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 breathed again, and I was allowed to dislodge my cramped body from between the elephant and dragon, and gaze around in the rapidly fading light at the wealth of art and ornament with which this extraordinary building was covered. In front a large metal "thunderbolt" lay enthroned amid a background of deities in niches, applied on the carved wood or riveted on to brass mouldings or embossed panels. On each side were metal screens of boldly hammered patterns with lifelike bronze lizards crawling over the blank spaces. But the light began to die out from the sky; as I looked the darkness came on apace, and all faded into a jumble of leering deities and scrambling griffins framed in an atmosphere of gloom. White slits of eyes blinked at me from dark corners, and strange animals glowered from diapers and doorways, so I reluctantly left this fascinating building with the feeling that I had seen one of the weirdest sights in the whole of Nepal.

As in India, two of the most popular festivals in Nepal are those of the "Dassera" and the "Dewali," and coming as they usually do