Page:Picturesque Nepal.djvu/31

 mountains one comparatively small oval space, almost in the centre, would at once arrest the vision. This is what is known as the Valley of Nepal. The one flat place in the whole of the tossed and tumbled configuration, like a green oasis in the midst of a rolling waste of mountains, this verdant piece of land typifies the very heart and soul of the country. Here is situated the life and activity of the State, almost what might be called the kingdom itself, for round it on all sides is but the wildest and most inaccessible region in the whole range of the Himalayas.

The origin of this striking formation in the midst of the mountains is the subject of several legends, but the one describing four divine visitations, as related in the Swayambhu Purana, is the most popular of these traditions. In substance this is as follows: That formerly the Valley of Nepal was of circular form, full of very deep water, and that the mountains confining it were clothed with the densest forests, giving shelter to numberless birds and beasts. Countless waterfowl rejoiced in the waters. The name of the lake was Naga Vasa;