While Durbar Square is a tourist destination, Taumadhi Tole or Temple Square is a local destination. This square has shops and traffic, along with several interesting temples.
You can’t miss the five-tiered Nyatapola Temple; it’s the tallest in all of Nepal. Built in 1702 during the reign of King Bhupatindra Malla, it sustained little damage during the 1934 earthquake.
Nyatapola Temple
Like other temples in Bhaktapur, the stairway is flanked by a series of guardians.
Guardians of the Nyatapola Temple
The figures at the bottom of the stairway are the legendary Rajput wrestlers Jayamel and Phattu, but I don’t know which is which.
Jayamel or Phattu?
Then there are elephants,
Elephant guardian of Nyatapola Temple
lions, goddesses, and beaked griffons with rams’ horns.
Griffon guardian
The far less showy temple to Bhairab sits along the side of the square. This three-story rectangularly-shaped temple started out simple enough with one story in the 17th century. A second was added in 1717 and a third when the temple was rebuilt after the 1934 earthquake. Bhairab has only two small lion guardians, but they are brass instead of the usual stone.
Bhairabnath Temple, Bhaktapur
Bhaktapur’s annual New Year’s festival–Bisket Jatra–is celebrated in the Taumadhi Tole in mid-April. Since I was visiting on March 29, preparations had already begun, and the reassembly of the chariot of Bhairab was nearing completion. You can see a few pieces still laying in front of the Nyatapola Temple in one of the above photos.
Chariot of Bhairab used in Bisket Jatra, a New Year's festival
During the festival, men pull the chariot through the streets and use it for a tug of war between the eastern and western sectors of the town.