KVPT’s Patan Darbar Earthquake Response Campaign - Work to Date - September 2016

History and Description
The temple was the first to be established by King
Siddhinarasiṃha Malla in January 1627, eight years after
he had ascended to the throne of Patan in 1619 as
a youth. As king of Kathmandu, his father Śivasiṃha
had wrested Patan from the local mahāpātra rulers. He
installed a liṅga and dedicated it to the Lord of All,
Viśveśvara or Viśvanāth. In terms of architectural design,
establishing a two-tiered temple with an ambulatory of
20 pillars constituted a revolutionary act. The great royal
temples, such as the Yakṣeśvara in Bhaktapur (early 15th
century), and the Caturvyūha (or Cār) Nārāyaṇa temples
at Kathmandu (1563) and Patan (1565) had followed
the prototype defined by the Paśupatinātha temple with
its inner ambulatory on various scales.
The new temple introduced an outer ambulatory, encircling
the sanctum (garbagṛha) measuring 403 cm on one
side of the square. The columned temple measures 715
cm, which is 54 cm more than the neighbouring Cār
Nārāyaṇa temple. The placement of the guardian figure,
Śiva’s mount, the bull, marks the main access from the
west. The steps leading up to the temple are guarded by
a pair of lions and guardian deities, Yama and Kuber.
The sanctum, however, is exclusively accessible from
the east, the stairs being flanked by a pair of elephants.
The remaining two doorways contribute to the symmetrical
layout, but are never opened. The elaborately
carved doorways are flanked by niches occupied by the
eight guardians of the universe (aṣṭadikpāla) in the upper
register, and eight panels of stone featuring Gaṇeśa
and Mahālakṣmī (west), Annapūrṇā and Umāmaheśvara
(north), Viṣṇu and Sūrya (east) and Bhairava and a Yogī
(South). The doorway features the Eight Bhairavas, invariably
standing on a pair of corpses at the blocks above
the threshold; in the the wall brackets are eight male deities
of the śaiva tradition, depicted in the fashion of the
ancient śālabanjika, with their legs crossed and standing
in the jaws of aquatic creatures (Makara); and the quarter-round
panels depict the Eight Mother Goddesses
(Aṣṭamātṛkā). The lintel ends feature the eight planetary
deities (aṣṭagraha), with four unidentified four-handed
deities on either side, enclosed by lotus vine. The bottom
ends of the outer frames (purātva), colonnettes
(toraṇthān), U-shaped intermediate element (nāgvaḥ)
and jambs feature guardian deities such as Sadāśiva and
Lakṣmī at the jambs and snakes (Nāga / Nāginī) at the
nāgvaḥ. Durgā appears on the three visible sides of the
colonnette and pairs of guardians on the outer frame -
an exceptional location, which can rarely be observed.
At mid-height the Eight Bhairavas occur again, seated
and with eight arms. Pointed medallions at the side of
triple roof moulding on top of the colonnettes bear deities
such as Rām, Hanumān and various ascetics. In the
centre of that roof moulding, female deities are placed in
niches that are framed by pilasters which support tympana
in miniature form—Maheśvarī in the east, Durgā
in the south, Umāmaheśvara in the west and Mahākālī
in the north. These shrine-like niches are supported by
pairs of snakes under a fivefold snake hood. The lintel
features even smaller and equally architecturally framed
niches, five in the west and three in the remaining directions.
The central niche of the western lintel is occupied
by a four-headed Durgā, flanked by Kaumārī (on peacock)
and Mahālakṣmī (on lion), Gaṇeśa and Kumār in
the outer niches. The entire configuration is guarded by
a pair of birdmen (gandharva) holding banners. On the
northern lintel, Durgā appears in the centre, flanked by
Brahmāyaṇī (on goose) and Mahālakṣmī (on lion), the
ends being guarded by a pair of dragons. On the eastern
lintel the central deity is probably Taleju (on horse),
flanked by Kaumārī and Mahālakṣmī, the ends being
guarded by fly-whisk bearers, on the southern lintel the
central deity is Maheśvarī (on bull), flanked by Kaumārī
and Mahālakṣmī, and the ends are simply shaped with
lotus scrolls.
Above
Vishveshvara Temple:
Pointed medallion featuring fourarmed
deity, embedded in temple
wall.
Opposite
Vishveshvara Temple:
East facade.
Photo by Stanislaw Klimek,
August 31, 2015
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