Gadhimai Temple

Gadhimai temple is the temple of the goddess Gadhimai Devi located in Bariyarpur of Bara district. It lies in the southern part of the Kathmandu valley at about 160 km and 7 km east of the headquarter of Bara district in Kalaiya city near the Indian border, close to Bihar. The main shrine of the temple contains the scripture of the Goddess Kali known as the Goddess of Power. There are two small brightly painted temples under the banyan and peepal trees spreading their huge branches. The  main temple is built in pagoda style with the gajur( pinnacle) on top. The temple is in the plain land of the Terai region . The main pujari (priest) of the temple are from Tharu community.

HISTORY of Gadhimai

Every shrine and temple of Nepal is surrounded by ancient myths, stories , religious values and legends. This temple’s history is also about 250 years old when a simple and benevolent resident of the same village Bhagwan Chaudhary house was robbed ,the thieves were caught by the villagers and were killed on the spot. Bhagwan Chaudhary  took the blame on his head to save his fellow villagers from the conviction. He was sent to the jail. The Goddess kept appearing in his dream demanding him to take her to the crime scene. She freed him from the prison  and took him to the village where now there is an actual shrine of the Goddess. In return Goddess asked him to sacrifice 5 humans in every five year. Bhagwan Chaudhary being the kind man offered his own life being unable to perform human sacrifice. Instead he pleaded with the goddess to offer Pancha bali (a quintuple sacrifice) every five years. Therefore the World’s biggest sacrifice was started in a temple.

INTRODUCTION

The temple is the holy and sacred place of the goddess Kali. The  main festival celebrated in this temple is Dashain and the Gadhimai mela which is held every five years. The temple is quite packed with the pilgrims from the neighbouring country India. People believed that if the sacrifice is made here to the Goddess they are blessed with their wishes and good fortune. It is estimated that around 50000 animals are sacrificed during the Gadhimai mela. The mela is celebrated for around 1 month from the first week of November to the first week of December. Around 4 million people come to offer their devotions and pray during this period.

We can visit this holy place with great cultural value by public transportation. We have to get the ticket to Bara from bus counters to get there or we can reserve the Scorpio to reach there.