Suryabinayak Temple

Suryabinayak stands on a wooded hillside just south of Bhaktapur, the easternmost of the Ganesh shrines pilgrims fold into the valley's Char Binayak (Four Vinayak) circuit — and, by local reckoning, the eldest among them. Its name binds surya (sun) to Vinayak: it is believed that the first ray of the rising sun falls directly on the feet of the image, a daily meeting of the sun and Ganesh.

A well-loved legend explains the hill itself. When Hanuman carried the Sanjivani mountain of healing herbs during the Ramayana, a fragment is said to have broken off and fallen here — which is why the slope is still held to be thick with medicinal plants. The Ganesh here is a small image set into the earth rather than raised on a plinth, with a stone mushak (Ganesh's mouse mount) before it and a shrine to Shiva and Parvati, his parents, alongside. Parents of children who are late to speak, or cannot speak at all, bring them here in the belief that the god will loosen their tongues.

The temple is built into the hillside above a forested community reserve, reached by a stair through the trees and rewarded with long views over Bhaktapur. Its origins are disputed — tradition traces it to the Lichhavi era, while the surviving fabric points to the early seventeenth century and the Malla king Bhupatindra Malla. Tuesday is the favoured day of worship.