Manakamana Temple (the temple where your wishes can be fulfilled), a sacred place of the Hindu Goddess Bhagwati, an incarnation of Parvati is situated at the Gorkha district of Nepal. It is believed that Goddess Manakamana grants the wishes of all those who make the pilgrimage to her shrine to worship her. This holy place overlooks the river valleys of Trisuli in the south and Marsyangdi river in the west, Manaslu- Himachali and Annapurna ranges can also be viewed to the north of the temple. Many devotees all around the world visit the Manakamana temple at least once in their lifetime, some visit this temple every year with the hope that their wishes get fulfilled and a large number of animal is sacrificed to please the goddess Manakamana. According to the legends, it all started during the reign of King Ram Shah, one of the great rulers and reformers of Gorkha known for his social, economic, judicial, and administrative reforms. It is believed that the wife of King Ram Shah, queen of the Gorkha was Possessed by divine power, she used to make her way all up to the hill at late night after the king slept. But one day the King found something strange when he didn’t find his wife in the room. He followed her all the way up to the hill and saw his personal secretary Lakhan Thapa Magar as a massive lion, her wife in the form of Goddess with various gods and goddesses lined up in a hall. As soon as the king returned home with a heavy heart seeing his wife and secretary in that form, he confronted his wife which was later denied by his wife claiming that he had seen it all in a dream. Just after that day, the King was struck dead. At that time the Sati Pratha ( a historical practice found chiefly among Hindus in the northern and pre-modern regions of South Asia, in which a widow sacrifices herself by sitting atop her deceased husband’s funeral pyre) was a compulsory practice even if its the Queen. However, Ram Shah’s personal secretary Lakhan Thapa Magar requested the queen not to go through with the practice. The queen didn’t agree and assured Thapa Magar that she would return. Months after the demise of King and Queen, Lakhan Thapa discovered about a stone found by farmers when plowing the field, when struck by the plow, the stone began to flow profusion of blood and milk. Thapa Magar rushed to the place and believed the stone to be an incarnation of his dead queen, He built a temple there and the place is now worshipped as Manakamana Temple. This is the main reason unlike the other Hindu temple which is served by Brahmin priest, the Manakamana temple is served by the Magars, the 17th generation of Lakhan Thapa Magar. The temple is set in a square and looks across a massive sacred magnolia tree. The temple is four-storied with tiered pagoda-style roofs and lies on a square pedestal. If you are a religious person, Manakamana Temple is a must-visit place.
Congratulation!