01The Devi who came from Tirhut
Taleju Bhawani, a form of Durga, was the kuladevi of the Karnata kings of Mithila. The valley’s chronicles say that when Harisimhadeva of Simraungadh lost his kingdom in 1324 he fled into the hills with her, and the Mallas took her worship as their own. Every Malla city has its Taleju: Bhaktapur, Patan and Kathmandu. Mahendra Malla built the Kathmandu temple in 1564 and ruled that no building in the city should rise above it. The Shah kings kept her worship after 1768, and the Kumari, the living Devi of the city, is honoured as Taleju in a girl’s form.
02One day in the year
On Mahanavami of Dashain the temple opens to the public and the queue runs across the square from before dawn; on every other day only the royal priests enter. The three gilded roofs stand on a twelve-stage plinth with small shrines on the terraces. In 1970 treasures of the temple were moved to the Hanuman Dhoka palace museum for safekeeping; one of them, a 17th-century necklace inscribed with the name of Pratap Malla, left Nepal by 1976 and is now in the Art Institute of Chicago, and Nepal has asked for its return.
The life of this place
- 1324Harisimhadeva of Simraungadh brings Taleju’s worship into the hills, by the valley’s chronicles.
- 1564Mahendra Malla builds the Kathmandu temple.
- 1970Temple treasures are moved to the Hanuman Dhoka museum.
Kathmandu Durbar Square. The temple can be seen from the square any day; entry for Hindus only on Mahanavami of Dashain.
