Page:Picturesque Nepal.djvu/163

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been validated.
CHANGU-NARAIN
95

the Hindu temple on these Himalayan heights, and that summons to the evening service floating over the meadows in England—a touch of nature which makes the whole world kin.

"Ave Maria, blessed be the hour,
 The time, the clime, the spot where I so oft
 Have felt that moment in its fullest power
 Sink o'er the earth so beautiful and soft,
 While swung the deep bell in the distant tower,
 Or the faint dying day hymn stole aloft,
 And not a breath crept through the rosy air,
 And yet the forest leaves seem'd stirr'd with prayer."

Changu-Narain is one of four small hamlets, each containing a shrine sacred to the deity Narain. This divinity is a representative of Vishnu, the Preserver, who is one of the three personal manifestations of the Spiritual Being, Brahma. These shrines are situated in different parts of the valley, and to visit all four in one day is a religious feat often performed, although it necessitates a circuit from Katmandu of 44 miles. The particular shrine at Changu is the most popular, and also the most wealthy. Kirkpatrick stated in 1793 that "the interior of this temple is only