Boudha Stupa

Among the stupas located in the Kathmandu Valley, the Boudhanath Stupa is the largest. It is situated approximately 8 km east of the capital. Boudhanath is also known as "Swasti." The dome of this Buddhist monastery, believed to be located on the ancient trade route to Tibet, measures 36 meters in diameter. The Boudha area, which is home to a settlement of Tibetan refugees, is often crowded with tourists visiting for religious and other reasons. The construction of this stupa was initiated by Jyajyima (a poultry herder) Dechhog. According to the text titled Shrutimukti, her story is as follows: Countless eons ago, in the presence of Tathagata Amitabh, Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara made a vow to free all sentient beings from worldly suffering. After liberating an immeasurable number of beings, he went to the peak of Mount Potala. Thinking that no being was left to be liberated, he looked down, only to see that the beings in the six realms had not decreased at all. Realizing that he might not be able to liberate all beings from the ocean of worldly existence, he shed tears. Taking those teardrops with his fingers, he vowed that even these two drops of tears should benefit and liberate sentient beings. In accordance with that vow, they were born in the Trayastrimsa (Heaven of the Thirty-Three) as the two daughters of Shakra Devendra, named Gangma and Gangchungma. Because Gangchungma, the younger daughter of Devendra, stole her elder sister's flowers, she violated divine law and fell into the human world. During the reign of Kashyapa Buddha, she was born into an ordinary family in a region of Nepal called Maguta. For many years, she earned her living as a poultry herder. During that time, she developed relationships with four men who later became her husbands. From these four husbands—a horse herder, a pig herder, a dog herder, and a poultry herder—she gave birth to one son each, named Tajiyibu, Phagjiyibu, Khyijiyibu, and Jyajiyibu, respectively.