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| Kathmandu, Monday October 21, 2002 Kartik 04, 2059. |
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Neglected Bhadrakali awaits
conservation plans
By Razen Manandhar
KATHMANDU, Oct 20:The Hindu shrine of Bhadrakali, commonly
known as Lumarhi Ajima, which is also visited by Their Majesties during the festival of
Dashain, has succumbed to encroachment and misuse of the religious monument, mostly by a
government body, followed by other institutions.
Being located at a commercially viable point
has become a misfortune for this shrine, associated with making of Kathmandu sometime
during the 11th century. This shrine devoted to one of the patron deities, established in
tantric system, when King Gunkamdev devised this city in the shape of a double-edged
sword.
The shrine of the Mother Goddess Bhadrakali
lies just in front of Singha Durbar and between the two Tundikhels but this is one among
the neglected monuments of the Kathmandu Valley.
According to Nepal Heritage Society (NHS), a
non-governmental organisation working in the field of heritage conservation, the monument
does not have any evidence showing the date of its construction. There are inscriptions
dating back to 1672 AD, proving that the monument is at least 330 years old.
NHS has been paying rent to the Guthi
Sansthan, the government appointed body to oversee the religious property of the whole
country, for using two rooms in the Bhadrakali courtyard. Chairman of NHS Ukesh Bhuju says
that the government bodies are more active in encroaching and misusing it than caring.
Satya Mohan Joshi, a cultural expert, says
that the religious identity of this shrine must be preserved. Programmes should be taken
up to include this shrine among the tourist sites especially very few tourists know about
the Bhadrakali shrine though it is one of the important monuments of the Kathmandu Valley.
Presently, there is the barrack of a section
of the Royal Nepal Army, a cotton mill, the office of the Guthi Sansthan Documentation
Section, sales depot of chemical fertiliser, several encroached shops and nearly a dozen
hoardings, standing high around the shrine.
All the rent collected goes to the Guthi
Sansthan but it never takes pain to restore the monument, said Bhuju.
The northern door is filled with garbage and
has remained closed for years; the rest houses have leaking roofs. Beggars, pickpockets
and homeless people have made the area their sanctuary. There is scarcity of drinking
water though there are three dry water tanks.
Representatives from the local army barrack
demanded transparency of the amounts collected from rent of rooms and hoarding board.
"We are government staff. We can go wherever the government directs. But the money
earned from this site must be made transparent," said an officer.
Chairman Bhuju demanded: "The ownership
of the rest house should be returned to the community, the ugly hoarding boards should be
removed, the dilapidated rest house should be repaired, and encroachment must be
stopped."
However, the Department of Archaeology (DOA) is nowhere near
making any plans to conserve the monument. Archaeologist of DOA Prakash Darnal says that
since the DOA has a long list of decaying monuments in the capital to attend to,
Bhadrakali does not come under "priority list". The shrine of Bhadrakali
consists of a formless idol of Chamunda, surrounded by other assembly of the protecting
gods. Apart from the main festivals of Dashain and Pahancharhe, people visit Bhadrakali
for other social rites like observing wedding and Bratabandha.
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