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Basantapur Durbar Square |
Kathmandu Durbar Square (Basantapur Darbar Kshetra) in front
of the old royal palace of the former Kathmandu Kingdom is one of three Durbar (royal
palace) Squares in the Kathmandu Valley in Nepal, all of which are UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
Several buildings in the Square collapsed due to a major earthquake on 25 April 2015.
Durbar Square was surrounded with spectacular architecture and vividly
showcases the skills of the Newar artists and craftsmen over several
centuries. The Royal Palace was originally at Dattaraya square and was later
moved to the Durbar square.
The Kathmandu Durbar Square held the palaces of the Malla and Shah kings who ruled over the city. Along
with these palaces, the square surrounds quadrangles, revealing courtyards and
temples. It is known as Hanuman Dhoka Durbar Square, a name derived from a
statue of Hanuman,
the monkey devotee of Lord Ram, at the entrance
of the palace.
In the time of Pratap Malla, son of Laksminar Simha, the square was extensively
developed. He was an intellectual, a pious devotee, and especially interested
in arts. He called himself a Kavindra, king of poets, and boasted that he was
learned in fifteen different languages. A passionate builder, following his
coronation as a king, he immediately began enlargements to his royal palace,
and rebuilt some old temples and constructed new temples, shrines and stupas
around his kingdom.
Kathmandu's Durbar Square is the site of the Hanuman Dhoka
Palace Complex, which was the royal Nepalese residence until the
19th century and where important ceremonies, such as the coronation of the
Nepalese monarch, took place. The palace is decorated with elaborately-carved
wooden windows and panels and houses the King Tribhuwan Memorial Museum and the
Mahendra Museum. It is possible to visit the state rooms inside the palace.
Time and again the temples and the palaces in the square have
gone through reconstruction after being damaged by natural causes or neglect.
Presently there are less than ten quadrangles in the square. The temples are being
preserved as national heritage sites and the palace is being used as a museum. Only a few parts of the palace
are open for visitors and the Taleju temples are only open for people of Hindu
and Buddhist faiths.
At the southern end of Durbar Square is one of the most curious
attractions in Nepal, the Kumari Chok. This gilded cage contains the Raj
Kumari, a girl chosen through an ancient and mystical selection process to
become the human incarnation of the Hindu mother goddess, Durga. She is
worshiped during religious festivals and makes public appearances at other
times for a fee paid to her guards.
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