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Kamaladi Ganesh Temple
Kamaladi Ganesh Temple, Kamaladi RdAbout
Ganesh, the elephant-headed god of Hindus, is worshipped for auspicious beginnings and good luck. While Tuesday is Lord Ganesh's day, the 10th month of the national calendar, Magh, is Lord Ganesh's month. During this month, devotees throng to the Ganesh temples in the Valley and outside. Both married and unmarried women keep a fast on Tuesdays to propitiate Ganesh, also known as Gajanand. In the five Tuesdays of this month of Magh (January and February), more devotees observe the fast for their wishes to be fulfilled. One of the priests at the Ganesh temple in Kamaladi, Jamkanath Nepal "Nepal Baje", says that fasting on five Tuesdays of Magh is as good as fasting over the course of a year. "Magh Tuesdays are the best time to observe the fast for Ganesh," says the priest. One of the sections of Swosthani, Skanda Puran, carries a tale about a devotee who by worshipping Lord Ganesh on Magh Tuesdays received blessings, says a senior priest, Krishna Prasad Acharaya. Narrating the tale in the Kedar chapter of Skanda Puran, Acharya says a poor Brahmin named Shiva Sharma who was without child, used to worship Ganesh every Tuesday. The Lord became pleased with Sharma's devotion and blessed him with child and wealth. From that day, says Acharya, people began worshipping Ganesh every Tuesday, especially in the month of Magh when God Swosthani is worshipped and the Swasthani scripture read. According to priest Niranjan Sharma of Shora Hate (sixteen-handed) Ganesh temple, there are four important Ganesh temples in the Kathmandu Valley to which devotees go in large numbers on the Tuesday of this month. These temples are Karjya Vinayak (Bungmati), Surya Vinayak (Bhaktapur), Jal Vinayak (Chovar) and Ashok Vinayak (Kathmandu). Adjacent to the Ashok Vinayak temple, there is a huge temple of Kasthamandap, one that is believed to have been constructed out of a single tree. At the four corners of the temple's centre, reside four Ganesh statues, which take the names of the four above-mentioned temples. There is also the belief that these four Ganeshes are the protectors of Kathmandu Valley.
