Triveni is a town in Katari Municipality in Udayapur District in the Sagarmatha zone of south-eastern Nepal.

It is also called as Gajendramoksha Divyadham. According to Varah Purana, once upon a time there was a war between an elephant king (Gajaraj) and a crocodile (Graha) that lasted for hundreds of years. Lord Vishnu heard the prayers of the elephant and descended on Garuda to rescue him. As he arrived at the place, one leg of the elephant was already in the mouth of the crocodile. The God safely rescued the elephant from the menacing jaws of the crocodile. This place is situated in Nawalparashi district near the Indian border at the west bank of Narayani River. It is the point where two rivers: Swarnabhadra and Purnabhadra meet Narayani (Gandaki) river.

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There are many temples out of which Laxminarayana Temple and Gajendramoksha temple are famous. This story of elephant Gajendra moksham is different from that given in Srimad bhagavatam. The one which is described in Srimad Bhagavatam happened in heavenly planet. The one which happened here has similar story line up but involves personalities different as per their past lives. Once there lived two brahmana brothers Yuja and Upayuja who were very expert in reciting mantras and conducting sacrifices. Once a great king invited both for conducting a sacrifice. At the end, the king heavily rewarded the brothers with a huge sum of money. This in turn led to disagreement between both. The disagreement turned into anger and in anger both of them cursed each other. One was cursed to become elephant and other cursed to become crocodile. Being cursed, they both came to their senses and sincerely repented and sought help of Lord Vishnu. Lord promised to deliver both of them in their next life and so goes the same story. This fight lasted for a long time and the distance covered during the fight was took place from Devghat to Triveni and then till Sonpur in Bihar. There are still some places between Devghat and Triveni on the banks of river, where you could find elephant footprints embossed on rocky stones. It was at Triveni, that crocodile grabbed the elephant’s legs and then at Sonpur in Bihar, Lord delivered both the animals. On account of Lord Narayan’s coming and rescuing the elephant, River Gandaki is more prominently called as Narayani river between Devghat and Triveni.

A beautiful bhajan in Hindi sung by Vaishnav saint Suradas on this pastimes is famous :

Hey govind hey gopal raakho sharan ab to jeevan haaren

neer piyan hetu gayaa sindhu ke kinaare

sindhu beech basat grah paav dhari pachhade

chaaron pahar yuddh bhayo le gayo majhdhaare

naak kaan duban laage krishna ko pukaaren

sur kahe shyam suno sharan hain tumhaare

abki baar paar karo nand ke dulaare

Meaning Oh Govind Oh Gopal ,keep me in your shelter as I am loosing my life .

I went to drink the water at the bank of river. In the river there lies an alligator who has grabbed my legs and thus he is drawing me in the water.

Whole day we had a conflict but he taken me to the edge, now my nose and ears are drowned and are calling only Krishna .

Sur das ji says that the elephant says Oh Shyam please listen to me I am only in your shelter .Oh dearest of Nand ji this time you take me across this jolt”.

Devghat is the most sacred as well as religious place located in the central part of Nepal. It is located at the tricentre of Tanahun, Nawalparasi and Chitwan as well as at the junction of Gandaki, Lumbini and Narayani Zones. It has an area of 54.34 square kilometers with natural, religious, archaelogical, historical as well as cultural importance. This is the place where the great rivers Kaligandaki and Trishuli meet together. The junction point of these great rivers is known as Beni.

This holy place of Devghat is situated nearby on the main Bhutwal- kathmandu road.

Devghat is the place where Holy river Gandaki from Muktinath meets Holy river Trishuli from Gosaikunda. From here Gandaki river further travels to flow in India through the state of Bihar and joins Ganges at Patna. From here till Triveni, this river Gandaki gets the name Narayani from here till the place Triveni on account of Gajendra Moksha pastime performed by Lord Narayan.

Gandaki has received its name from its origin which is Lord Vishnu’s cheek and Trishuli received its name as Shiva hits his trishul, trident, to get water to cool him down for relieving fire of halahal poison he drank during churning of ocean of milk. As both these rivers meet at Devghat, this place is also called Harihar kshetra. It is said at this place lord Shiva always lives with associates and so also Lord Vishnu lives here too with his own associates. Therefore this place is also named as Harihar kshetra. Devas, demigods, come here to meet both the Lords at one place and when they come, they take opportunity to take bath here. Hence this place got its name as Devghat. Devghat is also the famous place on the banks of which Sage Vasistha muni had his ashram and also where he performed Tapasya. Lord Ram and His brothers during their childhood were sent here by King Dashrath to gurukul of Vasistha muni . Devghat is the place where Lord Brahma did his first yajna here and thereafter this place is also called in Puranas as Adi prayag. As Vasistha muni meditated here, so you can also see the cave here called as Vasistha gufa close by to Devghat’s confluence.

In one kalpa, Lord Ram also did Ashwamedha yajna here. At that time, Valmiki muni brought Goddess Sita and Lavkush from his ashram nearby at Triveni to hand them back to Lord Ram here.Also,it was here that Sitadevi entered the earth during that time.

Gai ghat

Ahead from Devghat on the way to Kathmandu from Buthwal is Gau ghat or Gai ghat. Here King Dilip of Ayodhya came and worshipped a cow regularly during his time. It is a meeting place, sangam, of river Seti and river Trishuli. River Seti (also called Seti gandaki river) originates at peaks of Mt Api and Mt Nampa in the south facing slopes of the main Himalayas. At its place of origin, Mother Gauri (Parvati) gave audience to Vasistha muni and in doing so, she started perspiring due to heat. These perspiration became this river Seti. Nepal is a country of around 6000 rivers.

Bharatpur (भरतपुर) is a city in the central-southern part of Nepal. Located in Chitwan Valley, Bharatpur is the district headquarters of the Chitwan District, as well as a separate Municipal authority, and is the fifth largest city of Nepal. As per Vishnupuran, it is said that King Bharat ruled the entire world from here and hence this place received the name BHARATPUR. While as king, Bharat ruled here from this place for 60,000 years, later he moved to Pulahasram (Another place near Muktinath in Nepal) and then subsequently his next two lives as a deer and then Jada Bharat respectively were also spent in Nepal. Located within the municipality of Bharatpur is also the famous holy place Devghat.

On the mountainous road to Riddi kshetra from Palpa, one can see the beautiful yet barren valley said to be called as Mandukya rishi kshtera. This was the place where Manduka muni was doing penance and was wrongly caught by king’s guards. Later he went on to curse Yamraj for wrongly punishing him. As a result, Yamraj came down to earth and took birth as Vidura. After this incident, this place of muni also became barren on account of the curse.

The detailed story is mentioned by Srila Prabhupad in his Srimad Bhagavat 1.13.1 commentary and purport as follows: Once upon a time the state police caught some thieves who had concealed themselves in the hermitage of Maṇḍuka Muni. The police constables, as usual, arrested all the thieves and Maṇḍuka Muni along with them. The magistrate specifically punished the muni to death by being pierced with a lance. When he was just to be pierced, the news reached the king, and he at once stopped the act on consideration of his being a great muni. The king personally begged the muni’s pardon for the mistake of his men, and the saint at once went to Yamaraj, who prescribes the destiny of the living beings. Yamaraj, being questioned by the muni, replied that the muni in his childhood pierced an ant with a sharpened straw, and for that reason he was put into difficulty. The muni thought it unwise on the part of Yamaraj that he was punished for his childish innocence, and thus the muni cursed Yamaraj to become a sudra, and this sudra incarnation of Yamaraj was known as Vidura, the sudra brother of Dhṛitaraṣṭra and Maharaj Paṇḍu