An object worshipped as the Goddess turns to be quartz crystal

A decision has been taken that a quartz crystal that was retrieved from a private house situated at Satipipal area of Gorkha Municipality in Gorkha district will be put in the Gorkha Palace premises.

The precious stone weighing 52 kg 330 grams was seized on June 29 from a house belonging to a local Ram Maya Shahi and the family had been worshipping the stone at the house for more than a century in the form of Goddess Bhagawati.

The decision taken by the meeting of local representatives of different political parties on Sunday followed the protest by the family who worshipped the stone and the local people demanding that the luminous rock should not be kept out of the district, deputy mayor Masali Maya Thokar told this weekly.

The meeting was attended by people’s representatives, including Mayor Krishna Bahadur Ranamagar, representatives from more than 17 local organisations, the Shahi family and intellectuals.

“The all-party meeting decided to keep the stone in the palace premises after the local Gorkhali people, who have taken it as a symbol of power, protested demanding that it should not be taken outside the district,” informed Thokar.

The local government and stakeholders also agreed to place the stone on the palace premises, she added. However,  no decision was taken so far whether to compensate the Shah family for seizure of the object or not.

The meeting also took a decision to write to the Government of Nepal, the Office of the Prime Minister, the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Department of Mines and Geology, and the Department of Archaeology notifying them about the decision.

The Department of Mines and Geology earlier confirmed the luminous stone as a sizable piece of quartz crystal. A couple of months ago, when the Shahi family out of curiosity uncovered the mysterious object, which they have been worshiping for 3-4 generations as Goddess Bhagawati, they were surprised to see its luminosity. As the news spread in the surrounding areas the police intervened and took the object to the Department of Mines and Geology for fact finding purposes. Later on it was revealed that the object was a priceless white quartz crystal, which may cost around NRs. 500 million.