There are four kumaris that people of the valley do worship, as a shrine, not the living goddess Kumari. And the balkumari temple is one among them. The local people praise her as their guardian deity, which exactly locates in the middle of the city, for instance.
They perform their livelihood ceremonies over there like the marriage, Barthabandha, and more.
The Balkumari temple has a brick-paved rectangular courtyard. Also, the minor and major deities within it like the bhairava temple.
The temple itself is of a three-falsehood which has amusingly impressive hanging Pataas. It also has a column in front of it, which has a beautiful representation of a peacock. There were more peacocks in its tier corners. But they all were stolen, leaving one among them.
That’s why it is now sealed with strong iron bars. Including the Balkumari temple itself.
The temple has a long story, nearly dates back to the 17th century. Of course, cause the temple was established at that time. The legends say that a Madhyapurian, actually a trader usually went to Lubu for trading purposes. Along with his group. But he somehow fell in love with the princess of the Lubu and vice versa.
Soon, the princess also got pregnant. For that reason, she asked the merchant to take her away with him to the thimi. The merchant happily accepted her proposal but at the same time put a condition too.
The condition was as if she wants to come to thimi with him, she must bring the balkumari with her. That the princess also happily accepted and brought the deity to the thimi. From that time, the deity was permanently shifted to thimi.
Plus, there is the womb-like structure right above the idol of the deity. That, in some way, justifies the story of shifting the deity by the pregnant women.
The Balkumari temple became a course of titling and tattling when it comes to the Biska Jatra. Yes, because this temple is foremost related to the vermilion festival, ordinarily known as Sindur Jatra. The jatra initially starts from this temple. But her chariot is not rounded to the whole city as other chariots do.
Her chariot is taken up to the temple of Prachanda Bhairva. Since it is believed that the ancient thimi was bordered up to that place in the north.
The temple is not in a challenging place and it is truly quick to reach there. A half an hour of a taxi ride drops you at the entrance of the temple from Baagbazaar. Alternately, if you choose to ride a local bus, then it might take around 45 minutes of time to reach thimi.
The Naya thimi, the bus conductor as well as the locals call the place Naya Thimi. From where you have to walk for exactly 5 minutes. There, on your left-hand side, on your second turn, you would find the temple.
No, it doesn’t. It lies at Madhyapur Thimi which is an ancient and small town of Bhaktapur. That consists of different temples, festivals, pottery squares, and a traditional newari lifestyle.
You could choose a local bus or hire a private vehicle to reach over there.
You can catch a local bus from Ratna Park or from Bagbazaar if you are staying at Thamel, which directly goes to Bhaktapur. But you need to walk a little bit to reach the premises of Balkumari temple from Madhyapur thimi stop towards north.
Yes, there are restaurants and cafes on-site, convenient for all kinds of visitors.
Yes, it is. Even a single woman could travel here alone.
No, not exactly. You can make your tickets available for one more day at the time you buy it if you are gonna stay at Bhaktapur Nagar. Otherwise, you don’t have to worry about extra ticket expenses cause you don’t need to buy it.
Well, there are a lot of things that you can do like shopping, sightseeing, eating different foods, also photography. But, capturing one corner of the square and having a sunset view would be the most satisfying thing that you would experience.
While being in Bhaktapur, you must mind few things like taking out of your shoes while entering the temple and other religious sites. Likewise, you might not be allowed to click pictures of some specific events or place. You should consider these things.
As we informed you earlier it is all safe for solo traveling which means you can travel without a guide. But we also recommend you to have a certified guide who would help you to understand the authentic Bhaktapur and the stories carved all over the monuments.
Yes, you can during its opening hours. And don’t forget to take out your shoes before entering the temple.
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