click dharan

Dharan, Nepal

Dharan is a major town in Eastern
Nepal, in the
Sunsari
district, at the foot of the hills at the edge of the
Terai. It
serves as a major trading centre for the hill region, although situated on the
plains. It was once the location of a British
Gurkha
recruitment centre, opened in 1953. It closed in the last decade, and the only
remaining centre is in the town of
Pokhara,
west of
Kathmandu.

Dharan is homeland of the
Kiranti
people (Rai & Limbu); however, other peoples like Newar, Brahman, Chetris,
Tamang, etc., can be found here, making Dharan a multi-lingual community with
different languages and various dialects spoken. However,

Nepali is the official and common language. Because of the multi-racial
structure, Dharan has been the meeting point of different cultures, with
Hindu,
Buddhist,
Christian
and Muslim
groups all present.

 

Kathmandu

Kathmandu
A street in Kathmandu.

Kathmandu (Nepali:
काठमाडौं,

Nepal Bhasa: यें) is the

capital city of
Nepal and it is also the largest city in Nepal. It stands at an elevation
of approximately 4,265 ft (1,300 m). It is an urban and suburban area of about
1.5 million inhabitants in the tri-city area in the

Kathmandu Valley in central Nepal, along the
Bagmati River.
The two other cities are
Patan
and
Bhaktapur. Kathmandu is located at

27°43′N 85°22′E (27.71667, 85.36667).

[1]

History

The Kathmandu Valley may have been inhabited as early as
900 BC, but
the oldest known objects in the valley date to a few hundred years BC. The
earliest known inscription is dated 185 AD. The oldest firmly dated building
in the earthquake-prone valley is almost 1,000 years old. It is said that the

Buddha and his disciples spent some time in the area of present-day Patan
in the
6^th
century BC, although there is no evidence for this. Four
stupas around
the city of Patan said to have been erected by Charumati, daughter of

Ashoka the Great, a
Mauryan
king, in the
3^rd
century BC attest to the ancient history present within the valley. As
with the tales of the Buddha's visit, there is no evidence supporting Ashoka's
visit, but the stupas probably do date to that century. The
Kirats are
the first documented rulers of the Kathmandu Valley, the remains of their
palace are said to be in Patan near

Hiranyavarna Mahavihara (called "Patukodon"). The
Licchavi
Dynasty whose earliest inscriptions date back to
464 AD were the
next rulers of the valley and had close ties with the

Gupta Dynasty of
India. The

Malla Dynasty ruled Kathmandu from the
12^th
century till the
17^th
century when the

Shah Dynasty under

Prithvi Narayan Shah conquered the valley as he created present-day Nepal.
Most of ancient

Nepalese architecture present in Kathmandu today is from the Malla era.

The temple of

Pashupatinath.

The city of Kathmandu is named after a structure in Durbar Square called
Kaasthamandap. In
Sanskrit,
Kaasth (काष्ठ) = "wood" and
Mandap (मंडप/मण्डप) = "covered
shelter." This unique temple, also known as Maru Satal, was built in
1596 A.D. by King

Laxmi Narsingh Malla. The entire structure contains no iron nails or
supports and is made entirely from wood. Legend has it that the timber used
for this two story pagoda was obtained from a single tree.

Kathmandu is also sometimes called "Kantipur".

 

 Present

The Kathmandu Valley consists of three primary cities - Kathmandu itself,
Patan (south of the Bagmati River), and Bhaktapur. Patan and Kathmandu run up
right against each other (again, separated only by the river), whilst
Bhaktapur is set off much closer to the eastern foothills. A lot of foreigners
live in Patan, as that is where the relief agencies tend to be headquartered.

Bhimsen Tower of Kathmandu

Kathmandu itself is home to most of the embassies, businesses, and the
palace. The King's Palace (a large newly-pink building) stands right next to
Thamel - the
main tourist center. (Thamel consists of two parallel streets just to the west
of the palace. It is home to lots of hotels, such as the Kathmandu Guest
House, and lots of "hole in the wall" type establishments where backpackers
tend to stay.) The palace is at the head of Durbar Marg, a street lined with
various shops.

Kathmandu itself only recently began to name its streets. Until that time,
most residences and buildings were located by general areas.

The "old" city is noted for its many
Buddhist
and Hindu
temples and palaces, most dating from the 17^th century. Many of
these landmarks have been damaged by

earthquakes and pollution. This valley hosts an
UNESCO

World Heritage Sites composed by seven different Monument Zones: The
centers of the three primary cities, Kathmandu Hanuman Dhoka, Patan and
Bhaktapur, the two most important Buddhist stupas,

Swayambhunath and

Boudhanath and two famous Hindu shrines,

Pashupatinath temple and

Changu Narayan. Since
2003 the site has
been inscribed in the

World Heritage List as being "in danger" out of concern for the ongoing
loss of authenticity and the outstanding universal value of the cultural
property.

Kathmandu has been popular with western tourists since the
1960s when it
became a key stop on the

hippie trail. It is also the subject of a popular
Bob Seger
song for the same reason.

It is the most densely populated city in Nepal. The main and original
dwellers of the Kathmandu Valley are Newars.

 

 Air pollution in Kathmandu

Air pollution in Kathmandu

Uncontrolled housing growth in Kathmandu

The Kathmandu metropolitan area suffers from increasingly dangerous levels
of
air pollution. The
Himalayan
range to the north and

Mahabharat range to the south form a barrier around the Kathmandu valley
that inhibits suspended

particulate matter from being dispersed outside the valley. The result is
seasonal spikes in suspended particulate matter approaching levels of heavy
industrial zones in other nations.

Simply put, the basic physical setting of Kathmandu influences air
pollution concentrations, and does so particularly in winter months, where
there are normal mountain-valley circulations that affect air pollution
movement. During the winter, air pollution is carried out of the Kathmandu
Valley during the day then mountain breezes force pollution to return to the
valley at night. This results in a highly elevated level of suspended
particulates during night time hours.

At present the PM10 (particles that are 10

micrometre in size and could easily enter human body through inhalation)
level in Kathmandu is 148 micrograms per cubic metre on average, and 198 in
the central business district of Kathmandu. This is significantly higher than
international standard of around 72 micrograms per cubic metre.

The PM10 levels in Kathmandu have seen a threefold increase in the last
decade. The pollution level in Kathmandu during winter months is now
comparable to some of the most polluted cities in the world and mirrors that
of Seoul,
South
Korea during the early
1980s while
that nation was rapidly

industrializing.

Unlike Seoul, however, Nepal has never experienced industrialization of any
significance and suffers from extreme level of poverty coupled with civil
unrests. The major sources of air pollution in Kathmandu are

vehicle emissions, and the effluvium from numerous unregulated brick
kilns scattered
across the Kathamndu region.

 

Gallery

The palace in the Kathmandu Durbar Square.	Small stupa in Kathmandu	Bhairava sculpture, market place. Compare 1920 picture at right.	A view of Kathmandu from 1920. An image of Bhairava in the background.
Stone carving in Kathmandu street	View over Kathmandu	Hashish-shop 1973 (pre-prohibition)	A seller warming himself up in Durbar Square, Kathmandu, Nepal (pre-prohibition)
Bauddhanath Temple in Kathmandu, Nepal	Pashupatinath temple in Kathmandu, Nepal	Pashupatinath temple in Kathmandu, Nepal	Dead-burning ceremony by the river Bagmati, Kathmandu, Nepal