The Patan Darbar Square has changed little since this drawing was made in
1885 to illustrate Gustav LeBon's, Voyage au Nepal. The image on the near
pillar, erected in 1693, is a gilded portrait of King Yoganarendra Malla,
successor to Srinivasa for whom the Patan Museum's gilded throne was made.
In devotional attitude he faces a temple consecrated to the royal tutelary
deity, Taleju. Atop the far pillar, erected in 1637, the gilt sunbird Garuda
makes obeisance to Krishna, a manifestation of Vishnu. The earliest extant
structure on the square, a temple to Vishnu, is dated 1566, but this crossroads
has been Patan's center for millennia.