Budanilkantha is the holy place of most loved Vishnu of the valley. It is the sculpture of sleeping Bishnu of 5th century. The sculpture is almost alike in feature of Gautam Buddha. Temple’s main stone of Vishnu is regard as the biggest statue carving of Nepal. Budanilkantha Temple is known as ‘Narayanthan Temple’. The meaning of Budanilkantha stands for ‘Old Blue Throat’. It is Hindu open air Temple Dedicated to lord Vishnu.
Location of Budanilkantha Temple
Budanilkantha is situated in the foot of Shivapuri hills. This temple is located in northern part of the Kathmandu valley. It is situated below Shivapuri Hill. It is on state of Bagmati, Kathmandu District on place named Budanilkantha.
Origin of Statue
It is believe that, a farmer working in his field one day came to dig his plough on something hard material. He became surprised that the material was bleeding. He dogged huge boulder and noticed the huge reclining statue of Lord Vishnu that had buried in the ground.
Structure of statue
The statue is carve with a single block of black basalt. The main stone is black stone sculpture, which is 13m long. Statue is 5 m tall situate in the middle of the pool and floated in the water. He holds the Sudarshan chakra, Shell, Gem and club in his four hands. The shrine is reclining in the middle of the small pond with the bed of Nags (snakes). This Image was carve back in Lichhavi period.
Festival of Budanilkantha
A huge Mela is conduct here every year on 11 Kartik (October-November) on the occasion of Ekadashi. It is pilgrimage site of Nepal.
How to Reach Budanilkantha Temple?
Budanilkantha Temple is 8 km far from Kathmandu. It is in the end of northern part of Kathmandu. The trip can be combine to Shivapuri National Park. There is plenty of transportation. It takes about 35 min to reach Temple from Kathmandu by Road transportation. It is about 12.9 km far from Tribhuwan International Airport.
