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patan
The ancient name of Patan is Lalitpur, meaning city of
beauty. It is indeed a city of beauty and grace and is
planned on a circular format with Buddhist stupas at
each of the four points of the compass. The city is
three kilometres south-east of Kathrnandu across the
southern bank of the river Bagmati. Like Kathmandu, its
most photogenic centre of attraction is its Durbar
Square complex, situated right in the middle of the
market place. The city is full of Buddhist monuments and
Hindu temples, with fine bronze gateways, guardian
deities also and wonderful carvings. Noted for its
craftsmen and metal workers, it is also known as the
city of artists. The city is believed to have been built
during the reign of Vira Deva in 299 A.D. Some of
Patan's more important mounments are as follows:
Durbar
Square-This whole square is a cluster of
fine pagoda temples and stone statues; it is at the same
time the business hub of the city. At every step one
comes across a piece of art or some images of various
deities, testifying to the consummate skill of Patan's
anonymous artists. The ancient palace of the Malla kings
and the stone waterbaths associated with various legends
and episodes of history are especially interesting to
visitors. The stone temple of Lord Krishna and the Royal
Bath (Tushahity) with its intricate stone and bronze
carvings are two other masterpieces in the same
vicinity.
Hiranya Varna
Mahavibar-This three-storeyed golden
pagoda of Lokeshwar (Lord Buddha) was built in the
twelfth century A.D. by King Bhaskar Varma. Located in
the courtyard of Kwabahal, this temple belongs to a
class of its own. A golden image of Lord Buddha and a
big prayer wheel can be seen on the pedestal of the
upper part of the Vihar while intricate decorative
patterns, worked out on its outer walls, add charm to
the mellow richness of the shrine.
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Kumbheshwar-This is a five-storeyed
pagoda-style temple of Lord Shiva. Inside the courtyard
is a natural spring having its source, it is said, in
the famous glacial lake of Gosainkunda. This temple was
built by King Jayasthiti Malla while the golden finial
was added later in 1422 A.D. He also cleaned the pond
near Kumbheshwar and installed various images of Narayan,
Ganesh, Sitala, Basuki, Gauri, Kirtimukh and Agamadevata
around the pond and in the courtyard. Ritual bathing
takes place here every year on the day of Janai Poornima.
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Jagat
Narayan-The Jagat Narayan temple is a
tall Shikhara-style temple consecrated to Lord Vishnu.
The temple is built out of the red bricks on the bank of
the Sagmati at Sankharnul and enshrines many stone
images. The fine metal statue of Garuda placed on a
stone monolith is quite eye-catching along with
similarly placed images of Ganesh and Hanuman.
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Krishna Temple-The temple of Lord Krishna
holds a commanding position in Patan's palace complex.
Though its style is not wholly native, it is reckoned to
be one of the most perfect specimens of the Nepalese
templecraft. The three-storeyed stone temple continues
to elicit high praise from lovers of art and beauty. It
was built by King Siddhi Narasingha Malla in the
sixteenth century A.D. Most of the important scenes from
the Mahabharata and Ramayana epics have been carved in
bas-relief. The minute details of this relief work
clearly show the high level that the art of stone
carving had attained in the sixteenth century.
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Mahaboudba-The temple of Mahaboudha is a
masterpiece of brick and tile. Like the Krishna Mandir,
it reveals an art tradition which evolved outside of
Nepal; it also shows that the native craftsmanship of
the Nepalese can do proper justice to any art form. This
temple was built by Abhaya Raj, a priest of Patan and is
sometimes referred to as the temple of a million Buddhas
because every single brick depicts a small image of
Buddha an astonishing total of nine thousand bricks. It
was levelled to the ground in the great earthquake of
1933 but was rebuilt exactly to the original
specifications, thus proving that templecraft is still
one of the living arts of Napal.
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Rudra Varna Mahavihar-This
is one of Patan's oldest Buddhist monasteries. Adjacent
to the monastery there is a temple that contains a fine
image of Lord Buddha. The courtyard of this temple is
like a gallery of different bronze and stone art works.
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Popularly believed, though not scholastically endorsed,
to have been built by Ashoka, the Buddhist Emperor of
India, these stupas stand at four different corners of
Patan giving the whole city a monastic character. All
these Buddhist mounds were built in 250 A.D. at the time
when Buddhism was making headway to the Kathmandu
Valley.
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Machchhendranath-The temple of
Machchhendranath is another centre of attraction in
Patan. The temple lies in the middle of a wide spacious
quadrangle just at the outer rim of the market place. A
fine clay image of Avalokiteshwar or red
Machchhendranath is housed here for six months every
year after which it is taken round the city of Patan in
a colourful chariot festival beginning in April-May and
lasting sometimes for several months, (see festival
section).
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The
Tibetan Camp-An attraction of a different
kind is the Tibetan Camp on the outskirts of Patan. The
small Tibetan population living here has set up a number
of shrines and stupas as well as several souvenir shops
offering authentic Tibetan handicrafts such as prayer
wheels of wood, ivory, silver or bronze, long temple
horns made of beaten copper, belt buckles, miniature
thunderbolts and jewellery. In this area, one can also
see the Tibetans weaving carpets by hand.
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