Mukthinath Yatra - 8

Tour of Pokhra

Ready for Tour 

After lunch we undertook the tour of Pokhra. Pokhra is the second largest city after Kathmandu and has many attractions for tourists like lake, temples, meuseums , river and waterfalls and one can buy souvenieirs in the numerous shops found  in all these places.  

 Steps leading to Bindyavasini temple 

Ganesh shrine 

( Our Ace photographer Sundar)

Mouse the mount of  Ganesha 

.  Especially a visit to Pewa lake is must for all the tourists to Pokhra. One can also see the Annapurna peaks in all their glory once they are in Pokhra.  Firsat we visited the Bindyavasini temple. The temple complex is situated on the top of a hillock and there are steps for climbing upto the temple. As the king of Pokhra made the statue of the Mother Goddess from the stone brought from Vindya the Goddess is named so.

Vindyavasini shrine 

The plaque of the  Goddess shrine 

She is considered the guardian deity of this city. She is worshiped in the forms of eight armed Durga. One go inside the sanctum and touch statue and worship the Goddess.The complex also consists of shrines for Ganesha, Shiva and another shrine consisting three forms of Vishnu along with His consorts namely, Lakshmi Narayana, Seetha Rama and Radha Krishana. The stone sculptures and the intricate  wood work on the doors and archways and the bronze sculptures of the temple are a treat to the eyes of the connoisseur. 

Nandi the mount of Lord Shiva

Few stone sculptures in the Shiva shrine 

There is Rudraksha tree also in the temple complex. One can see the panoramic view of the Pokhra city from the temple complex. We prayed in the temple and left for the next tourist attraction after some shopping.

Radha- Krishna  Lakshmi- Narayan  Seetha Rama Shrine 

Lakshmi Narayan 

(Enjoy the beauty of the fine wooden carving on the door )

 கருட பலகை

 A exquisite Brass lamp 

King and queen of Nepal 

Our next visit was to the hydro electric station built across the Cheti Gandaki river. What we saw on our way to Muktinath was Kali Gandaki ( Black Gandaki) River, what fkows here in Pokhra is Cheti Gandaki (White Ganaki) River. The main difference is the color of the water because of the abundance of calcium carbonate the water is whitish. The other difference is Kali Gandaki flows on the surface and Cheti Gandaki floes aun surface ( nether ). K.I Singh an Indian designed the hydro electric station using the rivers of Cheti Gandaki river so a   bridge across the river is named after him and there is also a park nearby. The Gorkha museum is also in the same locality.

Seti Gandaki 

               Gorkha Museum                      

Our next visit was to the Patale –Chhango  - Nether Fall which is called Devi’s falls nowadays. Like Cheti Gandaki this river which originates from the Phewa lake also flows sub surface   for some distance and then she surfaces and this beautiful waterfall is named  Devis fall in memory of   European tourist who  fell into the river and was not  found out  later.  The sight of the sub surface falls is really mesmerizing.  There is a cave shrine called Gupteshwar Mahadev which is located in a cave. We visited that temple also and tehn proceeded to the main attraction of this city namely Pewa lake.  

Davis fall 

Buddha satue 

Gupteshwar Mahadev temple