The outer courtyard

The most iconic part of Nautalle Darbar in Kathmandu is perhaps the triple-roofed pagoda which towers over its courtyard and looms over the rest of the Darbar square. There are two storeys under each roof, and the whole thing stands over a three storeyed structure, making the nine storeys referred to in its name. The tower had collapsed in the earthquake of 2015 but has been restored. From earlier accounts by travellers, including my ancient copy of Lonely Planet Nepal (how did I ever acquire that?) you could once climb the tower. Not any more. At least not while large parts of the palace are still under repair.

The doorway through which you enter is still under repair. But as soon as you cross the outer doorway you have the interesting sight of a sentry in ceremonial uniform with a bayonet fixed to his rifle standing guard next to an old granite sculpture of the Narasimha avatar of Vishnu eviscerating Hiranyakshipu. Struts and scaffolds surrounded the two. Stone sculpture seems to be an older tradition in the region, which seems to have largely fallen out of use by the 18th century, when the palace was built.

But after this there is a large courtyard. So large, in fact, that it first looks very bare. But when you walk across it and look at the beautiful wooden structures embedded into the bare fired brick walls you realize that it is an astonishing display of wealth and artistry. The windows are elaborately carved, so are all the wooden struts below the jutting roof. I’ve written earlier about the structural use of the sculpted wooden snakes that run across the building. In the gallery above you see a beautiful carving of Vishnu at the joint between two such horizontal Naga beams.

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The doors and doorways are also quite remarkable. Atop every doorway is set a little image of a god, most often Ganesh or Lakshmi. They are common symbols across the country, and major gods on their own, but in the mythology of Shakti that permeates Kathmandu’s native Newa culture, they are the children of Durga. The woodwork is stained the colour of brick. But where it has weathered away you can see the dark colour of the cured wood below. In spite of the decorative elements, traditional Newa art and architecture is austere in a way. There is no plaster or paint over the bricks, no lacquer or polish over wood.