President pays homage to Palanchok Bhagawati

 President Ramchandra Paudel today performed worship at the Palanchok Bhagawati Temple in Kavrepalanchok on the auspicious occasion of the Maha Astami of the Bada Dashain festival. Maha astami is the eighth day of the 10-day Dashain festival.

First Lady Sabita Paudel also accompanied the President in performing the worship and paying homage to the Goddess Palanchoki this morning.

President Paudel arrived at Panchkhal this morning for worship at Palanchok Bhagawati Temple based at Palanchok of Panchkhal Municipality-9, Kavrepalanchok district. There is the tradition of the Head-of-the-State visiting the goddess temples and paying homage to the Nawadurga Bhawani (the nine forms of Goddess Durga), including Palanchok, on the occasion of the Bada Dashain festival, the biggest festival of Nepalis.

Devotees who had come to the Temple welcomed the President at the temple. The Palanchok Bhagawati Temple is among the oldest of the goddess temples in Nepal. It was constructed in 425AD or around 1,655 years back.

The goddess Palanchok is taken as the elder sister of all the goddesses. As per the mythology, Goddess Palanchoko appeared in the dream of an elderly person and asked him to shift her idol towards north from her then location at a place called Buchchakot. Buchchakot currently lies in Namobuddha Municipality.

The old man, following what the goddess had ordered him in his dream, carried the idol northwards and while on the onward journey reached the place where the Palanchok temple is situated at present when night fell. He stayed at that place and the next morning when he tried to carry the idol to another place from there, he could not lift the idol. He asked for help from 60 households in the settlement, and the idol could not be moved an inch even with the combined efforts of them all.

After this incident, the goddess' idol was installed at that very place and a shrine was built there, priest of the Palanchok Temple, Shaileshwar Bajracharya said.

There is large crowd of devotees at the Temple especially during Dashain and on Maghe Sankranti and Biashakh Purnima. It is believed that one's wishes are fulfilled by worshipping Goddess Palanchok.

Chief of the District Coordination Committee (DCC) Deepak Gautam, Panchkhal Municipality mayor Mahesh Kharel and Deputy mayor Surya Maya Danuwar, the Chief District Officer of Kavrepalanchok district, Rudradevi Sharma and local people's representatives had welcomed the President in the Palanchok Bhagawati Temple premises.