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- COUNTRY AREA : NEPAL : 50.67 km2 (19.56 sq mi) ELEVATION :
POPULATION : TIME ZONE POPULATION DENSITY 1,400 m (4,600 ft)
975,453 : Nepal Time (UTC+5:45) : 19,250 per km
- IMPORTANT PLACES IN KATHMANDU Kathmandu Durbar Square Nagarkot
Swayambhunath Dhulikhel Patan
- Kathmandu Durbar Square, or Basantapur Durbar Square is the
plaza in front of the old royal palace of the Kathmandu Kingdom. It
is one of three Durbar Squares in theKathmandu Valley in Nepal, all
of which are UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
- Swayambhunath Located approximately 3km from the center of
Kathmandu, this Buddist stupa is said to be 2000 years old. The
stupa which forms the main structure is composed of a solid
hemisphere of brick and earth which supports a lofty conical spire
capped by a pinnacle of gilt copper.
- Swayambhunath)
- Nagarkot It is situated about 35Km. east of Kathmandu city and
from here one can see Mt. Everest and other peaks of the Himalayas.
Nagarkot is located between Kathmandu valley in the west and
Indrvati in the east. The top of Nagarkot commands accelerating
views in all direction. The altitude of Nagarkot is 2229Mt. Above
from sea level. It is also very popular for the viewing sunrise and
sunset
- Dhulikhel It is situated at an altitude of 1600 m. above from
sea level and 32 Km. From Kathmandu City. Dhulikhel is famous for
its vantage location in viewing the Himalayan ranges, from Cho Oyu
in the east to Himalchuli in the west. It is popular for viewing
the sunrise and sunset.
- You will see Durbar square, the Patan durbar (palace), which
houses a bronze collection, the Krishna temple built by King Siddi
Narsinh Malla, Hiranya Varna Mahavihar, and Mahaboudha Temple. 5
Km. away from Kathmandu city. Patan, also known as Lalitpur, is a
city of fine arts, enclosed within 4 stupas, which are said to have
been built in the 3rd century A.D. by Emperor Ashoka.
- PASHUPATINATH Lying 6 Km from central Kathmandu, Pashupatinath
temple is one of the holiest Hindu temples dedicated to Lord Shiva.
Situated amidst a lush green natural setting on the bank of the
sacred Bagmati river, the temple, which was built in pagoda style,
has a gilded roof and beautifully carved silver doors. Visitors
will be permitted to view the temple from the east bank of the
Bagmati river, as entrance into the temple is strictly forbidden to
all non-Hindus. Pashupatinath is the centre of an annual pilgrimage
on the day Shivaratri, which falls in February or March. Behind the
temples are the cremation grounds .
- The Non-Hindus are not allowed to visit the temple, but they
can only see the gilted Nandi Bull, the Shiva's vehicle inside the
temple. The foreigners also cannot enter the temple compound, but
they can have a good view of the whole complex from a higher
vantage point. Thousands of devotees gather in this temple during
the Shivaratri festival
- Finding Shiva Lingam at Pashupatinath Temple It is said that
the wish-fulfilling cow Kamadhenu took shelter in a cave on the
Chandravan mountain. Everyday Kamadenu went down to the place the
lingam was sunken into the soil and poured her milk on top of the
soil. After ten thousand years some people saw Kamdenu pouring milk
on that same spot everyday, and started to wonder what that would
be. So they removed the soil and found the beautiful shining
lingam. After having a good look they disappeared into the lingam,
freed from sin and rebirths. More and more people came to look and
more people disappeared into the lingam. This was a big concern for
Brahma.
- At the time of a festival
- Open Air Cremation
- Bodhnath Boudhanath also called Boudha, Bouddhanath or Ba
udhanath or the Khsa Caitya) is one of the holiestBuddhist sites in
Kathmandu (Yambu), Nepal. It is known as Khsti in Nepal Bhasa
Jyarung Khasyor in Tamang language or asBauddha by modern speakers
of Nepali. Located about 11 km (6.8 mi) from the center and
northeastern outskirts of Kathmandu, the stupa's massive mandala
makes it one of the largest spherical stupas in Nepal.
- The Stupa is on the ancient trade route from Tibet which enters
the Kathmandu Valley by the village of Sankhu in the northeast
corner, passes by Boudnath Stupa to the ancient and smaller stupa
of C-bah (often called 'Little Boudnath'). It then turns directly
south, heading over the Bagmati river to Patan - thus bypassing the
main city of Kathmandu (which was a later foundation).[1] Tibetan
merchants have rested and offered prayers here for many centuries.
When refugees entered Nepal from Tibet in the 1950s, many decided
to live around Bouddhanath. The Stupa is said to entomb the remains
of Kassapa Buddha.
- The Buddhist stupa of Boudhanath dominates the skyline. The
ancient Stupa is one of the largest in the world. The influx of
large populations of refugees from Tibet has seen the construction
of over 50 Tibetan Gompas (Monasteries) around Boudhanath. As of
1979, Boudhanath is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Along with
Swayambhunath, it is one of the most popular tourist sites in the
Kathmandu area.
- Gold figurines from a rooftop overlooking Bodhnath Stupa in
Kath
- architecture of the Bodhnathstupa is characterized by its
- His younger brother, Shantum, leads Buddhist meditational
tours. His younger Seth spent part of his youth in London but
sister, Aradhana, is a film-maker married to returned to his
homeland in 1957. an Austrian diplomat, and has worked on Deepa
Mehta's movies Earth and Fire.
- Vikram Seth was born on 20 June 1952 in a Punjabi family to
Leila and Prem Seth in Calcutta (now Kolkata). His family lived in
many cities including the Bata Shoe Company town of Batanagar,
Danapur near Patna, and in London.
- AT VERY YOUNG AGE
- Seth spent part of his youth in London but returned to his
homeland in 1957. After receiving primary and commencing secondary
education at the Doon School in Dehradun in India, Seth returned to
England to Tonbridge School. From there, Seth studied philosophy,
politics, and economics at Corpus Christi College, Oxford, where he
developed an interest in poetry and learned Chinese. After leaving
Oxford, Seth moved to California to work on a graduate degree in
economics at Stanford University.
- His younger brother, Shantum, leads Buddhist meditational
tours. His younger sister, Aradhana, is a film-maker married to an
Austrian diplomat, and has worked on Deepa Mehta's movies Earth and
Fire. (Compare the characters Haresh, Lata, Savita and two of the
Chatterji siblings in A Suitable Boy: Seth has been candid in
acknowledging that many of his fictional characters are drawn from
life.
- he has said that only the dog Cuddles in A Suitable Boyhas his
real name "Because he can't sue". Justice Leila Seth has said in
her memoir On Balance that other characters in A Suitable Boy are
composites but Haresh is a portrait of her husband Prem.)
- Occupation Novelist, poet
- A polyglot, Seth detailed in an interview (in the year 2005) in
the Australian magazine Good Weekend that he has studied several
languages, including Welsh, German and, later, French in addition
to Mandarin, English (which he describes as "my instrument" in
answer to Indians who query his not writing in his native Hindi),
Urdu (which he reads and writes in Nasta'liq script), and Hindi,
which he reads and writes in the Dvangar script. He plays the
Indian flute and the cello and sings German lieder, especially
Schubert.
- VIKRAM SETH at press conference
- Novels The Golden Gate (1986) A Suitable Boy (1993) An Equal
Music (1999) A Suitable Girl (2013)
- Poetry Mappings (1980) The Humble Administrator's Garden (1985)
All You Who Sleep Tonight (1990) Beastly Tales (1991) Three Chinese
Poets (1992) The Frog and the Nightingale (1994)
- Children's book Beastly Tales (1991) Libretto Arion and the
Dolphin (1994) for the English National Opera The Traveller [2008]
with composer Alec Roth. Premiere, Lichfield Festival July
2008.
- The Golden Gate The first of his novels, The Golden Gate (1986)
is a novel in verse about the lives of a number of young
professionals in San Francisco. The novel is written entirely in
Onegin stanzas after the style Aleksandr Pushkin's Eugene
Onegin.
- An Equal Music Seth's third novel, An Equal Music (1999), set
in contemporary Europe, focuses on the lives of classical musicians
and their music. Some readers and critics complained that Michael,
the protagonist, was simply not a likeable (or unlikeable) enough
character to sustain interest throughout a substantial novel and
that the focus on the music for its own sake can be trying for the
uninitiated.
- A Suitable Boy After the success of The Golden Gate, Seth took
up residence in his parents' house back in Delhi to work on his
second novel, A Suitable Boy (1993). Though initially conceived as
a short piece detailing the domestic drama of an Indian mother's
search for an appropriate husband for her marriageable Indian
daughter against the background of the formative years of India
after independence, the novel grew and Seth was to labour over it
for almost a decade.
- Prizes and awards 1983 Thomas Cook Travel Book Award for From
Heave Lake: Travels Through Sinkiang and Tibet n 1985 Common wealth
Poetry Prize (Asia) The Humble Administrator's Garden 1993 Irish
Times International Fiction Prize (shortlist) A Suitable Boy 1994
Commonwealth Writers Prize (Overall Winner, Best Book) A Suitable
Boy
- 1994 WH Smith Literary Award A Suitable Boy 1999 Crossword Book
Award "An Equal Music" 2001 EMMA (BT Ethnic and Multicultural Media
Award) for Best Book/Novel An Equal Music 2005 Pravasi Bharatiya
Samman 2007 Padma Shri in Literature & Education
- Pravasi Bharatiya Samman
- From Heaven Lake: Travels through Sinkiang and Tibet From
Heaaven Lake, published in 1987, was the first widely published
book which caused his fame as a writer to begin to develop. "After
two years as a postgraduate student at Nanjing University in China,
[he] hitchhiked back to his home in New Delhi, via Tibet. From
Heaven Lake is the story of his...journey and his encounters with
nomadic Muslims, Chinese