﻿giO AN ACCOUNT OF 



The dther religion, the more common of the two, 

 is that of the Brahmens, and is the same as is followed 

 in Hindustan, with the difference that in the hitter 

 country, the Hindus being mixed with the Mohamme- 

 dans, their religion also abounds with many prejudices, 

 and is not strictly observed; whereas in Nepal, where 

 there are no Muselmans (except one Cashmirian mer- 

 chant) the Hindu religion is practised in its gTearest 

 purity. Every day of the month they class under its 

 proper name, when certain sacrifices are to be per- 

 formed and certain prayers- offered up in their tem- 

 ples. The places of worship are more in number in 

 their towns than, I believe, are to be found in the most 

 populous and most flourishing cities of Christendom ; 

 many of them are magnificent according to their ideas 

 of architecture, and constructed at a very considerable 

 expence ; some of them have four or five square cu- 

 polas ; and in some of the temples two or three of the 

 extreme cupolas, as well as the doors and windows of 

 them, are decorated with gilt copper. 



In the city of Lelit Vat tan the temple of Bagliero 

 was contiguous to my habitation, and was more valu- 

 able, on account of the gold, silver, and jewels it con- 

 tained, than even the house of the king. Besides the 

 large temples, there are also many small ones, which 

 have stairs, by which a single person may ascend on 

 the outside all around them ; and some of those small 

 temples have four sides, others six, with small stone 

 or marble pillars, polished very smooth, with two or 

 three pyramidal stories, and all their ornaments well 

 gilt and neatly worked, according to their ideas of 

 taste- : and I think, that, if Europeans should ever go 

 into Nepal, they might take some models from those 

 little temples, especially from the two which are in 

 the great coort of Lelit Pattdn, before the royal palace. 

 On the outside of some of their temples there are also 

 great square pillars of single stones, from twenty to 



