Place · cave shrine · Nepal
Halesi Mahadev
Also known as Halesi, Halesi Mahadev, Maratika, Khotang
A limestone cave in the eastern hills of Khotang, worshipped by Hindus as a Shiva cave and by Buddhists as Maratika, the cave in which Padmasambhava and Mandarava are held to have attained the realisation of deathlessness. Both traditions use it at once, and Kirat communities have their own claim on it.
- Function
- Sacred site & pilgrimage
- Confidence
- Established / referenced
- Location
- 27.120, 86.640
Worth knowing
The cave has three chambers, two narrow exits that pilgrims squeeze through as a test, and no image in the main hall — the rock itself is the object. It is one of the very few sites where a Hindu Shaiva cave and a Nyingma power place are the same room, with both liturgies performed in it on different days.
Connections (1)
- Shared site withMuktināth / Gandakī
Halesi and Muktinath are the two Nepali sites where a Shaiva and a Nyingma claim occupy the same room rather than the same hill: a limestone cave worshipped as Shiva's and as Maratika, where Padmasambhava is held to have realised deathlessness, and a shrine where the same natural gas flame is Jwala Mai and Chumig Gyatsa. Both keep two liturgies on different days.
On these journeys
Sources
Wikipedia, “Halesi Mahadev Temple”. Nyingma accounts of Maratika; Nepal Department of Archaeology and Halesi development committee records.
Open Halesi Mahadev in the repository →