Ancient · Buddhist · Nepal

Boudhanath Stupa

बौद्धनाथ

Kathmandu, Bagmati · 27.7215°, 85.3620°

Stupa (mind of all Buddhas)LicchaviGreat stupa (mandala plan)UNESCO World Heritage
Sacred since
500 CE
first attestation / structure
Standing structure
Licchavi era (trad.); rebuilt repeatedly, last 2016
Licchavi

History & significance

One of the largest stupas in the world, its all-seeing eyes gazing down the old Lhasa trade road — for centuries the last great shrine of Tibetan merchants leaving the valley and the first of those arriving. Ringed by gompas of every Tibetan lineage, it is the heart of Nepal's Tibetan community; its dome, cracked in the 2015 earthquake, was rebuilt by 2016 entirely from devotees' gold and donations.

Sthala katha — the legend

The poultry-woman Jadzima, granted 'as much land as a buffalo hide covers', cut the hide to threads and enclosed the great circle — kings could not retract the boon, and her sons' rebirth-vows, the Tibetans say, ripened as the great dharma-kings and abbots who carried Buddhism to Tibet.

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Related sites

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15th–16th c.

Sources

coordinates: wikipedia-2026-08-26 · sources retrieved 2026-08-26 · dynasty page: Licchavi