PATAN DURBAR SQUARE
Group Of temples
On the next day morning those who were in Pokhra
left early morning by bus to Kathmandu. But those who were stuck at Jomsom were
in for more trouble as the weather was inclement because of heavy cloud cover
and wind. The weather cleared after 10 A.M and they reached Pokhra stayed there
for that day and returned to Kathmandu on the day of their travel back to Chennai.
If the weather would not have cleared the earlier day they would have landed in
trouble. But by the grace of Lord they reached in time to Kathmandu.
Narasimhar
In the palace
We were accommodated in
Harati Hotel in the busy Thamel area, as the Patan Durbar Square was at a walk able distance form the
hotel some of us visited that tourist
attraction of Kathmandu, we were blessed with the darshan of Living Goddess
Kumari this time.
Bairava
There is an interesting story about Harati here it is . She is a benevolent Yakshini. There is an interesting legend associated with Her. She is very fond of children so she used to kidnap the children of the Kathmandu valley and keep them with her. All the distressed parents went to Lord Buddha and prayed to Him to help them in finding their lost children. Lord Buddha knew what happened and performed a trick. He did the same to her. She realized her mistake and asked for a boon to be the patroness of Children and the protector of the holy places. So near any Buddhist monument you will find her shrine.
Garuda Statue
Patan Durbar Square is world Heritage site and is also called as the"City of Fine Arts". It's also called Lalitpur, which means"City of Beauty".In the small, mountain-sheltered valley of Nepal namely Kathmandu is the place where kingdoms rose and fell, palaces and temples were built, destroyed and rebuilt, and the Nepali art and culture were developed and refined. Apart from Kathmandu, Patan and Bhaktapur are the other two places were palaces and beautiful temples were built. Patan is the second-largest city of Nepal and is separated from Kathmandu by Bagmati River, but for all practical purposes they are continuous. In Nepal Durbar means Palace , there are darbar squares in front of these three old palaces.
Intricate wood work
Harathi Hotel Lobby
Vehicles are stopped at Patan Dhoka city gate
bus stop and we have to walk around 2 Km to reach the durbar square. The entry
fee is 200 Nepal Rupees. The statues of Lord Ganesh, Lord Narasimha the fierce
form of Lord Vishnu and Hanuman guard the square. ontinuing into the
square we reach the Krishna Mandir, built in Indian style. This is a three
storey temple. The first and second floors are made up of Lion pavilions top of
the temple rises like a corn. Opposite the temple is the Garuda pillar the top
of which is decorated with a beautiful Garuda with folded hands. Lord Krishna's
shrine is there in the third floor. On the rear side there is a shrine for Lord
Rama. Also all the ten incarnations of Lord Vishnu are beautifully carved in
this floor. In the first floor we find the carvings depicting the episodes of
Mahabaratha and in the second floor episodes from Ramayana. The two great epics
of India. Next to Krishna Mandir is Jagannarayan temple ,the plinth of this
made of brick and two lions guard this temple.
The palace itself is a three-storey building with
excellently carved roof, windows and doors especially supports of the roof are
carved with deities with multi-hands. The Garuda panel unique to Nepal is also
found in the front door of the palace. The palace has been now converted into a
museum . The bronze statues of Ganges and Yamuna are worth mentioning here.
Then there is the octagonal Krishna temple opposite to this temple is the Sundari chowk which houses the sunken Tusha Hiti in which are carved in stone Ashta Matrikas( Eight Mothers), Eight Bhairavs and Eight Nagas. Next to Sundari chowk is the Mul Chowk in the middle of which stands the small Bidya temple. .
Back Home
With this post the 2014 Kailash Manasarovar yatra and Muktinath yatra concludes. If by the grace of God when the author is blessed with next yatra then I will share those details with you. Till then goodbye. May God bless you all.
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