The Changu Narayan temple is a religious heritage site located in the Kathmandu Valley, historically known as the Nepa, or Nepal valley, in the province of Bhaktapur, Nepal. The country of Nepal has a very strong Hindu presence with roughly 80% of the population identifying as Hindu (Burke, 1).
The temple pays homage to the deity Visnu and is considered the most important temple in the valley (Sharma, 1999, 8). This temple is one of four major temples in Nepal’s surrounding area dedicated to the Hindu deity Visnu. Changu Narayan is the earliest and most famous temple dedicated to Visnu, but many other temples dedicated to various other deities can be found throughout Nepal. Visnu has a wide variety of depictions across the various Hindu denominations. In early vedic religion Visnu was a minor god, but as the religion progressed he grew in strength and popularity until he was recognized as one of the most powerful gods in Hinduism (Krishna, 9).
The temple contains artworks from the fourth, ninth and thirteenth centuries, most of which are Newar art: work from the Newar people, an Indiginous Indo-Aryan group primarily from the Kathmandu Valley (Lo Bue et al., 1). Newa art is centered around Hindu and Buddhist deities, sculptures made in this art style use the lost-wax casting method (Lo Bue et al., 1).