Bhaktapur Durbar Square: One Of The World Heritage In Nepal

Bhaktapur Durbar Square is one of the world's best place for art and handicrafts.This place has been listed in the world heritage list.Many internal and external tourists visit this place to find the richly carved structures of temples and monuments.But the place isnot well managed and government(Nepal) hasnot supported for the development of the handicrafts of the Bhaktapur Durbar Square.

 
Bhaktapur Durbar Square has many things that we should look at.It has temples,monuments,durbars,some shops,thanka paints,simple paints,schools,hotels,statue of kings and gods and goddess,ponds,pottery works and richly carved wood monuments.These things attracts many tourists in this place.But the place isnot well managed and the vehicles are driven inside the protected area.Another problem is,there is problem of drinking water and management of waste materials.The use of electricity is not acceptable/scientific and there is not any fixed price in the shops.The shopkeepers are so rude to internal tourists that I couldnot have ever imagined.

Although, Bhaktapur Durbar Square has many attractive things,some of them are Golden Gate,Statue of second last Malla king Bhupatindra Malla on a top of the pillar,55 Windows Palace,Taleju Bhawani temple,Taleju Bell,small pond where king used to take bath,Nyatapola temple,temple of Bhairav,art gallery and many more.Golden Gate was built by king Jitendra Malla in the 17th century.It is beleived that the gate had golden statue of gods and goddess in past,it was stolen and artificial gold is used presently.Infront of the Golden Gate there is a pillar in which the second last Malla king Bhupatindra Malla built his statue.On the side of Golden Gate,there is the 55 windows palace,built by king bhupatindra Malla for his 55 queens.Inside Golden Gate there is the Taleju Bhawani temple and the Taleju Bell.The bell is used to wake up god inside the temple according to beleif.The temple was built in the 17th century.The gate of the temple has the statue of Goddess Durga,Lord Ganesh and Lord Bishnu.Similarly,inside the temple there is a wooden pillar where 108 animals are sacrificed during Dashain.There is a small pond i.e. swimming pool where king used to take bath and there is a changing room for the king.The pond has the statue of snake in the middle and outside of the pond.It is beleived that Bhupatindra Malla disappeared in the pond.Most of the temples there, are built in shikhar style.The durbar square has Shiva Mandir i.e. the copy of the Pashupatinath temple of kathmandu,in which the statue of God Bishnu and Shiva is placed.There are also many faces of gods and goddess carved in the woods and also Kamasutra. The oldest temple in the square is the Temple of Til Mahadev Naraayan built in 14th century.The Nyatapola,temple of Siddhi Laxmi was built 5 stoyred to impress the god of anger i.e. Bhairav which is infront of the Nyatapola.The Nyatapola was destroyed by earthquake in 1934 and it was reconstructed again.In Nyatapola there are anceint wrestlers as we go up the stairs.The last wrestler i.e. Bagini is 100000th times stronger than the first wrestler.

Bhaktapur Durbar Square is not very big surrounding but that is the great place to visit and study about handicrafts.Local people over there are facing many problems although it is protected area.I found the problem of drinking water.The waste management is not scientific and public toilets are not constructed for the tourists.There are Thanka schools,pottery industry in small scale,wood works,hotels and other different shops.As I asked to these shopkeepers I found the main problem is they donot have any fixed price of the items,were rude to internal visitors and charges maximum price to foreign tourists.According to them,government hasnot made any fixed plans and policies to uplift the art and handicrafts of the square and local people.Thanka paint which represents Buddhism are exported to Tibet and many other countries but government has not done anything to improve the trade of it.Schools are constructed inside the square and new construction of buildings are going on in different modern styles which will ruin the shikhar style of square.Also the staffs working there are careless as they were using electricity caressely i.e. during the daytime where Nepal is facing problem of loadshedding every day.

Suming up,Bhaktapur Durbar Square is a heaven on Earth but the government and people are making it as like hell.The temples,monuments,art and handicrafts of square are unique and richly carved.Similarly,there are some problems prevelant in the place.In my opinion,we should have proper plan and strategy from the government side to develop and remake the status of Bhaktapur Durbar Square like a heaven.But the government alone cannot do,hence local people and tourists should also play some important role in developing the site one of the world's best visited area.

    [Note:Complete essay for General paper based on King's College Educational Tour 2012]