Archive for the ‘Things to do in Nepal’ Category

Swayambhunath : The Monkey Temple

Saturday, March 14th, 2009
Here’s one place which always retains the loftiest standards among places to visit in Nepal: Swayambhunath, the mighty stupa atop a wooded hill in Kathmandu.

Swyambhunath bearing the meaning “self-emerged” is the most sacred and ancient Buddhist Stupa in Nepal.It was founded by the great-grandfather of King Manadev in the 5th century AD though it’s origin however, date to a much earlier time, long before the arrival of Buddhism into the valley.It is lofty white dome with glittering golden spire with pair of big eyes on each of the four sides of the main Stupa symbolizing the God’s all-seeing perspective.
Swayambhunath stupa is also called the Monkey Temple because of the many hundreds of monkeys dwelling there.There are many chaityas, temples, painted images of deities and other religious objects like prayer wheels and flags for the Tibetan Buddhists to be seen.

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According to Swayambhu Purana,Kathmandu Valley at the very beginning was a huge lake, out of which grew a lotus that radiated a brilliant light.The Bodhisatva Manjushri seeing that the valley could be a good settlement for the humans,cut a gorge with a sharp sword at Chovar and drained the water away leaving the valley of present day “Kathmandu”. The lotus was transformed into a hillock and the blazing light became the Swayambhunath stupa.
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Swayambhunath Temple
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Stupa at Swayambhunath
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Eyes of Swayambhunath

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Pigeons on the white dome and dogs serenely lying around.

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Stairway to Swayambhunath temple.It has 365 steps.

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Shikhara , erected by King Pratap Malla

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Prayer Flags

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Small Stupas and prayer flags hanging around

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Buddhist Monk behind the huge bell

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Devotees spinning the prayer wheels

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Bajra

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Buddhist gompa at Swayambhunath

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Buddha of light , Deepankar Buddha at Swayambhu

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Statues of Lord Buddha at the entrance area.

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Wishing pool with statue of Buddha at Swayambhunath

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Swayambhunath hillock

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Monkeys at Swayambhunath also called MONKEY TEMPLE

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City view from the Swayambhu temple.

Many thanks to n95pic.blogspot.com for these absolutely stunning photographs and wonderful descriptions about Swayambhunath Stupa. All content in this particular post is copyrighted by n95pic.blogspot.com.

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Brendan Work

Friday, March 13th, 2009

While I can’t say that I was particularly happy with this guy’s uncanny observations about Nepal in this piece, they were uncanny all the same. Although there are hard few entries about Nepal in his blog (there are hard few entries about anything, for that matter), they are more than worth reading. In some of his posts, he accurately captures how Nepal exactly is: relaxed and laid back, beautiful and picturesque, welcoming and home. Here’s the link to one of his posts I really liked. He talks about an assortment of things including his first bungy jump experience.

Then with a 3, 2, and 1, I spread out my arms and dove.

Sweet Mary, mother of Jesus.

 Indeed.

I myself had bungy jumped at the Last Resort around a week before I left my Nepal for the States. It is indeed a sensation unlike I had ever experienced in my life: short yet never ending, an ephemeral eternity. While hard few tourists actually know about Nepal’s only bungy line, it’s indeed the longest jump in entire Asia, and perhaps the second or third mightiest in the world. All I can say is, if you ever happen to visit Nepal(which you should), do try Bungy Jumping. If you are brave enough, that is.

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