Lalitpur
Lalitpur, the city of fine arts lies across the Bagmati river south of the central Kathmandu valley. This city is commonly known as Yala or Patan.
The legend of the formation of this city is described in many ways. On of the most prominent legend is that there was once an ugly grass cutter who visited Mani Jogini in the valley to sell grass. One day, while he was cutting grass he felt extremely thirsty and went in search of water. He looked everywhere but could not find a single drop to drink. Finally, he found a tank and bathed and drank from it. When he came out of the water he had been transformed into a hansome man. He went to the city to sell his grass and there the king saw him. The king was surprised at his sudden transformation and named him Lalit, which means “beautiful”. The king thought to build a memorial on the spot where the miracle took place. However, he could not find a suitable name for it. Later a voice in a dream advised him to call it Lalit Patan and asked him to build a city around it. The next morning the king sent Lalit across the Bagmati River with a vast sum of money and ordered him to build a city named Lalitpur.
According to a very old Kirat chronicle, Prem Bahadur subba in his research says Patan was founded by Kirati rulers. According to him the earliest known capital was most possibly shifted from Thankot to Patan after the Kirati King Yalamber came into power sometime around second century A.D.Hence, it is said that King Yalamber named this city after himself as Yala.
At present the city is divided into 22 municipal wards and is inhabited by almost 2 Lakhs people. An active population of the city is engaged in various trades, specially in traditional handicrafts and cottage industries. Lalitpur is only town in entire Nepal that has poduced the higest number of most talented artists and finest craftsmen ever recorded in Nepalese art history. The most famous artists like Arniko , Abhay Raj and Siddhi Raj were all born here.

(About the author: Niroj Maharjan is a Development studies student studing at National College. He is very interested in the ancient cultures and heritages. The information mentioned in his articles are mostly based on the myth but this does not mean that they are friction.)

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