ASHOKA STUPA

The four Ashokan Stupas are located in the four directions of Patan, marking the boundary of the district of Lalitpur. As per legends, the history of these stupas dates back to the 3rd Century BCE, when the Mauryan Emperor Ashoka visited the Kathmandu Valley with his daughter Charumati and erected these four stupas. However, there is no archaeological evidence that verifies either that these stupas were constructed by Ashoka or the presence of Buddhist monasteries in the Licchavi period. According to historians Patan did not become a predominantly Buddhist settlement until the mid Malla period. One of the speculations is that these may have been funerary mounds of the Kirata settlements, indicated by the presence of many numinous stone shrines and further corroborated by the Gaijatra festival of Patan when the local jyapus visit the four stupas in the memory of their dead in the darkness of the morning hours. 

 

The naming of these mounds or thurs is based on the places connected to the historic boundaries of the Old City of Patan. The East Stupa is called the 'Treta Thur', named after one of the yugas. The South Stupa is called 'Lagan Thur', based on the surrounding area of Lagankhel. This region was initially agricultural land and later used by the royal military. The Western Stupa is named 'Pulchok Thur', designated by the nearest landmark - the monastery Pulchok Bahil. The Northern Stupa is named 'Ibahi Thur or Yampi Thur,’ named after the two monasteries I-Bahil and Yampi Bahil, built in the 16th Century. 

 

The stupas are hemispherical mounds made of stacked fire bricks, which eventually became grass mounds. The North Stupa is the only one that is finished in concrete, which was a part of the repair work in 1957. 

 

The Stupas were renovated mostly around the 1800s, and it mainly included repairing the retaining walls, adding plinths, renovating the circumambulatory paths, etc. The shrines of all the Stupas, irrespective of the Buddha idols/ images installed inside, are plastered and white-washed during multiple renovations. Today, these are decorated with prayer wheels, Tibetan flags, and metal shrines on the roofs. Modern stupas have started integrating new materials and construction techniques while preserving traditional symbolism, displaying an evolution of the ancient forms. The Southern stupa at Lagankhel is the largest and has a small cenotaph installed at its top with shrines of Tathagatas of the Buddha installed by 1455 according to some inscriptions. The eastern stupa or the Teta Thura has a fire altar of a vedika and a Tathagata in each direction with harmika or a balcony-like structure that symbiosis the house of gods, enshrined on the dome. The western stupa at Pukchowk has a fire Vedika and a Thatagata in each direction, with a square shaped pyramid structure called cakrvali dorning the dome with a yasti or a spire above symbolizing the axis of the universe. The northern stupa or the Ibahi Thura is the smallest  and resembles the Svayambhu Mahacaitya in Kathmandu. A square harmika is constructed over the dome with stepped cakravalis and a parasol.     

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