Part II: The Sweating Bhimsen

Dolakha the region previously known as Abhayapur is an ancient trade transit to Tibet through the route of Lamabar, Rachi (Lepchi) during the Lichchhivi and Malla era. 

It is uncertain how the term Dolakha emerged.  There is a tale that in the Tibetan language ‘Do’ means stone, ‘La’ means temple, and ‘Kha’ means house.

Dolakha is famous for the Dolakha Bhimsen idol which has a history of perspiring. But before delving into the tradition of perspiring, the tradition of Bhimsen and the stories surrounding it has to be understood. 

Newars (the indigenous community of Kathmandu) has a strong history of worshipping Bhimsen, the patron god of trade and commerce. Bhimsen shrines are very popular in the Newar tradition and various festivals are organized in honor of the god. 

There are remarks that traders from Bhaktapur settled down in Dolakha to conduct trade between Nepal and Tibet. However, the standard narrative of Dolkhali Newar's identity is very different as they claim to be the oldest Newar settlement, established by Bhimsen. 

However, the earliest evidence of Bhimsen worshipping is from 1540 and from the time of Mahendra Malla’s copper inscription, the cult of connecting with Indian heroes may have been adapted later. 

Bhimsen is very popular in Nepal for one particular reason- as discussed in the beginning it is a god that perspires, but this event is seen as a bad omen. 

According to historian Tirtha Narayan Joshi, Bhimsen's idol started to perspire during the reign of the then King Girvan Yuddha Bir Bikram Shah Dev. 

The idol perspired before the 1934 earthquake (B.S. 2007), the demise of the Panchayat government in 1990, the royal massacre on June 1, 2001, and the people’s movement and then the idol ‘perspired’ four times before the 2015 Gorkha earthquake. 

On September 26, 2017, from 2.55 pm to 5.15 pm the idol perspired and the local administration informed the Office of the President about the incident and urged them to perform an atonement worship at a nearby temple. 

In February 2020, the main priest Kasi Prasad Shrestha entered the idol temple and witnessed the idol perspiring from the right and left sides from 6.25 am to 8.30. More eye-witness saw sweat drops clearly. 

In March 2020, Nepal saw its first lockdown due to COVID-19. 

The perspiring god phenomenon- is it because of water formed from the steam of food that is brought as an offering, or is it a bad omen?