Gokarna Mahadev Temple

The old Newari village of Gokarna has the interesting Gokarna Mahadev Temple dedicated to Siva. It is a peaceful place. You get to Gokarna by taking the Sankhu road a short distance northeast of Bodhnath and taking the Sundarijal road. After a couple of kilometres you get to Gokarna. Mahadev means “Great God.” The temple is on the bank of the Bagmati River.

The triple-roofed Mahadev or Gokarneshwar (Lord of Gokarna) Temple contains an important Siva lingam and some interesting woodcarvings. Nandi’s, Siva bull, is next to the temple. The temple has an excellent collections of sculptures located all around the temple. Some of the sculpture are over 1000 years old. Many Hindu deities are represented including a bearded Brahma, Narasingha (half-man, half-lion incarnation of Vishnu), Surya (sun god), Ganesh, Kamadeva (god of love), Durga and Chandra (moon god). The 14th century temple has been recently restored.

Over the entrance of the temple is a golden torana with Siva and Parvati in the center in the Uma Maheshwar position (Parvati has her hand on Siva’s knee).

In a small temple in the compound is an 8th century statue of the goddess Parvati that is considered to be the best statue at Gokarna. It is in a small shrine in the northwest corner of the courtyard.

On the side of the Gokarna Temple is a single-storey Vishnu Paduka, which has Vishnu’s footprint on a metal plate. There is a figure of Siva lying on a bed of cobras embedded in the steps above the river,

Before you take picture you should ask the priests for permission. Non-Hindus can not enter the temple.

There is a big festival here the Gokarna Aunsi (Nepali “Father’s Day”), in late August or early September.

From here you can walk up to the Pulahari Monastery, on the hill to the west, and from there you can walk west to Kopan or north to Nagi Gompa.

Travel
To get here you can walk, take a bike, a tempo, or a taxi. A taxi from Kathmandu should be around Rs 350. You can get a tempo (route 28) to here from Kantipath in Kathmandu or at Bodhnath. Taxi drivers often will not want to come here, but the road gets quite bad after leaving the main road.
There is a pleasant walk between Gokarna and Bodhnath, going via the Buddhist monastery in Kopan. In Gokarna the path begins just past the bridge, on the Kathmandu side of Gokarna. The path begins by going northwest up a steep path and then goes pass fields and bamboo groves until it reach Kopan. From Kopan it is an easy walk along the trail southwest to Bodhnath.

Copyright ©2001 John Howley and Spiritual Guides