Tour to Budhanilkantha Temple

Budhanilkantha temple is one of the famous Hindu pilgrimages of Nepal. Budhanilkantha means “old blue throat” and Ananta has 11 hooded heads. This temple is dedicated to Lord Vishnu. In this temple a deity of Lord Vishnu who is also known as Narayan is located on Jalasayana which means sitting on an Ananta Sea. It is said that deity of Lord Vishnu which is situated in the temple is about 1000 years old. The deity of Lord Vishnu is so fascinating the deity is 17ft i.e. is 5m long which is located on the tank that is 43ft i.e. 13 m long the deity is looked like it is floating with the crossed leg of Lord Vishnu. The eye catching deity has four hands holding four symbols one is conch-shell, chakra the disc, club and lotus flower. In the Licchavi Period in 7th and 8th century this deity was carved in this temple.

The time period of late October and early November is the time period when the Lord Vishnu wakes up after sleeping during Caturmasya period on the cosmic ocean. The day is famous with the name of Haribondhini Ekadashi. People from all over world used to visit this temple on this day.

Along with this deity three more images were carved in this temple during same time period. One image is at famous Budhanilkantha which is original and important, next is at Balaju Gardens and last one is at famous Royal Place in Kathmandu. At Budhanilkantha temple Hindu’s used to step down to touch the feet of Lord Vishnu Deity, but foreigners cannot. It is believed that if the Nepal King sees the deity at Budhanilkantha then he will die immediately this is the reason the deity which is located at Budhanilkantha is not seen by Nepal King but he can see other two famous deities. 

It is believed that the deity of Budhanilkantha was lost once then later it was discovered by one farmer. The stories is said that when farmer was dug the place where deity was buried with the help of his plough then the blood start coming from the ground and farmer then discover a deity. The Puja which is done in morning between 9:00 am to 10:00 am is really interesting.

Practicalities

From Kathmandu the Budhanilkantha temple is about 8km in northeast direction and from Thamel it is 15km away which is located at the base of Shivapuri hill. From City bus stand in Kathmandu or from Rani Pokhari in every half-hour busses depart to Budhanilkantha temple. The place where bus drops you from that place the temple is 100m away. From Jamal facility of tempos are available to reach here.

At bus it will cost you around Rs7 and at taxi it will cost you around Rs 175. From down town it is difficult to ride bike to uphill. Half an hour walk away from temple there is a Mount Shivapuri Lodge which has clean room with common bath with supply of hot water in just $8

ISKCON (Hare Krishna) Temple

10 minutes walking distance from Budhanilkantha temple the famous Iskcon Temple is located.

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