Mugu, Aug 2: A famous pilgrimage of Mugu, the Chhayanath Dharmik Yatra, commenced on Friday. Chhayanath, a famous Hindu shrine in Mugu, the mountainous district in Karnali, is considered a historic center of the ancient Sinja civilisation. The number of devotees visiting Chhayanath has increased with the arrival of Saun, a month religiously dedicated to the Hindu god Shiva.
The journey that passes along the Chhayanath area located at an altitude of 4,500 meters above sea level began on Friday following rituals of worship offered to the historic idol of Lord Shiva. Special worship was performed at the Chhayanath Temple premises in the presence of local priests, government employees, security personnel, local devotees, and people’s representatives.
A large number of devotees visit the shrine especially between the Nag Panchami and Janai Purnima festivals, both of which fall in the month of Saun in the Lunar Calendar. Chhayanath Rara municipality mayor Bishnu Kumar Bham said that a medical team has been deployed to the area to provide essential health services to the pilgrims.
Local resident Ain Bahadur Hamal stated that Chhayanath Dham, a site of immense religious and historical significance, is considered one of the major pilgrimage destinations after Mount Kailash Mansarovar. According to him, the idols of Thakurju (Lord Shiva), Vishnu, Ganesh, and Lord Buddha at the site were installed in 1836 B.S. by Sundar Chaulagai Upadhyay, the then-priest of Chain village.
Devotees from nearly all districts of Sudurpashchim and Karnali provinces, as well as from the neighbouring Uttarakhand, Himachal, and Kumaon regions of India, visit the Chhayanath Dham. It is believed that one is with the blessed with ancestral blessings, ancestral goods with visiting the Dham. Devotees and pilgrims, some accompanied by shamans, also reach the Chhayanath Dham to witness the ‘incarnation’ of new shamans, perform the Bratabandha (sacred thread ceremony), and engage in other spiritual rituals.
