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Once-proud KIRTIPUR ("City of Glory") occupies a long, low battleship of a ridge 5km southwest of Kathmandu. An historic stronghold commanding a panoramic view of the valley, the well-preserved old town is vehicle-free and great for wandering. However, its unpaved, narrow lanes and mainly low-income families seem out of place so close to the prosperous capital, and in recent years it has been singled out by some tour companies as an example of picturesque poverty. It's the kind of place that may make you question your own motives for coming to Nepal. Established as a western outpost of Patan in the twelfth century, Kirtipur had gained nominal independence by the time Prithvi Narayan Shah began his final conquest of the Kathmandu Valley in 1767. The Gorkha king, who had himself been born and raised in a hilltop fortress, considered Kirtipur the strategic linchpin of the valley and made its capture his first priority. After two separate attacks and a six-month siege, with no help forthcoming from Patan, Kirtipur surrendered on the understanding it would receive a total amnesty. Instead, in an atrocity intended to demoralize the remaining opposition in the valley, Prithvi Shah ordered his troops to cut off the noses and lips of every man and boy in Kirtipur. "This order was carried out in the most exact way," wrote the early twentieth-century traveller Percival Landon, "and it adds rather than detracts from the savagery of the conqueror that the only persons spared were men who were skilled in playing wind instruments. The grim statistic is added that the weight of the noses and lips that were brought to Prithvi Narayan in proof that his order had been obeyed amounted to no less than eighty pounds." The rest of the valley fell within a year. Kirtipur's residents haven't forgotten that episode, and to this day they don't allow the king and queen of Nepal to enter their town. Kirtipur's hilltop position, once a strategic asset, has proved a serious handicap to development. The town has responded by shifting essentially all of its commerce to Naya Bazaar (New Market) at the southern base of the hill, which is why the upper town is so neglected. Many residents of the old town are Jyapus (members of the Newar farming subcaste), who work the fields below and in spring and autumn haul their sheaves up and thresh the grain in the narrow streets. Others, whose land was appropriated for the building of Tribhuwan University (Nepal's largest, with more than 5000 students), now commute to jobs in Kathmandu or produce handicrafts behind closed doors. Frequent minibuses run from the City Bus Park to a point just short of Naya Bazaar, from where it's a ten-minute walk up to the village. Cycling to Kirtipur is not a great experience, but a bike would be a good thing to have for exploring the more rural countryside beyond. The main way there is via Tribhuwan University, on the Dakshin Kali road (turn right at the red-brick gate and take the left fork another 1km later). Other paths lead to Kirtipur from the Prithvi (Kathmandu-Pokhara) Highway, the Ring Road and Chobar. For food , you can't expect much more than samosas or chow mein in Naya Bazaar.
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