Changunarayan Temple

Changunarayan stands on a wooded hill north of Bhaktapur and is generally held to be the oldest Hindu temple still in use in the Kathmandu Valley. A stone pillar in the courtyard carries an inscription dated 464 CE recording a gift by King Manadeva - the earliest dated inscription anywhere in Nepal, and the point from which the country's written history effectively begins. The temple is dedicated to Vishnu, and the sculpture around it is the reason to make the trip rather than the building itself: Vishnu as Vishwaroop, in his universal form; Vishnu as Narsingha, disembowelling the demon Hiranyakashipu; Vishnu astride Garuda; and a kneeling Garuda figure before the entrance that is thought to date from the fifth century. The struts, doorframes and metalwork are worked to a standard that later temples in the valley rarely matched. There is a small living museum in the village beside it, and the whole site sees a fraction of the visitors the durbar squares do. It combines naturally with the ridge walk down from Nagarkot, which ends here, or with an afternoon in Bhaktapur below.