Nepal Pilgrimage

Above the entrance of many temples in Nepal you find a fiercefully looking diety. This is Chhepu who used to live in the lake that filled the Kathmandu Valley.

How did Chhepu came above the entrance of the temples

While once there grow a mysterious beautiful lotus flower in the lake that used to cover the Kathmandu Valley. The Bodhisatva Manjushri wanted to drown the lake in order to better worship this lotus flower. But before drowning the lake he had to rehouse the inhabbitants some serpents and a creature called Chhepu of the lake.

The story is that Cheppu who is also considered as Varuda's brother who is Vishnu's vehicle and you can see kneeling in front of most Vishnu temples. Has a misformed underbody. While Cheppu was moving from the Kathmandu Valley lake to his new home the Taudaha lake, Manjushri promised not to look at his ugly body. 

But Manjushri was so curious that he peek anyways. Chhepu noticed this and fled back into the lake. Manjushri felt guilty and promised Chhepu a place in each temple of the Valley. And so there he is.

Notice the you can only see the face and hands of Chhepu and that his misformed body is nicely covered.

On the photo you see Cheppu garding a Shiva temple in Lele in the south of Kathmandu Valley, under  is a photo of the whole temple.