Banepa

Banepa sits at about 1,500 m on the Arniko Highway, roughly 25 km east of Kathmandu, at the western end of the Banepa valley. Most travellers pass through it on the way to Dhulikhel or Namo Buddha without stopping, which is a fair reflection of how the modern highway strip looks and a poor reflection of what is behind it.

The name is the history

Bane is trade and pa is place: Banepa is the place of business. Its older names — Bhonta, Bhon dey — carry the same freight from the other direction, marking it as the town on the Tibet trade route. Goods moving between the Kathmandu Valley and Kodari passed through here, and the Newar merchant families who handled that traffic built what survives.

Ananda Malla's eight gates

The founding story, told locally and repeated on every signboard, is that King Ananda Malla gathered the scattered settlements into a single walled town of eight gates, each with a Ganesh — which is why Banepa is still known as the town of eight Ganesh, and why it counts eight ponds as well. The same tradition credits him with endowing Chandeshwori and, on the goddess's instruction, founding the Sat Gaun, the seven towns of the Banepa valley — a grouping the surrounding settlements (Nala, Sanga, Panauti, Dhulikhel, Chaukot, Shreekhandapur among them) are still spoken of through, though the roster you are given depends on who is telling it. It is legend rather than record, but it is the frame the whole valley is understood through.

The Mallas of Banepa

Banepa was firmly inside the realm of Yaksha Malla (r. 1428–1482). When he divided his kingdom among his heirs, Banepa went to his son Rana Malla as a kingdom in its own right — briefly making this town a capital. Rana Malla died without an heir and Banepa reverted to Bhaktapur, which is why its architecture reads as a satellite of Bhaktapur's rather than a tradition of its own.

What to actually see

• Chandeshwori Temple — a kilometre north-east along the Punyamata, three tiers, with the huge repainted Bhairava on the west wall. This is the reason to stop.
• The old bazaar lanes south of the highway — brick, carved windows, courtyards, and a working market rather than a preserved one.
• Dhaneshwor — a Shiva temple about a kilometre south of town.
• Chandeshwori Jatra — three days from Baisakh Purnima, chariot procession through the old streets. See the festival page.

Base or waypoint

Banepa is the junction, not usually the bed: Dhulikhel is 4 km on and has the hotels and the mountain views. But Banepa is where the local buses fan out — Nala 3 km north-west, Panauti 6 km south, Palanchowk Bhagwati 15 km east, Namo Buddha south beyond Panauti. If you are doing the Kavre temples by public transport, you will change here more than once.

Getting there

Buses and microbuses run constantly from Koteshwor and the Old Bus Park in Kathmandu, an hour to ninety minutes depending on Bhaktapur traffic. Any eastbound Arniko Highway vehicle passes the door.

When to go

Autumn and winter are clear and comfortable. Spring is warm and hazy but carries the jatra, which is the single best reason to time a visit. The monsoon is green and quiet and the old lanes take rain well.