By Shobha Rao Smilemaker

Oct 26: After crossing the Bagmati river from Kathmandu valley, we entered Patan darbar square created by the Malla dynasty. This city is also called Lalitpur in honour of a farmer who carried the idol of God Machindranath all the way from India in the firm belief that it would bring rain to the Nepalese regions.

We entered from the Sundari chowk side where I participated in the aarathi by a group of singing Krishna devotees.

We passed the Big Taleju bell, opposite the pagoda styled triple roofed Taleju temple which was built in honour of the principal diety of the Malla kings.

The sight was of the magnificent Hari Shankar temple dedicated to both Vishnu and Shiva, made me stop for a moment. Though the different levels of the temple were lit up well, it was too dark to see the scenes of torture in hell that were carved on its roof.

Next was the red bricked Patan museum with its brown embellishments and windows. It was closed, so we couldn’t see its ancient collection of metal works and wood works, though I did get a picture between the two majestic stone lions at the entrance. Of the three chowks or courtyards of Patan, the Keshav Narayan Chowk is located inside the premise of Patan Museum.

What caught my attention at the central courtyard called Mul
Chowk was a stone pillar on which was a brass statue of King Narendra Malla with a cobra and a bird hovering above his head. His stance of devotion with folded hands facing the Narasimha temple depicts how the Nepali kings were deeply religious by nature.

Nearby was another temple built like a two layered Pagoda style on a red bricked base with two stone lions at the entrance. This was the called the Jaggan Narayan temple, and there was another stone pillar, with a Garuda metal statue facing the temple.

Krishna devotees were again singing and dancing at this open square in front of the fantastic Krishna Mandir. This was another unique temple built in the Shikara style. It had 21 golden pinnacles jutting out from its three floors. There were a number of ‘chhatri’ pavilions located built at the corners and centre of the different levels. We walked around the Krishna Mandir and saw a number of locals relaxing at different spots on the Friday night.

We met our local friend there and took pictures in front of another elaborately carved pagoda style Vishwanath temple which caught my full attention. There were ornate wooden arches with even more beautifully carved wooden columns. The upper floor verandah also had slanting wooden columns supporting the hanging part of the top floor. All this created a very unique looking facade to the whole temple.

He then took us for an interesting stroll around the smaller byelanes of the place. I feel that these are the non touristic places that give us a true sense of the identity of a place.

We also walked past the main entrance gate of the Hiranya Varna Mahavira Golden temple which was closed so we couldn’t see the extensively decorated internal premises. The impressive entrance gate was made of stone and flanked by a pair of colourful stone lions, one male and one female. There was a stone torana with carvings too. The door had a relief with colourful eyes of Bhairava on it.

We entered the small alley into a private courtyard, he showed me how almost every community have their own Buddhist or Hindu styled private temples that are worshipped with devotion together by the neighbours.

We walked among the locals, and reached the ancient five level Kumbeshwar temple which was considered to be older than even the famous Pashupatinath temple of Kathmandu. I saw two temple ponds here and its water is considered to be very holy. Emperor Askoka had got 4 stupas built in Patan of which only the one near Kumbeshwar is still intact.

Most of the structures at Patan Durbar square too were built back after devastating earthquakes.

I did not know that like Kathmandu, even Patan had their own living goddess called Kumari Devi who stayed at the Ratna Mahvira complex, which was obviously closed at night.

It was time for 2 friends to sample the local Newari cuisine. ( nothing vegetarian for me). We went to a very small but famous joint called 3G Honacha which literally means that it has been run by 3 generations! The sweet lady owner gave us her personal attention and served the assorted newari snacks with love, at the small private space upstairs along with the Nepali version of what could have been termed as Rice toddy.

More interesting was the conversation we had with our friend.. he is like a storehouse of unusual stories from around the world. We got to understand the broad perspective of the local Nepalis towards India as a bigger neighbouring country.

It was a late night walk through the almost deserted alleys back to our car, but I smiled in satisfaction for visiting Patan and getting a feel of its temples, shrines, statues, monuments etc. that reflect the great skills of the ancient Nepalis.

Shobha Rao Smilemaker has a vision of living in a world where people use their ability to find and make smiles in any situation. She is a lawyer by qualification, a soft skills trainer by passion, a motivational speaker, a freelance journalist, a bestselling author, an avid traveler and founder of 'Smilemakers Trainings'. She can be contacted at www.shobhasmilemaker.com.