Sundari Chowk / Tusa Hiti

Sundari Chowk is one of the three principal courtyards of Patan's royal palace, set just inside the Patan Durbar Square complex. Its name means the 'beautiful courtyard', and the title is earned by the jewel at its centre: Tusa Hiti (also written Tusha Hiti), a sunken royal bath carved with a dense world of deities, serpents, makaras, guardians, and ritual water imagery.

The courtyard is closely associated with King Siddhi Narsingh Malla, the 17th-century Patan ruler whose reign produced some of the square's finest monuments. Tusa Hiti is generally dated to around 1647 and is understood as part of his palace programme: a royal water structure, ritual bath, and sculptural mandala built into the heart of the palace rather than a public street fountain.

Unlike Patan's temple row, Sundari Chowk draws the visitor inward. The brick courtyard walls, carved windows, and stepped descent into the bath create a controlled royal space where water, kingship, and tantric Hindu-Buddhist imagery meet. The hiti's spout and surrounding reliefs reward slow viewing: this is not a large monument, but its carving density makes it one of the most refined pieces of Malla-period stonework in the valley.

For Step 4's builder pages, Sundari Chowk / Tusa Hiti should be treated as a direct Siddhi Narsingh Malla node, alongside Krishna Mandir, Vishwanath Temple, and Bhandarkhal. It also helps explain why Patan Durbar Square is more than its exterior temple row: the palace courtyards preserve the private ceremonial world of the Malla court.

Visitors normally encounter Sundari Chowk through the Patan Museum and palace-courtyard route. Pair it with nearby Mul Chowk, Keshav Narayan Chowk, Krishna Mandir, Vishwanath Temple, and Bhandarkhal Pokhari for a focused walk through Siddhi Narsingh Malla's Patan.