Arjundhara Temple

Arjundhara is a popular religious site (temple) dedicated to Lord Arjun and considered as the Pashupatinath of eastern Nepal located in Arjundhara VDC of Jhapa district of Nepal. This site is believed to have the history that, Arjun (one among Panch Pandava) used to come here for grazing his cows. One day when he gets thirsty and there is no water around, he put his arrow on his bow and strike the land with his arrow due to which water comes out of the land and he drank water from it. People believe that the pond still full from the same source of water. The temple is built in beautiful pagoda style and large enough which was established in 2065 BS. Beside the temple, the religious pond and historical importance about this place is the key point of attracting many religious tourists as well as casual visitors.

Arjundhara temple can be reached easily from Kathmandu valley, which is situated at the distance of about 45 minutes of flight from Kathmandu valley to Bhadrapur and around 30 minutes of car ride leading to reach Arjundhara. The beautiful temple is situated at the center near the pond with various small temples nearby. At the center of the pond, there is a statue of Arjun with two cows on each side. In this statue, Lord Arjun is stretching his bow targeted to the pond. In addition, there is a gurukul for the Brahmans to read and many statues of different gods including Lord Shiva and Lord Hanuman as it is believed that Lord Shiva changed into Lord Hanuman to help Lord Ram to find goddess, Sita.

Nevertheless, the origin or discovery of the temple has taken place about a century earlier, a nun named as Khadebaba, become able to discover this place like the one that has the history with the Mahabharata. Later, the temple was built and named ‘Arjundhara Jaleshwor Dham’. This place (temple) is full and crowded of pilgrims during the month of Shrawan, in Balachaturdasi and Shivaratri.