Mahalaxmi Temple, Thankot

The temple in its present pagoda form is generally dated to around 1690, placing it in the late Malla period, when the three valley kingdoms of Kathmandu, Patan and Bhaktapur were competing in temple building. The two-tiered roof, the brick and timber construction and the carved struts holding the eaves are all standard vocabulary of that period.

The site is older than the building. Inscriptions of the Licchavi period and of the medieval centuries survive in and around the precinct, which is the strongest available evidence that this has been a place of worship far longer than the current structure has stood. Nepali scholars have used these stones as source material for the settlement history of the western valley rim.

Local accounts connect the site to the older name for the settlement, Shonitapur, the town of blood, from the legend recorded in the vamshavali chronicle tradition. That connection is legend rather than documented history, and we treat it as such: the Shonitapur chronicle page sets out what the tradition says and what the record can actually support.

The compound is small and easy to miss if you walk through it quickly. Four things repay a slower look.

• The roof struts. The angled timbers that carry the eaves are carved with deities and supporting figures, cut from single pieces of hardwood. Look at how the carving continues onto surfaces that are barely visible from the ground.
• The stone inscriptions. Set into walls and free-standing slabs around the precinct, in Sanskrit and old Nepali script. You will not read them without training, but their presence is the temple's documentary record.
• The metalwork. The torana over the sanctum door, the bells, and the repousse work on the doorframe.
• The bazaar around it. The lanes on the temple's flanks still hold brick houses with carved windows and low shopfronts. This is the surviving Newar core of Thankot.

Thankot's main festival is the Mahalaxmi Jatra, held around Kartik Purnima, the full moon of the month of Kartik, which normally falls in November or early December. The date moves with the lunar calendar, so check a current patro before travelling for it.

The core of the jatra is a chariot procession. Wooden chariots carrying Mahalaxmi, Ganesh and Bhairab are pulled by hand through the lanes of the old town over several days, accompanied by the panche baja, the five-instrument ensemble of shawm, drums and cymbals that leads Newar processions. Masked dancers appear in some years.

A separate Sindur Jatra, the vermilion festival, is also observed here, with red powder thrown over the crowd and the chariots. If you attend, wear clothes you do not mind ruining and keep a camera bagged.

Practical points for the jatra: the lanes are narrow and get very tight, the procession runs on its own schedule rather than a published one, and the best vantage points are the upper windows of houses along the route, which are for the families who live there. Stand where the locals stand, follow the crowd rather than pushing through it, and ask before photographing anyone carrying the chariot.

• Shoes off before the shrine platform, as at any Newar pagoda.
• Leather belts and bags are conventionally left with the shoes.
• The inner sanctum is for worshippers. Non-Hindu visitors are welcome in the courtyard; do not step into the sanctum itself.
• Photography of the building and the courtyard is fine. Photographing puja in progress, or the image of the goddess in the sanctum, is not. During the jatra, ask before photographing individuals.
• Dress covered shoulders and knees. This is a residential neighbourhood as much as a monument.
• Offerings. Flower and sindur trays are sold nearby. Small notes in the tray are the norm.

Thirty minutes covers the temple properly. An hour lets you walk the surrounding lanes and stop for tea, which is the better use of the visit: the town around the temple is the point, and it is not visible from the highway.

The Mahalaxmi temple pairs naturally with the Thankot checkpoint and western gateway, ten minutes away on foot, and with Tribhuvan Park, about a kilometre further. Most visitors combine the temple with the cable car and treat it as the half hour before or after the ride, which works well because both start from the same part of town.

The temple is in the old core of Thankot, a short walk north of the Tribhuvan Highway checkpoint.

• By bus or micro: anything running west from Kalanki towards Thankot or Naubise. Get down at the Thankot checkpoint and walk into the old bazaar; the pagoda roofs are visible from the lanes.
• By taxi: ask for Thankot Mahalaxmi Mandir rather than Thankot alone, which drivers will read as the highway junction.
• On foot from the cable car: the base station is roughly 1 km away, so the temple is an easy add-on either side of the ride.

Parking in the old lanes is difficult. Leave a vehicle near the highway and walk the last few hundred metres.