Lubhoo

Lubhoo is a village development committee in Lalitpur District in the Bagmati Zone of central Nepal. At the time of the 1991 Nepal census it had a population of 7481 living in 1284 individual households.^[1]

Introduction

Around six kilometers east of Lalitpur is Lubhoo, a village so rich in culture, history and camaraderie that it will take your breadth away.

There are interesting folklores explaining how Lubhoo, which in Newari means “Golden Plate” got its name. It is believed that there was a homosexual resident who worshipped Maha Laxmi and Gobhrateshwar Mahadev to resolve his confused sexual orientation. After three years of devoted worship, the Gods were finally happy and granted the worshipper the body of a “complete man”. Knowing no bounds for his happiness upon this, the devotee is said to have offered both the deities’ plates made of gold, and hence named the place “Lunbhoo”, meaning the same.

In ancient time, Lubhoo was hit by disease. Ganga Maharani, the ruler of the city, sold her golden plate and resettles the city. So, the city was called Lubhoo which means Golden Plate.

God Bhairav laid under golden umbrella to save the peoples from disease. Then, the place was called ‘Subarna Chhatrapur’ but as there are more Newar, it was more likely to be called by ‘Lubhoo’ meaning the same.

The Lubhoo people have their own unique Jatras and festivals, the most famous being the Maha Laxmi-Maha Bhairav Jatra observed in the month of Baishakh (April - May). This is the time of the year when the whole of the Newari community of Lubhoo gets out of their daily monotonies to celebrate in a truly carefree fashion.

The two chariots garaged inside the temple of Maha Laxmi are loaded with the gold-plated masks of deities that are house in the same. While one of the chariots is used to carry a set of Maha Laxmi, Ganesh and Kumar statuettes, the other carries another set of Maha Laxmi, Ganesh and Kumari. The chariot is then hoisted by drunken revelers to make a complete tour of all the houses in the locality followed an elaborate Bhoj (feast), which is an essential part of the merrymaking.

Bringing the Maha Laxmi closer to your home is believed to bring you auspices of peace and prosperity. And so is the existence of the Maha Laxmi Temple in the sunny vicinity of simple but very social people.

In fact, there is another temple further up the location of the main Maha Laxmi Temple that houses the mother of Goddess Maha Laxmi. During the Jatra or procession, the statuette of the same Raths or chariots and taken to her mother’s temple so that the mother-daughter meeting can take place, marking the climax of the carnival.

The temple’s religious architectures date back to the Malla periods, according to stone inscriptions. The head of the Maha Laxmi template is called the Thakali and is also the eldest member of the community’s Guthi (guild, trust).

There are altogether five layers of gold-plated masks of the above mentioned deities enshrined in the template. As soon as the existing one gets even a slight damage, the figurines are covered by yet another layer of the masks made of precious metals and plated by gold. There is also a tall white template of the Gobhrareshwar Mahadev built in the same style as that of the Krishna Mandir of Patan that makes for an interesting piece of structure to study as well as revere.

The settlement in the 730 acres of land of Lubhoo mostly has the dominance of Bahuns in the outskirts and an ethnic Newari community of usually Shresthas, Maharjans, Rajthala and Gubhaju in the main town area. A special feature of this area is that almost every house has cottage handloom and cloth making activity. So in totality, the whole of Lubhoo is a major textile producing area that sends products to local garment factories and tourist areas like Thamel. Some houses still have the traditional wooden handloom whereas some residents own textile factories powered by electric looms. Actually, farming is the main source of income while cloth weaving is a part and parcel of their daily life. ^[2]

Location

Coordinates of Lubhoo, Nepal:
Longitude: 85° 22' 50" East
Latitude: 27° 38' 21" North ^[2]

References

1. ^ "Nepal Census 2001". Nepal's Village Development Committees. Digital Himalaya. http://www.digitalhimalaya.com/collections/nepalcensus/form.php?selection=1. Retrieved 2008-09-15. 
2. ^ ^{a b} Lubhoo, “Golden Plate” got its name.

External links

• UN map of the municipalities of Lalitpur District