How long will it take to rebuild Tal Barahi temple?

By Phadindra Adhikari,Lekhnath, Nov. 30: Almost every person who comes to Pokhara visits the Tal Barahi Temple in the Phewa Lake. And every person who visits the temple asks when it will be constructed. 

The 2015 earthquake damaged the temple and tilted it three inches to the south. Thus, stakeholders decided to demolish it and rebuild it from the ground up. 

Accordingly, the old temple was torn down in April this year and, under a master plan developed by the Tal Barahi Temple Management Guthi Management Committee, the foundation stone for the temple was laid on October 26. The master plan was drafted by a seven-member team led by Professor Dr. Bharat Raj Pahari.

But a month later, work has now stalled because it had been initiated without approval from the Department of Archaeology (DoA).

Without a temple, the daily worship of Tal Barahi is currently carried out at an altar (Havan Kunda) present nearby. But worshippers find this less than desirable. Shanta Parajuli of Morang said that praying at the altar left her heart sour. 

“I heard that the temple was damaged by the 2015 quake. But it made me sad to see that it had still not been reconstructed,” she said.

Various sources say that Tal Barahi was first consecrated at the site in the year 1390. But the temple dismantled this year was built in 1960.

The management Guthi now planned to rebuild the temple on four Ropanis of land with an underground section housing a flower shop.

DoA’s Director General Saubhagya Pradhananga said that the master plan Guthi made was inappropriate for the temple and had been formulated without the Department’s permission. 

“The historically and religiously important temple needs to be rebuilt in the traditional style,” she said. “But, during the ground-breaking, we saw that the structure would be drastically changed. So, we ordered them to stop work.”

Because of this, Himmat Bahadur Kunwar, chairman of the Tal Barahi Temple Management Guthi Management Committee, said that they would keep the master plan on hold and reconstruct the temple in the traditional manner now. He also informed that they would begin work within December.

Last year, it was estimated that rebuilding the temple in the old style would cost Rs. 14.4 million. “We will work according to that estimate and coordinate with DoA technicians and engineers,” Kunwar said.