Origins Gellner 1996:126
Bir-deva son of Nand-Deva and 5th King of the Vikramaditya Dynasty( Lichhavi)
The king used to sit at the window of his palace, and he regularly saw a leprous grass cutter going to cut grass. One day he was astonished to see that very grass cutter going by with his leprosy all cured and looking very handsome. So he asked him how it was that he now looked so well, and the grass cutter, who was called Lalita replied: “Great King! Yesterday I went to the southern side of the Bagamati river into the Lalita wood in order to cut grass. I became hot and went to a place where there was a pind(pond), took off my clothes, stick my carrying pole into the ground, went to bathe. When I came out of the water my leprosy was all gone. The carrying pole was stick and I could not pull it out. I thought it must be siddha.” Being A devoted to Sarveswara, the king had it in mind to establish a city, some time later Sarveswara appeared to him in a dream. He said: “ Oh King! To make the city, cut down Lalita wood in accordance with the 24 element and in the shape of a Sri Yantra and make your minister Lalita the architect.
The Creation of Mangal Bazar
He built a chaitya (stupa) and a dhara (spout) and erected a Shivaling, a Ganesha, a Mahakala and a Mandap and built a Durbar for the Raja, all of these after the goddess as follows: Mani-Talava[I.e, Taleju in the royal palace], Man i-Chaitya, Mani-Dhara, Mani-Linga, Mani- Ganesha, Mani-Kumara, Mani-Mahakala, Mani-Mandapa and Mani-gal bhatta.
Wright 1972:136
The Square that we are familiar with today, is the result of diverse architecture founded in various era’s and and a harmonious entanglement of Buddhism, Vajrayana Buddhism, Vaishnavism, Shaktism and Hinduism.
From the first Kirat Settlement to Lichavi’s Mangal Bhatta Durbar, the glory of today’s Patan Durbar comes from the architecture and monuments built by all dynasties. The Malla’s have a special role as they have many additions. The Temples such as Bhimsensena, Hari Shankar, Taleju Temple, Degutale, Vishwananth Temple, Bhai Dega Temple, Chyasing Dewal and the crown jewel Krishna Mandir. The addition of palace squares such as Mulchowk and Sundari Chowk with the Agama Devata and the beautiful Tsuhiti. The endless amount of beautifully carved tudals (struts) and stone sculptures .