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| Goddess Gauri |
My first post as Ask Me About Nepal. I thought why not start with Gauri Ghat, as we have just passed Holy month of Magh. Magh is an auspicious month as mentioned in Swasthani. What is Swasthani? It's another story for another day.
Gauri Ghat, a ghat for Goddess Gauri on the bank of holy Bagmati river and is located on the northern side of the famous Pashupatinath temple, a patron deity of Kathmandu. Gauri is consort of Lord Shiva, here you can see head and shoulder cut of Gauri peeking out of rocks. Pilgrims fill water in hand cupped together from Bagmati river and pour over the Gauri, then worship her with vermilion power (abeer), rice (akshata), flower and fruits at and conclusion offer incense and oil-wick lamps. Pilgrims alternatively also flow oil wick burning on tapari (leaf saucer) on Bagmati river. There is also Lord Ganesh on the other side of bank, sitting alone, no body to propitiate Him as there is no way to wade through that polluted yet Holy water of Bagmati. In fact Bagmati is so polluted I could offer it to Gauri Mata (Mother) but couldn't sprinkle on myself as purification ritual. I quickly had to use hand sanitizer when I offered Bagmati water as part of ritual.
Huge Monkey God, Hanuman squats next to Gauri, what could be the relation? Hanuman is Lord Ram Devout. Anyway, Hanuman reminds of other locomotive hanumans that roam around temple terrifying devotees, snatching fruits from them. I mean monkeys. There are no mischievous monkeys in any other temples than found in Pashupatinath area. They are always on toes to terrorize devotees, especially women and children carrying bags. Hence, devotees are more cautious about monkeys than praying to the Goddess.
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| Oil Lamp and Incense offering at the bank of Bagmati |
Location: On the way to Guheswari Temple,
Getting there: 10 minutes walk from Chabahil along Bagmati River.
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