Rani Pokhari to remain open for public from 6am to 8pm
A week ago, the historic Rani Pokhari was reopened to the public following cleaning by the city police.
KATHMANDU: The historic Rani Pokhari is open to the public from 6 to 8 am in the Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC). Rani Pokhari was first made available without charge following the reconstruction.
A week ago, the historic Rani Pokhari was reopened to the public following cleaning by the city police.
The Pokhari is now open from 6am to 8pm in the morning, according to KMC spokesperson Naveen Manandhar.
The Metropolitan Corporation is prepared to keep the pool open for everyone for a full year with no restrictions.
“The Rani Pokhari will be quickly cleaned and maintained in beauty after the increase in public traffic in the pond,” he asserted. “This is the honor of Kathmandu.” On Magh 2 of the same year, then-President Bidya Devi Bhandari also laid the cornerstone for the historic pond’s reconstruction after it was damaged by the Gorkha earthquake.
Although the reconstruction work was completed on Kartik 5, 2077, the National Reconstruction Authority handed over Rani Pokhari to the Metropolitan Corporation only on Poush 8, 2078.
After the handover, KMC has repeatedly tried to open it for everyone. Due to the earthquake, the pond and the Bal Gopaleshwar temple in the middle of the pond were also damaged.
Bal Gopaleshwar temple in the middle of Ranipokhari, which was earlier built in Gambaj style, has been reconstructed in Granthkut (shikhar) style built during the time of Pratap Malla according to experts’ report. About five years after the foundation stone was laid, the reconstruction work of Ranio Pkhari has been completed.
The inscription states that Rani Pokhari was constructed to placate the queen after the passing of Pratap Malla’s son Chakravartendra Malla.
At that time, the Bal Gopaleshwar Temple was built in the center of the pond. This pond was constructed by Pratap Malla in honor of his son Chakravartendra.
According to historians, the pond was filled with the water from 128 shrines. Four temples were constructed all around the pond when Pratap Malla was being constructed. In each of the four corners, there is a temple dedicated to a different deity: a temple to Devi in the south-east, a temple to Bhairava with Shakti in the north-west, and a sixteen-handed Ganesha in the south-west.
