Patan (Sanskrit: पाटन Pātan, Nepal Bhasa: यल Yala), officially
Lalitpur Sub-Metropolitan City, is one of the major cities of
Nepal located in the south-central part of Kathmandu Valley. The
city was initially designed in the shape of the Buddhist Dharma-
Chakra (Wheel of Righteousness). The four thurs or mounds on the
perimeter of Patan are ascribed around, one at each corner of
its cardinal points, which are popularly known as Asoka Stupas.
Legend has it that Emperor Asoka (the legendary King of India)
visited with his daughter Charumati to Kathmandu in 250 B.C. and
erected five Asoka Stupas, four in the surrounding and one at
the middle of the Patan. The size and shape of these stupas seem
to breathe their antiquity in a real sense. There are more than
1,200 Buddhist monuments of various shapes and sizes scattered
in and around the city. The most important monument of the city
is Patan Durbar Square, which has been listed by UNESCO as one
of seven Monument Zones that make up the Kathmandu Valley World
Herita