Mukthinath Yatra - 10

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 

Patan has a long Buddhist history and it's four corners are marked by stupas built by Emperor Ashoka. The main development of this town took place under the Malla Kings during 16th to 18th century especially during the reign of Siddhnarsingh Malla. Patan's central Durbar square is packed with temples, undoubtedly the most stunning display of Newari architecture. These temples are of diverse style also there are many Bahals(Buddhist monastries) are scattered around this fascinating Patan town. The rectangular square has its longer axis on the north-south and the palace forms the east side of the square

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.

In front of the palace on the top of a column is the statue of King Yogendra Malla. The golden figure of the kneeling king, protected by a hooded cobra and a bird above the cobra. behind the statue of the King are the three smaller Vishnu temples. Next to these temples is the pagoda style Hari Shankar temple dedicated to half-Vishnu, half-Shiva deity. We also see the large bell hanging between the two stout pillars. 

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.  .
 

Pasupathinath temple

 .    

Later in the evening we visited the Pasupatinath temple and thanked the Lord Shiva for the successful completion of both the yatras. We were also to lucky to witness the morning ablution of Lord Pasupatinath and we returned back to Chennai that both  the the yatras were completed successfully by the Grace of the Lord.
   

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.