“It’s believed that if we worship Kaan Deuta, earaches are cured,” he said. “My wife had earaches, so I offered worship to the god, as I had promised, after she was cured.”[break]
Ram has countless such stories related to deities curing pain or diseases.
It was not only Ram who visited the open temple to offer their prayers to Kaan Deuta Thaan that morning. There were a handful.
Pravin Buddhacharya, 28, from Swayambhu, says, “We Nepalis live in a 50-50 world where we visit doctors and then worship our deities to cure illness.”
“Offerings and prayers to different deities, who are said to cure various ills, are all about psychological effects,” says veteran culture historian Satya Mohan Joshi.
It is no surprise that Nepal, a country rich in cultures and traditions, is a treasure box of myths.
And before the arrival of modern doctors and the gradual development of medicine, every society had their own methods to cure and deal with various illnesses and diseases. It is also found that people often prayed to various deities for protection and cures of different ailments.
And those very gods and goddesses are still worshipped by people for similar reasons. Republica tracks down a few such healing heritage sites which people often visit and offer their prayers for the same reasons that their forefathers did.
Bange muda in Kathmandu
In Nepali, “Bange muda” stands for twisted wood.
The “shrine” is off to the north from Indra Chowk in Kathmandu, along the Bheda Sing road. The locality derives its name from a part of wood annexed to an old house in the Bange Muda Square, which, according to legends, was a splinter off the remaining part of the tree, the timber of which was used in building Kasthamandap in the Kathmandu Durbar Square.
“It’s said that this particular wood couldn’t be used in the construction of Kasthamandap due to its shape. So it was brought and installed here. And people later started praying to this log,” informs local businessman Mani Ratna Shakya.
There is a belief that toothaches are cured if coins are hammered on this block of wood.
The log is also called “Washa Deo” (Medicine God) by the Newars, and the deity is one of the manifestations of Bhairab. Currently, the revered wood is covered with nails and coins of various sizes.
“As far as I can remember, at first people just hammered the nails. But later, coins also appeared,” says Mani Ratna. The reason for this is unknown. Perhaps, the coins were monetary offerings (“bheti”) to the god curing toothaches.
According to Desmond Doig and Dubby Bhagat in their “Down History’s Narrow Lanes: Sketches And Myths of the Kathmandu Valley,” the depression in the center of the stump contained a small golden image. Mani Ratna also agrees. And adds, “But the statue isn’t there anymore. It has been missing for years now.”
“But people often confuse Bange Muda with Kilagal of Naradevi because of the particular wood covered with nails,” adds Mani Ratna. “Kila” in Nepali means metal nail, and “gal” comes from “galli” or lane.
“Bange Muda is also known as a dark “tole” (ward) because sunrays seldom make it to this part,” Mani Ratna adds.
As it would have it, Bange Muda points to an old lane of dental clinics leading to Thahiti.
The pillar inside the Kasthamandap
Inside the heavily spider-webbed, smoke-blackened Kasthamandap, a shiny soft brown wooden pillar stands tall. Inside, there are four images of Lord Ganesh in four different corners. And right in front of the Surya Binayak statue is the pillar where pilgrims are often seen rubbing their backs. Kasthmandap was an open hall and a pilgrims’ resting spot in the olden days before it became a temple.
Popular belief has it that if a person is pain-stricken in any part of the body, mainly backaches and the lower part of the stomach, one can rub the particular body part against the pillar – and viola! – the pain is gone.
“A grain of mas dal (black brown lentil) splintered off to this particular place when an old lady was grinding some. And out of the grain grew a tree, which was later converted to a pillar,” 95-year-old Guchheman Maharjan cites a folklore related to the pillar. Currently it supports the staircase that leads to the upper room of Kasthamandap.
The myth that goes back to the times when Kasthmandap was built and it still has a strong hold among the denizens of Kathmandu. There are two interpretations of the construction of Kasthmanduap: one dates back to the 16th century during the reign of King Laxmi Narsingh Malla. And the other to a Tantrik priest in the 12th century. The capital derives its name from this pagoda-styled building. “Kastha Mandap”, meaning the house built of wood, became “Kathmandu”.
Radhika Nepal, a senior citizen living in Basantpur participates in Tuesday’s sermons in the temple. She says, “I usually come and rub my forehead and back here. I don’t know if it benefits me. But I do it because I believe in it.”
Kaan Deuta Thaan in Kupondole
The shrine to Kan Deuta (ear god, also known as “Telephone God”) is located in “upper” Kopundole on the way to Patan.
“According to one legend, an ear from the burnt body of the Sati Devi fell in this place when a mourning Lord Shiva ran, carrying his beloved Sati’s mortal remains,” says a local, Rukmani Amatya.
Newar folklore has a different interpretation of this area. A tantrik priest during King Pratap Malla’s reign invented a cord, which was fitted under this temple. With the help of the line, King Pratap collected information on Patan as its people gathered in this area and gossiped on different matters.
Harati Ma in Swayambhunath
“When I was a kid, we didn’t have a smallpox vaccination. So back then, in order to prevent children from getting the pox, people conducted khopa. A small cut was made above the arm, and pus extracted from children who had contacted the disease was applied to the cut,” recalls 69-year-old Babu Raja Buddhacharya, the main priest of Swayambhunath.
This method, similar to the modern smallpox vaccination, was incomplete without the worship of Harati Ma (mother), the goddess against smallpox and protector of children under 12. Though vaccination has made things simpler, people still worship Goddess Harati or Ajima for the protection of their children.
The temple of Goddess Harati is right behind the main stupa of Swayambhunath. Festooned in silver jewelery, the statue of the goddess is accompanied by five children of hers.
Temples dedicated to Harati are found elsewhere, too, such as at the Bouddhanath stupa in Boudhha, and the Buddha stupa in Shigal in Kathmandu. The reason behind Harati accompanying Lord Buddha at different sites goes back to folklore.
According to a legend, Harati was an ogress who lived during Lord Buddha’s time.
“She was a wife of one of the guards of Lord Kuber, the god of wealth and material possessions,” adds priest Babu Raja Buddhacharya. Through Lord Buddha’s blessings, Harati was able to conceive, and she had 500 children. But as Harati’s husband could not bear the cries and whining of the children, he ordered her to leave home along with the kids. Therefore, feeding the kids became a difficult task. So she kidnapped local children and fed them to hers.
People requested the Buddha to solve the disappearance cases. One day when Harati was out looking for food, the Buddha hid all her children. Eventually, she turned up to Him, seeking help. He took the opportunity to explain the similar pains and situations that the mothers of the disappeared children were going through. Harati understood the sermon and promised to change her ways. And as for food for her family, even to this day, she is the first one to receive offerings from pilgrims and worshippers.
A similar deity called Shitala Mai, who is also believed to be the goddess agaisnt smallpox, has her shrine in the Pashupatinath Temple complex.
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