Bhaktapur Sightseeing

Bhaktpur also most Historical and cultural city of the Kathmandu valley. This city named Bhaktpur, which mean the place (pur) of devotees (Bhakta). Bhaktpur is a very Sanskrit name which difficult to pronounce. Therefore, the native of the place, for their convenience, changed into Bhadgaon, where ‘gaon’ means village and ‘Bhad’ means could be the simplified from of ‘Bhakta’. Bhaktapur is ancient capital of Malla dynasty. Historically, the city was built in the ninth century (889A.D.) during the reign of King Ananda Deva. However, it might be older than that. The city was originally built in the shape of a sacred conch shell, which is associated with lord Vishnu, the Lord Protector. There are several place are interesting to see in Bhaktpur, these are:

Bhaktpur Darbar Square: Bhaktpur city is 14 km east from Kathmandu valley. Its Darbar square is a symphony of art and architecture. The centerpiece is the 55- window place overlooking the square which is paved over with brick. The history of the place date back to 12thcentury.

Lion Gate: These two majestic and imposing stone lion give one the feeling that they might be guarding a very important person of the place. It might have been true in the 17th or 18th century. Beside them you can see the two magnificent stone carvings of Bhairava and Durga, the Mahisha mardini killer of the buffalo Demon.

Picture Gallery: It is very popular gallery in Bhaktpur, where we find displayed ancient paintings belonging to Hindu as well as Buddhist tantric schools of various periods. This building used to be the official residence of the Malla Kings upto the 18th century when takenover by King Prithivi Narayan Shah, the King of Gorkha. The ground flower was the gallery contains some of the very important Hindu as well as Buddhist stone sculptures and Thanka painting. So this place is very popular to see the different kind of Thanka painting.

Windows Place: The ancient place is remarkable for its carved balcony with 55 windows. This building was built in the 15th century by King Yaksha Malla but it was greatly embellished and enlarged by King Bhupatindra Malla in the late 17th century. It is constructed of bricks, elaborately carved and decorated with wooded window frames and doorways.

Dattatreya Temple: This is one of the oldest and religious Temple in Bhaktpur, which is built by King Yaksha Malla and repaired by Bishwa malla in 1458 A.D. This temple dedicated to Lord Shiva. Its famous for sexual carving scenes among the oldest surviving carved erotic in all of Nepal. Inside the temple is an image of Dattatraya, the god considered a collective incarnation of three major Hindu deities, Bharma, Shiva and Vishnu.

Potter’s Square: A short walk south from Darbar square brings to you potter’s square because of the potters molding wet clay into different kinds of earthen ware. It has a display of fresh pottery left out to dry in the open square. This place can be approached from Taumadhi Square.