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 all the large towns of the State. In the centre is a large irregularly shaped public square, on one side of which is the royal palace or "durbar." The remaining sides of this open space are occupied with temples and shrines sacred to the locality. Irregularly distributed around the durbar square are various smaller squares (tols), containing less important buildings, and connected with one another, and also with the main square, by streets and lanes, while compassing the whole city was a wall pierced by several gateways.

History states that Katmandu was founded in 724 A.D., and near the durbar square is an ancient wooden building, from which the city is said to take its name. Externally it is a somewhat ramshackle erection, and the inside is dark and mysterious—"no light but rather a transpicuous gloom." It is used as a house of accommodation for travelling devotees, and was built in 1596 A.D. by the Raja Lachminna Sing Mai. The Newars still allude to this building as Katmandu, the legend being that the whole of it was constructed from the wood of one monster tree, hence the name,