KVPT

Standing at the center of Patan's Darbar Square, the crumbling brick and plaster structure of the Narasingha Temple (1563) may be the earliest surviving example of a massive sikhara temple in the Kathmandu Valley. Sikhara temples (Sanskrit for mountain or Summit) recall this natural form to house a religious icon in the cave-like sanctuary beneath the mountain of decorative masonry. Examples of this architectural type in Nepal were generally constructed in the 18th-19th centuries as royal donations alongside the indigenous pagoda forms, while miniature examples in stone surviving from the country's earliest urban development (7-9th centuries). The Narasingha Temple, dated by an intact inscription, is the only early full-sized example and notably predates the ambitious building program of King Siddhanarasimha

(r. 1623-76) who reshaped the historic square in much the configuration one sees today.

The building, so key to one of the great urban ensembles of Asia and Nepal's most significant historic urban space, is sadly threatened by damage to its masonry structure due to lack of maintenance over the

years. Monsoon rains have penetrated into the structural core of the building and are causing significant deformation.

The form of the central masonry tower or sikhar is elaborated by four towered porches in each of the cardinal directions. Each porch consists of bell shaped tower engaged with the central tower and supported by stone columns on the outer edge. A door to the central sanctuary is located in each porch; dominative openings with colonnettes and torana punctuate three sides of each porch superstructure. These compositions are built of terracotta elements. Stone pinnacles top the porches. The central tower metal pinnacle imitates the traditional mirror, Newari: jowla nhyaka, a variation on the typical bell-shaped gajura.