One of Hanuman Dhoka Darbar Square’s oldest structures is the Jagannath Temple. There are several names for this temple, such as Char Narayan or Carnarayan. Due to the construction of a figure of Krishna (also known as Jagannath) during the reign of King Pratap Malla, it was mistakenly considered until the late 20th century to be the work of this famous architect. But according to architectural historian Michael Hutt, the temple’s center figure has the date 1563 at its base, indicating that it was built during Mahendra Malla’s early rule. It is one of just four major temples in Darbar Square that are believed to have been constructed during Mahendra Malla’s era; the others are the Taleju Temple, Mahendreswara, and Kotilingeswar Mahadev.
This temple is famous for its erotic carvings on its roof struts. It’s the oldest building in this area of Durbar Square.
The monument is a temple made of bricks and wood, built in a style called Newar. It’s not very big. On the outside, there are walls with many doorways. Each doorway has three doors and a decoration on top called a torana. It looks similar to a temple called Char Narayan in Patan. Inside, there’s a corridor that goes around the main part, and only priests can go into the central room. The temple faces east, and there’s a special room with statues. It’s different from other temples because the way to the outside is blocked in some places.
At each corner of the main building, there are small towers with two levels, similar to the Tripureshwar Mahadev temple from the 19th century. Besides Vishnu, there are also smaller shrines for other gods like Mahadeva, Ganesa, Surya, and Durga.
The main part of the building, which is 8.3 meters on each side, has two levels of roofs. These roofs are held up by 48 carved wooden brackets, showing gods with four heads and eight arms. These brackets represent different forms of Vishnu.
Below each bracket, there are carvings that are not as well-made, showing scenes of people and animals doing various activities. These carvings used to be brightly painted, but now they are only one color. We’re not sure if the color was removed or if they were changed in the past fifty years.
Over time, the purpose of the temple changed. Originally, it had an image of Chaturmukhi Vishnu, a four-headed god representing different aspects of Vishnu. This statue is believed to be from 1563. Later, during the time of King Pratap Malla, images of Krishna, Subhadra, and Balabhadra were added. This might have been an attempt to make a temple similar to the famous Jagannath temple in Puri, India, which was far away from Nepal.
The Jagannath temple in Puri was considered very important, along with three other temples in different parts of India. These were places that were hard for people from Nepal to visit because they were so far away. Despite the difficulty, it was prestigious for important people in Nepal to go on pilgrimages to these temples.
The reason for creating similar temples in Nepal might have been because the Ganga dynasty in Orissa, where the Jagannath temple is located, had collapsed. Many smaller rulers in the area started building their own Jagannath temples to try to copy the glory of the old dynasty.
So, making substitute temples in Nepal instead of visiting the real ones in India became a common practice.
Also Read:https://whatthenepal.com/2024/02/05/travelers-guide-sim-cards-and-networks-in-nepal/
