By Amar Raj Naharki
Tanahun, Apr. 18: The number of tourists visiting the Chhabdi Barahi Temple in Chhabdi, Vyas Municipality–14, Tanahun has increased exponentially in recent months.
The Chhabdi Barahi Development Committee stated that exceptionally large numbers of people visited the temple on public holidays. Chairman of the committee Than Bahadur Thapa ‘Prem’ told The Rising Nepal that Saturdays were especially busy with too many people coming for the committee to be able to manage.
Around 10,000 people visited the temple this Saturday alone, Thapa informed.
“Nearly 20,000 people came on April 10. Worshippers had to wait in line for more than two hours to enter the temple,” Thapa said. “People flock the temple from February to May, believing that worshipping here will lead to their wishes being fulfilled.”
According to the committee, devotees from all over Tanahun as well as from other districts like Lamjung, Gorkha, Kaski, Parbat, Baglung, Syangja, Dhading, Chitwan and Kathmandu come to pray at the temple which is located seven kilometres east of Damauli.
The large crowds have made local entrepreneurs very happy. They are optimistic that the tourists will help them get back on their feet and recover the losses inflicted by the COVID-19 pandemic and the restrictions it brought.
Apsara Pantha Adhikari, proprietor of a local hotel Apsara Hotel and Lodge, said that the road leading to the temple had been blacktopped which had made travel easy and comfortable. “This is why the number of tourists has increased these days,” she said.
Kaji Man Shrestha, chairman of Vyas ward no. 14, shared that the ward was preparing a master plan in coordination with the Division Forest Office of Tanahun to establish a religious forest and build a beautiful garden in the area to promote tourism at the Chhabdi Barahi Temple.
As per the inscription present in the temple premises, the mother of Ved Vyas Matsya Kanya took the form of Chhabdi Devi at the exact place where the temple stands.
In addition to praying, people also look at the adjoining ponds and the fish in the nearby river.