Fables of Boudhanath and Changunarayan

By a staff reporter

Nepal is known as a nation of mountain and monuments. Most outsiders come to this country to view the magnificent mountains and the ancient monuments. However for the local people, there are different shrines which hold much attraction.

With the passage of time, these holy Hindu sites, have gone on to become fovourite haunts for foreigners as well. Here we give details of some famous pilgrimage sites of the Nepalese, which hold immense attraction for the tourists as well.

Baudhanath Stupa

Boudhanath Stupa

This is another fantastic Buddhist Stupa at a place known as Boudha, about seven kilometers east of Kathmandu. The largest spherical stupa is held in great veneration both by Lamas of Nepal and tibetans and also by nepali Hindus. Legend has it that a king in ancient time built a pond with stone water spouts near the present Royal Palace. Since water did not come out of the water spout, the King began to worry about it.

After deep meditatio,it dawned upon him that water would not flow out of the water spouts unless a person endowed with all the 32 virtues was sacrificed to the water spouts. There were none save himself endowed with the 32 virtues. Determined as he was to make the water flow out of the water spouts, he asked his son to be where he had built the pond with the water spouts at mid-night and chop off the head of a person he would see lying there wrapped in white cloth.

The Prince did as he was ordered by his father King. No sooner than the head of the king was severed, water started flowing out of the spouts. The scene was so ghastly that one of the carved water spouts turned its face towards the sky. The pond and the water spouts are there near the Royal Palace. The water spouts which looked towards they sky in now replaced.

The Prince stood aghast at the sight because, the head which he had severed was that of his father. The Prince with soul smitten, went somewhere near the shrine of Goddess Bajrajogeni in Shankhu east of Kathmandu in penance for the horrible sin of patricide which he had committed, though unknowingly. He lived an austere life praying to Goddess Bajrajogeni for several years.

The Goddess pleased with his prayer, asked the Prince to build a temple of the Buddha to atone for his sin. The Prince started building the Stupa, but because of the 12-year drought that followed, he had to collect dew from cloth kept in the open throughout the night.

This delayed the completion of the Stupa as dew could be collected only in winter. The Stupa being built by a Hindu king for the Bhuddhists is held in great veneration both by the Buddhists and the Hindus. The Stupa is regarded as sacrosanct as the Soyambhunath Stupa surrounded by houses with shops offering sundry items made by Lamas and Tibetan refugees.

Changu Narayan

The Changu Narayan tempel is on way to the historical as well as mythological township of Sankhu, about 16 km east of Kathmandu. The temple built by a Lichhivi king in 325 Ad is only about 4 km from Bhaktapur, but the shrine of Changu Narayan has been there for thousands of years. The interesting mythological account of the shrine is that Bali, the king of monkeys, was killed for not fault of hs own by Lord Rama for the sake of his sworn friend Sugriva who was younger brother to Bali. Lord Rama had promised dying Bali that he would pay back by giving his own life for Bali’s life in his next birth.

The hill on which the temple of Changu Narayan stands today was then known as Doli Giri where Bali lived a saintly life in his next birth with his own herd of cattle. The saint was intrigued when he marked that one of his cows which gave much milk had begun to come back from the forest with her under almost emptied every evening. He shadowed the cow only to find that the cow was giving her milk to a stranger on the hill. Infuriated, the saint whipped his sword to cut man’s head off, but to his surprise he found the man turned into a tree and it was the tree which he had cut.

Immediately Lord Vishnu with each of his four hands holding the conch, the Chakra (a whirling circular weapon exclusive to the Lord), the club and the Padma (lotus shaped weapon) was there on the stump of the tree. The saint regretted and supplicated the Lord for his forgiveness. The lord reminded the saint of hw he had given words to the saint in his previous life as Bali. Even toay the image of the Lord though on Garudha, His carrier, is partly placed on the tree stump in the temple.

Flower exhibition

By a staff reporter

In it’s ongoing bid to promote local talent, Hotel De L’ Annapurna hosted the first Ikebana And Handmade Floral Exhibition by Ramita Manandhar at the poolside hall from the 28th to 31st July, according to the Hotel’s press release.

Ikebana is the arrangement of natural flowers, grasses or branches of trees not only expressing a resonance with the plant and flower materials but is filled with joy at the very existence of the life force itself. The origin of Ikebana dates back nearly 500 years and are deeply entwined with the social and artistic history of Japan.

Get lucky at Soalttee and fly to Sydney

By a staff reporter

Soaltee Crown Plaza Kathmandu has launched an exciting lucky draw contest with the winner getting a ticket to the City of Olympics Sydney as the prize. This programme known as Soaltee Olympic Lucky Draw provides guests at Alfresco, Himalchuli, Gurkha Grill, Garden Terrace, Rodi Bar, and the Bukhara a chance to win a round trip air ticket to Sydney, the seat of Olympics this year.

All they are required to do is just place an order of Rs 500/- or more to enter into the Olympic Lucky Draw to be held on September 15, 2000 and the winner flies off to Sydney on Singapore Airlines.

This special offer will be valid from August 10, 2000 until September 14, 2000 at the hotel’s five exclusive restaurants and Rodi Bar.

This once in a life time offer is supported by Singapore Airlines which flies three times a day to Sydney from Singapore and Carlsberg Beer.

Pralhad Kunwar - The head of Food and Beverage at the hotel expressed his gratitude to SIA and Carlsberg for their support and was confident that Soalttee Olympic Lucky Draw will add to the dining ambience of fabulous food and beverage outlets of the hotel while inaugurating the programme amidst his team members of the hotel.