Sunset at Boudha

Namaste.

One of the most frequently used images of Nepal is that of the enormous stupa at Boudha in Kathmandu, another of the World Heritage sites situated in the Valley. It is so tall that it towers above the surrounding building and can be seen from many places in the city. As the largest stupa in Asia it is an important place of pilgrimage for thousands of Buddhists.

I spent an interesting afternoon there recently, with a friend who was visiting from the U.K.  The guide book suggested that sunrise or sunset were the best times to visit, so we made our way there during the afternoon.

This enormous stupa is most impressive.  Above the huge whitewashed dome there is a gilded central tower that has the all-seeing eyes of Buddha painted on all four sides. Representations of these eyes are found on many items throughout Nepal; t-shirts, cards, signs and book covers frequently have the eyes of Buddha on them. 

The dome is bedecked with long strings of fluttering prayer flags stretching from the top.  As a gust of wind catches these flags it carries the whole string soaring upward, then as the wind drops, the flags also slowly fall, to be caught as the string goes tight. Quite mesmerising to watch, and easy to imagine the prayers being blown away with the wind.

We were amused to see a couple of men, armed with just small rollers, painting the stupa – the resemblance to painting the Forth Bridge struck us!

Buddhists believe that the stupa is highly symbolic and serves as a three dimensional reminder of the Buddha’s path to enlightenment.  The plinth that the dome stands on represents the earth, the dome is water, the square tower is fire and the spire at the top is air.  The gold coloured umbrella at the very top represents the ether beyond space.  Stupas were built to contain holy relics but it is uncertain exactly whose remains this stupa contains.

People are allowed onto the first layer of the plinth during daylight hours. There are some very old looking carved figures set into the wall of the steps (bottom corner), and two ornate elephants guard the flight of steps up to the next layer.

Around the base of the plinth 147 prayer wheels, inscribed with the Buddhist mantra “Oom mani padmi hum”, are set into the wall.  Some pilgrims walking around the stupa, always in a clockwise direction, turn the wheels as they pass, to send the prayer spinning away.  There were also several very large prayer wheels, taller than a man, that were kept turning. 

Buddhists believe that sunrise and sunset are auspicious times when prayers are more likely to reach their destination.  As the sun sank lower in the sky we noticed the swelling crowd of pilgrims and worshippers.  We sat and watched with fascination as hundreds of people walked in a clockwise direction around the stupa. This walking mass comprised of a wide spectrum of people: maroon clothed monks and nuns with shaved heads, Tibetan men and women in their traditional clothes – the women in long skirts with multi-coloured striped woven aprons, older people holding grandchildren’s hands, groups of teenagers, young couples, women carrying babies on their backs, business men and women obviously straight from work in their work clothes, families and individuals.  

Tibetan woman teaching her grandson devotional behaviour

Many people handled strings of prayer beads as they walked and prayed, and we could hear their mumbled prayers.  We noticed some distinctive looking people pass us many times.  We, as watchers, were noticed too; many smiled and a few even came over to say “Namaste” to us as they passed.  What impressed us most was that this all seemed to be a very natural act, rather than something special, which so many people fitted into their daily routine.  There was a lovely atmosphere too – a combination of devotion, happiness, peace, contentment, and friendliness - none of those feelings quite describes this atmosphere.  

We felt inspired so joined the walkers and circled the stupa a couple of times!

The stupa itself is ringed with small shops selling many Tibetan and Buddhist items, some aimed at tourists, others at pilgrims and even monks.  Here it was possible to buy miniature prayer wheels, musical instruments, statues, spices, devotional beads, pictures, clothes of different styles and there was even a shop selling only clothes for Buddhist monks or nuns; saffron shirts and maroon robes. 

Thankas, Tibetan religious pictures, were displayed and for sale in some shops, and we noticed that above some of the shops there were Thanka Schools for training the artists.  These traditional pictures, extremely detailed, intricate and important in Buddhist culture are painted by hand. They were fascinating to look at, but we did not buy.

We ate supper in a roof top restaurant, watching the setting sun turn the white stupa to a golden colour.  Magic!  How peaceful and relaxing it felt.