Celebrating Kage Ashtami today, this is the religious significance

KATHMANDU: SEPT. 14 – Kage Ashtami, which is celebrated every year on Bhadra Shukla Ashtami, is being celebrated today at Kageshwori Mahadev Temple. It is believed that if you go to Kageshwori Mahadev Temple on this occasion and worship, you will be freed from the touch of a crow.

That is why people who have been touched by crows for years believe that they must visit Kageshwori today. There is a religious belief that if green maize is offered in Kageshwori on this occasion, the crow will not eat the maize planted in the field. Devotees who have reached Gosainkunda, a famous religious site in Rasuwa, on the occasion of Shrawan Shukla Purmani or Ganga Dussehra festival, have a tradition that the water brought from there should be offered to Kageshwori today.

There is a popular belief that the religious pilgrimage will not be completed if those who reach Gosainkunda do not come to Kageshwori today. Millions of devotees from home and abroad flock to the fair to be held at the historically, religiously and touristically important Kageshwori Mahadev Temple connected to Shivpuri Nagarjun National Park. This temple, also known as Kage Ashtami, is located in Kageshwori Manohara Municipality-1.

Deputy Chief of Kageshwori Manohara Municipality Bindu Pudasaini Simkhada informed that arrangements have been made to facilitate transportation to the temple. Before COVID-19, the municipality used to celebrate this festival by holding a fair for three days. Mayor Krishna Hari Thapa said that arrangements have been made to worship without holding a fair last year and this year as there is still a risk of COVID-19.

At present, a 227 kg crow statue made of the octahedron is a special attraction in the temple premises. This is the largest crow statue in Nepal. Rameshwor Phuyal, a member of the Bagmati Pradesh Sabha, said that the construction of the world’s largest crow statue weighing 1,000 kg at the Loktantrik Shaheed Udyan here has reached the final stage.

The locals have donated metal to make a 1,000-kg octagonal crow statue. In 2072 BS, under the leadership of the then Constituent Assembly member and now Bagmati State Assembly member Phuyal, the festival has been started on February 19 every year on the occasion of Democracy Day with the objective of promoting tourism in the region.

Kageshwori Manohara Municipality has been named after the name of this temple. On the occasion of this festival, the municipality has been giving public holidays on Bhadra Shukla Ashtami every year.

The municipality has been organizing the festival since its naming. On the occasion of the festival in Falgun (February/March) and the fair in Bhadra (August/September), cultural tableaus of the Tamang and Newar communities are displayed as well as local products. People from three districts of Kathmandu Valley as well as nearby districts including Nuwakot, Sindhupalchowk, Kavrepalanchok, Rasuwa, Dolakha, Ramechhap and Sindhuli have been flocking to Kageshwori for the fair. People from different districts of the country living in the Kathmandu Valley also go to Kageshwori these days to avoid the touch of crows.

Devotees who cannot go to Kageshwori Mahadev Temple on the occasion of Kage Ashtami have been worshipping, adoring and visiting the Kageshwori Temple at Hanuman Dhoka.