Not far from the capital of Nepal, Kathmandu, is the small town of Bodnath. Here is the most significant building in Buddhist architecture - the almost forty-meter Stupa. The strong energy of this place attracts not only crowds of Buddhist adherents, but also ordinary travelers.
Buddhist stupas and their meaning are deeply rooted, they represent harmony and prosperity throughout the world. Some even believe that stupas are capable of influencing the force field of the entire universe. Translated from Sanskrit, "stupa" means "crown", "pile of stones." The first stupas began to appear in India long before Buddhism was formed as a religion.
Previously, some outstanding persons were buried in stupas. They also contained clothing items of enlightened teachers, sacred texts. Sometimes a stupa was built in honor of some important event for Buddhists, there could be relics there. There are stupas located high in the mountains - they serve as guides for travelers. In general, stupas are perceived as objects of offerings to Buddha nature.
One of the most significant stupas, located in Bodnath, was founded in the 5th century AD. At that time, the most important route from Tibet to India lay in these places. Subsequently, the stupa was rebuilt several times. Now its height is 36 meters, the base has the shape of an octagon, and along its perimeter there are spinning prayer wheels with mantras written on them. The base, or lower tier of the stupa, symbolizes the element of the earth and has three levels. The sphere of the dome, in turn, symbolizes the water element, the spire - the element of fire, and the umbrella on the tip of the spire - the element of air.
Stretch marks with multi-colored flags hanging on them extend down from the spire. On the flags there are mantras and passages from the scriptures in small handwriting. The colors of the flags also have a certain meaning: yellow represent the earth, green - water, red - fire, white - air, blue - space. The structure depicts the eyes, which symbolize the all-seeing gaze of the Buddha. Around the stupa, there are souvenir shops and restaurants close to each other.
Promotional video:
There are several legends associated with this Buddhist stupa. The first tells the story of a simple and poor, but resourceful woman who was expelled from paradise and who wanted to build a Stupa in honor of the Buddha as an apology for her wrongdoing. She came to the Rajah and asked for land for her. But when the raja found out how much money the woman had, he allowed her to take as much land as a buffalo skin could cover. Then the resourceful woman cut the buffalo skin into many thin strips, tied them together in one large ribbon and measured out a large area of land with it for the future stupa. Rajah. Surprisingly, he did not give up his words and gave her all the measured land.
According to the second legend, the stupa was built by Raja Mandeva from the Licchavi dynasty. During the time when his father occupied the throne, a severe drought struck in Nepal. Due to the lack of rain, the people lost their crops for the whole year, hunger, water shortages, and disease began. Then Mandeva's father decided on the sacrifice. Since it was necessary to sacrifice a person, the Raja decided to become this sacrifice himself. He fraudulently chose his son as the executor. So it turned out that Mandeva himself, unwillingly, had committed a very serious sin. To atone for such a sin, he was advised to build a stupa for the Buddha. The construction lasted for twelve long years. And all this time the drought continued in the country, so water collected in the form of dew had to be used to mix the solution. The moment the Bodnath stupa was completed, the long-awaited rain fell,and the dry springs clogged with the same force.
