Sikali Temple Khokana, Must Visit Place in Kathmandu, Imfreee

Sikali Temple – Khokana, is one of the most beautiful temple built around 336 Nepal Sambat. The temple with open, clean and green meadow, surrounding hills and paddy fields gives the feel of Switzerland.

Sikali Temple

Sikali Temple lies in the southern part of Kathmandu Valley at an approximate distance of 10 KM. The temple is located in an isolated place, outside of the main settlements, but the surrounding is heavenly.

Sikali Mai Temple is a huge Three-storey temple, where goddess Rudrayani is worshipped and is considered as the protector of the locals and localities.

It is also believed that once Sikhi Buddha had come and taught Dhamma for locals.

The surrounding the clean, green and romantic. Paddy fields near the temple, flowing Bagmati River and the view of Chandragiri and Champadevi hills makes the moment unbelievable.

Sikali Jatra

During the time of Dashain Festival (National Festival of Nepal), Local people of Khokana celebrate a 5 day long Sikali Jatra.

Khokana

Around 10 KM away from the capital city, Kathmandu. It is a medieval Newari Heritage village in the southern part of Kathmandu Valley.

The festival is celebrated from the day of Ghatasthapana by the local indigenous Newari People. It is celebrated as an alternative to Dashain festival by the Newari Community.

The festival is found to be celebrated since 336 Nepal Sambat, during the reign of King Amar Malla. The reason behind the celebration of the festival is to prevent locals and locality from any unwanted and unfortunate incidents.

During this 5 day Sikali Jatra Celebration, goddess Rudrayani and other deities are being worshipped. The celebration is followed by the sacrifice of three he-buffalo (male buffalo), dances and offerings at a local Siddhi Temple in Bhakha of Khokana.

During the celebration of the festival, Masked dances following the tantric rituals are performed by dancers garbed in a colorful attire. The dancers represents 14 gods and goddesses of the Hindu pantheon.

On the festival, a wooden chariot carrying the idol (statue) of goddess Rudrayani, is carried through the village streets, which is finally rested in front of Sikhali Temple, located on grassy hill located outside the village.

On the final day of this (Sikali Jatra) celebration, a local dresses as Goddess Rudrayani and comes out to battle against the devils.

To celebrate the festival, devotees from Khokana and other parts of Kathmandu Valley visit Sikhali Temple.

How to Get There?

Are you on a private vehicle?

Just follow the Map shown below.

Are you on a Public vehicle?

Take a ring road bus and reach Ekantakuna, Then take another bus to Kokana and walk from Khokana for about 15 mins.

Or Take a bus to Khokana from Ratna Park, Then walk for 15 mins to reach Sikali Temple.

Our Experience

By the way, Our trip to Sikali, Khokana was not planned. First we had a meeting with our Creative Design Teacher at Nakhipot, Lalitpur.

So, we (me and my Photographer Friend) headed to Nakkhu from Swoyambhu on a motorbike at around 1:00 P.M.

Then we met our teacher and talked about the work we’re doing, career and latest trends on graphic design, Photography, Videography and Animation. After a fruitful talk of about half an hour with him, we had a half day free.

So, we decided to explore new places. With that, a place came on my friend’s mind, Khokana. We had heard a lot about the place, but none of us had visited.

Hence, we moved towards this new place with a Google Maps on my hand. Without prior information about the place, we were heading blindly but full of curiosity.

First, we reached to Ekantakuna and then Nakkhu. From Nakkhu we took Route B, which takes first towards Mediciti Hospital then towards Khokana.

On the way, we asked a local about the path to Khokana. Then he asked us whether we were asking for Sano Khokana or Thulo Khokana.

Lost: Nowhere to Go

But we had no idea, So he thought we might be looking for Thulo Khokana and showed us the way to go there. From there we moved for about 15 mins and reached the highway to Karyabinayak and realized that we were on the wrong way.

We didn’t find anything along the way that we’ve heard about Khokana. So we returned the same way and reached the place where we’ve asked the path.

From there, we headed towards the Sano khokana. After moving for about 10 mins on off road in the midst of Paddy fields filled with recently planted rice, we reached on a clean, green and peaceful place.

The first glance of the place reminded me of a switzerland, though I’ve not visited switzerland. But the grassland, hills, cows, dogs, river on the side, gave the picture of Switzerland (which we used to see on the image and on TV).

With this place in front of us, we felt it was worth it to get lost on the way and finally reach here. The place is really magical and mythical. If anyone asks me about the most beautiful, natural place to visit then I will recommend this place (Sirkali, Khokana) without any hesitation.

In the middle of the grassland, there lies the temple of Sikali/Shikali or Shree Kali. We’ve discussed more about the temple above.

The place is perfect to chill and hang out with friends, far from the hustling and bustling crowded city.

Here, we took many shots of the surrounding, temple and tried different funny shots as well, which you can see through out this blog.

Jump Shot Photography — Sikali Khokana Jump Shot

The Suspension Bridge

After roaming around for a while we went towards the suspension bridge over the Bagmati River. For that we took a narrow footpath which was steep and slippery due to rain.

The bridge over the Bagmati River joined Khokana and Chobar Area, which made easier to travel across the cities.

We captured some pictures on the bridge and returned to the temple. And then went to a nearby restaurant to have brunch. There we had Traditional Newari Khaja Set, Sukuti Chiura, Juice and Newari Rice Wine.

The people of Khokana keep Duck instead of Hens, So you should try Haans Choila (Duck Choila).

The Food was Delicious.

After eating, we went to pay the bill, and there we were shocked by the price. It was unbelievably cheap, the whole food cost us just RS 275.

After paying the bill, we headed home.

So, if you’re looking for a place to hangout with your loved ones for a couple of hours, I’d recommend you this place. I guarantee you’ll thank me virtually.