Taleju Temple is a Hindu temple dedicated to Taleju Bhawani, the royal goddess of the Malla dynasty of Nepal. It is believed that the original home of Goddess Taleju is the Tulja Bhawani Temple in Tuljapur, India. Initially, she was a goddess from southern India. Shivaji, the founder of the Maratha kingdom, is reputed to have frequently visited Taleju Temple to seek blessings. In the 14th century, she became the 'Kula Devata’ (family deity) of the Malla Kings. The temple dates back to the 13th century and is thought to be built in the shape of a yantra, a mystical diagram with supposed magical powers, based on a suggestion from Goddess Taleju herself. According to legend, Taleju Bhawani made a special appearance at the temple’s dedication ceremony, disguised as a bee. The temple was constructed in the 1500s by King Mahendra Malla, and many stories have since emerged about the origin of this holy site.
Nepal is home to three principal temples dedicated to Goddess Taleju Bhawani, located in Kathmandu, Patan and Bhaktapur. These temples were constructed in the 1500s by the Malla kings, who asserted their lineage from Nanyadeva, the progenitor of the ‘Karnataki’ dynasty in Mithila and Nepal. In 1096 CE, Nanyadeva drove out the Sena armies of Bengal from North Bihar and established the ‘Karnataki’ or ‘Karnat’ dynasty, with Simraungadh (in present-day southern Nepal) as the capital. His lineage continued to rule for 229 years until 1326 CE, when Ghyasuddin Tughlak's armies conquered and devastated Simraungadh, compelling King Harisingh Deva to escape to the hills of Nepal. According to tradition, King Harisingh Deva carried with him the Yantra (a geometrical design used in tantric worship) of Goddess Bhawani, which his ancestor had brought from the South, and placed it in Bhaktapur, Nepal. The Newari community, among the oldest inhabitants of central Nepal, shared a close cultural bond with the Mithila region of North Bihar for centuries. Consequently, it is not surprising that the Newars soon embraced the worship of Goddess Taleju Bhawani.
The Kumari is considered the human manifestation of Goddess Taleju. Several legends explain why the Kumari is viewed as the embodiment of Taleju. One popular legend tells of the last Malla King, Jayaprakash Malla, who played a dice game called tripasa with the goddess. She promised to visit every night on the condition that the king kept it a secret. However, one night, the king’s wife saw the goddess, angering Taleju Bhawani, who then left. Before departing, she told the king that to see her again or to have her protect his country, he must search for her among high-caste Newar girls, as she would reincarnate as a young girl among them. Hoping to make amends, King Jayaprakash Malla left the palace in search of the girl possessed by Taleju’s spirit. The tradition of worshipping Goddess Taleju in the form of a young virgin girl, or Kumari, thus began in Newar society and continues today.
Even when the Malla kingdom was conquered by the Shah rulers, the new kings adopted Taleju as their royal deity to prove and cement their legitimacy to the throne. Some say that due to the presence of the royal goddess, the temple sustained only minor damage in the 2015 earthquake. The Taleju Temple is open to Hindus only once a year on the ninth day of Dashain. Others can only view it from the outside. Inside, there are 12 miniature versions of the temple surrounding the main building, with four additional temples higher up just below the main temple. The four main decorative gates are guarded by stone lions. Inside the main Taleju temple are golden statues depicting the ten-armed goddess, along with shrines to both Taleju Bhawani and Kumari, Nepal’s Living Goddess.
