Kathmandu - Shiva Parvati Mandir

The long low building on the northern side of Durbar Square contains a shrine to Shiva and Parvati, figures of whom can be seen gazing down from an upper window posed like a normal couple. The lower part of the façade is embellished for almost its whole length with a five-bayed carved wooden screen. This somewhat unusual building is believed to date from the time of Bahadur Shah, son of Prithvi Narayan Shah. It is probably a reconstruction, the stepped platform on which it stands being considerably older than the temple itself. The platform bears an inscription in Nepalese from the reign of Lakshmi Narashima Malla (1620-41), the earliest such inscription known.