Dolakha, July 26: The Bhimeshwor Temple Management Committee (BTMC),
in collaboration with the newly elected representatives, is initiating a
process to include the temple in the UNESCO’s World Heritage Sites.
“The process started a couple of years ago. The Temple Management
Committee had submitted an application to the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and
Civil Aviation (MoCTCA) about four years ago, and mapping of the temple was
done before the Gorkha Earthquake 2015,” said Bharat Shrestha, chairman of the
BTMC.
Although many of the locals complained that even though the temple
was older than many temples in the Kathmandu Valley, it received little government’s
attention.
But, Shrestha said that the MoCTCA and Department of Archaeology
(DoA) had also tried to make it a part of World Heritage Sites.
Mapping of the temple was completed more than two years ago with
government support of Rs. 400,000.
“To list the temple in the UNESCO list, recommendation from the
national agency, DoA, is needed. But, the new structure, constructed by the DoA
itself, is against the UNESCO standards,” he said.
Historically, the temple was roofless. The DoA had constructed
additional walls around the ancient stone wall and roof.
Director general of the DoA Bhesh Narayan Dahal said that the
process was initiated to list the entire Dolakha Bazaar in the Heritage Sites,
not only the temple.
He said that the department was very positive about restarting the
process and urged the representatives, civil society and locals to create
solidarity for the same.
“At first, the municipality should hold a meeting with the local
stakeholders and come to us. We need commitment from the community, political
parties and other concerned people. The DoA is ready to work jointly in this
regard,” he said.
According to Dahal, in order to list the Dolakha Bazaar in the
UNESCO World Heritage Sites, the entire community should follow the norms, such
preserving the traditional Newari structure of houses, culture, food and
religious practices.
Ward chairman of Bhimeshwor Municipality – 2, where the temple is
located, Biraj Man Shrestha, stated that the municipality would support the
BTMC for conducting satellite mapping of the temple.
“Newly elected representatives are positive about expediting the
process to include the temple in the World Heritage Sites. It is one of the
major tourist attractions in the country, so we need to protect it, and promote
it in the international markets,” he said.
The temple has simple triangular stone as the statute of Bhim, a
mythical character from the Mahabharata epic and one of the Pandava brothers is
famous as the wish-fulfilling god.
The temple is said to be built during the Lichchhavi era, and legend
has it that if the statute sweats, it augurs bad in the country.
It has many other deities and temples, such as Shiva, Kalinchowk,
Bhairava, Ganesh and goddesses around the main temple which offer additional
attraction.
The temple survived the devastating earthquake, most of the structures
are intact although most of the other temples and historical heritages were
damaged.
As much as 5,000 devotees and tourists visit the temple. Local
entrepreneur Bharat Pradhan said that the temple was facing difficulties in
managing the expenses needed for the renovation and construction of necessary
structures like waiting room, water facilities.
The temple earns about Rs. 3 million annually.
Bharat said that the money
offered by the visitors was spent in the payment of the salaries to the priest,
7 staff and day to day management.
The temple has thousands of ropanis land in Bhedku VDC, but it is
unable to receive any income from the land. Biraj said that the office of Ward
No 2 would start the process to map the land to bring it into the temple’s
management.
There are four heritage sites in Nepal
– Sagarmatha National
Park and Chitwan National Park, Kathmandu Valley
and Lumbini.
According to Dahal, other 15 sites are considered as the prospective
World Heritage sites.
No comments:
Post a Comment