Shaligram Museum drawing increasing no of tourists

Dhorpatan . The Shaligram Museum located in Kundule of Baglung Municipality-4 has become a tourist attraction of late. An increasing numbers of religious tourists are visiting the Museum to get a glance of the precious and sacred stone.

The museum is a repository of some 1.25 million Shaligram stones. The stones have been preserved and kept inside a 100-meter tunnel. Rishi Prapannacharya, the curator of the museum, shared that tourists from various parts of Nepal as well as South India are visiting the museum.

Nearly 50,000 more religious tourists have already visited the museum this year compared to the previous fiscal year. Some 100,000 tourists had visited the museum last year while 150,000 tourists have already visited the museum in the 10 months of the current fiscal year. The Shaligram Museum has been open to the public for the past four years. Religious tourists who reach Muktinath in Mustang make a stop to visit the museum on their way to or from the temple.

The museum has Shaligram stones weighing up to 300 kg. Tulsiram Sapkota, who came to visit the museum from Gaindakot, said that one and a half million Shaligrams cannot be viewed in one place in any other place. Menuka Poudel, who came from Nawalparasi, said that she came to visit with her family because she believed that her wishes would be fulfilled after seeing the Shaligram. Although Poudel had seen Shaligrams long ago she said that she had never seen so many in one place.

The shaligram is a particular variety of stone collected from riverbed or banks of the Kali Gandaki, a tributary of the Gandaki River. It is regarded as sacred by the Hindus, and believe that worshipping it will bring good luck and prosperity.