PURBANCHAL UNIVERSITY

KANTIPUR INTERNATIONAL COLLEGE

DEPARTMENT OF ARCHITECTURE

GWARKO, LALITPUR

A REPORT ON THE GOLDEN TEMPLE

SUBMITTED TO: SUBMITTED BY:

AR. BISHOW SHAKYA SIMRAN KUMARI

DEPARTMENT OF ARCHITECTURE ROLL NO:2021-AR-18

DATE:2079/11/21
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

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INTRODUCTION
The Golden temple offically known as
Hiranya Varna Mahavihar (हिरण्यवर्ण
महाविहार) or locally as Kwa Bahal (क्वबहा)
which translates to "Gold-colored Great
Monastery" is located at patan. It is perhaps
the second most popular attraction in Patan
after Patan Durbar Square, a UNESCO
World Heritage site in Kathmandu Valley.
The temple was built in 1409 and is in fact a Fig1: Golden temple and its courtyard
Newari Buddhist monastery. The name
"golden temple" came about through tourism and a shortening of it's translation
more than it actually being made of pure gold. Most of the temple is actually
polished gilt copper which gives it a fantastic golden shine as you can see in fig(1).
This multi-storied Buddhist vihar is situated two hundred meters north of the Patan
Durbar Square on the way to the five-tiered Kumbheswar Temple. It was built by
Vaskar Deva Varma in the twelfth century AD. Though there does not seem to be
much recorded in terms of history, it is assumed that it has not been altered since
the early nineteenth century.
The Mahavihar is an important religious centre and has one of the largest sangha
or monk communities in the valley and serves as site of pilgrimage during
important festivals and bearing testimony to the living heritage of the valley.

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HISTORY

Fig(2): The Golden temple

According to the legends, Queen Pingala of Patan has a part to play in the
building of the Golden Temple. After being disgraced and ousted by her
husband, she went to live in the Guheswari forest area of Pashupati. There
she was visited by a dream that told her to build a vihar (monastery where
Buddhist disciples live and learn their scriptures) if she wanted her
husband's affection. She ordered for the establishment of a vihara with an
idol of Shakya Muni Buddha at Bahalkot, near Pashupati, and started living
there. King Sudatta, too, was impressed by his wife's penance and called her
back to the palace. Many years later, the monks who were in charge of the
vihar left and one of their descendants brought the idol to Patan. King
Vaskar Deva Dutta, learned what had happened and built Nhu Vihara at
Nyakhachowk in Patan and set the idol within. The king then dreamed that
the idol disapproved of the place and told him that a new vihar should be
built at a location shown by a mouse chasing a cat. So Vaskar Deva Dutta
started looking and one day he saw a golden mouse chasing a cat. The king
immediately set to work at building a vihara, and named it "Hiranya Varna
Mahavihar," the golden Buddhist monastery.

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