of the warrior caste armed themselves and sallied forth to fight against Chandra.  Like chaff from beaten rice, after tearing them to pieces, he scattered their bodies to the four winds and the women wailed and mourned.

Both the people and the gods living in the forest despaired of their power to save their land.  Only the greatest of the Gods could hope to solve the terrible problem that faced the world.

The gods living in the forests sent the Garuda as their messenger to Vishnu and Shiva and narrated their tale of woe.  As they did so, an immense mass of light emanated from the mouth of Vishnu, joined by similar outpourings of light from the enraged faces of the other gods.  This transformed into a woman, to whom all the gods transferred their own power.  Adishakti re-manifested as Durga in order to be able to slay Mahishasura, known as the demon Chand.

The Goddess both beautiful and terrible in her power was given a Lion to ride by Lord Himalaya, the God of the Great Mountains at the very top of the world above the valley where Banepa lay.  She returned with the gods to the forest of Banepa and rode out to the field of battle to face the Demon.

All the gods bestowed their gifts upon Durga and she rode the Lion armed with celestial weapons, bedecked with divine ornaments.

The entire army of Mahishasura attacked her together but she slew them all easily.  Their enraged leader, Chand himself then attacked her in the guise of a buffalo but she bound the beast with ropes.  The buffalo then transformed itself into a Lion and leapt upon the goddess, but Durga beheaded it with her sword. At this point, Mahishasura became a swordsman but Durga pinned him down with a torrent of arrows. The demon next assumed the form of an Elephant and restrained Durga's Lion, rendering it helpless. Durga cut off the trunk of the Elephant, thus freeing her Lion.  The demon transformed himself again into a Buffalo to charge at the Goddess.

Infuriated by his slippery nature and by his ability to transform again and again, Durga began to drink the potent rakshi made from rice, becoming wholly intoxicated.   In another version of the tale, it was the sacred Soma, the drink of the gods, for which she possesses an insatiable thirst, that she imbibed.   Filled with the glory of her own power and beauty, she began to laugh at him, hurling mountains at the demon and promising him that she would emerge from the battle victorious to bear his head to the gods in victory.  She then leapt across the battlefield and placed her foot upon the neck of the demon to prevent him from changing form again.  She then pierced him with her holy trident, beheading him at last and thus killing him.

At the site of the fierce battle on the big rocks along the river, visitors still can behold some of the marks of the conflict.  When he was killed, a lingam emerged from his belly and this has been worshipped ever since at the site.  The temple that stands at Chandeshwari today may have been built in the 17th century, but the sacred lingam and worship of the Great Goddess has been there since the dawn of time when the people of Nepal and the Gods were liberated from the awful might of the Demon.

'Devi Durga' is known as the Goddess of eternal power. Durga puja is an age-old festival and is celebrated with great fanfare all over the country. Goddess Durga is the vanquisher of all evil. Every year, Durga Puja is celebrated throughout the country and devotees pray to the Goddess and seek her blessings and protection.


The origins of Durga is told in different ways.  According to the Shiva Purana, Lord Shiva invoked the primordial energy from his left side to create Durga.  Together, they made an eternal home, Shivaloka or Kashi.  After that, they created Vishnu and Brahma.

The tale really begins with the asura named Rambha, father of Mahishasura.  Rambha evidently had offended the gods but performed his penance to Lord Agni.  Agni, who is the personification of one of the most primal powers, Fire itself, was pleased with the penance and granted the asura a boon to the effect that he would have a son who could not be killed by any god, man or animal.  Agni granted him the boon.

Rambha fell in love with a water buffalo named Mahishi who actually was a princess named Shyamala who had been transformed into an animal as a result of a curse.  The water buffalo evidently was pleased with his advances and together, they had a son named Mahishasura.   As the mother was a shapeshifter in a sense, Mahishasura was born with the power to transform himself into an animal, a very useful weapon as it proved.

His father told him of the boon granted by Agni but advised his son to visit Lord Brahma to have the powers ratified as it were.  Mashishasura dutifully followed his father's advice.  Lord Brahma, with some misgivings was forced to honour the provisions of the promise made by Agni and Mahishasura grew into adulthood knowing he never could be killed by a god, a man or any beast.

Mahishasura, as is often the case with demons, had little sense of responsibility towards others and unleashed a reign of terror upon the earth.  When the gods attempted to intervene, Mahishasura defeated them and succeeded in banishing them from heaven itself.  The vanquished gods went to Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva and narrated their tale of woe.  As they did so, an immense mass of light emanated from the mouth of Vishnu, joined by similar outpourings of light from the enraged faces of the other gods.  This transformed into a woman, to whom all the gods transferred their own power.  Adishakti re-manifested as Durga in order to be able to slay Mahishasure.  Armed with the celestial weapons of the gods and bedecked with divine ornaments, Durga rode onto the field of battle and challenged the demons.  The entire army of Mahishasura attacked her together but she slew them all easily.  Their enraged leader, Mashishasura himself, then attacked her in the guise of a buffalo but she bound the beast with ropes.  The buffalo then transformed itself into a Lion and leapt upon the goddess, but Durga beheaded it with her sword. At this point, Mahishasura became a swordsman but Durga pinned him down with a torrent of arrows. The demon next assumed the form of an Elephant and restrained Durga's Lion, rendering it helpless. Durga cut off the trunk of the Elephant, thus freeing her Lion.  The demon transformed himself again into a Buffalo to charge at the Goddess.  Sipping from a cup of wine to fortify herself, Durga flung her trident at the beast, beheading the demon and thus killing him.

Durga Puja is one of the most important Hindu festivals.  It honours the supreme Goddess Durga and is celebrated throughout India and Nepal.  It  is celebrated in different ways according to local customs and cultures, however.  Even the rituals performed during the Puja vary enormously.

The Puja commences on the day of the new moon during Navaratri.  The idols of Durga Maa are adorned with jewels and silk saris.  In some cultures, idols of Ganesha, Karthikeva and Shiva are decorated and consecrated beside the Goddess.

In another legend, Durga was created in order to destroy the invincible demon Mahishasura.  The unified powers of all the gods created a mass of fire and light from which a magnificent Goddess emerged.  By the light of Lord Shive, her face was created.  Lord Vishnu bestowed upon her his arms and Lord Brahma provided her legs.  She was blessed with all the powers of the gods and the Devi bestowed her powerful weapons upon her.  She was bedecked with priceless jewels, a silk sari and many garlands.  Maa Durga was given a Lion as her form of transport by Lord Himalaya, the God of the Mountains.  She then came to be known as Mahadevi, the Goddess Durga.

It was necessary to create a Goddess in order to slay the demon Mahishasura because of a boon granted by Brahma to the effect that the demon never could be destroyed either by a god or by a man. By creating the Mahadevi, neither god nor human, the gods made a saviour for the whole world.  On her fierce Lion, Goddess Durga rode towards the lair of Mahishasura.  After a fierce battle in the course of which the demon transformed himself again and again from Buffalo to Lion to Elephant and the form of a warrior, the Goddess managed to slay him.  Mahadevi thus became known as Mahishasura Mardhini, the slayer of Mahisshasura.


A Tourist's Photographs of the Temple and Villages

A rather fine and detailed description of the temple at Chandeshwari follows:

Originally Chandhonubik Bhagvati.  Balsakh-Purnima.  After this, the location became known as Chandeshwari, the site where the demon Chand was slain.  As an offering of thanks, the temple was dedicated to her and every year a festival is held on Baisakh-Purnima in memory of this event.  On that day,  a chariot procession with the implements from the Chandeshwari sanctum proceeds along the pathway between Banepa and Chandeshwari.    Chandeshwari is approached from Banepa along a stone paved pathway that runs roughly North-East through farmland and rice fields.  There is a fine view of the whole monument zone from a considerable distance.  The site is located on the right bank of a steeply sloping gorge and the opposite bank is well wooded.  A stream, cascading down the gorge forms small pools between the rocks at the foot of the temple precinct.

Below the temple are three ghats, a spring and various small sanctuaries including one dedicated to Hanuman.  From these loosely connected but sensitively placed buildings and sculptures there are fine views upwards towards the temple area which is accessible through a small gate at the top of a steeply ascending path.

The main entrance, guarded by lions,  is at the end of the paved path which proceeds from the southwest through the little hamlet of Chandeshwari.  In front of the gate is an open area with a path on the left side, a recently restored pond and several other features which mark it as a zone of divine protection.  There are a number of buildings located on either side of the pathway.  They are mostly settled on the nothern side, however.  The main structure of interest may be the Chandeshwari sanctum which is important because it houses the ceremonial implements used during the annual procession of the Chandshwari divinity to nearly Banepa and back.  This god house has recently been preserved against further dilapidation by the local people from Banepa and Chadeshwari.  The temple precinct property is an irregular rectangle which is enclosed on all sides.  Adjoining it on the west is a walled garden that stretches down the hill towards the ghats.  The north and east boundaries are formed by a brick building which was recently completed with open rooms on the ground floor serving as a pathi-some of which are used for meetings and pujas- and with open terraces on the upper floor.  From the northeast corner of the courtyard there is access to this roof terrace and the path from here leads to the stream down the hill.  In the southeast corner is a rather dilapidated two-story house made of brick.  A ruined brick wall completes the enclosure on the southern side.

Within the temple precinct, in front of the main entrance, a brick building dedicated to Chandeswari Mahadev was erected in the 18th A.D.  This temple which houses the image of Chandeshwari and Shiva - the master of the slayer of Chand- can be recognised by the image of Shiva's vehicle, Nand, the bull, who faces the entrance.  A wooden niche over the entrance contains the image of Nriteshwar and inside the temple a Shiva linga is worshipped daily.

The Chandeshwari temple itself stands further to the South of the bri

ck paved courtyard.  It is a three-tiered temple with a lion and a peacock on a column in front of the main entrance.  The toran over the doorway is richly carved and contains several gilded sculptures.  On each side of the entrance there is a small niche that  houses a protective divinity.

All the walls on the ground floor were covered in the early '80s with white glazed tiles.and circling the temple except for the southern side and part of the eastern side are rows of votive oil lamps set on a wooden frame at about 90 cm above plinth level.  On the western wall is a multi-coloured fresco of Bhairab which is repainted each year for the festival.  Within the sanctum of the temple is a free-standing image of the goddess Parvati wearing rich silver ornaments.  On the other remaining walls several other clay statues are also worshipped.

Most of the windows are finely carved and contain carved heads of different divinities.  The carved struts are of a special quality and represent the images of the ashtamarikas and the ashtabhairabs.  The two lower roofs are covered with the original roof tiles , while the upper roof is probably gilded cooper with bells hanging from the eaves.  This roof is capped with a gilded gujur.