Budhanilkantha

A farmer of the northern part of Kathmandu harvested the paddy that had grown in his field and piled it up in the threshing floor. However much the paddy was thrashed and however many granaries and sacks were filled, the heap of paddy in the threshing floor did not diminish by even a grain.

Astonished by this miracle, the farmers, on the king's orders, began to dig up the ground of the threshing floor. As they dug, the edge of a spade struck some hard object beneath the ground, and from that spot a stream of blood began to flow.

When the surrounding earth was cleared away, there appeared an exceedingly vast and radiant dark-hued idol of Lord Vishnu, lying upon the bed of Shesh Naga above the water. Blood was flowing from the big toe of Narayan's foot where the spade had struck him.

Seeing this form reclining upon the water, the followers of Shaivism worshipped it as Shiva (Nilakantha), and the Buddhists worshipped it as the Buddha of the Great Parinirvana. From the harmony of both faiths, this idol was given the name 'Budhanilkantha'.

That very night Lord Vishnu appeared to the king in a dream and said: "From now on, the king must not come to behold me directly, otherwise there will be harm to the lineage and the kingdom." Therefore the tradition arose that the kings of Nepal would not behold Budhanilkantha directly but would install a replica of it in the palace and worship it there.