Maitidevi Temple

Maitidevi Temple is famous and is a highly revered Devi temple located in Maiti Devi of Kathmandu valley. It is said that offering water to Maitidevi before worshipping Manakamana Devi temple in Gorkha ensures fulfillment of the pilgrim’s wish. The place name, Maitidevi is derived from the name of the temple. According to belief, the temple was built after a divine peacock appeared here and turned everything it touched into gold. Inscriptions and idols from the Lichchhavi era found in the temple help date it to that period, although the site of the temple is also home to ruins from the medieval era. The present structure of the temple was built by Chandra Shumsher (Rana Prime Minister) in the 20th century whereas earlier structure is said to have been built by Amshu Verma during the Lichhavi period in the 7th century.

The temple of Maitidevi can be reached going west from Old Baneshwor and turning right before approaching Dillibazaar. The temple premises also contains the Mayur Kunda, the Brahmanala and a cemetery beside temple building and is considered as an extremely popular site with hundreds of visitor every day. Tantric rituals are also performed in the temple premises during special occasions. During the Teej festival, therefore, married women pay obeisance to the goddess and gather at the temple to dance and sing.

However, the name of the temple was derived from ‘Maiti’ which means parental home and ‘Devi’ means goddess and is believed to be very powerful and parental home of all goddesses (Devis).