Patan - Bal Kumari Mandir

The Bal Kumari Mandir is one of those shrines to the Ashta Matrikas (the eight mother deities) which normally stand outside a town. Here the temple lies actually within the eastern sector of the city, traditionally the preserve of the goddess Brahmayani. Bal Kumari, the child Kumari, is Patan's principal mother deity. She has a cremation ground dedicated specifically to her. This used to be at the confluence of the Bagmati and Manohara rivers until, it is said, a 14th c. Kumari decreed the rivers should change their course. In those days Ashoka Malla's palace stood near the shrine.

An inscription records that the rectangular three-tiered pagoda was built in 1622 - at the time, that is, of Siddhi Narasimha Malla - though the site itself is evidently much older. The cult of the mother deities was poorly supported in Buddhist Patan. In order to stimulate it Shrinivasa Malla introduced the Dance of the Ashta Matrikas in which Buddhist priests participate as dancers.