I looked across the road. It was so narrow that two cars were not able to pass one another without touching. This is how all the streets and roads in Nepal seemed to be. Even on the mountains one had to hold one’s breath in tight curves and hope that no other vehicle coming from the opposite direction would cross your path.
‘Oh there he is’, I waved at the tiny car parked across the river. The driver waved back and drove along the bridge to where I was standing with my two colleagues. We climbed into the car.
‘We are going to Patan’, my Spanish colleague Diego said in a cheerful voice to the driver. ‘We want to see the square there with all the temples and also the museum.’
‘Very nice’, the driver said and smiled his broad smile. ‘You all going there?’
We all nodded. The car shook and so we were on our way.
After a long silence, during which we were absorbed in the natural beauty of Nepal, the driver spoke. ‘Many people come to Nepal. They love the nature. They love the beauty of the mountains. They love the spiritual lifestyle. They love the people. Nepali people are very friendly. Where are you from?’
‘ I am from Spain’, Diego clarified. ‘Petra here is from Israel and Tiija lives in London.’
‘Oh London’, the driver grinned. ‘I love British people. Very polite. Very friendly.’
What friendliness is he talking about, I though. The British were known to be reserved and distant. Weren’t the Spanish more friendly? There were certainly big cultural differences found in this car.
Patan emerged in front of us. There was no question about why the Dubar Square, the main square of the town, was well-known for its architecture. There were several temples within a short distance. There were beautiful mandalas on the sides of them.
As soon as we got off the car, a guide rushed to us. “You need a guide? For twenty rupee, I show you the whole town. I tell you all the history. ‘
The three of us looked at each other and nodded. Twenty rupees for a tour was virtually nothing.
The tour stared by the biggest temple on the square.
‘ In this temple, you have a Kumari girl living here’, the guide explained. ‘ She is six years of age. A new girl is chosen every year in August. It is a highly prestigious role to have. The girl lives here for one year. She is not allowed to do anything. She has maids here. She is taught manners and ways to behave in a kingly way. She can’t see her family and she comes to the window every day at noon to wave at people. The Kumari family about a hundred years ago started this tradition. When the girl comes out, she is highly regarded and will be married to an excellent family.’
‘She is there now?’ Petra asked in amazement. We were all looking closely at the windows of the closed temple.
‘Yes, yes she is there’, the guide pointed to one of the windows. The curtain of the window seemed to have moved a little. ‘She can’t have any bruises or cuts on her, otherwise her education in the temple is regarded as having gone to waste. She has a spiritual guru who goes to teach her, a man from the highest Hindu order and many other teachers.’
‘Isn’t that too much for a six year old girl to take in? Being seprated from her family and all’, Diego asked.
‘No no’, the guide shook his head. ‘All the positive outcomes out-weight the negative effects.’
We walked on to the next temple in silence. Talk about cultural differences!
‘This temple is the temple of Kama Sutra’, the guide pointed at the carvings on the wood that the temple was constructed of. ‘Can you see? You have pictures of people making love.’
We looked closely at the decorations of the temple. The entire temple was covered with pictures of people making love.
‘The Hindus who follow Vishu believe that we can use our sexual energy for our spiritual benefit. We can direct the energy and become more enlightened through that if it is wisely used. The Buddhist in Nepal also follow Vishu. They believe that Vishu who is one of the many Hindu Gods was the reincarnation of the Buddha. This temple symbolizes the sexual energy that we can use for advancing our own spiritual path.’
Talk about cultural differences - would you find pictures of people making love carved on a church in the West?
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Anyone hoping to visit Patan, here is a useful link:
http://www.patan.com/
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