Indra picks us up at our mountaintop hotel and drives us back down to Bhaktapur, an ancient city about 12 miles from Kathmandu. At one time, Kathmandu, Bhaktapur and Patan, were three separate royal kingdoms, and each one has a "Durbar Square." This first photo is the royal palace in the square, with 55 windows - one for each wife.
In 1934 a massive earthquake destroyed much of the city. In the 1970's the German government provided money and expertise to help restore and reconstruct buildings. Many old traditional techniques were discovered and used, from wood carving to constructing roof tiles from specially prepared mud.
I was not able to enter the temple. As is the case with all Hindu temples, it is strictly off-limits to non-Hindus. But I've read that the main idol in the temple is made of a single block of gold and that the temple is still the scene of massive sacrifices of buffalo during the annual Dashain festival.
In addition to the Buddhist stupa, the other types of religious structures in Nepal which I've pictured: a reddish structure, and a conical-type structure - the latter of which is the result of Indian influence.
While the building with a darkish door is Buddhist, the temple with the human bodies on the two poles is a Hindu kama sutra temple. As it was explained to me by a very learned guide, the kama sutra relates to meditation mantras. The male positions represent the consonant sounds in the alphabet and the female positions represent the vowels, and knowing how to "read" them is the key to reciting each mantra. I asked the guide if he knew how to read them. "No," he told me. "If I could, I would be a buddha." I thought that an interesting comment, blending Hindu and Buddhist practice, something that was common in Nepal. Or was this guide perhaps not as knowledgeable as I had thought?
