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The tumultuous street heading north from Indrachowk is the direct route to Thamel, but the old Tibet road continues diagonally to the small square of Kel Tol and the seventeenth-century temple of Seto (or Sweta) Machhendranath , one of two main shrines to the protector god of the Kathmandu Valley. Like his "red" cousin in Patan, "White" Machhendranath is feted in a great chariot festival during the month of Chaitra (March-April). Newars know this god as Karunamaya Lokeshwar, the boddhisattva of compassion, while Tibetans consider him Jowo Dzamling Karmo, White Lord of the World. Yet another name, Jama-dyo , traces back to a legend in which the white mask of Machhendranath was stolen by marauders from the west during ancient times. The invading king's family is said to have been afflicted with incurable diseases for six generations, until one of them took the idol back to Kathmandu and buried it in a field near what is now Durbar Marg. When a farmer rediscovered the image in the fifteenth century, it was immediately hailed as Jama-dyo - God of Jamal - and installed in this location, which is accordingly known as Jamal (or Jana) Bahal . The entrance to the well-concealed courtyard is a gate at the west side of Kel Tol. Among the many votive chaityas and figures can be seen a weathered old stone figure of Amitabha (one of the panchabuddha, the five personifications of Buddhahood), a Victorian bronze statue converted into an incense holder, three Tara figures on pillars, and the Kanaka Chaitya, a Lichhavi-era stone hemisphere that was the original centrepiece of this bahal before Machhendranath stole the show. The main temple features some beautiful gilt-copper repousse work on the outside, but an iron grille, installed to thwart temple thieves, robs it of its aesthetic appeal. This kind of precaution is still unusual in Nepal, a country whose artistic riches are all the more remarkable for being so public. Unfortunately, the risk of theft, driven by demand from Western collectors, has made it necessary here.
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