Mid afternoon. The sun is slowly creeping toward the horizon in the west. A few eagles start rising from the green valley below, riding on the mid afternoon thermals. Dogs bark in the distance, perhaps at each other or at the village cats. I can hear playful laughter of village children playing in the paddy terraces below us. Simple games, innocent laughter. Every now and then, I can hear the fatigued drone of a motorcycle winding up the narrow road that leads up from the Valley below. A gentle breeze is blowing. The rustling of the tall grass around us is punctuated occasionally by the ringing of the bell at the temple a couple of hundred feet above us and about a quarter kilometre away. We are sitting on a grassy patch on a small knoll next to the crude parking lot outside the village of Changu Narayan. Where the road from Kathmandu ends, and the quaint old village of Changu begins. This was 15 or 20 years ago. Could have been any one of the numerous visits that my father, brother and I took to Changu. That is how I remember Changu Narayan. A lot has changed since then.
Changu Narayan is located on the outskirts of Kathmandu city. My brother and I took a motorcycle ride to visit the temple, while on my last trip to Nepal during Dashain of last year. It is one of the oldest temples in the Kathmandu Valley. It is believed that Changu Narayan temple was built around the 3rd century. The stone slabs around the temple have been dated to be the oldest in the Kathmandu Valley. To get to Changu, you drive from Kathmandu, through a few villages and start climbing a hill, atop which with amazing views of Kathmandu Valley, sits the temple in a quadrangle. The village of Changu surrounds the temple. There are several small temples around the main temple of Changu of equal historical and religious significance. Enshrined inside the temple is Lord Vishnu, one of the three main gods in Hindu religion. There are three other Vishnu or Narayan temples around the Kathmandu Valley, however, Changu is the oldest and most important among these. The area surrounding the temple is settled by farmers that farm the hills around the temple. My first recollection of visiting the temple with my dad and brother years ago, was of a place very secluded, with just a few houses around the temple. The village of Changu has now become a very popular tourist destination, with shops and street vendors catering to tourists, both domestic and international. It is kind of sad for me to witness this transformation. The grassy viewpoint where we used to picnic and take in the views of the valley is now occupied by an obnoxious looking restaurant. Change…. well some are good, some not so good. Hope you enjoy these pictures. It has taken me a long time to post these considering our vacation home was last October. Please leave comments, I do read them!
