Kathmandu Nostalgia

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Nepal Trip 1999 (Kathmandu)


At several places, God has created paradises on earth and practically every paradise has been turned into Hell by the mankind. Whether it is Nepal, Sri Lanka, Kashmir or Cambodia or Bali, these beautiful spots have been ‘war zones’ or terrorist targets of late.

However, there is still hope. Peace has returned to Cambodia. Hopefully, all the other regions also will return to normalcy sooner or later.

The Maoists were still active in Nepal in 1999, but they were high up in their camps on the Himalayan Mountains, where we did not plan to visit. So, we decided to take a chance and visit the country. The horrifying palace massacre of 1 June 2001, in which nine members of the royal family were slaughtered, was very much in future and so we visited Nepal in1999 and had a wonderful time. We never even had an inkling of the events to come.

So like all tourists, we did the usual circuit, Pashupatinath, Swayanbhunath, Boudhanath, Boodha Neelkanth, Darbar Square and Thamel shopping.

Pashupatinath

Pashupatinath temple, on the banks of Baghmati River, is the Holy Temple of Hindus of Nepal, and Hindus who are cremated here (Dead ones, I mean) are supposed to achieve Salvation. It is a Shiva temple and as such has the usual statue of Nandi (Bull, which is Shiva’s vehicle) sitting in front of the temple.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pashupatinath_temple
http://discover-nepal.tripod.com/pashupatinath_temple.htm

I am very curious about that bull Nandi, and I did find it quite impressive. It is huge and gold-plated. Whether it is made of stone or some base metal underneath the gold plating is not known. I have never seen a metallic Nandi anywhere else.

The idol of Pashupati is also different. The ‘lingam’ has four faces on the top of it facing four cardinal directions.

The temple also looks different from Indian temples because it is in the “pagoda” style, so it looks more Japanese than Indian, and it is wooden. Indians generally build their temples in stone. I was told that this ‘pagoda’ style of temples originated in Nepal.

May be weather has something to do with it, because in the temples and houses of Nepal, wood is used extensively. Europe is also very cold, but their houses and cathedrals are solid stone. So, cold alone is not a factor. Nepal is also subject to earthquakes. That is why perhaps, mostly wood is used in Nepal as building material.

http://www.bytesforall.org/8th/earthquake_nepal.htm

Swayambhunath

In Nepal Hinduism and Buddhism flourish side by side (Elsewhere in Southeast Asia too) once again proving the peace-loving nature of these two religions. There have never been religious wars like Crusades between the followers of these two religions.

http://www.sacredsites.com/asia/nepal/swayambhunath_stupa.html

The prayer flags fluttering in the air from the top of Swayambhunath give it a very festive look.

We too sent the prayer-wheels in a whirl, counted their revolutions and were satisfied that with the amount of ‘merit’ thus gained, all our past sins would be washed out and now we were free to commit fresh sins. My only ‘sin’, if it can called so, is Agnosticism. I am no Believer, but I am not an Atheist either. Those ‘all-seeing’ eyes of Swayambhunath must have seen through my disbelief and He probably smiled indulgently, knowing fully well that I am what I am because He made me so.

Boudhanath

We had seen the huge, white-washed “stupa” of Boudhanath from the air as we descended on the Tribhuvan airport of Nepal. It is huge.

http://www.khandro.net/stupa_Boudhnath_KD.htm
http://travel.portnoy.org/2000/nepal/photo/Boudhanath.html

We had seen the ‘Stupa’ at Sanchi, and knew that most of those Stupas are built on a fragment from Buddha’s mortal remains. They are not hollow and nobody can see the fragment reposing deep within the structure. (It may be a tooth or a bone)

At Boudhanath also we did the circumambulation and sent up our prayers by turning the prayer wheel, on which is carved the Buddhist prayer. “Om Mani Padme Hum”. We did not know how to dedicate a prayer flag and put it up so that, every time it flutters, it spreads blessings all around and sends prayers up to Him. Otherwise we would have done that also.

I rather like the idea of prayer wheels and prayer flags. Prayer flags, specially make the surroundings quite joyous.


Budhanilkantha

http://www.salagram.net/sstp-KathmanduIskcon.html

http://www.happy-nomads.nl/nepal-informatie/budhanilkantha.html

There appears to be a difference between the Indian mythology and Nepalese Mythology though both are Hindu. In the Indian version, it was Shiva who drank poison generated from the ‘churning of the sea of milk’. It became lodged in his neck, thus making him ‘Neelkanth’ i.e. “Blue Neck”. (Was Blue Tooth similarly named?) Vishnu, in the form of a beautiful siren, spirited away the ‘Amrit’ or the ‘Elixir of Life’ for exclusive use of Gods, who became ‘deathless’ by drinking it. Poor Demons, who had toiled equally hard for the prize, were deprived of the ‘Amrit’, and thus could not achieve ‘deathlessness’. Out of the nine “gems” that were the result of the ‘chruning of the sea of milk, poor demons did not get even one. All were claimed by gods.

Mighty unfair practice, I would say. Ralph Nadar, where were you?



However, in the Nepalese version, Vishnu drank the poison and became “Old Neelkanth”.

The sculpture of Vishnu reposing on the eleven-headed serpent Shesha, whose coils make a fit bed for Him, is worth seeing. It is five meters long and carved from a single block of stone. It would look even better if they did not put so much powdered color on it.

What I like about this statue is that it is in the open. Anyone can see it, though only Hindus are allowed to touch His feet.

There is an equally big statue of “Reclining Vishnu” in the Anantapadmanabhaswamy temple of Trivandrum. (I believe so, though I cannot vouch for it. You will know why, shortly) However, this Trivandrum statue is housed in a dark room lighted only by oil lamps. Only three parts of this Vishnu (face, feet and navel) can be seen through three doors in a row. That is why I am committing hearsay, when I write that this is a statue of Vishnu. I have no proof of it, though I have seen those three parts through the doors.

Budhanilkanth is openly and unequivocally a statue of Vishnu.

We also went within 5 miles of Everest (In a plane). Himalayas are majestic.

The story of my search for a ‘star sapphire’ in Nepal is something I want to push under the carpet, but neither Avi, nor Bunny will let me do it.

When I was a skinny girl in my early teens, I had read in an old National Geographic that the ‘star’ that moves in a gem like the Star Ruby or the Star Sapphire is the effect of polarization of light, or that is what I understood from the article. Neither my understanding of English nor my understanding of Physics was any too good that time. (It is not any too good now also.) I was curious and wanted to see this effect.

We must have visited each and every jeweler in Kathmandu and Pokhara. Nowhere was I able to see the star. At last we came to a shop, whose showcase displayed exactly the sort of blue stone I had in mind. It even had 6 lines of light showing. The shopkeeper offered the stone for a trifle sum. I was overjoyed, but suspicious. When we asked him about the ‘polarized’ light effect in the stone, he told us, that it was just a reflection of the six tubelights in the shop, and had nothing to do with polarization. It was not the ‘Star Sapphire’ either, and that is why it was so cheap.

We bought the stone, but Avi and Bunny have never let me forget about the ‘Polarization Effect in a Star Sapphire”, and how much they had to trudge for it.

Avi dreams of suing National Geographic some day for a hefty sum. It has cost him dear. All my madcap ideas of visiting distant places and buying all sorts of things under the sun stem from reading the National Geographic, when I was at an impressionable age. In his opinion, National Geographic has thoroughly ‘spoiled’ me when I was a child.

Well, he is not wrong.

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