About Boudha

About Boudha

1 April 2019, Monday

by Anita Bhattarai

We are going to Boudha for a visit. This is our spring break and we try to go somewhere every day! It is really nice to be out and about.

Every time we go somewhere, we take our musical instruments with us so we can just sit and play. We also take our art copies with us because it is always wonderful draw what we see. We also take our note copies and cameras to talk to different people we meeting and take pictures and videos of what we see and who we meet!

Boudha is one of seven UNESCO World Heritage Sites of the Kathmandu Valley. It is a Buddhist stupa and is said to be the biggest in Asia. Boudha is said to be founded by the Lichhavi King Siva Dev by some while others say that it was made while King Manadeva was reigning. 

Tibetan sources say that the mound was excavated in the late 15th or early 16th century and the bones of King Aṃshuvarma were discovered there.

I am proud that this stupa is in Kathmandu and I am happy we are going there again! When I get inside the gate the stupa is amazing and it is very big. The stupa is white with the head of the stupa is golden. There are prayer flags of many colors all around the stupa. The flags are red, blue, green, white and yellow.

There were so many pigeons all around the stupa, too. They are on the prayer flags and on the ground. People are feeding the pigeons.

Along with Swayambhu, Boudha is the most popular religious sites from Buddhists in the Kathmandu area. Tibetan Buddhists who settled here in the 1950s give it spirit and meaning. 

It is said that at a time when trade with India did not exist because of Malaria, Boudha served as the place where people could go to buy warm wear, rent mules and hire porters before heading off to Tibet.