Waling (वालिङ)

By Bishnu Koirala
Waling (वालिङ) is a town and municipality in the western hilly region of Nepal. It is in the Aadhikhola valley in the Syangja District of Gandaki Zone of Nepal. It is connected by the Siddhartha Highway, to Pokhara and Bhairahawa.

Founding and early history

The name Waling is said to have been derived from the word "Wali", which is the song that the women folk sing in groups as they plant the paddy in the fields. Waling is famous for its green paddy fields along the banks of Aadhikhola River and its tributaries. People used to visit this place in the monsoon to watch and listen these many groups of these women singing in the rain the wali song while planting the paddy.

The river Aandhkhola is a major tributary of the famous Kaligandaki river. The mythology about the origion of Aandhikhola dates back to the ancient time of Dwapar Yuga of the Hindu calendar during the period of King Dasharatha who was the father of Lord Ram of Ramayana. According to the mythology, Shrawan Kumar was a very devoted and only son of an old and blind couple. Shrawan Kumar was on journey on foot carrying his parents in basket to fulfill their wish of pilgrimage to the Hindu holy sites. While on the journey when they were in the middle of the forest, his parents became very thirsty and requested him to fetch some water. He left his parents in a comfortable tree shade and rushed with a pitcher to the nearby river promising to return soon with water. As he reached the river and plunged his pitcher in the water, it produced noise like a wild animal drinking water. King Dasaratha was hunting in the forest and happened to heat the sound and assume it of a wild beast. The king could shoot his target guided by the sound and he shot an arrow in the direction of sound. When he arrived in the scene, he saw a young man lying dead with his arrow piercing his chest. He then saw he pitcher and he immediately realised his mistake. The sorry king then quietly carried pitcher full of the water to the old couples who demanded to know about their son before they drink the water. When he told them the mistake, both the parents began crying and died in the spot leaving behind a pool of tears which transformed into a small lake. A stream began to flow from this lake. The term 'Aandhi' means 'blind' and 'khola' means 'river' in the nepali. Thus this new river got its name as Aandhikhola refering to the tears of Shrawan Kumar's blind parents.