Miscellaneous
Manakamana Temple opened for public
The Manakamana Temple opened for public from Wednesday after the completion of its reconstruction works.Hariram Upreti
The Manakamana Temple opened for public from Wednesday after the completion of its reconstruction works.
The four-storey temple of Manakamana—the wish-fulfilling Hindu goddess—had tilted around 9 to 12 inches towards north-east and had developed cracks on its roofs in the earthquake of April 25, 2015. The renovation of the temple started in June 2015.
During the process, the renovation committee had conducted the goddess’s pooja in a hut near the temple.
On Wednesday morning, the pooja was conducted inside the renovated temple with devotees thronging the temple premises.
“I was happy to worship the goddess inside the temple,” said Ramchandra Pokharel, a local.
Meanwhile, the main priest of the temple, Insan Thapa, said, “As the devotees had been asking us time and again about the temple’s opening, we could not conduct purification rituals. The rituals will be performed after mid-February 2019.”
According to the renovation committee, the details of the construction’s cost will be disclosed soon.
However, Renovation Committee Coordinator Narendrababu Shrestha said around Rs 140 million was spent in the renovation. The government spent Rs 40 million while the devotees and supporters contributed around Rs 100 million, he added. Shrestha said 18.3 kilograms of gold was used to build the temple’s roof.
Limestone, surkhi, bricks and wood were used to reconstruct various structures of the temple, the committee said.