Patan is a settlement in Nepal, on the outskirts of Kathmandu. The town is sometimes called Lalitpur by some of the older residents, and it is believed that the city's layout was meant to emulate the Wheel of Righteousness from Buddhism. Patan was surrounded by four sacred mounds along the main compass points. Near Durbar Square in the center of town was The Raven[2], a bar owned by Marion Ravenwood. In 1936, guided by a map provided by Lin-Su, Indiana Jones traveled to Patan looking for Abner Ravenwood and the headpiece to the Staff of Ra.
Behind the scenes
Patan is something of an anachronism in the Raiders of the Lost Ark novel. In the book, Indiana Jones arrives on the outskirts of a town "that had no designation, no sign, no name" and deduces, based on a map, that the place has to be Patan by its "sizable community" compared to others nearby on the map. The Raiders of the Lost Ark Sourcebook asserts that Patan is a village. The Raiders of the Lost Ark Storybook describes the settlement housing The Raven as a tiny village.
The real Patan itself is one of the major cities of Nepal, located about five kilometers from the nation's capital Kathmandu,[3] and has been for centuries.
Appearances
- Raiders of the Lost Ark novel (First appearance)
- Raiders of the Lost Ark
- Raiders of the Lost Ark Storybook
- Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark junior novel
