Western scholarship has tended to understand the mandala as a diagram that either mirrors the psyche (Rawson 1973) or as the microcopy of the macrocosmic universe (Levy 1990). Yet, the mandala is not merely a representation of space, it is a yantra, a diagram believed to possess magical powers. Because it is a yantra, the mandala is not just a static, mental representation of the town: it is lived, and it has a functional purpose with regard to monuments. As such, the "mandalamap" is not a symbol but a "god" ‹ "yantrakara khwopa dhya:" "city of Bhaktapur portrayed as a yantra"‹which produces the ritual space of the city . The source of the mandala map¹s power is not that it symbolizes, but that it is contextualized in a particular system of ritual. Yantrakara khwopa dhya: must not only be constructed, but constantly reconstructed through ceremony and ritual.