Kathmandu. Chagunarayan is one of the fantastic religious and historical places of Kathmandu located in the Northern part of Bhaktpur district. This area is located in Chagunarayan Municipality . The name of the municipality is made from the name of this site.  It is one of the 7th monuments of Kathmandu valley listed in UNESCO World heritage site.  

It is said that the Chagunarayan Temple which is the main attraction of the visitors was built by Hari Datt Barma in 323 AD. The stone pillar's information by Mandev in 521 AD, he installed Garudha and also gave some land for the Chagunarayan Guthi.

The historical art, sculpture, architecture and traditional buildings are some of the identities  and features of this site .  This place is not only limited  in these features but also more and more identities and introductions featuring different beauty and information can be found.  I have visited this site around five times till now. In every visit, I got new information which made me curious to know more about this site.

On my last visit in 26^th Ashoj 2081 B.S.I collected some authentic information from the tourist information center of Chagunarayan and decided to write a short article about it. The key features and the Identity of Changunarayan that I found is presented in this article in 10 points which are given below.

·   Changunarayan has traditional physical infrasturctures  which were made without modern construction materials like using cement and iron rod. These structures are attractive and attaching to the visitors with the construction materials like stone,brick,mud and wood.

·   Changunarayan is famus in connection to the Lichchhavi  King Mandev where a historical stone pillar laid by the king Mandev still can be observed . In this pillar, the king has written about Changunarayan by himself using Sanskrit language in 521 AD. Some peope are still confused that the Chagunarayan was constructed by Mandev. But the fact is that  accordint to the information available in Changunarayan municipality this temple was originally  developed by the king Hari Datt Barma  around 2 hundred years before than the king Mandev (in 323 AD). 

·   In Changunarayan every one can see many sculptures, statue of the God Vishnu which is quite interesting and attractive. God Vishnu can be found in different temple in the area with different name and postion . Some of them found in the site are Garuda Narayan, Sridhar Vishnu, Vaikuntha Vishnu, Vishworup, Vishnu Vikrant, Narasimha and so on.

·   In Changunarayan, we can see museums also, though the site itself is like open museum. These  house museums have collected some traditional and historical objects which represent the living traditions of ancient Bhaktapur as well.  

·   Changunarayan  area is featured with traditional  water tap with cold and refreshing water. The taps are served in a natural way with continuous waterfalls. Through these taps, we not only get water but also know the traditional water system in ancient times.   

·   Changunarayan is located in a hilltop area. So, every visitor can also see the beautiful view of Kathmandu  valley from there. If the weather is clear, we can see some beautiful mountains too.

·   We all know that Changunarayan is one the 7th  monument of Kathmandu valley listed in UNESCO world heritage site . This means that the  site carries the heritage  and cultural value in global level as well. Due to its heritage value many foreign tourists also visit this area.  So, this site is contributing to the tourism as well.

·   Changunarayan also has its own festivals and fairs which have been still celebrated by continuing the ancient  performance . These traditional Jatra and festivals are still performing traditionally.  

·   Changunarayan is peaceful and greenery as it is surrounded by the jungle area.

·  Changunarayan seems like an open museum with its traditional architecture, statues of god and animals, gates and fences.  

Changunarayan has other features and traditional assets but these are some of the reflections and impressions that I realized after visiting this place.  My realization is that we all Nepali people, especially students, should visit this place at least once from where we can learn lots of observation based knowledge about the art, history, culture and civilization and we also realize the value of history and art that our ancestors innovated. 

The writer is the student of Sundarban School of Science,Kathmandu.