The Temple of Churiyamai

Situated on the lap of Churiya Mountain range, the temple of goddess i.e. Churiyamai is one of such temples, where thousands of devotees come to worship. Either may be an emperor or a beggar there is a custom in our only Hindu country that everyone pray to the god or goddess, bowing their head, wherever they be, for the protection against forthcoming trouble. Situated on the lap of Churiya Mountain range, the temple of goddess i.e. Churiyamai is one of such temples, where thousands of devotees come to worship. According to the legendary, the temple became famous among the people after the construction of Churiya tunnel in 1965 BS. Since the tunnel is in the Churiya Mountain, the name of the temple is derived from the name of mountain getting suffix “Mai” adding on Churiya. The main temple is placed just ahead of the tunnel. But after the construction of the Tribhuvan highway a substitute temple was constructed with an image of the goddess and placed on the left near the highway. The devotees who come there to worship the goddess climb a two minutes narrow street on the hill reach to the main statue. The main devotees are those who are the owner of heavy vehicles and the drivers that run on the dangerous Tribhuvan highway. In the ninth day of Dashain (the greatest festival of Hindus) i.e. Navami, they all come to the temple and sacrifice animals to the goddess and wished for the safety. Thousands of people from the district of Bara, Parsa, Makwanpur, Rautahat and Chitwan gather on the day of Navami so it is very difficult to control the huge crowd. Time to time an accident occurs in the temple. Not only on that day but also around the year number of people especially those who purchase new vehicle go to the temple. The vehicle owners have great faith on the goddess Churiyamai. When anew vehicle is purchased it is firstly offered to the Churiyamai before commencing any business. The main temple to which all devotees pay homage worship and respect, and the tunnel territory should be preserved and developed so as to make it historical as well as beautiful heritage. And it would be a good picnic spot. All people should come hand to hand with active participation to renovate, protect and preserve the highly worshiped temple and honored tunnel that is great historical as well religious belief of Makwanpur district. A little afford has been done to develop it but that is insufficient for protecting it from changing into debris. The time has come to seriously think for preservation of innumerably pilgrim aged temple of goddess and its peacefully calm territory.