Spiritual Tour

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I had a pretty lazy morning catching up on some sleep, tucked into some momos for lunch - they are amazing steamed dumplings packed full of spices and flavour - a couple of strong coffees to set me up for my afternoon tour.

I was picked up at 3pm and the first stop was The Great Boudha Stupa, this was a few km’s away from the hotel but didn’t take too long in the minibus. We stopped on a main road and we’re told “we’re here”, initially, I was a little confused as all I could see were commercial buildings, what seems to be typical potholes the size of a house in the road and loads of rubble and dust and no sign of any world heritage site! Our guide took us down an alley way which opened up into the most incredible site of the Boudha Stupa with a dome of 100ft in diameter, 1 hector in width and 141ft high. I couldn't believe that something so huge was hidden down a backstreet! Listed as a world heritage site in 1979, it’s a major destination for pilgrims from the Himalayas, Tibet and Asia and is the centre of Himalayan Buddhist worship and studies in Kathmandu valley.

The stupa was badly damaged in the 2015 earthquake here and the upper part of it - 13 steps upwards - had to be fully restored. The whole stupa is painted with limestone annually and decorated with a yellow markings which is meant to symbolise the lotus flower.

We were given some free time to walk round (in a clockwise direction) and spin the prayer wheels which line the whole of the outside, there are so many of them! The area was buzzing with both locals and tourists, some taking photos, others there to make offerings. We also visited the monastery which is across the square from the stupa, going inside and making the climb to the top of the steps is well worth it for the view you’re rewarded with.

After milling around for a while, we were taken to the local art school to see how the students are taught to paint, we were firstly told about the production of the paintings, then the meaning of the mandala and wheel of life paintings. The mandala is how you imagine a stupa looks from above and each artist has their own impression (within reason), with the different levels which are ever decreasing into the centre. Secondly, we were told about the wheel of life which displays the good and the bad, it depicts people reaching nirvana or taking the path to hell. Each painting was beautiful in its own right, the artists are encouraged to keep the pictures traditional and are taught which colours to use to indicate different things, for example: orange represents wealth, whereas blues represent good health. It was explained that some of the paintings take around 15 days to complete, but, others are months in the making. The masters use 24ct gold in their paintings, but it’s a bit too expensive for the students to use so it’s fake gold - obviously this is reflected in the cost of the pictures. I have to say, I was so impressed by the art work and it’s intracasies and was so tempted to get one and send it home... I still may do that before I leave!

We set off for a Hindu temple - Shiva-Parvati, we walked around the exterior of the temple, but, weren’t allowed to enter as only Hindus can. we were given a little bit of history about the temple and the gods and took a few pics outside. We left the complex and headed up the hill to have our palms read. This is something I’ve never had done before and to be honest was a little bit of fun, so this evening I have discovered that red and green are good colours for me, I have a strong health and life line and I’m very loyal. I have a strong and supportive life partner and I have enemies at work! Of 10 people I work with, 4 are enemies! So you need to fess up! :-) I also have very muscly hands!

We headed back to the Hindu temple following this reading to witness a ceremony and cremation. We stood on a bridge over the river which is considered to be holy looking toward what looked like a grandstand to the right, lined with people and a few dancers and a fire burning by the river to the left - what took a while for me to understand was that the fire was a cremation which had been ongoing for over an hour. When it was done, the embers were scraped into the river.

On the opposite side of the bridge there was a family preparing a body for cremation, the body was wrapped in brightly coloured fabric and flowers were placed on top whilst the family of the deceased carried out their rituals before placing the body on a pre-prepared, platform like pile of wood for the fire. Whilst watching this, another family brought a body for preparation, wrapped in red cloth which was removed to reveal a body wrapped in white and orange fabric placed over it.

The smell of the cremation is something that will stay with me for a long time. I kind of feel like I was being very intrusive witnessing all of this as it’s just something I’ve never been exposed to. It was explained to us that the whole process is very peaceful and the body is cremated as soon as possible, usually within the same day as the death so the soul can rest and prevent “hungry ghosts” and attending the ceremony provides closure as with any other funeral process. As we were leaving, the first family who we had seen placing flowers on the body were starting to lift it to place it ready for cremation. Right now, I’m still not sure how I feel about having witnessed this. I think maybe in a few weeks or months I might have got my head round it, but, for now I’m just not sure.

We all wandered back to our transport in quite a sombre mood and headed back to our hotel.

Overall, a good afternoon/ evening with a lovely group of people.

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[Arthur Kinder]

Enemies
40% of people are your enemies is not a bad average