Bhairavnath Temple — Attraction in Bhaktapur Municipality

The Bhairavnath Temple stands on the east side of Bhaktapur's Taumadhi Square, southeast of the main Darbar square.

Also known as the Kasi Biswonath or the Pantali mandir, it is a three-story, rectangular temple dedicated to the god Bhairav (Nasa Dyo), an incarnation of Shiva and the god of terror and infinite space.

More specifically, according to Dowman, this particular temple is the residence of Akash Bhairav (the sky Bhairav) and is distinguishable from other manifestations of the same deity, such as the Akash Bhairav in Kathmandu.

Bhairav has a particular fascination with machines and is often thought to inhabit wheels, with different versions of the god inhabiting different wheels on the same chariot.

At the Bhairavnath temple, a chariot used in the annual Bisket-Jatra festival is stored, dismantled, against the temple's north wall.

Around the Nepali new year per the Vikram Savat calendar—in March or April—the chariot is reassembled, and an image of Bhairav is installed within the chariot.

Although the chariot, like the temple, is huge, the image of the god is a diminutive 30-centimeter head lacking a body. At festival time, competing teams from the town's upper quarter and the lower quarter meet in the large Taumadi square in front of the temple.

According to Gutschow, the square is a sort of neutral zone where the opposing teams compete in a grand tug-of-war contest to pull the chariot toward one or the other sides of town.

As the chariot is tugged in opposite directions, it advances slowly along the streets according to whichever team is strongest. In the end, regardless of whichever side "wins," the chariot is ultimately moved to the Yahsikhyah square on the south side of the city in time for...

The temple of Bhairavnath is a famous ancient temple lying close to historical Five-Storey Temple. the temple has the idols of bhairavnath and God Betame. There is a popular legend regarding the location of this temple. The story says that Lingo Festival was very famous in Bhaktapur in the ancient days and even the God Bhairav of Kashi made a visit to Bhaktapur to observe the festival in the guise of a man. The king on learning the visit of Bhairav commanded his misisters and Aachaju (People with knowledge of necromancy) to catch him and keep him in the city. Aachaju while looking for bhairav using his magic saw his head taller than other people. As Bhairav tried to escape, sinking himself on the land, his head was cut by sickle. Late it is believed that aachaju was full of remorse for cutting the head of bairav and through his magic he got the head of Bhairav placed in the temple to begin the worship. That is way, it is velieved that Bhairav has got his torso in Kashi, India and head in Nepal. The local elderly people say that the roof of Five-Storey Temple got damaged and the whole temple of bhairav lollapese in th disastrous earthquake of 1933 AD. The present temple of Bhairav was built only after 1933 AD. There is a tradition of celebrating the festival by pulling the grand chariot with the idol of Bhairav four days before the end of Chaitra. this festival is one of the main festival...

This is one of the prominent temples in Bhadgaon. The existing structure was built after the earthquake in 1934, using many of the old parts of the original temple. Like many Bhairab temples, it is built on a rectangular plan. the longer side of the rectangle faces the square. The doorway has three openings, two of which have a torana above. The first storey has an elaborately carved window frame with five openings. There are fifty-six figure struts depicting the forms of Bhagmati and the Matrika goddesses. The temple was built by Bhupatindra Malla (1690-1722). During the festival of Bisket in Bhadgaon, Bhairab is taken around in a chariot and plays a leading role in the festivities. He is identified with the Shiva of Kasi Biswonath. According to popular story, Biswonath once came to see the Bisket festival in Badgaon, disguised as a human. A tantric adept who recognized him, wanted to keep him there and started to chain him with mantras. But Biswonath started to disappear and the adept quickly cut off his head and enshrined it here. - Kathmandu...