First Nava Graha Temple built in Arjun Chaupari, Syangja

By Arjun Kafle, Syangja, Feb 11: A Nava Graha temple, a shrine first of its kind, has been constructed in the religious forest at Jalabarah in Arjun Chaupari Rural Municipality-1.

As there is no temple where only planets, also understood in Hindu religion as heavenly powers, are worshipped, this temple is built to fill the gap.

Prakash Tiwari, Chairman of the Arjun Chaupari Rural Municipality, said that the Nava Graha temple here was different from the ones found at Chitrasal in Asam and Lucknow of India.

The temple in the shape of nine angles is 27-feet tall stretching over an area of 157 ropanis or eight hectors.

A symbol of solar system that faces the sky has been placed at the top of a pillar and the effigy was carved out of shila (stone) from Narvada river in India as per the instruction from a famed Hindu astrologer.

At the 14^th feet of the pillar, symbols of sun, moon, mars, mercury, Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune and Uranus have been placed and the nine angles of the pillar has been colored matching the heavenly bodies. A hexagon shaped Shivalaya, temple dedicated to lord Shiva, has been built along with the Nava Graha temple and in the center of the Shivalaya, a five-mouth Shivalinga of seven quintal has been placed while at the angles, statutes of gods and goddesses such as Ganesh, Kuladevata, Laxmi, Kalbhairava and Hanuman have been kept.

The entrance and exit of the temple has been built in such a way that the pilgrims can worship all the gods before they exit through a tunnel.

Some three hundred meters away from the newly built temple lies the temple of Pancha Kanya (five unmarried girls) where worshipping has been done for decades.

No marriage ceremony is allowed in the newly built temple. Therefore, a nearby Radhakrishna temple has been repaired for the marriage purposes.

The Naga Graha temple opens only on Saturdays. However, devotees can perform puja at one the angles any day and the statute of the solar system can be seen only once a year on the day of Ganesh Chaturthi which falls between 22 August and 20 September every year. On this day, the local level here will be closed for performing puja in this temple.