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Budhanilkantha Temple-Nepal
The Budhanilkantha temple, dedicated to Hindu god Vishnu, is located at the base of the Shivapuri Hills,approximately 10 kilometres from the centre of Kathmandu .
It is believe that the deity was carved in the seventh or eighth century during the Licchavi period. It bears the largest Vishnu statue in Nepal. The statue is carved and made from a single block of black basalt stone. The Budhanilkantha statue is 5 meters in length and it lies in a reclining position inside a recessed tank of water. The tank represents the cosmic sea and is 13 meters in length. The positive energy and the bliss could be felt in the air. Hindus can walk down the steps and touch his feet while foreigners are not allowed.
It has many names like Sleeping Vishnu, Jalakshayan Narayan (Jalasayana, he who sleeps on the waves) etc,. The statue depicts the deity reclining on the twisting coils of the cosmic serpent Shesha (Shesha is multi-headed king of the serpent deities known as Nagas, and also is the servant of Vishnu). Vishnu’s legs are crossed and the eleven heads of Shesha cradle his head. Vishnu’s four hands hold objects that are symbols of his divine qualities: a chakra or disc (representing the mind), a conch-shell (the four elements), a lotus flower (the moving universe) and the club (primeval knowledge).
“Budhanilkatha’s name has been a source of endless confusion. It has nothing to do with the Buddha (budha means “old”, though that doesn’t stop Buddhist Newars from worshipping the image).
The real puzzler is why Budhanilkantha (literally “Old Blue Throat”), a title which unquestionably refers to Shiva, has been attached here to Vishnu. The myth of Shiva’s blue throat, a favorite in Nepal, relates how the gods churned the ocean of existence and inadvertently unleashed a poison that threatened to destroy the world. They begged Shiva to save them from their blunder and he obliged by drinking the poison. His throat burning, the great god flew up to the range north of Kathmandu, struck the mountainside with his trident to create a lake, Gosainkund, and quenched his thirst – suffering no lasting ill effect except for a blue patch on his throat. The water in the Sleeping Vishnu’s tank is popularly believed to originate in Gosainkund, and Shaivas claim a reclining image of Shiva can be seen under the waters of the lake during the annual Shiva festival there in August, which perhaps explains the association. Local legend maintains that a mirror-like statue of Shiva lies on the statue’s underside.”
It is believed that in a by-gone age, many years before there were two hardworking farmers (husband and wife) who maintained a farm here and one day they discovered the Deity when they were ploughing their field.
According to one of the locals, the legend states that the statue was once amazingly lost.”It was rediscovered when a farmer accidentally hit the sculpture while he ploughed his fields and the statue started bleeding,” he says. “On further mining, the statue was finally exposed for the second time,”
Budhanilkantha Temple
The Budhanilkantha temple, dedicated to Hindu god Vishnu, is located at the base of the Shivapuri Hills,approximately 10 kilometres from the centre of Kathmandu .
It is believe that the deity was carved in the seventh or eighth century during the Licchavi period. It bears the largest Vishnu statue in Nepal. The statue is carved and made from a single block of black basalt stone. The Budhanilkantha statue is 5 meters in length and it lies in a reclining position inside a recessed tank of water. The tank represents the cosmic sea and is 13 meters in length. The positive energy and the bliss could be felt in the air. Hindus can walk down the steps and touch his feet while foreigners are not allowed.
It has many names like Sleeping Vishnu, Jalakshayan Narayan (Jalasayana, he who sleeps on the waves) etc,. The statue depicts the deity reclining on the twisting coils of the cosmic serpent Shesha (Shesha is multi-headed king of the serpent deities known as Nagas, and also is the servant of Vishnu). Vishnu’s legs are crossed and the eleven heads of Shesha cradle his head. Vishnu’s four hands hold objects that are symbols of his divine qualities: a chakra or disc (representing the mind), a conch-shell (the four elements), a lotus flower (the moving universe) and the club (primeval knowledge).
“Budhanilkatha’s name has been a source of endless confusion. It has nothing to do with the Buddha (budha means “old”, though that doesn’t stop Buddhist Newars from worshipping the image).
The real puzzler is why Budhanilkantha (literally “Old Blue Throat”), a title which unquestionably refers to Shiva, has been attached here to Vishnu. The myth of Shiva’s blue throat, a favorite in Nepal, relates how the gods churned the ocean of existence and inadvertently unleashed a poison that threatened to destroy the world. They begged Shiva to save them from their blunder and he obliged by drinking the poison. His throat burning, the great god flew up to the range north of Kathmandu, struck the mountainside with his trident to create a lake, Gosainkund, and quenched his thirst – suffering no lasting ill effect except for a blue patch on his throat. The water in the Sleeping Vishnu’s tank is popularly believed to originate in Gosainkund, and Shaivas claim a reclining image of Shiva can be seen under the waters of the lake during the annual Shiva festival there in August, which perhaps explains the association. Local legend maintains that a mirror-like statue of Shiva lies on the statue’s underside.”
It is believed that in a by-gone age, many years before there were two hardworking farmers (husband and wife) who maintained a farm here and one day they discovered the Deity when they were ploughing their field.
According to one of the locals, the legend states that the statue was once amazingly lost.”It was rediscovered when a farmer accidentally hit the sculpture while he ploughed his fields and the statue started bleeding,” he says. “On further mining, the statue was finally exposed for the second time,”
Budhanilkantha Temple
