Off to our next destination, the Kathmandu Durbar Square! Upon checking the distance it was nearly 6 KM away from Pashupatinath Temple hence this time Fabian insist of taking a taxi over, which I was kinda agree as well. We took a taxi drive comfortably over to our destination but there was some major traffic jam in the town center area, hence we get the driver to drop us at Ratna Park and we will walk our self from there. The fare charged was 500 rupee, which was still acceptable from my perspective. We talk through Siddhidas Marg street, and it was massive of local wandering on this busy street with countless shops along the road. Perhaps everyone was just busy for the final preparation for upcoming Deepavali festival, which was just less than a week away.
Minor walk through this road and we will be there in Kathmandu Durbar Square, but the crowd here was out of my expectation.
Probably final rush for the upcoming Deepavali festival preparation.
Getting looser when we were closer to the Durbar Square.
After around a KM of walk, we reach the entrance to Kathmandu Durbar Square and again it required entrance ticket of 1000 rupee for foreigner to visit. Just like Pashupatinath, most of the historical structure here was also severely damaged on the 2015 massive earthquake. Among many of the place here, personally Kumari Ghar was my personal favorite, not just because of the the big brick structure, but also the interesting story about it. The place was also named the House of the Living Goddess, and was built since 1757. The living goddess, Kumari will sometimes appears in one of the first floor window, commonly early morning or late afternoon, for only a very brief time. You may ask who is Kumari? She was a young girl who is believed to be the reincarnation of the demon-slaying Hindu goddess Durga. The selection process for finding the Kumari Devi resembles that of the Tibetan lamas, who are believed to be reincarnations of their predecessors. The selected young girl will then move into Kumari Ghar and officially worshiped as the living goddess, until she menstruates or bleeds for any other reason. Until then, the next selection cycle begin, and the once Kumari will be revert back to mortal status. It was such an interesting and unique practice here!
The Kaal Bhairav statue.
Small compound with lots of pigeons.
Jagannath Temple.
Mahadev Parvati Temple.
Kumari the Living Goddess might show off herself in these window occasionally.
Beautiful interior and colors inside Kumari Ghar.
The compound inside Kumari Ghar.
The view of Kumar Ghar exterior from the Durbar Square.
Kathmandu Durbar Square - Nepal
November 2018
