KATHMANDU VALLEY

Kathmandu valley

The Kathmandu valley comprises Kathmandu, the capital city, and the cities of Patan (Lalitpur) and Bhaktapur, which were separate kingdoms before the unification of Nepal in 1768 by King Prithvi Narayan Shah of Gorkha. Its most famous pilgrimage sites are the Pashupatinath Temple, revered by Hindus all over the world, and Swayambhunath and Bauddhanath - centres of Newar and Tibetan Buddhism in Nepal respectively. All these three sites are included in UNESCO’s World Heritage list.

Despite having a predominant Hindu population, the two major religions of Nepal, Hinduism and Buddhism, have blended and co-existed in utter harmony and mutual respect, with followers of the two religions visiting and worshipping each other’s holy places as not seen or experienced elsewhere in the world. The country has also shown a high degree of religious tolerance and reverence towards other faiths as well. Kathmandu has mosques, churches and a Sikh gurudwara, some of them grandly located in the city’s busiest centres, where devotees offer their prayers according to their faith. There are also shrines or centres dedicated to Sai Baba, Krishna Pranami, Osho and Brahma Kumari. Several Lamaist Buddhist monasteries representing all four orders of Tibetan Buddhism - Ningmapa, Sakyapa, Kagyukpa and Gelukpa - are also found here. There are also a number of Theravada monasteries. Several of these monasteries offer courses on Tibetan Buddhism.