We are on our way to the temple, it is the Budhanilkantha temple it is located in the northwestern part of the Kathmandu valley.
Janet is walking up the street near the shops that surround the temple, you can see that the streets are busy and narrow, and that she still has her Birkenstocks on. We'll see more of the temple shops later.
The history of the temple is very lengthy mostly because is was built sometime between the 7th and 8th century, which makes it even older than me.
Amazing, you travel half way around the world and what do you find, a statue made from stone even older that yourself.
The picture on the left is of the outside wall of the temple, you are looking north and a little west to the hills surrounding the Kathmandu valley it is an amazing sight.
The wall you see to the left, goes around the outer perimeter of the temple grounds.
I am standing with a man that takes care of the cows around the temple, if you look closely you can see a calf inside the wall and an iron fence, as well.
This is the contented mother of the calf, enjoying her walk around the temple. We talked to the cow herder and he told us he gets 8 liters of milk from her each day, he was very proud of that. The owner is not your typical American cowboy, no lasso just a stick to flip the cows, there were two of them.
Moving on the temple walk. We came to the entrance and saw these statue things in the entrance, I believe they are statues of the God Vishnu. You can see that people put the Tika powder on the Vishnu statue. I asked a person nearby what was the significance of the powder on the statue, and he said " I don't know we just do it.", as we talked I seemed to me that he was doing it out of respect. He said that different casts would mark the statue in different places, some on the temples, and between the eyes, others only between the eyes, interesting! So the bottom line for the past 1500 years, give or take, people have been putting marks on these stones, no wonder they are so dirty.
That is only part of the story, I'll continue with the history in a bit.
As we walked in to the temple court yard we saw this colorful canopy with this statue lying on the water on a bed of snakes. Here is the history part. This reclining statue of Vishnu as Narayan, the creator of all life who lays on a cosmic sea, pretty thoughtful and creative. The rest of the story goes that from his navel grew a lotus and from the lotus came Brahma, who in turn created the world. Does any of this sound familiar? Read the book of Abraham in the Pearl of Great Price Chapter 4, or go to the temple for yourself and see the similarities. You ever heard of the lost ten tribes?
We were not allowed to approach the statue to leave offerings, only Hindus can approach him. Narayan, this image, lies on the knotted coils of Ananta, sometimes called Shesha, the 11 headed snake god who symbolizes eternity. In each hand Narayan, holds one of the four symbols of Vishnu. This is where it turns to Hindu symbolism:
1 - a charkra disc (representing the mind), 2 - a conch shell (the four elements), a mace ( primeval knowledge), and a lotus seed (the moving universe). See if you can find any of the above mentioned items.
Here is the story behind the development of this god in the Hindu religion. There was a Malla king named Jayasthithi, Malla is a caste, which is to say a family from a certain area of the land, who claimed to be the latest incarnation of Shiva. Since the time of Jayasthithi all kings of Nepal claimed to be the incarnation of Shiva and they were forbidden to look upon the image of Narayan in Budhanilkantha, on pain of death.
Vishnu is supposed to sleep through the 4 months of the monsoon season and awaken the 11 day of Kartik (Hindi month). This is 11 days after the full moon in October. When he awakens a giant festival begins at the Budhanilkantha and around Nepal. It is the Haribodhini Edadashi or "Dashi".
.JPG)
It is an interesting mix of Easter, Thanksgiving, and Christmas the way it is celebrated. Everyone gets new clothes and fancy jewelry (Christmas and Easter), they kill a goat for a sacrifice then sprinkle the blood around the temple compound, give the head of the goat to the holy man for whatever he wants, and celebrate by eating the rest of the goat (thanksgiving turkey), see they aren't so different from us.
The bell on the right is a prayer bell, very efficient! Walk by, ring the bell, and your good for the day. It is located near the entrance to the walkway down to the statue of Narayan.
This walkway led us right down to the shopping plaza
This is one section of markets along side the temple wall, all kinds of things to buy, for those coming to visit the temple.
When Janet saw the shops she thought of the temple cafeteria and wanted something to eat and so she bought a doughnut.
She had taken a couple of bites of the doughnut and decided that these were very different than what she thought they would be, I'm not sure if it was the flies, the dust, or the taste, because they had been sitting out in the open for awhile. Her description was that they tasted like they had been soaking in hot grease and not been cooked in it. They were crispy yet very greasy, is her, and after few crunches that she couldn't or didn't want to identify she disposed of it.
That is the end of our Sunday temple trip.
On the way home I had to stop to get some light bulbs. I left Janet in the taxi to go home and went into the store, it is amazing what you can find in an electric store.
On the way walking home I watched as these young men changed the tire on a dump truck, it was an interesting process. I keep telling myself how utterly resilient and creative they are. Look no pneumatic wrench, no torque wrench just will power, and determination.
I'm closing for now, but I'll be back with some more of this amazing people in this part of the world.
Next chapter: Just getting things done, and the road to Durbar Square.
The history of the temple is very lengthy mostly because is was built sometime between the 7th and 8th century, which makes it even older than me.
Amazing, you travel half way around the world and what do you find, a statue made from stone even older that yourself.
The picture on the left is of the outside wall of the temple, you are looking north and a little west to the hills surrounding the Kathmandu valley it is an amazing sight.
The wall you see to the left, goes around the outer perimeter of the temple grounds.
I am standing with a man that takes care of the cows around the temple, if you look closely you can see a calf inside the wall and an iron fence, as well.
This is the contented mother of the calf, enjoying her walk around the temple. We talked to the cow herder and he told us he gets 8 liters of milk from her each day, he was very proud of that. The owner is not your typical American cowboy, no lasso just a stick to flip the cows, there were two of them.
Moving on the temple walk. We came to the entrance and saw these statue things in the entrance, I believe they are statues of the God Vishnu. You can see that people put the Tika powder on the Vishnu statue. I asked a person nearby what was the significance of the powder on the statue, and he said " I don't know we just do it.", as we talked I seemed to me that he was doing it out of respect. He said that different casts would mark the statue in different places, some on the temples, and between the eyes, others only between the eyes, interesting! So the bottom line for the past 1500 years, give or take, people have been putting marks on these stones, no wonder they are so dirty.
That is only part of the story, I'll continue with the history in a bit.
As we walked in to the temple court yard we saw this colorful canopy with this statue lying on the water on a bed of snakes. Here is the history part. This reclining statue of Vishnu as Narayan, the creator of all life who lays on a cosmic sea, pretty thoughtful and creative. The rest of the story goes that from his navel grew a lotus and from the lotus came Brahma, who in turn created the world. Does any of this sound familiar? Read the book of Abraham in the Pearl of Great Price Chapter 4, or go to the temple for yourself and see the similarities. You ever heard of the lost ten tribes?
We were not allowed to approach the statue to leave offerings, only Hindus can approach him. Narayan, this image, lies on the knotted coils of Ananta, sometimes called Shesha, the 11 headed snake god who symbolizes eternity. In each hand Narayan, holds one of the four symbols of Vishnu. This is where it turns to Hindu symbolism:
1 - a charkra disc (representing the mind), 2 - a conch shell (the four elements), a mace ( primeval knowledge), and a lotus seed (the moving universe). See if you can find any of the above mentioned items.
Vishnu is supposed to sleep through the 4 months of the monsoon season and awaken the 11 day of Kartik (Hindi month). This is 11 days after the full moon in October. When he awakens a giant festival begins at the Budhanilkantha and around Nepal. It is the Haribodhini Edadashi or "Dashi".
.JPG)
It is an interesting mix of Easter, Thanksgiving, and Christmas the way it is celebrated. Everyone gets new clothes and fancy jewelry (Christmas and Easter), they kill a goat for a sacrifice then sprinkle the blood around the temple compound, give the head of the goat to the holy man for whatever he wants, and celebrate by eating the rest of the goat (thanksgiving turkey), see they aren't so different from us.
The bell on the right is a prayer bell, very efficient! Walk by, ring the bell, and your good for the day. It is located near the entrance to the walkway down to the statue of Narayan.
This walkway led us right down to the shopping plaza
This is one section of markets along side the temple wall, all kinds of things to buy, for those coming to visit the temple.
When Janet saw the shops she thought of the temple cafeteria and wanted something to eat and so she bought a doughnut.
She had taken a couple of bites of the doughnut and decided that these were very different than what she thought they would be, I'm not sure if it was the flies, the dust, or the taste, because they had been sitting out in the open for awhile. Her description was that they tasted like they had been soaking in hot grease and not been cooked in it. They were crispy yet very greasy, is her, and after few crunches that she couldn't or didn't want to identify she disposed of it.
That is the end of our Sunday temple trip.
On the way home I had to stop to get some light bulbs. I left Janet in the taxi to go home and went into the store, it is amazing what you can find in an electric store.
On the way walking home I watched as these young men changed the tire on a dump truck, it was an interesting process. I keep telling myself how utterly resilient and creative they are. Look no pneumatic wrench, no torque wrench just will power, and determination.
I'm closing for now, but I'll be back with some more of this amazing people in this part of the world.
Next chapter: Just getting things done, and the road to Durbar Square.
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