Going around Lalitpur (Patan)

As we exit Patan durbar square near the Bhimsen temple, a small Ganesha temple catches my eye.

Ganesha

We asked for directions to Kwa Bahal and see another beautiful temple by the road.

Kwa Bahal or Golden Temple:

Also known as the Hiranya Varna Mahavihara, this three storied golden pagoda of Lord Buddha was built by King Bhaskar Verma in the 12th century. Made of brass, this temple looks like gold hence the name golden temple.

King Bhaskar Dev Verma was born a Hindu but later became a devotee of Lord Buddha.

entrance flanked by two huge brass elephants with riders

close up of  the torana

the other entrance

entrance, front view

entrance to temple

The picture above has Shiva and Vishnu guarding the temple.

Mahakaal or Bhairav just before entering the temple

Shivlinga beside Bhairav

A huge vajra or thunderbolt on top of Dharmadhaatu mandala

Prayer wheels all around the temple

Idols of  dieties

Notice the lattice door behind.

Five dyanni Buddhas in different postures

Lord Buddha

Stupa just outside the temple

Varna Maha Vihar ( Minnath temple) :
Walking through streets just opposite durbar square, we reached Varna Maha Vihar and Macchendranath temple.
Varan Maha Vihar is a two storied temple facing west and houses an image of Padmapani Lokeshwar.

He is also refered as Jatadhaari Lokeshwara. Hindus call him Minnath whereas Newar Buddhists call him Caku-Baha-dyo. He is the junior associate of Macchendranath.



The Buddhist deity is brought out during the Machendranath festival and follows the procession.

Tang hiti

Tang hiti just outside the temple.

Rato Macchendranath temple:
The main deity in the temple is Lokeshwar Padmapani. He is popularly known as Rato Machendranath or Matsyendranatha.  Matsya meaning fish, as he was born from fish, Indra, the god of rain, and nath meaning the lord. Rato means red.

Notice huge Vajra outside in front of the lions

According to one legend, Guru Gorakhnath visited Patan and got upset when he was insulted by the people of the valley. He captured all the nine rain showering serpents by his power, binding them together, sat on them and started to meditate. Patan started facing droughts which continued for 12 years. It took a long time to find out the reason for this drought.  The King was advised to call Matsyendranth, guru or spiritual teacher of Gorakhnath. That was the only way Gorakhnath would have got up from his seat so allowing the rian showering serpents to be relased. Macchendranath, on request from the King, started his journey to Nepal from Kaamrup, now Assam in India. His followers did not want him to go and at one stage wanted to take  him back. Matsyendranth took the form of  a bee and  the Nepalis hid him in a jar and took him to Nepal. As soon as Gorakhnath sensed his master's presence in the valley, he got up from his seat releasing the rain showering serpents. Since then, Macchendranath has since then been revered as the god of rain and confered the divine title of Lokeshwar Padmapani.

Bungamati is a small place near Patan where Matsyendranath landed, on the banks of Bagmati in the form of a bee. Bungamati, hence is considered as the birthplace of Rato Macchendranath. There are two temples dedicated to him, one in Patan and the other in Bungamati.

A big Rato Macchendranath festival is held every year in April-May before the commencement of rains for a good and plentiful rainfall. This is said to be the oldest and longest festival in Patan. It is celebrated by both Hindus and Buddhists. During this ratha yatra, Rato Macchendranath is taken to Bungamati where he stays for six months in a huge chariot. After six months, around October-November, he comes back to Patan.

He also assumed the status of Lokeshwar Karunamaya (लोकेश्वर करुणामय ) Lokeshwar god of this world, karunamaya full of empathy.

Many animals can be seen in cages atop stone pillars.

There are four doorways with intricate carvings, and snow lions guarding the entrance.

Prayer wheels encircle temple at the base.

On the top you see beautifully carved figures of deities.

Mahabouddhanath:
This huge terracotta temple has been constructed on pattern of Mahabodhi temple at Bodhgaya. Bodhgaya is in the state of Bihar, India, and is the place where Lord Buddha attained Niravana. 

Information board outside the temple

Idols of Lord Ganesha on entrance

Lord Sakhyamuni Buddha

Buddha statues are carved on all bricks.

This has been the first time for me to see a temple dedicated to Lord Buddha's mother. In front is baby Buddha.

Prayer wheels

Rudra Varna Mahavihar:
Rudra Varna Mahavihar is a 1500 year old monastery. It was constructed by King Shivdeva of Licchavi kingdom in the 6th century and was named Shivdeva Sanskarita ( शिवदेव संस्कारित ), meaning built by or founded by Shivdeva. Kings were crowned here in the ancient times.

It was renovated in the 10th century by King Rudra Varna of the same dynasty and the name expanded to Shivdeva Sanskarit Rudra Varna Mahavihar, (शिवदेव संस्कारित  रुद्र वर्ण महाविहार), but it is commonly known as Rudra Varna Mahavihar.

On top of the main entrance can be a pair of lions holding a spear and a half moon between them.
This is basically a name representation of the person who built the entrance. It was built during the period of King Prithvi Bir Bikram Shah Deva by his Prime Minister Chandra Shamsher. Chandra means moon, and Sher a lion.
King Rudra Dev became a Buddhist and spent the rest of his life in this monastery.

Entrance to main courtyard

On both side, two stone elephnats sit on which stand two lions. Vishnu then is seen sitting on the lions.

Main temple courtyard

The inner courtyard has a huge collections of bronze and stone art work, mainly donated by the devotees.

On both sides of the main temple door, you see the animls which are venerated in Buddhism. Lion, sometimes snow lion the dharma protector, wind horse, symbolic of energy, elephant being the symbol of mental strength, Garuda, one having all wisdom. A garuda is always an important part of Torana over a temple door. Look at the picture below.

Garuda on a torana

A beautiful torana with Garuda marks the entrance to the main temple. Also, notice the intricate metal floral arch over the temple entrance. The struts have wood carved work supposed to be one of the best in Nepal.

Inside the temple, the Kwapadhya (main deity) is the red faced Buddha. Just beneath again in red is Rahul, son of Gautam Buddha.
Since, I took picture putting the camera inside the bars, you partially see two golden idols on either side. On the right, standing on a turtle is Yamuna and on left riding a crocodile is Ganga.

Ashoka Chaitya (in golden) can be seen just outside the temple with Dharamdhatu just close to it.

A huge prayer wheel

Another stupa at the entrance

In the four corners can be seen gold plated Boddhisattvas.

This statue is said to of the Rana Prime Minister Yudh Shamsher who gave permission for repairs after the destruction in 1934 earthquake. The belt though has the name of Shree 3 Ajaramarana Maharaja inscribed on his belt. He holds in his hands a sheet is which holy scripts is inscribed.

Kumbheshwar temple:

 This temple is dedicated to Lord Shiva and is one of the oldest temples in Patan. It was originally constructed as two storied in 1392 A.D. by King Jayashti Malla. King Srinivas Malla in 17th century added three more tiers thus making it one of the two five-tiered temples in the valley. If you remember, I had mentioned Nyatapole in Bhaktapur having five tiers,see Bhaktapur.

The main temple with Nandi sitting outside

Small temples of Vishnu and Shiva are built all around the main temple.

                Vishnu on Garuda                    Vishnu temple                                           Vishnu                                 

Shiva linga                                  Ganesha                                         Shiva-Parvati

There is a small temple between the main temple and kund, which has a natural spring, the water coming from Gosaikunda. You can at times see bubbles coming up. The overflow of water is carried through a drain into a kund or pool. Gosaikunda is a lake several days walk from Kathmandu and is considered very sacred.

water coming from Gosaikund

Every year in August on a full moon day, a big festival is held on janeu poornima (जनेऊ पूर्णिमा)
The pool below is usually full of water but when I went, the festival had just been celebrated, so they were cleaning the pool and hence was empty.

Water emptying into the Kund

On the Southern side of temple, is a small beautiful temple of goddess Baglamukhi.  This ornate temple has the goddess sitting under a canopy of silver snakes. 

Baglamukhi temple

enlarged section

Baglamukhi is considered as the wish fulfilling goddess and many people throng to seek goddess' blessings especially on Thursdays.

This finished our day's trip to Patan. I have yet to visit Basantpur and more places around Kathmandu.

Patan Durbar Square, Nepal

Lalitpur is one of the major cities, around 30 minutes drive from Kathmandu, across river Bagmati. One of the three kingdoms which got separated from Bhaktapur, Patan ( पाटन), apart from being rich in its cultural heritage, is also famous for excellent craftmanship in brass and copper work, especially of Buddha statues and Bhariav masks.   It is hard not to miss the exotic statues by the roadside and hear the hammering on metal for etching.

We planned to visit Patan durbar square then also go to the Macchendranath temple and Kumbeshwar temple since they are all around Lalitpur.

Patan durbar square

stone tablet outside the square

Patan is one of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Nepal. It is smaller in comparison to the durbar square of Bhaktapur, but some architecture is more beautiful.

view of durbar square from entrance

In the  picture above, you see the Krishna temple, taleju bell, then three tiered Swaminarayan temple, two tiered Vishwanath temple, and lastly Bhimsen temple. On looking closely, you can see King Yoganarendra Malla on a pillar.

Chyasim deval:

Krishna temple

This, the only octagonal Krishna temple, greets you on entering durbar square.

octagonal Krishna temple

Hanuman, Narsimha and Ganesha towards the right side of entrance

Narsimha slaying Hiranyakashyap    Hanuman                          Ganesha and Lakshmi

Entering Mul Chowk

Taleju temple:
Taleju temple also known as Degutaleju or Degutalle can be seen in all three durbar squares at Patan, Bhaktapur and Kathmandu. After the division of kingdoms, all kings were in competition to construct the best architectural buildings.

Taleju temple

Taleju bell

King Yoganarendra Malla facing Taleju temple

Behind the pillar is Narsimha temple. Narsimha is an incarnation of Vishnu with a torso of man, face and claws of a lion. He took this form to protect his devotee Prahalaad from his father, Harinyakashyap who was too egoistic and refused the existence of Vishnu.

golden gate

The golden gate at Bhaktapur, see post Bhaktapur, is considered more ornate and beautiful than this one.

close up

Taleju Bhawani is an eight-armed devi or Goddess Durga, and like in Bharatpur has been the clan goddess of Lalitpur kings too.

Swaminarayan / Hari Shankar / Shankarnarayan temple:

Shankar Narayan temple

It has kneeling elephants at its entrance.

Carving on temple

The struts have intricate wooden carvings. Notice the Vishnu torana in the picture below.

wood carving torana

Char-Narayan temple (चार नारायण ):
Built around 1565 by King Purandhar Singh, Char-Narayan temple is famous for its exquisite wood carvings. Char means four and Narayan is Vishnu. The temple has four Narayans.

a close view of the temple

beautiful carved wooden struts adorn the temple

wooden carving toran on top of temple entrance

stone sculptors outside the temple

Krishna or Jagat Narayan temple:
This stone shikhara style temple is dedicated to Krishna and is the finest piece in stone architecture. It was built by Siddhi Narsimha Malla, an ardent devotee of Krishna. It is said that he had a dream asking him to built this temple. This temple is an exception to the Malla architecture.

Krishna temple

The temple has idols of Krishna along with Rukmani and Satyabhama, wives of Lord Krishna. The three tiered temple has intricate carvings all over the temple, from Ramayana and Mahabharata.

carved walls

Krishna temple with Garuda in front

Large metal Garuda, sits atop a tall monolith stone pillar facing the temple with folded hands.

Garuda

It is said to be the most photographed Garuda. Notice the crystal on his forehead.

Vishwanath temple:
This two tiered temple has Nandi sitting outside. Nandi is Lord Shiva's mount and also his greatest devotee. A Shiva temple always has the presence of Nandi.

Vishwanath temple with elephant and riders

Nandi sits outside the temple

Manga hiti:

Hiti is a Newari term for tap. I mentioned about dhungey dhara in my earlier post on Bhaktapur saying that these sources of water are found all over Nepal. Water continuously runs through these carved spouts. This is a Newari architecture and is a diversion from the Malla ones.

Manga hiti

The water from the right side of Manga hiti is used in daily worship at Krishna temple.

Bhimsena Dolakha temple:
Bhimsen or Bhima is one of the Pandavas from Mahabharata. He is known for his strength and bravery and is very revered in Nepal.  There is always a Dattatreya temple adjacent to Bhimsena temple.

Bhimsen temple

This temple was built by King Shree Niwas Malla in the 18th century. The brass lion on a pillar in front identifies the extraordinary strength of Bhima. Then, you see the pataka, a metal strip by which the gods ascend to heaven.

A Bhima idol is always arched by a snake, identifying his close relation to Naga.

carved stuts

Lion pillar

The brass lion atop a stone pillar reminds people of Bhima's extraordinary strength.

This does not finish the huge number of places to see at Patan, there is so much more, so a trip should be planned to enable you to spend a lot of time there.

We proceed to see places around Patan. Kwa Bahal or the golden temple, Macchendranath temple, Kumbheshwar are few we had in mind at that time but did not realise there would be so many more temples.

I plan to write about the temples around Patan in my next post.

Eggless garlic Naan

What could be more satisfying than freshly made garlic naan that melts in your mouth. Naans are usually made a special oven called tandoor which is a dome shaped clay oven.  The temperature reaches very high and the purpose is to cook the breads or meat very fast thus preserving the softness inside.  Once the naan is rolled, one side is made wet and then quickly patted on the inner wall of tandoor.  The heat quickly cooks the naan which is taken out with the help of skewers.  Dollop of flavored butter makes for a heavenly naan.

In the absence of tandoor, kitchen ovens are used.  My mother used to make them on a skillet or tawa and that is what I plan to make today.

Ingredients:
3 cups maida / all purpose flour
1/2 tsp instant rapid rise yeast
1 tsp sugar
1/4 cup yogurt
1/4 cup warm milk
approx. 1 cup warm water
4 tbsp butter/ ghee/ oil
1 tsp salt

optional:
poppy seeds
sesame seeds
nigella seeds

To be applied to naan after cooking:
2 tbsp butter
1 clove garlic
1 tbsp coriander leaves, chopped

Method:
Mix butter, garlic, coriander leaves in a bowl and keep it aside.
Sift flour, add instant rise yeast, sugar, salt and mix.

Add yogurt and warm milk to the flour and knead thoroughly.  Now, get ready for some arm exercise.  Knead the dough till soft.

Add butter and start kneading again.......

till it becomes a soft and leaves the side of bowl.

Cover with a cling film and let it rest.  The resting time will depend solely on the room temperature.  If it is cold, keep the dough in an oven.

The dough should double in volume.

Knead it again and divide it equally in small roundels.
Flatten and if desired, sprinkle few nigella seeds, poppy seeds or sesame seeds.  Roll and make tear shaped naans.

Heat an iron tawa or pan.  Do not use a non-stick one.  Naans slip away from a non-stick one. When the skillet or tawa is hot, apply a little water on underside of each naan and stick the wet side of the naan on the tawa.

Cover and let it cook a little.  Covering the naan also makes it more spongy.

Remove the cover, and turn the skillet up-side down along with the naan still stuck.  You need to keep it at a little distance so that the flame browns the naan evenly and does not burn it.

Check for even brown specks.

Remove the naan and spread a lavish dollop of the flavored garlic butter.

I tried another version of making naans in an oven which was more faster but the end result was not that soft as the skillet ones.

My Notes:

Do not let the dough rest too much, it will become sour.