Tripurasundari Temple is a place surrounded by a vast river on the right and left, above and below. A huge structure with a raised mound in the middle and its stele. The eye-catching view from the temple. Four huge wooden lingas bearing flags are erected all around the ancient structure.
The large serpentine-shaped Bheri River is visible from there, the snow-capped Mukuteshwor, Kagmara, and other mountains visible on the other side of the temple, and the bare, bare hills that look like they are stuck to the eyes. A fertile field connected to the land where the temple is located. Cereal crops such as rice, corn, wheat, and barley sway in the wind. A colorful settlement built by plowing the arable land.
These are the external attractions of the Tripurasundari temple. Such scenes that are seen after reaching the temple captivate the minds of anyone who reaches the temple. The external structure of the Tripurasundari temple in Dolpa and the view from here are very attractive and tempting.
The temple is different in style and shape from the traditional temples of Nepal. The view of the villages, mountains, hills, and rivers from the temple is the main choice of devotees after worship. Since the temple is located on low terrain and a high peak in the middle, thousands of devotees come here every year just to observe the beautiful view from there, says priest Nirmal Upadhyay.
According to the temple management committee, the pressure on devotees has also started increasing day by day after the improvements in the management of the temple. Tripura Sundari Temple is known not only in Nepal but also in India as a great Shaktipeeth. Any devotee who reaches the temple is eager to capture the serpentine river, snow-capped mountains, flat plains, and vast bare hills on the camera in the background of their photos. Moreover, during special festivals, one has to wait in line to take photos.
The Indian government had provided Rs 33.3 million for the construction of the Tripurasundari temple.
Built-in the ancient style, the temple has become a major destination for the country’s Prime Minister, Ministers, Ambassadors, Chiefs of Security Agencies, and high-ranking personalities. As mentioned in the Shree Swasthani, this is the Shaktipeeth where the body of Sati Devi fell.
It is believed that the rain god Megha performed penance in this area and if you pray to him during a severe drought, it will rain. There is a legend that Bhairaveshwar Mahadev was born as a form of Shakti after the body of Sati Devi fell. There is also a Bhairav Temple five minutes away from the Tripurasundari Temple. In the past year alone, Prime Ministers, Chiefs of Security, and Ambassadors have visited Tripurasundari.
Elders say that since the Panchayat period, even kings and emperors have come here for darshan. Priests say that famous saints including former kings Mahendra, Birendra and Gyanendra, Guru Shankaracharya, Purinath Baba, and others have visited this temple. Another priest, Ravi Prasad Neupane, said that the importance of the temple has not been known to the world because it is a large Shakti Peeth but is remote. “This temple is the main Shakti Peeth among other temples of Tripurasundari Devi in Nepal.
It is the birthplace of Tripurasundari Devi, the place where Sati Devi’s kandyaulo fell, and the origin of the Dasha Mahavidya,” he said. “It has been overlooked even though it has potential due to lack of proper publicity.”
A vacant flat land has been set aside below the temple to park a helicopter. Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli had worshipped at Tripurasundari only on Chaitra 30. The priests here say that this is the first time in the history of Dolpa that a sitting Prime Minister has visited Tripurasundari and offered prayers. On Chaitra 29, three former ambassadors of India also visited the Tripurasundari temple. Their first destination, which had planned a fortnight-long Dolpa trek, was Tripurasundari.
Former Ambassador Ranjit Ray said that Dolpa has immense potential for religious and natural tourism. According to him, everyone wants to visit Dolpa.
However, pilgrims cannot come to Dolpa even if they want to because they do not know how and from where to go to Dolpa. Ambassador Ray believes that if air and road transport to Dolpa is developed, Dolpa will make a leap in terms of religious tourism development.
This is the history of Tripura Sundari
This temple believed to have been established in 1114 AD, is also geographically isolated. There are famous pilgrimage sites such as the Tamravani River to the west of this temple, Mukuteshwor Himal to the north, and Bhairavi Ganga to the south, while this temple is located in the middle of the peak.
In ancient times, there was a palace of Bikram Shahi Maharaj in Kot Gadhi of Tripurakot VDC of Dolpa. The Shahi had kept 14 Ghar Bistas of this Kot Gadhi as his Qazi. The place where the temple is now is the place where the king’s palace was. Near that palace, there was a paddy threshing floor. Paddy was threshed on the floor. While threshing the paddy, suddenly strange activities began to be seen on this floor. Sometimes, when four-pathi rice was threshed, eight pathi rice would be obtained, and sometimes two pathi rice would be obtained. After such strange events, the cousins of Minister Bista told this to their Qazi Bista.
When the Qazis came to know about this, they told their king, Bikram Shahi. When the Shahi came to know about such a strange thing, he immediately called his subjects and expressed his intention to excavate the okhal. The king and the subjects were eager to see what was strange under the okhal. As advised, the next morning, all the villagers were called and started excavating the okhal. Hundreds of people were put to work on the excavation.
Even in the evening, the okhal could not be extracted, only a little was left. Everyone was tired. The entire team returned home on the condition that the remaining work would be completed tomorrow. When they came to excavate the okhal early the next morning, everyone was surprised to see that the okhal was in a state as if it had not been excavated. The king called thousands of people from various villages and set them to work day and night to dig the well.
After two days of continuous efforts, the well was dug out. Strange scenes were seen inside that amazing well. At the bottom of the well was a copper bowl, on the bowl was a copper plate on a ghee pot, on the plate was a hexagonal instrument, on top of it was a kundes, and inside it were the nine sisters of Navadurga Bhagwati. While digging, the tip of the bauso hit the copper hexagonal instrument. The digger fainted.
The goddesses in the form of butterflies flew and settled in various places. The butterflies that took the form of goddesses are famous by names such as Bageshwori of Banke, Kanika Sundari of Jumla, Khairbang of Salyan, Ransaini Tripureshwari of Baitadi, and Badimalika of Bajura. The remaining four sister goddesses, Bala, Tripura, and Sundari are sitting in Tripurasundari of Dolpa. The four seated goddesses are famous as Mahakali, Mahalakshmi, and Mahasaraswati. Since ancient times, priests of the Neupane clan have been worshipping in this temple.
While unifying the twenty-four kingdoms of Nepal, when Bahadur Shah’s team reached the city of Tar in Dolpa via Mustang, the bridge over the Bandar Phadka River was not built, so there is a legend that the bridge was built after a vow to offer Tripura Sundari as a Guthi and the nine kingdoms of Dolpa were unified. To reach Dolpa, one has to take a plane from Nepalgunj and get off at Jufal Airport, or one can also use the road route.
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