Kathmandu

1. About the Author — Vikram Seth

Vikram Seth (born 1952, Calcutta) is one of India’s most celebrated writers in English. He is best known for the monumental novel A Suitable Boy (1993), one of the longest novels ever written in the English language. He also wrote The Golden Gate (1986), a novel composed entirely in sonnets, the children’s book Beastly Tales, and the memoir Two Lives (2005).

Seth studied at Oxford, Stanford and Nanjing University in China. His first major prose work, Heaven Lake: Travels through Sinkiang and Tibet (1983), from which ‘Kathmandu’ is an excerpt, was the result of his overland journey from China across Tibet to Nepal and finally back to India. The book won the Thomas Cook Travel Book Award. Seth is equally gifted as a poet; his collections include Mappings and The Humble Administrator’s Garden (which won the Commonwealth Poetry Prize).

As a travel writer, Seth is remarkable for his keen eye for detail, his ability to contrast the spiritual and the commercial, and his sympathetic, unhurried observations of people and places. His prose is precise, clear and elegant. The chapter ‘Kathmandu’ is a fine example of his travelogue style.

2. Summary — Overview of the Chapter

The chapter ‘Kathmandu’ describes the narrator’s last day in the city of Kathmandu before he returns to India. He visits two great religious sites: the Pashupatinath temple (a sacred Hindu temple on the banks of the Bagmati river, dedicated to Lord Shiva) and the Baudhnath stupa (a great Buddhist monument with the famous painted eyes of the Buddha).

The chapter is built around a powerful contrast: Pashupatinath is busy, chaotic and commercial; Baudhnath is calm, peaceful and meditative. After visiting the two shrines, the narrator wanders through the city streets and bazaar, soaking in the sights, sounds and smells of Kathmandu. He also reflects on his plan to return home to India — he decides to fly directly to Delhi rather than take the longer land route.

The chapter ends with a beautiful, lyrical passage about a young flute-seller standing in the bazaar with a pole stuck with fifty or sixty bamboo flutes. The man does not shout to advertise his wares; he simply plays a flute from time to time. The narrator finds this the most moving sound he has heard in all of Kathmandu, and he reflects on the universal nature of the flute as an instrument played across all human cultures. The music of the flute — made entirely from human breath — becomes the chapter’s final, deepest symbol of what is universal in the human experience.

3. The Pashupatinath Temple — Sacred but Crowded

The Pashupatinath temple is one of the most sacred Hindu temples in the world. It is dedicated to Lord Pashupatinath, a form of Lord Shiva (the ‘Lord of all animals’), and is situated on the banks of the holy Bagmati river. The temple is so sacred that only Hindus are allowed to enter the inner sanctum; a sign outside makes this clear. The narrator, not being allowed entry, can only observe from outside.

The scene he witnesses outside is colourful and chaotic:

• There is a great rush and confusion at the entrance — priests, hawkers, pilgrims and tourists all jostling together.
• Two monkeys fight near the entrance and chase each other; one jumps onto a Shivalinga (the sacred stone symbol of Lord Shiva), to the consternation of the pilgrims.
• Cows wander freely and are washed for an upcoming festival, right in front of the temple.
• By the banks of the Bagmati river, washerwomen work and children bathe. More solemnly, a corpse is being cremated on the ghats (riverside steps) nearby, since the Bagmati is sacred for death rituals.
• A small shrine is half-submerged in the stone platform on the riverbank. According to local legend, when this shrine fully emerges from the earth, the goddess inside will escape and the evil age of Kaliyug will end. This detail blends the everyday with the mythological.
• The overall impression is of a place where the sacred and the mundane, the spiritual and the commercial, life and death, all co-exist in a vibrant, overwhelming mix.

The narrator observes all this with curious, sympathetic eyes. He is not critical of the noise or the commerce; rather, he finds it all part of the living reality of a great Hindu pilgrimage site. The contrast with Baudhnath that follows, however, is very striking.

4. The Baudhnath Stupa — Calm and Serene

From the energetic precincts of Pashupatinath, the narrator makes his way to the Baudhnath stupa, a great Buddhist monument. The contrast is immediate and complete.

The Baudhnath stupa is one of the largest stupas in the world. A stupa is a dome-shaped Buddhist monument, often containing sacred relics. The Baudhnath stupa is famous for the giant painted eyes of the Buddha that gaze from the top of the tower in all four directions, representing the Buddha’s all-seeing wisdom and compassion.

What the narrator finds at Baudhnath is very different from Pashupatinath:

• There is a deep stillness and quietness around the stupa.
• The stupa’s immense white dome is surrounded by a road, and along the outer edge of this road are small shops, many owned by Tibetan immigrants, selling Tibetan prints, antiques, jackets, carpets and brassware — but even this commerce is quiet and unhurried.
• The narrator describes Baudhnath as a haven of quietness set within the busy city.
• The general atmosphere is calm, meditative and contemplative. There is no jostling, no chaos, no monkeys or wandering cows.

The narrator feels a deep sense of peace at Baudhnath. The stupa, with its huge painted eyes looking serenely down at the world, embodies a quiet spiritual power very different from the energetic, sensory intensity of Pashupatinath.

5. The Contrast — Sacred vs Commercial, Hindu vs Buddhist

The heart of the chapter is the contrast Seth draws between the two religious sites. This contrast gives the chapter its structure and its central meaning:

Seth does not pass moral judgment on either place. The contrast is left for the reader to reflect upon. The point is not that one religion is better than another, but that the same spiritual impulse can manifest in very different outward forms — and that both are authentic.

6. The City Streets & the Flute-Seller — Heart of the Chapter

After his visits to the two religious sites, the narrator wanders through the streets of Kathmandu. He finds them vivid, mercenary and religious all at once — a memorable phrase. The streets are full of:

• Small shrines with fresh flowers standing beside shops.
• Stray cows wandering on the road.
• Shops selling an eclectic mix: flutes, copper utensils, postcards, Western cosmetics, film rolls, chocolates, fizzy drinks and fresh fruit.
• A rich soundscape: car horns, bicycle bells, radios blaring film songs, vendors’ cries and the squelching of vegetables underfoot.

The narrator is also thinking about his departure. He decides to fly directly to Delhi rather than take the longer overland route. He admits honestly that he is too tired and finds a directness in flying that appeals to him.

Then, as he is about to leave, he notices a flute-seller. The man stands quietly in the bazaar holding a pole on which fifty or sixty bamboo flutes are stuck, pointing outward in all directions like the quills of a porcupine. This simile is one of the most vivid in the chapter.

Unlike the other noisy vendors, the flute-seller does not shout to advertise his wares. Instead, he plays a flute from time to time, choosing a casual, wandering melody. The narrator finds this the most appealing sound he has heard in all of Kathmandu.

The narrator then reflects deeply on the universality of the flute as an instrument:

• The flute is found in almost every human culture — the recorder (Western Europe), the shakuhachi (Japan), the deep bamboo bansuri of Hindustani music, Chinese flutes, South American reed pipes.
• Each has its own fingering and its own music, yet all flutes share one thing: they are brought to life by human breath.
• Because it relies on breath — the most basic and intimate of human acts — the flute is the most universal yet most particular of instruments. It belongs to everyone, yet each player makes it uniquely his own.
• The music of the flute makes the narrator feel deeply connected to all of humanity, across all times and cultures.

This lyrical reflection on the flute is the emotional and thematic climax of the chapter. The flute-seller’s quiet music, rising above the noise of the bazaar, brings together everything the narrator has seen in Kathmandu — the chaotic devotion of Pashupatinath, the peaceful contemplation of Baudhnath, the vivid, mercenary, religious streets — into a single, unified, deeply human experience.

7. Themes

• Contrast between the sacred and the commercial: At Pashupatinath, religion and commerce are thoroughly mixed — hawkers sell wares at the temple gate. At Baudhnath, spirituality dominates. This contrast is the chapter’s main structural device. Seth observes both without condemnation.
• Diversity and unity of human experience: Kathmandu holds within it Hindu and Buddhist traditions, the sacred and the commercial, the ancient and the modern. The flute-seller at the end shows that beneath all this diversity there is a single, shared humanity. The flute’s music is the symbol of this unity.
• Music as a universal language: The flute is found in every human culture. Its music, made from breath, transcends religion, language and geography. It speaks directly to the human soul. This is the chapter’s deepest theme.
• The art of travel writing — observing everyday life: Seth celebrates the art of paying close, sympathetic attention to the ordinary and the extraordinary alike — a cow on the road, a monkey on a Shivalinga, a child bathing in a holy river, a fruit stall, a flute-seller. The travelogue reveals that great writing finds meaning in careful observation.
• Impermanence and connection: The narrator is on his last day in Kathmandu. He is about to leave. Yet what he encounters — ancient temples, timeless music — speaks of things that outlast any individual’s passing. There is a bittersweet quality to his observations that gives the chapter emotional depth.

8. Literary Devices

• Contrast (Juxtaposition): The dominant literary device of the chapter. Pashupatinath (chaos) is set against Baudhnath (calm). Noise is set against silence; commerce against contemplation; the rush of pilgrims against the stillness of the stupa.
• Simile: The most memorable simile is the description of the flutes on the seller’s pole as pointing outward “like the quills of a porcupine” — a vivid, unexpected comparison that instantly creates a visual picture. The streets of Kathmandu are described as “vivid, mercenary and religious” — a compressed description that works almost like three similes in one.
• Imagery: Seth uses rich sensory images throughout — the fighting monkeys, the Bagmati ghats, the half-submerged shrine, the great white dome of Baudhnath, the fifty flutes pointing out in all directions, the sound of car horns and bicycle bells and radios. The imagery is precise and evocative.
• Personification: The flute’s music is described almost as if it has a will of its own, rising above the noise of the bazaar to speak to something deep in the human soul.
• First-person narrative: The use of “I” throughout makes the account personal and immediate. The reader sees Kathmandu through Seth’s own eyes and shares his reactions directly.
• Travelogue style: The prose blends factual description with personal reflection and emotional response. Seth records what he sees and then reflects on what it means — the combination of observation and meditation is the hallmark of great travel writing.
• Allusion: The reference to the shakuhachi (Japanese flute), the bansuri (Indian flute) and South American reed pipes alludes to musical traditions across the world, reinforcing the theme of universality.
• Paradox: The flute is described as both “the most universal” and “the most particular” of instruments — a paradox that captures the truth that the most personal human expression can also be the most universally understood.

9. Word Meanings & Key Vocabulary

• Travelogue — a written account or film describing the experiences of travel.
• Stupa — a dome-shaped Buddhist monument, often built over sacred relics.
• Shrine — a sacred or holy place, or a small structure dedicated to a god or deity.
• Sanctum — the innermost, most sacred part of a temple.
• Shivalinga — a cylindrical stone symbol representing Lord Shiva, the central object of worship in a Shaivite temple.
• Ghat — steps leading down to a river, used for bathing, rituals or cremation.
• Cremation — the burning of a dead body as a funeral rite.
• Kaliyug — in Hindu belief, the present age of moral decline, darkness and evil; the last of the four ages.
• Haven — a place of safety, refuge and peace.
• Mercenary — primarily motivated by money; working only for profit.
• Vivid — producing powerful, clear images in the mind; intensely bright or lifelike.
• Contemplative — deeply thoughtful; given to meditation and quiet reflection.
• Clamour — a loud and confused noise, especially made by many people.
• Bansuri (basuri) — the bamboo flute of Hindustani (North Indian) classical music; strongly associated with Lord Krishna.
• Shakuhachi — a traditional Japanese bamboo end-blown flute.
• Quills — the stiff, sharp spines of a porcupine (used in the simile for the flutes on the seller’s pole).
• Marzipan — a sweet confection made from ground almonds and sugar.
• Pilgrims — people who travel to a sacred place for religious reasons.
• Devout — deeply religious; showing strong religious commitment.
• Converge — to come together from different directions to meet at a point.