Paravat Mahavihar

Keshchandra, a wealthy young man of Kathmandu, had fallen into the habit of gambling and, having lost his entire ancestral property, had been reduced to poverty.

To stave off hunger he would go to his elder sister's house in Thamel. Hoping her brother would mend his ways, his sister lovingly fed him delicious food on plates of gold and silver. But Keshchandra would even steal those plates and stake them in gambling, only to lose.

One day, fed up, his sister served him rice on the bare floor. Ashamed and sorrowful, Keshchandra bundled that rice into his waistcloth and headed toward the forest.

Reaching beneath a great tree in the forest, he spread that damp rice out on a broad flat stone to dry and lay down in the shade. But while he was asleep, the pigeons of the forest came and ate up all of that rice.

Waking to see the bare stone, Keshchandra was seized by hunger and grief and burst into loud weeping. Seeing his lamentation, compassion stirred in the hearts of the pigeons. The pigeons consulted among themselves and defecated gold upon that very stone.

Keshchandra was astonished to see a heap of gold covering the stone. Just as he was unable to carry so much gold by himself, the man-eating demon Gurumapa arrived there. Keshchandra thought up a scheme and said: "King of demons, you need not go about hunting for prey every single day. Carry this gold to my house, and I shall give you one buffalo and a muri of rice to eat every day for the rest of your life."

Gurumapa agreed and carried the gold to Kathmandu. From that immense gold Keshchandra built a magnificent Buddhist vihar in honour of the pigeons, which was called 'Paravat Mahavihar' (Itumbahal).