Nepal: Elephant statues on the staircase leading to the great dome of Bodhnath (Boudhanath) stupa, Kathmandu

Set squarely in the siddhi – a zone of supernatural power where guardian deities dwell and wishes are granted – Bodhnath is located just six kilometres east of Kathmandu, along the long, old trade road to Lhasa. Known to the Tibetans simply as Chorten Chempo, or 'Great Stupa', it has been the Mecca of Tibetans in exile ever since the Chinese occupation of their homeland in 1950. Bodhnath has also developed as a centre for the study of Tibetan Buddhism, numerous monasteries having been built in effective replacement of those destroyed by Mao Tse-tung's Red Guards.

The origins of Bodhnath are lost in the mists of time, but tradition fixes the foundation in the fifth century CE. According to legend, a daughter of the god Indra stole flowers from heaven, and was punished by being reborn the daughter of a poor poultry farmer in a Kathmandu Valley village. To atone for her earlier crime, she lived a blameless life, becoming prosperous enough to build a gigantic stupa at Bodhnath to honour Amitabha, the Buddha of the past age. Whatever truth lies behind this legend, Tibetans attach great importance to it, for it goes on to warn of an invasion of their homeland by a powerful enemy, which would scatter the Tibetans southwards into Nepal and India. In 1950, when China occupied Tibet, and more particularly in 1959, when the Dalai Lama fled from Lhasa to Dharamsala, this prophecy seemed finally to have been borne out.

Copyright:

CPA Media Co. Ltd.

Photographer:

Rainer Krack

Credit:

Pictures From Asia