Cīthū Phalcā (KIR4019) in Kirtipur can be dated back to the 17^th century. It houses a Gaṇeśa statue, the area deity (sthānagaṇeśa) from the Cīthū Ṭola, and displays a unique version of a stone toraṇa on the left front bay. Both the statue of Gaṇeśa and the formerly wooden toraṇa (the ornamented arch of a door or gateway) on top of it were stolen in the 1960s and later replaced. The fact that it hosts, since 2022, the largest wooden Bhairava mask in the Kathmandu Valley makes the Cīthū Phalcā a unique rest house.

The 2015 earthquakes deteriorated the already poor condition of the Phalcā. It was rebuilt in 2021 with the help of the Department of Archaeology The Kirtipur Municipality allocated a separate budget for carved woodworks and special bricks for its cornice. For the initiative to commission and install the wooden Bhairava mask, Sun Star Club, a local youth organization, collected donations of almost 1 million Nepalese Rupees (the actual cost of the mask was 3 million Nepalese Rupees). On March 1, 2021, a 5-feet tall wooden mask of Bhairava was brought from the workshop in Bungamati to Kirtipur; the design was made by the late Laxman Maharjan, one of the most well-known woodcarvers in the Newar community. Famous painter Ram Mohan Shrestha did the opening of the eyes (painting of the eyes).

A grand function was organized to launch the first occasion of the hāthu hāyke event, where fermented rice beer (thvã) is discharged from the Bhairava mask’s mouth for the people to drink. The mayor of Kirtipur inaugurated the event. The Mānaṃtvāḥ Dāphā Khalaḥ, a group of local dāphā singers, performed devotional songs at the Phalcā on the full moon day of Śrāvaṇa. The Phalcā also provides space for organizing various social, political, and cultural programs. The local residents consider the revitalization of the Bhairava exhibition for particular annual rituals as relevant to the revitalization of urban heritage, neighbourhood, and ‘lost’ rituals, for instance, Indrajātrā. The Sunstar Hāthu Bhairav Guthi was founded, especially for the upkeeping of the Phalca and it includes women members.

Newars have a tradition of visiting major shrines of the city after the establishment of a new statue. Following this tradition, after the installation of the Bhairava mask at the Phalcā, some 1000 devotees organised a religious visit of the nine major Bhairava shrines in the Kathmandu Valley: Pacalī Bhairava, Kāla Bhairava, Ākāśa Bhairava, Ānanda Bhairava, Vaṭuka Bhairava, Tyāṅgā Bhairava, Hayagrīva Bhairava, along with Kirtipur’s Bāgha Bhairava and Aṣṭasiddhi Bhairav.

For more information about Cīthū Phalcā, please visit DANAM.