Continued….

The trio applied their findings. In a few years, they witnessed an end to the slumber. The fields began to resemble gold swaying with the gentle winds of the harvest season. Slowly but steadily, the lost lustre returned to Nepal Mandala (Ancient Nepal).

The people hailed Matsyendra as a messiah. A consensus emerged to honour his compassion and immortalise him. A temple was envisioned on the outskirts of the principal dwelling by the trio. It was designed in the Shikhara style and built at Bunga (A small village 5.2 kilometres away from Lalitpur).

The small village was renamed Amarpur by the monarch, meaning immortal or everlasting. It was an effort to memorialise Matsyendra and make him a god. Taking it a step further a chariot festival was conceptualised.

Lalitpur already had numerous chariot festivals. The monarch instructed to discontinue them. He wanted to make room for a mammoth celebration of Matsyendra. The legend of Chak Baha Dyo (Min Nath) states how he did not want his festival discontinued. Priest Bandudatta requested him numerous times, all of which failed. Min Nath opened his third eye and projected a great beam of light. It hit a stupa outside the cortex.

His chariot festival is the only one that continues.

Why is Matsyendras chariot so tall is a common question. It is because the core features seven kha’s (levels). The first is known as biman kha. At this level, the idol of Matsyendra sits accompanied by his caretakers. The top kha is known as yaka kha, as a single member of the Barahi (woodworkers) community installs it. The remaining five levels are dedicated to Dhalaksha’s Lokanath, Matilinagar’s Batuk Bhairav, Satha’s Naryana, Calalse’s Harisankar, Kolima’s [ Kulimha’s] Mahesvara.

In a bygone era the chariot used to be pulled every year from Bunga to Lalitpur. During the Malla era, either Siddhi Narasimha or Sri Nivas Malla envisioned a glorious plan.

" Historical sources are silent on the matter, but historians have deduced that possibly as early as 1621, at any rate by 1652 when Kunu Sharma wrote his Kritipataka eulogizing the city, one or other of the two kings had taken the decision to establish a second temple of Karunamaya (Matsyendra) in Lalitpur itself.

Henceforth Karunamaya was to spend six months in each temple, thus bringing him closer to the people of Lalitpur, who were his devotees and no doubt increasing the popularity of the King. Ta Bahah was chosen as the site for his new temple. It seems that the membership of this ancient monastery had died out and some Vajracharyas from a small monastery in Dau Bahah twah called Bhelakhu Bahah [29] were assigned to it (Locke 1980:334; 1985: 137). " (N. Gellner, 1996)