Introduction To Kirtipur

Kirtipur is an ancient city in Nepal, small but one of the five municipalities of Kathmandu valley and an old settlement on a double hillock in the southwest of Kathmandu, located at 27o 38’37” to 27o 41’ 36”N and 85o 14’ 64” to 85o 18’ 00”E.

Etymology

The name Kirtipur comes from “Kirti” (Glory) and “pur” (city). It is also said that once a queen named 'Kirti' ruled over this place so, it might have been named after same queen since 'pur' means city, and it states Kirtipur means city of 'Kirti'. In its native language, it is called as “Kipu” or “Kapyu” carrying meaning of “famed town”.

This city of glory is inhabited and also dominated by Newars which are the earliest settlers in the Valley with their own language and  cultural norms and values.Originally a Newari foundation, it is no doubt that Kirtipur is still a centre of Newari culture. However now a days people of different casts and religion stay in this place.

It was established in the 12th century as an outpost of Patan, which later became an independent kingdom for short time period. This historical town has many cultural, natural, historical and religious things to see such as old shrines and temples and people dressed in traditional costumes while working on ancient looms.The city is rich in cultural and religious heritages, being an oldest settlement in the valley. The majority of these sites are concentrated in the old core areas like Kirtipur, Panga and Chovar area, with some scattered around Salyanthan, Kauniachaur, and GodamChaur. The most significant cultural and religious sites are the Bagh Bhairab Complex, Chilancho Vihar, Uma Maheswor temple, Nagara Mandapa Kirti Bihar, Adinath temple, Jal Vinayak temple, Macchenarayan temple, Gumbas, and many more Buddhist monasteries, Sattals (Pilgrim’s houses), pagodas and temples, Patis (raised platforms for pilgrims) and Chaityas (small stupas) are found in each settlement. These sites have great cultural, religious and historical consequences and provide one of the potentials for tourism development of the city.

Taudaha Lake is another major attraction having cultural significance. Legend says that the lake was created by Manjushree to provide home for the Nags (snakes) that lived in the lake/water covered Kathmandu Valley before it was drained through the Chovar gorge. The lake is important as a source of water for the nearby people. In every Nag Panchami, there are huge crowd of the pilgrims to worship Nags (Snakes).

In addition to the old shrines, a number of new monasteries have been built in the city. The Nagara Mandapa Kirti Vihar in Nayabazzar (a Thai-style Theravada temple), Vihar of Chovar near Adinath temple and Kagyu Buddhism Institute (Buddhist Gumba near Kirtipur Municipality, Devdhoka) and other different monasteries and gumbas, stupas etc.

Though, Kirtipur city is the nearest city of the Kathmandu and oldest historical town, tourism industry has given little attention towards the city. The city is one of the safest places in term of environment point of view as well with compare to other cities and places of the valley. The existence of Tribhuvan University adds extra attraction for the students from all over the country. The majority of the population of the city is the Newars, since the settlement began. The cultures, arts, lifestyles and architecture of these ethnic people catch the tourists’ mind at any cost. There are lots of potentialities in terms of religious tourism in Kirtipur. But it is lacking at the back as compare to other historical cities in the valley.

Recently, there are different tourism promotion activities in city in order to grab large mass of internal and international tourists like establishment of Newa Lahana, an open museum with newari foods, organizing different cultural functions, launching local TV channels named Kirtipur TV channel and FM stations etc. These directly and indirectly help in promotion of tourism in Kirtipur. But still there is no tourism information center and municipality should think about promotion of religious tourism and integration of it with other tourism packages. For that Municipality should identify and select potential sites for religious tourism, organize exploration trip to different media partners, NTB representatives, organize trainings, workshops, and development tourism packages. Formation of Kirtipur Tourism Development Committee and Chovar Tourism Development Committee are good sign of its promotion in Kirtipur. But these organizations should work together and development joint plan for promotion of tourism covering whole Kirtipur area. There are huge prospects for development of tourism in Kirtipur. So, we Kirtipures have to grab these prospects and convert them into reality. This is right time to grabs the opportunities to development religious tourism, as government of Nepal is launching Tourism year 2011.

Many places have their own identity with their natural, cultural and historical values. Kirtipur town is one of such settlement within the valley and indeed the close ones from the main Kathmandu city, but still remained isolated and unexplored and far from the reach of tourism activities. Spreading 14 hectares of land, Kirtipur is located 7 km apart from the center of Kathmandu. Kirtipur is known as "a glorious town" in nepali dialects. It is an ancient town, having remarkable historical values and ethics, which can be called a living, open museum of religion, cultures, traditions and glorious work of Newari arts, crafts and architecture. With majority of Newari community, the city houses about 43.000 people in 10101 households approximately according to the data of year 2005.

The town is famous due to its important moments in Nepalese history. In addition to its historic importance, it is also important from the artistic and beautiful scenic point of view. Some of the finest and important temples – Bagh Bhairab, Uma Maheshwor, Adinath temple, Jal Binayak, Macchhenarayan, Dakshinkali; Caves, Chaityas and Stupas of valley are scattered throughout the typically built Newari City. This newari town is the hub of festivals and religious ceremonies (Jatras) and Buddhist Vihars and Gumbas like Kriti Bihar, Kagyu Institute, Sulakshan Vihar, surrounded by stone sculptures, masterpieces of Nepalese art and shrines.

This city is not apart from natural and agricultural beatifications. Looking down from its natural and agricultural order it has lots of the natural sceneries like Taudaha, Puspa lal park, beautiful agricultural landscapes from surrounding hills.