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

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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. 

Holy Yatra to the Abode of Lord Shiva - 3

  KAILASH   MANASAROVAR YATRA  2014

Kathmandu Tour - 1

Pasupathinath temple, Guhyeshwari temple

Entrance of  Pasupathinath temple

 Majestic  Brass Nandi facing Lord Shiva

On the first day of the yatra for acclimatization the yatris normally stay at Kathmandu (1400 mt). Normally the day is spent by visiting temples in Kathmandu. The tour operator took us to Pasupathinath temple the most popular Shiva temple and Guhyeshwari temple a Sakthi  Peetam and Budh Neelkant temple on the outskirts of Kathmandu. 

Pasupathinath teple is reveres as kasi of Nepal. Some believe that Lord Shiva leaves Kailash during winter and resides in Pasupathinath  during that time.  To know more about this temple  visit

Pasupathinath Temple

Intricately carved wooden window 

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Pigeons  outside the temple complex

The bridge across Bagmati River

Monkeys frolicking on the banks of the Bagmati River 

The entrance of Guhyeshwari temple

 To know more about this temple  visit

Guhyeshwari Temple

The temple is situated on the banks of sacred Bagmati River

Vermillion

Our group in front of Guhyeshwari temple

 The yatra continues . . . . . . 

Kailash Manasarovar Yatra -2012 - 45

Stay at Kathamandu and completion of yatra

Hotel Marshyangdi 

As per the itinerary,  after competing the parikarama we were supposed to stay on the banks of Manasarovar and travel leisurely for another  two days to reach Kathmandu. But we cut short and reached Kathamndu in two days, because of which a gained a day in Kathamandu which we used for sight seeing.  We first visited Narayanhity palace museum, which we could not cover  during our  earlier sight seeing trip. The museum show cased the rise and fall of the Nepal monarchy. The entry  fees are different for Nepalease, SAARC citizens and other foreigners, here they accept only Neapali currency, so we excahnged the Indian rupees and paid the same. But in general all the hotels,  taxis and commercial establishments accept Indian currency.  So while negotiating fares better be clear whether the fare is in Indian rupees or Nepali rupees. As Kathamandu is a tourist paradise it is possible to covert the currencies easily. 

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 Some members of our group in front of the hotel

Leisurely breakfast at the hotel

Narayanhity palace museum

In the evening many yatris decided to take a well deserved rest. But myself and Sundar went to Dhulikel  where  152 ft Shiva statue is located. This is the tallest Shiva statue and has been constructed by a Indian business man. The statue is situated on a hillock and vehicles ply upto that place. One can also have the darshan of  of Shiva family and Nandi and  12 Joytir Lingas here and fully landscaped gardens. There is an restaurant and spa situated at that place.   

Dhulikel 152 ft tall Shiva statue.

Close-up  shot of the  Lord

Nandhi

Shiva family

Others went for shopping in the busy Thamel area. Many  Buddhist artifacts and colorful precious and semi precious stone chains and paintings are available here which one can pick as a souvenir. In the evening we got back our bags. In the Hotel we met a group of yatris from Thanjavur. They told us that they had been denied permission for entry into tibet for the next three days as Dolma is still covered with snow. May be due the fall and injury to the German tourist on the day in which we undertook the parikrama. We also felt lucky thgat by the grace of Shivasakthi we could complete the parikrama.  Thus we had a complete rest day at Kathmandu   

Mountain flight 

Bird's eye view of peaks of Nepal

Some of our group members booked for the mountain flight the next day morning and had the beautiful view of the peaks of the Himalayas from above and returned back safely. Some of us visited Pasupathinath temple and thanked the Lord  for a nice darshan and parikrama.

Shopping on the streets of Kathmandu 

Due to denial of entry into Tibet, the hotels of Kathmandu was overflowing with Kailash Yatrisk In the evening we left Kathmandu and reached Delhi where we stayed for that night and left for Chennai the next day. Thus this yatra concluded happily and satisfactorily.

Spice jet flight from Kathmandu to New Delhi

At Delhi Airport

Rudrabishekam 

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With this post this yatra is complete, when I get some more photos and some more details about the yatra let us meet again  until then thanks for all those who followed the yatra along with us.

OM Namashivaya 

Kailash Manasarovar Yatra -2012 - 44

Saga to Kathamandu

Greener Saga to Nylam Road

Nice Tar Road

Serene atmosphere

Prayer flags in between .....

Tunnels

Waterfalls

Nylam Town

Kodari Border

Friendship Bridge - Kodari

Waiting at Kodari for Bus

Happy playing Children of Kodari

Bus to Kathmandu

Saga is a garrison  town  and there are many military  establishments situated in this town. We got up early in the morning and  went around the town we saw many  school going kids in uniform and there were many nice hotels in the town. After  breakfast we left for Kathamndu, unlike the earlier day as the altitude was less the route was greener.  As usual the bus journey was pleasant we bypassed Nylam and reached Kodari around noon time, there was no problem in emigration we were cleared quickly. All us were happy that we are back from Tibet. But our luggage was retained there itself. Shreshta informed us that they will collect the same the next day and will deliver them at the hotel. We had lunch at Kodari and were waiting for the bus. During that time we watched the children of Kodari playing merrily and collecting  gifts from  the yatris.

The bus journey from Kodari was very slow because of heavy congestion in that route we recollected the places we passed during the onward journey, but here was no check by military as during the onward journwy. We reached Kathamandu at around seven in the night. We were accommodated in  Marshyangdi Hotel in busy Thamel area. After about ten days we had a full bath and had a nice sleep after an arduous yatra.