Nepal - Journey to the Grassland-Badimalika (12 Days)

The temple of Badimalika is situated on top of a hillock (4,200 meters) that lies in the Bajura district. Every year there is a fair at this temple during the month of Bhadra (August).  Pilgrims come from all over Nepal thinking that their wishes will be fulfilled if they pray at the temple. There are two official fairs during Ganga Dashara and Janai Purnima. As the area is relatively new, trekkers are suggested to hire local guides as the trail lacks signposts and other infrastructures.

According to Hindu myths, when Sati Devi's father Daksha Prajapati was performing a Yagya, he invited all the gods except for Mahadev to the ceremony. So Sati went to his father's Yagya ceremony and asked him why he had not invited her husband. Daksha Prajapati answered that Mahadev drank alcohol, smoked ganja, slept in cemeteries, wore a serpent around his neck, had dreadlocks, covered his body with ash, wore tiger hide, hence he was not a suitable person to invite for such an important Yagya. Unable to withstand such an insult to her husband, Sati jumped into the Yagya fire and gave up her life. Mahadev was so angered by the news of her death that he sent Birbhadra and Bhoot Gana to kill DakshaPrajapati and destroy the Yagya.

After completing his vengeance, Mahadev started to mourn the death of his wife. Mahadev traveled all over the world carrying Sati's dead body. During this time, Vishnu released his Sudarshan chakra and wounded Sati's body so that it could be infested by insects and rot. As Sati's body started to rot and its parts fall off, the ground where her body parts fell became shakti peethas and places of worship. In this process, her left shoulder fell in Mallagiri mountain. This Mallagiri was then referred to as Malika.

According to another myth, after Bhagwati had killed a demon named Mahisasur, she had rested in a place called "Dwaredhunge" of Kalikot. Later when one low caste person had gone to that spot to collect firewood, he felt so hungry that he asked the goddess for some meat and bread. The goddess gave him what he asked for. However, there was so much food that he could not finish everything by himself. So he decided to call all the people at home for the meal by yelling the message. Since his house happened to be far away from the spot, the people at his house could not hear his yelling and nobody joined him. This angered the person and thus he blurted a request to the goddess to kill everyone in his house. The goddess granted this deadly wish too. When he arrived home carrying all the food with him, he found all his relatives dead. He got angry and went back to Dwaredhunge. The goddess closed the doors of the temple and escaped.

It is said that the imprint of the blow that the angry person had given to the door of the temple can still be seen. Because of this event, the goddess forever left the place, passing through Triveni, PanchpurPatan, MallapuriPatan, and finally settling in Badimalika. The pilgrims take this route while going to visit the temple.