Nepali Temple (Kathwala Mandir)

Perched above Lalita Ghat, a short walk south of Manikarnika, the Nepali Temple is one of Varanasi's most unexpected architectural surprises: a tiered, pagoda-roofed shrine of dark timber that looks as if a corner of the Kathmandu Valley had been transplanted to the banks of the Ganga.

• Locally it is called the Kathwala Mandir, literally 'the one made of wood', and it enshrines Pashupateshwar, a form of Shiva mirroring Nepal's guardian deity Pashupatinath.
• Built by the royal house of Nepal, the temple is a devotional replica of Kathmandu's Pashupatinath, and the whole complex, together with the ghat and its dharamshala, has long been maintained under Nepalese custodianship, giving this pocket of Kashi a distinctly Himalayan character.
• The temple's story begins with King Rana Bahadur Shah of Nepal, who lived in exile in Varanasi in the opening years of the 19th century and vowed to raise a Pashupatinath here on the Ganga.
• He returned to Nepal before the work was finished and died in 1806; the project was carried to completion by his successors, so that the temple as it stands today is the result of a long build begun under Rana Bahadur Shah around 1800, halted at his death in 1806, resumed in 1841 and completed in 1843.
• Craftsmen and much of the timber were brought from Nepal, and the shrine has been repaired in the traditional idiom over the generations to withstand the damp river air.
• Architecturally the temple is a study in Newari craftsmanship: sloping tiered roofs, carved struts and brackets, and honey-brown Terai teak weathered almost to charcoal.
• Its terracotta panels and dense woodwork are so intricately worked that Varanasi's guides fondly nickname the shrine 'Mini Khajuraho', comparing the profusion of figurative carving to the celebrated temples of Bundelkhand.
• The best light falls in the early morning, when the rising sun catches the roof-lines and the ghat below stirs to life with pilgrims and boatmen; from the river, the temple's silhouette is one of the loveliest on the northern waterfront.
• For vegetarian travellers, this stretch of the old city could not be easier.
• Varanasi's riverfront lanes are overwhelmingly satvik and pure-vegetarian by tradition, so no special hunting is required.
• Minutes away in Kachori Gali sits the legendary Ksheer Sagar, ladling thick earthen-pot lassis crowned with malai and seasonal fruit, while the Godowlia crossroads a little inland delivers Banaras's signature chaat, kachori-sabzi and jalebi at pure-veg institutions such as Kashi Chat Bhandar and Ram Bhandar.
• Carry small cash, wear modest cover for the shrine, and pause for a lassi after darshan; it is the most authentic way to round off a morning at Lalita Ghat.