Legend has it that the bowl-shaped Kathmandu Valley once cradled a lake festooned with lotus flowers. Then (Buddhist saint) Manjushri cleaved the rock walls with his flaming sword to drain the waters – or perhaps it was Lord Krishna who threw the fateful thunderbolt. What's true is that the valley once lay underwater, and that it has been shaken many times by violent convulsions; some have been natural, others political, cultural and social.
