The Indreshwar Mahadev Temple is the reason most visitors come to Panauti, and it justifies the journey. Built over a sacred lingam in 1294, it is the oldest surviving purpose-built temple in Nepal, predating even the great temples at Bhaktapur. The triple-roofed Shiva temple was remodelled in the 15th century on the pattern of the great Pashupatinath temple in Kathmandu, and in scale and ambition it rivals anything in the Kathmandu Valley.
The carved wooden roof struts on the lower tiers are extraordinary. Each depicts a deity in one of the prescribed divine postures — arms extended, feet flexed, wrapped in layers of ornamentation that somehow never become cluttered. The carving has a clarity of line that suggests confidence rather than labour. The upper roofline is hung with domestic offerings, an oddly domestic note on an otherwise ceremonial building.
The temple sits in a large courtyard with several subsidiary shrines and an open-sided rest house. Circumambulate the main shrine before leaving — the struts on the back face are as good as those in front.