Temple · Hindu
Bhimsen Temple
भिमसेन मन्दिर❊भिन्द्यो
Bhimsen (patron deity of traders)·Built 1680 AD by King Srinivasa Malla·Lalitpur
A three-story pagoda at the northern gateway to Patan Durbar Square, dedicated to Bhimsen — the Mahabharata warrior venerated as patron deity of Newar traders and merchants.
Dedicated to
Bhimsen (patron deity of traders)
Period
Built 1680 AD by King Srinivasa Malla
Hours
Dawn to dusk
Admission
Free
Neighborhood
Patan Durbar Square (north end)
Bhimsen Temple stands at the northern entrance to Patan Durbar Square, announcing the sacred precinct to all who approach from the city's commercial heart. Built in 1680 AD by King Srinivasa Malla, this three-tiered pagoda is dedicated to Bhimsen (Bhima), the strongest of the five Pandava brothers, who is uniquely worshipped in the Kathmandu Valley as the patron deity of traders and merchants.
The temple's most striking feature is the row of three interconnected golden windows on the upper floor, which gleam in the afternoon sun. Stone lions guard the main entrance, and the ground floor is an open arcade — a deliberate design allowing the bustling market life of the square to flow through the temple's base.
Bhimsen worship is a distinctly Newar tradition with no parallel elsewhere in the Hindu world. Merchants pray here before major business ventures, and the annual Bhimsen Jatra sees the deity paraded through Patan's streets. The temple was severely damaged in the 2015 earthquake but has been carefully restored through community-led efforts, reopening as a powerful symbol of Patan's resilience.
The interior houses a powerful image of Bhimsen and is restricted to Hindu worshippers, but the temple's exterior architecture and position at the head of the square's magnificent temple row make it unmissable.
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Nearby Sacred Sites
Places within a short walk that help turn this stop into a small sacred cluster.
Chyasin Deval (Octagonal Krishna Temple)
A striking octagonal stone shikhara at the entrance to Patan Durbar Square — built as a memorial to the queens of King Yoganarendra Malla who committed sati upon his death.
Krishna Mandir
Nepal's finest stone shikhara temple, built in 1637 by King Siddhi Narsingh Malla — a three-tiered masterpiece with 21 golden pinnacles and exquisite Mahabharata and Ramayana bas-reliefs.
Jyo Bahal (Jyoti Varna Mahavihar)
Jyoti Varna Mahavihar (Jyo Bahal) is one of the 18 principal Newar Buddhist monastery courtyards of Patan, whose name evokes 'radiance' or 'light'.
Vishwanath Temple
A handsome two-tiered Shiva pagoda in Patan Durbar Square, guarded by stone elephants and adorned with erotic roof-strut carvings in the classic Newar tradition.
Hari Shankar Temple
A three-tiered pagoda dedicated to the rare combined form of Vishnu and Shiva — built by a Malla princess and known for its vivid roof-strut carvings of hellish punishments.
Coda
Continue the Pilgrimage
Part of
Patan Durbar Square
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