Story of the Budanilkantha God & Temple
The Budhanilkantha statue of the Hindu god Vishnu, located approximately 10 kilometers from the center of Kathmandu at the base of the Shivapuri Hill, is the major and most beautiful stone carving in all of Nepal. It is additionally the most enigmatic.
Engraved from a single stop of black basalt natural stone of unknown origin, the Budhanilkantha statue is 5 meters in length and it is based on a reclining position within a recessed tank of normal water (representing the cosmic sea) that is 13 metres in length. Called the Sleeping Vishnu, or Jalakshayan Narayan, the statue represents the deity reclining on the twisting coils of the cosmic serpent Shesha (Shesha is the timeless, multi-headed king of the serpent deities known as Nagas, and also is the servant of Vishnu). Vishnu's legs are entered and the eleven minds of Shesha cradle his head. Vishnu's four hands hold objects that are symbols of his bright qualities: a chakra or disc (representing the mind), a conch-shell (the four elements), a lotus bloom (the moving universe) and the club (primeval knowledge).
Budhanilkantha literally means "old blue-throat' and how it got that name is fascinating, as explained by the superb Rough Guide to Nepal:
"Budhanilkatha's name has been a source of endless confusion. It has nothing to do with the Buddha (budha means "old", though that does not stop Buddhist Newars - a particular sect of Nepalese Buddhists - from worshipping the image). The real puzzler is why Budhanilkantha (literally "Old Blue Throat"), a title which definitely refers to Shiva, has been attached here to Vishnu. The myth of Shiva's blue throat, a well liked in Nepal, relates the way the gods churned the ocean of presence and inadvertently unleashed a poison that threatened to destroy the earth. They will begged Shiva in order to save them from their blunder and he obliged by having the poison. His neck burning, the great god flew up to the range north of Kathmandu, struck the mountainside with his trident to create a lake, Gosainkund, and quenched his thirst - suffering no lasting in poor health effect apart from a green patch in the can range f. The water in the Sleeping Vishnu's tank is popularly believed to start in Gosainkund, and Shaivas claim a reclining image of Shiva can be seen under the marine environments of the lake throughout the gross annual Shiva festival there in August, which perhaps explains the association. Native legend maintains that a mirror-like statue of Shiva lies on the statue's underside. inches
Two old stories offer differing answers of the foundation of the Budhanilkantha statue. One particular says that the porcelain figurine was sculpted and helped bring (by devotees or pressured labor) to its current location in Kathmandu during the reign of the seventh-century monarch Vishnugupta, who manipulated the Kathmandu vly under the Licchavi california king Bhimarjunadev.
Engraved from a single stop of black basalt natural stone of unknown origin, the Budhanilkantha statue is 5 meters in length and it is based on a reclining position within a recessed tank of normal water (representing the cosmic sea) that is 13 metres in length. Called the Sleeping Vishnu, or Jalakshayan Narayan, the statue represents the deity reclining on the twisting coils of the cosmic serpent Shesha (Shesha is the timeless, multi-headed king of the serpent deities known as Nagas, and also is the servant of Vishnu). Vishnu's legs are entered and the eleven minds of Shesha cradle his head. Vishnu's four hands hold objects that are symbols of his bright qualities: a chakra or disc (representing the mind), a conch-shell (the four elements), a lotus bloom (the moving universe) and the club (primeval knowledge).
Budhanilkantha literally means "old blue-throat' and how it got that name is fascinating, as explained by the superb Rough Guide to Nepal:
"Budhanilkatha's name has been a source of endless confusion. It has nothing to do with the Buddha (budha means "old", though that does not stop Buddhist Newars - a particular sect of Nepalese Buddhists - from worshipping the image). The real puzzler is why Budhanilkantha (literally "Old Blue Throat"), a title which definitely refers to Shiva, has been attached here to Vishnu. The myth of Shiva's blue throat, a well liked in Nepal, relates the way the gods churned the ocean of presence and inadvertently unleashed a poison that threatened to destroy the earth. They will begged Shiva in order to save them from their blunder and he obliged by having the poison. His neck burning, the great god flew up to the range north of Kathmandu, struck the mountainside with his trident to create a lake, Gosainkund, and quenched his thirst - suffering no lasting in poor health effect apart from a green patch in the can range f. The water in the Sleeping Vishnu's tank is popularly believed to start in Gosainkund, and Shaivas claim a reclining image of Shiva can be seen under the marine environments of the lake throughout the gross annual Shiva festival there in August, which perhaps explains the association. Native legend maintains that a mirror-like statue of Shiva lies on the statue's underside. inches
Two old stories offer differing answers of the foundation of the Budhanilkantha statue. One particular says that the porcelain figurine was sculpted and helped bring (by devotees or pressured labor) to its current location in Kathmandu during the reign of the seventh-century monarch Vishnugupta, who manipulated the Kathmandu vly under the Licchavi california king Bhimarjunadev.
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