sajitshakya1

Enjoying dashain festival

Chilancho Stupa (unknown age) (Nepali: चिलान्चो) The Chilancho stupa may be Kirtipur's oldest monument, but its exact age is impossible to ascertain without detailed archeological explorations. Popularly it is believed to be one of several stupas founded by the Mauryan emperor Ashoka in the 3rd century BCE, though there is no direct evidence that he or his forces occupied the Kathmandu valley, preferring the plains of the Indian subcontinent. The earliest datable evidence is a record from 1533 detailing renovations performed at the behest of a certain Jagat Pal Varma of Patan (Lalitpur), though considerable additions and alterations continued in the subsequent centuries, with a number of them in the 1668-73 period. The historian Sukra Sagar Shrestha suggests the original stupa was built upon a natural rock mound and encased in brick. In form, the stupa is square in plan with gently diminishing terraces, capped by a prominent whitewashed dome. A square harmika, painted with four sets of eyes (in the manner of the Swayambunath stupa) stands atop it. Above the harmika is a beehive-shaped crown of thirteen concentric rings representing the various Buddhist heavens. Higher still is an ornamental metal pinnacle with a decorative umbrella. The height of the stupa from base to pinnacle is about 10.5 meters. On the corners of the stupa's lower levels are subsidiary shrines housing images of the four Tara Devis dating from 1673. Opposite each is a freestanding stupa honoring the Dhyani Buddhas, four in all, that frames the primary stupa in a quincunx formation. Other buildings found on site are two pairs of pati (rest houses) on the east side, and sleeping quarters for a watchman on the south side. Southwest of the stupa is the large Jagat Pal Mahvihar (monastery).