Katmandu's Durbar Square

08-Oct-2000
Durbar Square is the area of Katmandu near the old royal palace. It is chock full of temples.

SGK and a Sadhu
A Sadhu is a wandering hindu mystic or holy man. They are frequently hermits, or wander the land in search of enlightenment. The most famous Sadhu was Siddhārtha Gautama, an Indian prince who found enlightenment under a bodhi tree in the Terai and became The Buddha.


Hanumān's palace
Hanumān is a figure from The Ramayana- sometimes referred to by westerners as "the Monkey God" He led his army from Mt. Kailash in Tibet to the stepstones of Sri Lanka to overthrow the "evil King of Langka"


Fruit seller



Typical window



Temple rooftop



Palace rooftop




SGK scares the birds




More Sadhus



Palace



Bhairab
Bhairab is a scary manifestation of Shiva




Kama Sutra
These scenes from the Kama Sutra adorn the eaves of temples to keep lightning away as the goddess of lightning is a virgin and too shy to witness such artwork


Home of the living goddess
The locals in Katmandu choose a new living goddess every time the current one reaches puberty. It is considered bad luck to marry an ex-living goddess - imagine why?


Typical architecture





Sacrifice
10 minutes before our guide had told us that the goats tethered here were sacred - this guy was somehow different and ended up as a sacrifice.