Strolling At Svoyambhu In Kathmandu

Siddhi B Ranjitkar

When you travel on a vehicle to Svoyambhu you park your vehicle just on the backside of the Svoyambhu hill, and then you walk from there to the Svoyambhu shrine situated on the top of the hill. If you are a foreign visitor you pay an entrance fee at the gate to enter the Svoyambhu complex. This point is a saddle; if you stroll to the east you will reach the Svoyambhu shrine if you turn to the west then you are strolling to the famous shrine of Manjushree: the deity worshipped as the Goddess of Learning called Sarasvoti by the Hindus, and as the God of Vocational Learning called Manjushree by Buddhists. However, the correct approach to the Svoyambhu shrine is to start walking from the main entrance at the eastern base of the Svoyambhu hill.

If you stroll to the east then you will come to the two stone stairs: one on your right and another on your left. If you take the right stairs then you will reach western backside of the Svoyambhu complex. It is the short route to reach the Svoyambhu shrine. If you take the left stone stairs you will reach the northern side of the Svoyambhu complex at the end of the stone stairs. It is longer than the right stone stairs.

Nepalis always walk keeping any shrine on their right. So, if you follow the Nepalese tradition then you walk along the backside of the shrine you find at the end of the stone stairs you have climbed up. If you move on then you climb another stone stairs to reach a small open area. There, you find a large stone image of Lord Buddha. To the north you find an ancient shrine and its door locked by an ancient lock. This shrine is called Shantipur.

Shantipur shrine is always locked; the public has no access to it; so, it remains mysterious. However, the available ancient scriptures say that a Tantrik guru called Shantikar Acharya lived there and prayed for peaceful and prosperous lives of all Nepalis. He also helped the king called Narendradev of Bhaktapur to bring Karunamaya from the Kamarupa: present-day Assam in India to Nepal for resolving the 12-year drought.

Then you move on to another stone stairs, and pass by small stores that cater the immediate needs of visitors. You can have cold drinks, biscuits, muffins, and cookies and so on there.

Finally, you reach the top of the Svoyambhu hill. You walk a few more steps before you have the view of the Svoyambhu shrine. On the way you see a number of small stone Buddhist shrines. On your left you find a number of stores selling the items of interest of visitors.

You might even miss to notice the backside of the typical Nepalese style temple if you are not careful to see one of the most important shrines for Nepalis. Haarati Ajima dwells in the temple. She has six children. She is the guardian deity of children. Previously, Nepalis have access to the stone image of Haarati Ajima and her six children. Recently, devotees can see the deity and her children standing at the entrance to the temple. The reason is the stone images have been worn out due to the devotees touching them.

Usually, you find a long line of devotees standing at the front gate of the temple of Haarati Ajima. You find wick lamps burning around the temple. A Vajracharya priest and his clients might be performing a long worship just in front of the temple. So, most of the Nepalese devotes might be visiting the Svoyambhu to make offerings to Haarati Ajima.

Leaving the temple behind, as soon as you move on you see the full size of the Svoyambhu shrine. You will notice a huge white dome of Svoyambhu, on it a square bronze box with painted Buddha eyes on all four sides, and then on it gold-plated thirteen rings: the largest one on the bottom and the smallest one on the top, sizes of rings become smaller as they move up. Then there is a small area called Sukhabhuti under a parasol on the top of the thirteenth ring.

Following the Vajrayan Buddhist belief, the thirteen rings represent the thirteen stages of your meritorious life. You need to pass through each of the thirteen meritorious lives before reaching the area called Sukhabhuti means an eternal blissful area. It is not an easy task to pass through the thirteen rings but you can try and might even reach the eternal blissful area. However, your efforts on earning the merits required to pass through each ring for reaching the eternal blissful area in the single life might not be possible. So, you might need to make efforts in the successive lives.

At the bottom of the white dome of Svoyambhu, you will find five Buddhas set in the niches made at the northern, southern, eastern, and western parts of the dome. There is a nameplate of each Buddha for you to identify each Buddha. A number of prayer cooper wheels are set at the level of the Buddhas at the white dome of Svoyambhu. If you want to earn some merits you can use your right hand to spin the prayer wheels while going around the Svoyambhu shrine. However, you should not forget that you needed to move keeping the Buddhas and prayer wheels on your right.

Svoyambhu means a self-born. The Kathmandu Valley was once a lake. The deepest area is 150 meters from the surface. According to the Nepalese belief, the deity called Manjushree cut off the stones at Chovar to make a way for the water to pass through and drained the water making the valley livable for the people. So, the belief is that Svoyambhu appeared after the water was drained.

If you move on keeping the Svoyambhu shrine on your right you find a monastery of Tibetan Buddhism on your left. You may go around the monastery if you like. None of the Buddhist shrines restricts anybody to visit the Buddha and seek blessing from the Buddha. Only thing you need to do is to take off your shoes. If you don’t like to take off your shoes you can stand at the entrance and pray the Buddha for blessing.

Now, in front of you is the open view of the western part of Kathmandu. You don’t have to be in a hurry to watch the unmanageable sprawling Kathmandu. There is a better place from where you can watch the view of Kathmandu and take pictures if you like.

If you move on you reach the area where you find a large ‘Vajra’ set on a block of a stone on the eastern side of the Svoyambhu shrine. The bronze Vajra is of about 1.5 meter long and about 0.5 meter high. It indicates that Svoyambhu is of the Vajrayan sect of Buddhism.

Buddhism has at least three sects. They are called Hinayan means a small vehicle; Mahayan means a large vehicle and then Vajrayan: the third vehicle that is quite different from the first two vehicles. Buddhism has traveled from Hinayan to Vajrayan a long way changing its procedures of following the faith. Hinayanis strictly follow the original teachings of Lord Buddha.

Vajra is set on the top of the very steep stone stairs. This is the front side of the Svoyambhu shrine. King Pratap Malla of Kathmandu had set this Vajra at this place. The stone stairs are so steep you find two iron pipes set at the middle of the stairs so that devotees can hold one of the pipes while climbing the stairs or going down the stairs. As you have come from the back of Svoyambhu you don’t have the problem of climbing the steep stone stairs.

Passing by the Vajra, you come to the open area from where you can view the western side of Kathmandu. During the winter means mid-November to mid-February, heavy fog might cover Kathmandu in the morning until 10:00 AM. So, you miss the view of Kathmandu if you happen to be in the morning of this season.

After having the enough view of Kathmandu, you move on to the area where two Shikhar style temples had stood. Unfortunately, one of them was hit by lightning in the summer of 2011 and destroyed. You have to wait until it is renovated to have the original view of these two shrines.

King Pratap Malla of Kathmandu had built the two Shikhar style temples. One at your right is called Pratapur built in the name of the king and another on your left is called Anantpur built in honor of his queen. Only a few people notice them, as they are not for the public uses.

Now, you have already gone around the Svoyambhu complex. If you move on you will soon be at the top of the stone stairs that take you to the parking lot. However, if you don’t like to miss Haarati Ajima then you move on to the north and reach the front of the temple of Haarati Ajima. You will see how Nepalis are lining up to make offerings to the deity and how the Vajrayan priest is performing worship for his client. Her blessing will be useful to keep you safe.

If you move on straight forward you find the signboard of the Buddhist library on your left, and if you move on then you reach the place from where you have come but if you turn back you reach the short route to the parking lot. Most probably, you take the short stone stairs to the parking lot.

When you are at the parking lot you have a choice of boarding on your vehicle and returning to the place of your choice or of taking another stone stairs to reach the shrine of Lord Manjushree that is the Goddess of Learning called Sarasvoti for the Hindus, and the God of Vocational Learning called Manjushree for the Buddhists. You might like to seek the blessing of the deity for enhancing your knowledge. You also find monastery there. You can view some parts of Kathmandu surrounding the Svoyambhu hill from there.

You have made a visit to the Svoyambhu complex from the backdoor. However, the main entrance is the eastern entrance to the Svoyambhu. You cannot ride any sorts of vehicle from the eastern entrance at the bottom of the Svoyambhu hill. So, you have to walk on the stone stairs from there. While walking on the stone stairs you find the first few hundreds of the stairs are almost flat but as you climb on you find the stairs grow steeper. A number of large stone Buddhas set on both sides of the stairs in the meditating posture greet you on the way. When you are about to reach the Svoyambhu shrine, the few hundred steps of the stairs are so steep you need to take the help of the iron pipes set at the middle of the stone stairs. After the arduous climb of the stone stairs you finally reach the area where Vajra is set. Following the Nepalese tradition you move on keeping the shrine on your right. Then, you start the tour of the Svoyambhu from the open area viewing the western part of Kathmandu and walking to the two Shikhar style temples and then to the temple of Haarati Ajima and of course around the dome of the Svoyambhu shrine. In this case you might miss to visit the Shantipur that anybody using the backdoor first visit.

Svoyambhu is one of the seven World Heritage Sites Nepal has. So, it is the world heritage and belongs to the world. People of any faith have access to it.

There is a ring road around the Svoyambhu hill at its bottom. Previously, it used to be a ring path for devotees to go around the Svoyambhu hill. Even now, you might find some devotees going around with prayer wheels in their hands to earn merits. Someone even moves around the Svoyambhu prostrating each time s/he moves for earning more merits.

There is a small flat area on the right of the main entrance to the Svoyambhu at the bottom of the Svoyambhu hill. This flat area is called ‘bhu-khel’. Here, the twelve-yearly religious festival called ‘smayak-dan’ is held once every twelve-year. Every twelve-year, all the Buddhas including Dipanker Buddha assemble here to receive the ‘samyak dan’. Living Goddess Kumari of Kathmandu presides over the festival. Svoyambhu also comes down to receive ‘samyak dan.’ The head of state is the special guest on this occasion. Literally, ‘samyak dan’ means the right or auspicious grant.

Every year, a great religious festival is held at ‘anand kuti’ on the backside of the Svoyambhu hill on the anniversary of Lord Buddha. They put the sacred bones of Lord Buddha on display for the whole day. It is dug out of the underground storage, and put it under the heavy glass for all devotees to view it.

November 6, 2011