Hiranyavarna Mahavihara - The Golden Temple

Hiranyavarna Mahavihara or Kwabahal, popularly known as "Golden Temple" is one of the most popular destination of Patan, the city of art and craft. It is situated around 200m north of Patan Durbar Square on the way towards Kumbheshwor Mahadev.

The golden temple is a Mahayana Buddhist monastery built in 12th century by Bhaskar Deva Varma. The temple is not exactly built with pure gold but with the gold plated over brass sheet. It is a three storey golden pagoda of Lokeshwor (Lord Buddha),  the upper storey of the pagoda, are the golden image of Lord Buddha and a large prayer wheel.

As soon as you enter the through the main entrance you will see the courtyard fully crafted with different artifacts on the wall, doors, floors etc. You will need to climb upstairs to visit monastery where various Buddhist practices such as pooja, mantras are performed.

You are not allowed to wear leather shoes inside the monastery and foreign visitors need to pay entrance fee Rs 50 (around 50 cents) to enter the Golden Temple

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Celebrating Ghode Jatra at Tudikhel in Kathmandu

Once upon a time there lived a merchant in Itumbahal of Kathmandu. His name was Kesha Chandra. He was a gambler. He would gamble everyday. But one day, he lost everything.

After losing everything, he went to his elder sister who was very rich. She cooked a delicious meal for her brother and served it on a gold plate. After having the meal, Kesha Chandra waited for the moment for his sister to be out of sight. As soon as his sister went outside, slid the gold plate into his cloak and secretly left the house. He went back to gamble. Unfortunately, he lost the golden plate.

Kesha Chandra had no one to go to. So, he visited his sister again. His forgiving sister prepared a delicious meal for him. This time she served it in a brass plate. He immediately ate up everything, took the big brass plate and sneaked out of the house. Kesha Chandra couldn't resist the temptation to gamble. This time again, he lost.

A looser, he shamelessly went back to his sister's house. This time his sister served his meal on the floor. Kesha Chandra didn't eat the food because he thought it was an insult. He collected the food in a sheet of cloth, made it into a bundle and set off to throw away.

He took the road to Swoyambhu. When he had walked for someone, he became tired. Sho, he laid the bundle and sat down to rest under a tree. He felt very guilty for his habit of gambling. He fell asleep under the tree. There were many pigeons on the branches above. When they saw that Kesha Chandra was asleep they flew down and started picking at the bundle of rice. In no time, they finished the rice and flew up to the branches.As soon as they perched on the branches, the pigeons started dropping gold balls. Kesha Chandra woke up starled. He was surprised to see the gold balls. There were many of them. He collected all the bold balls. Then he tied them up into the bundle.

He tried to lift bug he couldn't. Kesha Chandra did not know what to do. Suddenly, he saw a giant approaching him. It was Guru Mapa. The giant stretched out his hands to catch him. "Finally, I have found my breakfast." he roared. Kesha Chandra was clever. He greeted the giant. "Guru Mapa, you cannot fill your big belly with a puny creature like me. Please come to my house instead. I will serve you a buffalo and two tons of rice." said Kesha Chandra. Then he pointed to the bundle of golden balls and said, "If you don't believe take this bundle of gold balls. You can return it to me after you are satisfied". "All right then, after you," said the giant. He lifted the bundle on his shoulder and followed Kesha Chandra.

As promised, Kesha Chandra served him a buffalo and two tons of cooked rice. Guru Mapa ate every thing and slept for three days. As soon as he got up, he asked for more food. Kesha Chandra had to arrange a buffalo and two tons of rice for him again. He said, "Guru Mapa, eat and sleep peacefully".

This routine of eating, sleeping and waking up carried on for a long time. Kesha Chandra had to some how arrange for his regural food. One day, Kesha Chandra's neighbours complained that the giant should not be kept in the house. The children were scared of the giant. Then, Kesha Chandra took Guru Mapa to Tudikhel and hid him on a tree behind the leaves. Guru Mapa sometimes went to the town and took away the children. Whenever the children used to weep and cause trouble, the parents told them that Guru Mapa would take them away. The parents became ansious of the situation. They pulled the giant from the tree too the ground and hit him hard to kill him. But nothing happened to the giant. He would stand up and walk again. There was only one way out. They had to make horses stampede the giant to kill him. The plan worked out. The people made horses to run over Guru Mapa. Finally, the giant was killed. To remember the trouble that the giant had caused and not to repeat a similar incident, people arrange Ghode Jatra at the Tudikhel ground every year.

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Manakamana Temple at Lele, Southern Lalitpur

Many of us are not aware of the existence of Manakamana Temple in Lele VDC of southern Lalitpur. It is about 16 KM away from the Lagankhel bus park.

A local, Santa Bahadur Nagarkoti dreamed about Manakamana Devi of Gorkha and built the Manakamana Temple. They have procedurally brought the holy watar (Jal) from Manakamana of Gorkha and established the temple.

Lele VDC is a hilly region of Lalitpur and gateway to many rural southern villages of Lalitpur such as Bhardeu, Nallu, Chaughare and Gotikhel. The Manakamana Temple and surrounding is now a days getting popular as a Picnic spot and the overall region has been popular for many hiking / biking routes to Phulchowki, Badikhel, Godavari etc.

Manakamana Temple can be reached by taking local bus from Lagankhel, which will take around 1.5 hours to reach there. If you have your own private vehicle, it will take around 30 minutes to reach there from Lagankhel.

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Namo Buddha and Thrangu Tashi Yangtse Monastery

Namo Buddha is one of the popular Buddhist pilgrimage site of Nepal, which is around 40km south east of Kathmandu. It is believed that the place where the Buddha, in a previous life as a prince (Prince Mahashattva), gave his body to a starving tigress and her cubs. The Namo Buddha stupa is believed to be built on the bones and hair of prince Mahasattva. He was the youngest of the three sons of king Maharatha. While walking through the forest, he saw a tigress with the five cubs she had given birth to. She was so hungry that she could hardly move. Looking at her situation, prince Mahasattva started to cut his own body and gave the tigress to eat the flesh.

On the eastern side of this sacred pilgrimage site, Thrangu Tashi Yangtse Monastery is built. It is home to more than 250 monks, Tibetan Studies and a Tibetan Medical clinic.

You can get to Namo Buddha by a local bus from Kathmandu to Banepa and then take another bus from Banepa to Namo Buddha. Namo Buddha is also one of the popular hiking destination. You can hike from Dhulikhel to Namo Buddha which will take around 3 hours.

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The Pashupatinath Temple

The Pashupatinath Temple is a famous, sacred Hindu temple listed in the UNESCO World Heritage, this temple is dedicated to Pashupatinath (Lord Shiva) is located on the banks of the Bagmati River 5 kilometres north-east of Kathmandu Valley in the eastern city of Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal. It is not known for certain when Pashupatinath was founded. Tradition says it was constructed by Pashupreksha of the Somadeva Dynasty in the 3rd century BC, but the first historical records date from the 13th century. The ascetic Pashupata sect was likely related to its foundation.

Pashupatinath is considered one of the sacred temples of Hindu faith .The temple serves as the seat of the national deity, Lord Pashupatinath. This "extensive Hindu temple precinct" is a "sprawling collection of temples, ashrams, images and inscriptions raised over the centuries along the banks of the sacred Bagmati river." The temple is one of the 275 Paadal Petra Sthalams (Holy Abodes of Shiva) on the continent. It attracts thousands of pilgrims each year and has become well known far beyond the Kathmandu Valley. The temple is barred to non-Hindus, but a good view of the temple can be had from the opposite bank of the river. One of the major Festivals of the temple is Maha Shivaratri on this day over 700,000 devotees visit here.

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Bagmati Bridge connecting Kathmandu and Lalitpur

Bagmati bridge is a two lanes bridge over holy Bagmati river connecting Lalitpur and Kathmandu two major cities of Nepal. The bridge is about 160m long and one of the most busiest bridge in Kathmandu. The river bank near to the bridge is occupied by traditional landmarks like Kaalmochan Ghat.  The Bagmati Bridge has been cleaned and painted by group of volunteers frequently through a campaign kicked off in Facebook.

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Navadurga Dance of Bhaktapur

Bhaktapur is an ancient city around 15KM east of Kathamandu, popularly known as "The City of Devotees". The major inhabitants are indigenous Newars, pre dominantly follows Hinduism and Buddhism.Bhaktapur is famous for its temple / palaces architectures of the Malla Regime. Bhatapur is rich is art, tradition and cultures. The citizens of Bhatapur still practices their cultures, festivals and Navadurga Dance is one of them. 

Nava Durga dance is ritually marked by a set of masks worn and danced by public on the special occassions. The dance was named Nava Durga (Nine Durgas) Dance, because it is made up of nine Mother Goddesses namely Brahmayani, Maheswori, Kumari, Vaisnavi, Indrayani, Mahakali, Mahalaxmi, Barahi and Tripurasundari. Besides the goddesses, five gods namely Bhairav, Ganesh, Swet Bhairav, Simha and Dumha, also participate in the Nava Durga Dance.

This Dance, have its own religious thought, which is the story that describe why this dance is performed by the local people of Bhaktapur City. It is believed that Dava Durgas, once used to live in jungle and capture people and then sacrifice them. But A powerful tantric’s Brahmin teacher, who was also caught by the Durgas, managed to escape from them and even became able to control them. Later, the durgas managed to escape by killing the Brahmin’s wife. After this, the Brahmin found them again, in the eastern direction of Bhaktapur, and by then, the Durgas had already lost their secrecy. Keeping the wishes of Durgas, the Brahmin installed them at Gachhen and created the tradition of the public Nava Durga dance performed by the Gathas. The dance was followed by the Malla Kings and it is still practiced by the local people of Bhaktapur City and other cities. Every year the Nava Durga masks are crematedc and their ashes are thrown into the river in the month of June. A tantric puja is held in the month of July, and then new masks are made in September. On the day of Astami Sukla, which falls in September or October, members of the Gatha caste who will dance next year’s performances undergo certain rituals. On the 10th day of Dasain i.e. Mohani , the masks are handed over to the dancers. The Nava Durga Dance is then performed in each of Bhaktapur’s 24 tols as well as in other places. Fishing Dance is one of the most interesting part of the dance performance. In this dance, the dancers chase, capture and then symbolically sacrifice boys and young men. After the completion of last dance performance, held in Ikshyu Tol, the southern side of Darbar Square, a sesame seed and rice dish is offered to the dancers. It is believed that the Nava Durga dancers begin to grow weak from this time forward. Later, the Nava Durga dancers circumambulate Bhaktapur on the city’s procession route and then return to their shrine late in the evening.

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Bajra Barahi

Bajra Barahi the seventeenth century temple without pinnacle is located 8km south of Patan and is among the four famous barahi temples in Nepal. The temple is popular for its amazing spiritual specialities and dedicated to a tantric manifestation of the goddess Kali, like the Vajrayogini, Bajra Barahi represent the female, creative power of divinity.

It is believed that "The leafs surrounding the temples are very mysterious from ancient time. If the leafs are taken out of the temple's premises, they fly back to the spot again. No one nearby the village dares to take the leafs at their home. If someone does, will suffer from unknown illness."

The temple a midst beautiful forest, cool shed, peaceful environment, unique natural flora and fauna, green sceneries and sweet songs of birds, is the perfect harmony of gorgeous nature and masterpiece of human arts.  A huge forest famous for bird watching surrounds the Bajra Barahi temple, a wide variety of birds and around 166 varieties of flora including rare orchids are found in the jungle. Birds like parrots, Bengal Green Pigeon, Black Drongo, Blue-throated Barbet, Crested Serpent Eagle are among the 48 different varieties of birds found.

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Shechen Tennyi Dargyeling Monastery

Shechen Tennyi Dargyeling Monastery at northeast of Kathmandu near by Bouddha Stupa was founded in 1980. For almost ten years, master craftsmen, stonemasons, sculptors, painters, goldsmiths, and master tailors worked to make the monastery one of the most beautiful examples of Tibetan art. There are more than 300 monks study and lives in Sechen Gumba. The monastery teaches music, dance, painting and Buddhist philosophy. Its elementary school provides a modern education for children between five and fourteen years of age.

Official Website of the Monastry :- http://shechen.org/

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Ga: Pyakhan in Patan (Asta Matrika Dance)

Astamatrika Naacha, popularly known as Ga: Pyakhan among locals of Patan, dance occurs during the Dashain festival. The dance is occured for 9 days starting on Ghatasthapana, the first day of Dashain Festival to Nawami the 9th day. Ga: Pyakhan was introduced during Malla Regime by King Sri Nivash Malla (1627- 1687 AD). He was considered to be an emanation of Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara. Once he saw in his dream the congregation of mother goddess dancing in his royal court Mulachowk.

During these Astamatrika dances 13 deities are represented. They are as follow:
1. Simhini – White
2. Bhairava – Blue
3. Ganesh – White
4. Kumara – Red
5. Brahmayani – Ash Color
6. Varahi – Red
7. Indrayani – Yellow + Ash
8. Mahalaxmi – Yellow + Ash
9. Kaumari – Red
10. Vaishanavi – Green
11. Mahakali/ Chamunda -Red
12. Rudrayani – White
13. Vhyagrihi – Yellow

It is believed that the mask should never be wore or take off on the land, so as shown in the photograph above the represented deities jump on the air to wear or take off the mask.

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Boudha Stupa in Kathmandu

Boudhanath (Devanagari: बौद्धनाथ) (also called Boudha, Bouddhanath or Baudhanath or the Khāsa Caitya) is a stupa in Kathmandu, Nepal. It is known as Khāsti in Nepal Bhasa, Jyarung Khasyor in Tamang language or as Bauddha by speakers of Nepali.[2] Located about 11 km (6.8 mi) from the center and northeastern outskirts of Kathmandu, the stupa's massive mandala makes it one of the largest spherical stupas in Nepal.[3]

The Buddhist stupa of Boudhanath dominates the skyline. The ancient Stupa is one of the largest in the world. The influx of large populations of refugees from Tibet has seen the construction of over 50 Tibetan Gompas (Monasteries) around Boudhanath. As of 1979, Boudhanath is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Along with Swayambhunath, it is one of the most popular tourist sites in the Kathmandu area.

The Stupa is on the ancient trade route from Tibet which enters the Kathmandu Valley by the village of Sankhu in the northeast corner, passes by Boudnath Stupa to the ancient and smaller stupa of Cā-bahī (often called 'Little Boudnath'). It then turns directly south, heading over the Bagmati river to Patan - thus bypassing the main city of Kathmandu (which was a later foundation).[2] Tibetan merchants have rested and offered prayers here for many centuries. When refugees entered Nepal from Tibet in the 1950s, many decided to live around Boudhanath. The Stupa is said to entomb the remains of Kassapa Buddha.

Read more at :- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boudhanath

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