E-Kantipur

JUN 26 - There is a gems collector in Surkhet who has found a giant quartz crystal, which he claims is worth Rs. 1 crore. We couldn’t afford it, but we did take other jewels from his treasure chest: the itinerary for a Panchakosi Tirtha (Kotilla, Siristhan, Nabisthan, Dhuleswar and Paduka)—five historically and religiously significant sites in Dailekh. As unravelled over our three-day venture, kyanite and quartz are native to the region, and so are natural gas and archaeological remains of the ancient Khas kingdom of the medieval period.

From the 10th to the 14th centuries the Khas Mallas, not to be confused with the Kathmandu Mallas, ruled over a wide territory across Western Nepal up to Tibet and Uttarakhand of India. The kingdom emerged out of unison of two dynasties—the Palas of Jumla, Dullu, and Surkhet, and the Mallas of Manasarovar and Kailash—with two new capitals established at Sinja (summer) and Dullu (winter). At their zenith, a wide highway along the Karnali allowed trade to flourish between Tibet and India, the passage of Hindu and Buddhist pilgrims, and the exchange of ideas. Eventually, encroaching Rajput kings and chiefs fleeing from the Muslim invasion in India seized pockets of power while later the region subjugated to the whipping ripples of the Gorkha conquest.

Our journey begins in Dailekh Bazaar, the district headquarters at an altitude of 1,448 m, accessible by road cut into dropping ridges. Facilities include a telecommunications tower, army barracks, and a reasonable ‘hotel’ for the occasional NGO worker visiting the area. The population is small enough for deaths to be broadcast throughout the bazaar. Grievers carry the body on a stretcher down west to the Chham Gad river in the direction we are headed.

It is Dashain and villagers have abandoned their bamboo swings to us whimsical visitors to receive Tika from their relatives. After a few hours walk through a coarse trail enfolded in foliage, we arrive at Kotilla, the first of the Panchakosi Tirthasthals, beside a Mahadev temple. Deserted and unimpressive, we rest in a nearby teahouse run by a Magar family and follow the river to the next gem—hoping for a finer cut.

The river is pristine and its banks sandy as a seashore. Fishermen have set a trap in the rapids, leading fish through spur-shaped placement of stones into a bamboo basket at the tip. We arrive at a village and cross over the Swiss-built suspension bridge to Siristhan. This is the first of a sequence of three temples known as the centres of Agni, where natural gas burns eternally. Our visit follows a long history of pilgrimage dating back to the Malla Khas kingdom. Two jwalas (natural gas flames) still burn here today. Returning to the nearby houses, we appeal for shelter and a meal of daal bhat and are offered a consoling cup of peppery milk tea. A large mud house with corrugated metal roofing veils the sanitary omissions of a toilet and hygiene facilities—Dailekh was affected by the diarrhoea epidemic that spread out of neighbouring Jajarkot last year, and regularly features in the annual outbreak listings.

Come morning, we continue our journey towards the second temple of the fire god, and the third of the Tirthasthals—Nabisthan. Nomadic Rautes have settled nearby in semi-cylindrical homes of dried leaves and cloth. In mutual enthrallment, we are introduced to the turbaned Mukhiya Ain Bahadur, a regular guest at the prime minister’s office in Kathmandu. They offer us koshis (wooden bowls), and ask for cigarettes or a monetary donation for sugar. Nabisthan is run by a priest formerly appointed to the Guheswori temple in Kathmandu. We are permitted entrance to the kindling jwala’s sanctuary, but other shrines are locked in fear of the deities’ powers. A blessing and a tika of ash, and off we go.

It is a scorching and strenuous ascent to Gamoudi and then Dullu, a town on the rim of the range.

A marriage procession is making merry on the trail. The winsome groom in his white shirt and dhaka topi follows behind his lovely, rubicund bride carrying a doko full of her wedding gifts and belongings, trailing a goat. He hopes to take her with him to Hyderabad where he works as a cook, revealing the migratory trend westwards to India and southwards to the Tarai.

While Dailekh Bazaar—visible west from here—has prevailed as the administrative centre of the district, Dullu has not shed its historic identity as a venerated holy place and the twin governmental headquarter of Khas-des. Sandstone pillars are inscribed with the genealogy of kings, and reveal a flourishing civilisation at its acme during the reign of Prithvi Malla in the mid-13th century.

Dhuleswar, the fourth of the Panchakoshi shrines, is on a hillock above Dullu, more appropriately named the asylum of the flies out of sheer copiousness. The jwala here has extinguished, leaving soil textured like sesame seeds. The central idol of Parvati and Mahadev stands adjacent to a powerful marble egg—once stolen and found in the Karnali river. The caretaker claims the legend that this hill was lifted by Hanuman in his quest to bring Laxman the life-saving medicinal herb Sanjeevani Booti.

The final Tirthasthal, Paduka, is a mine of masterpieces. At the entrance, a carved sculpture of the Aksobhya Buddha sits in an earth-touching posture on a lotus flower, eyes half-closed. Established during the reign of Asokachalla, a Malla king of the 12th century, it is a testament to the peaceful merger between Hinduism and Buddhism—standing on the premises of Bhairab temple. The Buddha faces four vir khambas, or commemorative pillars, dug into cardinal points around a Paduka stone, each engraved with a paekilo, or war hero, as tribute. The priest introduces a religious dimension to the site, explaining the pillars to represent the Pandava’s 12-year exile as told in the Mahabharata. Belle bell art, chaityas, and a Garuda sculpture are the few other intricacies in this cache of archaeological artefacts. The building is in a ruinous state; last we heard, 22 nominees were running to chair the temple trust, for which money has already been set aside.

Having completed our pilgrimage we follow the Paduka river merging into the wieldy Karnali and wicked Karnali highway, still under construction between Surkhet and Jumla. Catching the bus at Peepalghadi, we hold taut onto our blessings.

Mallapaty is a freelance journalist based in Kathmandu who likes to write about the environment.

Dailekh

How to get there

Fly to Nepalgunj from Kathmandu, and then take a bus to Surkhet. Switch buses at Surkhet for Dailekh Bazaar.

Things to do

Stay at the Phoolbari Guest House in Surkhet and ask for the room Prachanda slept in. There is a full five-dish menu on offer here.

Chat politics and Janajati rights at the restaurant in Kotilla—it is hard to miss.

Visit remnants of the Malla palace in Dullu, said to be destroyed in an arson attack during the insurgency.

Recover your vanity in one of the many beauty parlours in Surkhet—hair colour and cut, facials, and the works.

Posted on: 2010-06-26 08:09

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