Paul Bloomfield is a travel and heritage writer
and photographerAnimal attraction
A pair of amorous pachyderms are
depicted in a carving on the Shiva-
Parvati Temple commonly known as the
Erotic Elephants temple, near Durbar
Square. A number of Hindu temples in
India and Nepal feature erotic motifs; it’s
been suggested that these relate to the
role of Parvati, consort of the great deity
Shiva, as goddess of love and fertility.\ Leader column
A bronze statue of Bhupatindra Malla
sits in pr ayer on a column facing the
Golden Gate to the palace on Durbar
Square. His legacy was a city rich in
architectural beauty; it’s said that, in its
early 18th-century pomp, Bhaktapur
encompassed 172 temples and monas-
teries, the same number of pilgrim
shelters and some 152 wells.
A call to arms
The four-headed, ten-armed goddess
Taleju Bhavani, family deity of the Malla
dynasty, is represented on the Gold-
en Gate to the royal palace on Durbar
Square. Like many highlights of Bhakta-
pur, construction of the gate began during
the reign of Bhupatindra Malla and was
completed by his successor, Ranajit Malla
(r1722– 69), last king in that dynast y.
Towards the end of Ranajit’s reign, the
Kathmandu valley was invaded by Gorkha
king Prithvi Narayan Shah, who then took
control of the whole of Nepal.