Today we were up very early to spend some time visiting two World Heritage Sites in the Kathmandu Valley – one is a Buddhist stupa – Boudhanath, and the second is a Hindu temple - Pashupatinath.
Our plan of arriving early would give us the opportunity to see the Buddhist pilgrims come to receive blessings and worship.
The weather was quite cold this morning and the early morning fog (which also delayed our flight out of Pokhara yesterday) settled in and wasn’t ready to lift anytime soon. But, the worshippers came and gave offerings, turned the prayer (mani) wheels, rang bells, and walked around the exterior of the stupa 3 times in a clockwise direction (this is known as Kora).
I could have sat and watched the people for hours.
Before leaving, we stopped into a small artists’ gallery of Thangka pieces and while our plan had been to only learn about the art form, it wasn’t long before we saw a piece that we thought was so intricate in its design and beautifully coloured, that we decided to make a purchase.
Our next stop was the Pashupatinath. It sits alongside the sacred Bagmati River and is also a well-known place of worship, but this time for Hindu devotees.
Monkeys are also abundant in the area and sit ready and waiting for any morsel of food that may have been dropped to the pathway.
Inside the temples, shoes and any leather items are not permitted. So, belts, wallets, etc. must be left outside before entering.
Pushpati is not only a centre of worship, but it is also a place for ceremonial purposes. Cremations occur along the river and we bore witness to the the process as these are held in the open air. Our guide explained the cultural and religious significance to what we were seeing.
Following our visit to these places of worship, we returned to the Thamel region of Kathmandu and visited the offices of the trekking company we had used for our travel. Mark was given a Nepali-style hat (Dhaka topi…dhaka refers to the type of fabric and topi is the word for hat) as a gift and we have both been invited to Gyan’s home for dinner the evening we return from Bhutan (before flying back home). What a special treat that will be.
More to follow…
No comments:
Post a Comment