Varanasi/ Banaras

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Varanasi PTI

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A piece of Nepal in Varanasi

The Times of India

Manjari Mishra | TNN

Varanasi: The two-storeyed terracotta, stone and wood pagoda on the banks of the Ganga looks incongruous among the spires and domes that dominate Varanasi’s skyline. Its resemblance to the famous Pashupatinath temple in Kathmandu is as striking as the magnificent view it offers of the holy river and its bustling ghats some 50 feet below.

The temple in Varanasi bears striking resemblance to the famous Pashupatinath temple in Kathmandu

The 167-year-old structure, the Lalita Devi temple, is supposedly a replica of the famous temple at Kathmandu. Pandit Gopal Prasad Adhikari, head of the Samrajeshwar Pashupatinath Temple Trust (SPTT), the managing body of the temple, claims to possess documents proving the transfer of land by the ruler of Kashi to Nepali king Rana Bahadur Shah way back in 1843.

The temple and its adjacent area, including a dharamshala, belongs to the Nepal government, he claims. A Nepali migrant and a teacher of ‘Vedant Darshan’ by profession, Adhikari is proud of the ‘‘little Nepali island in the heart of India’’.

Driven out of his homeland and rechristened Nirguna Nanad Swami in his adopted city of Varanasi, Rana Bahadur Shah had decided to build a Pashupatinath replica by the Ganga.Work was still underway when the king got back his throne and left Varanasi. His son Rajendra Vir Vikram Shah managed to finish the project 20 years after the deadline.Unlike its more famous neighbour, the Kashi Vishwanath temple, the deity here is left in peace by the devotees. Barring the Nepali community, most people aren’t even aware that such a temple exists in the city, says Sagar Sharma, a member of the managing trust and a third-generation Nepali settled in Varanasi.

‘‘Visitors here are mostly foreign nationals and curious tourists,’’ says Adhikari. The temple management charges Rs 10 from the foreigners for its upkeep.

The temple has gone through a makeover as the old structure caved in due to years of neglect. ‘‘It was due to the initiative of former Nepal prime minister Girija Prasad Koirala that renovation was completed in 1995.