Stories about the valley

Phewa lake & Barahi Goddess...

• Geologists think that Pokhara was once under water, that dried up eventually, leaving only the current lakes. the amount of fossils available in this area is proof to that.
• But the Mythology does not agree :)
  Apparently the site of Phewa lake was once a hollow valley. The valley was visited by a beggar who was refused alms in all houses but one. In gratitude she advised her host to pack her belongings and go to higher areas because a flood was predicted where the whole valley would disappear. It rained for 7 days non-stop, there were landslides which dammed the river and the only survivors were this lady and some people who managed to swim to higher ground. Awed by the disaster, the survivors identified the beggar as an incarnation of goddess Varahi. This Goddess is enshrined in a little island in Phewa Tal in the Barahi Temple. Local belief goes that on a clear day when the waters are still, that some can see the remnants of the drowned valley. At 50 mts depth at an average that is a tall order!!
• Another fable says that Draupadi once spotted a beautiful flower floating in the river and pestered Bhim to fetch it for her. Frustated with her nagging Bhim, went in search for it but in vain and when he gave up, he kicked the mountain and thus formed the valley of Pokhara when the ranges were cut into two.
• The valley was developed into a city of people by the Gorkhas, A born soldier Prithvinarayan conquered foe after foe systematically to establish control over the Pokhara valley. It was appropriate for the King of Gorkha to establish an urban trade centre in the valley. He invited Then king of Bhaktapur to dispatch a group of immigrants. The king of the capital obliged : he ordered all the smallpox victims to go settle in Pokhara!

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