From Kasthamandap to

KathmanduNepali Heritage and You

Kasthamandap = Kathmandu

Mary Slusser Collection

The Origin Story

• Lopipada captures Kalpabrikshya

Another Origin Story

• Lilabajra, a Tantric priest active around 740 CE

Namasangiti manuscript in Tibet’s Sakya

Monastery, copied 1143 CE (873 years ago)

Oldest Copperplate Inscription: 1333 CE (NS 454)

Mr. Kashinath Tamot

Oldest Copperplate Inscription: 1333 CE (NS 454)

Slusser and Vajracharya, 1974

Nath Association

Kasthamandap Copper-plate

inscription of 1465 AD (N.S. 585):

Karya

Vinayak

Surya

Vinayak

Ashok Vinayak

Jal Vinayak

Buddhist Association

• Lopipada Luipa, a historical

figure from the 10th c considered

the first Buddhist Siddhacharya

• To this day, a local guthi

performs the Buddhist ritual of

Panchadaan during the month of

Gunlaa near Kasthamandap

Mary Slusser Collection

Pata created in 1565 AD (Nepal

Sambat 685) to commemorate

the renovation of Swayambhu

chaitya by the Patan Mahapatra

and his brothers

The Healing Pillar

• North-West (Vaayu) corner

• Near shrine of Surya Vinayak

UNESCO REPORT

UNESCO REPORT

UNESCO REPORT

Commercial Use of Kasthamandap

Dharahara or Kasthamandap?

This Pañcarakṣā is donated by Ānandabuddhi Śākyabhikṣu, the follower of Mahāyāna, residing in Kṛṣṇagupta

Mahāvihāra at Paścimarathyā in Kāṣṭhamaṇḍapa. It was scribed during the reign of the king Indradeva (text:

Indrideva) on Wednesday, first lunar day of waning moon of (the month of) Pauṣa, in puṣya constalation, (in the era) ā

(200) lṛ (50) hṛ (5), that is, in NS 255 (1135 CE).

873 881 yearsSan Diego Museum of Art

Transcribed and translated by Mr. Kashinath Tamot

Illuminated Manuscripts: a Nepali Renaissance

San Diego Museum of Art

Illuminated Manuscripts: a Nepali Renaissance

San Diego Museum of Art

Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā, 1015 CE

University of Cambridge

(MS Add.1643)

Nepal, 1015 CE Bihar, 1150 CE

Mahamayuri panel, Pancharakshya MS, 1135 CE San Diego Museum of Art

Jinah Kim: a new level of cultic potency: a book that can be

activated as a divine living space

Reverse of Mahamayuri panel, Pancharakshya MS, 1135 CE San Diego Museum of Art

Sketchbooks: One way to transmit heritage

Jivarama, NS 555 (1435 CE) Suresh Neotida Collection

Virupa, 1400- 1499 CE

Sakya Monastery, Tibet

Indian Adept (Siddha) Virupa ca. 1230 CE

Sakya Monastery, Tibet

Jivarama, NS 555 (1435 CE) Suresh Neotida Collection

Jivarama, NS 555 (1435 CE) Suresh Neotida Collection

Unknown Artist, 1575 - 1600 CELos Angeles County Musuem of Art

M.82.169.6)

Unknown Artist, 10th c CELos Angeles County Musuem of Art

(M.85.279.6)

Sotheby’s HongKong

2011 CatalogUnknown Artist, 13th c CE

Sotheby’s HongKong

2011 CatalogUnknown Artist, 13th c CE

How else was heritage transmitted?

Whose heritage is it anyways?

YOU + + + Social Media

rebuildkasthamandap.com dipeshrisal.com

APPENDIX

Rani Pokhari

Show photo from german book. Then give text from GVV FB post below it: I

haven’t been able to find such diaries, but there is more to be done here...(then

say something obsequious about GVV)

RP critical because it is the first reconstruction: inaugurated last year under gerat

pomp and cirumstance by the President. How RP is build SETS THE

PRECEDENCE for all other reconstructions. Enough have been said but:

1. Use native materials as much as possible

2. Build earthquake resilience

3. Research history before rebuilding, include local expertise/ scholars

"Contemporaneous Newar diaries refer to the Nhupukhu (Rani Pokhari) temple as

Lum Devara (Golden Temple). More than likely, the temple was equipped with

metal roofs." -- Prof. Dr. Gautama Vajracharya, eminent Sanskritist and scholar of

iconography.

Also add what Roc shrestha wrote on FB and check the purnima reference!

Otherwise focus on the PHOTO and don’t mention teh inscription!

Though Clark's edition of Pratap Malla's Rani Pokhari inscription is internationally known, it was Mrigendra Shumshere who published this inscription first (in Surya

Bikram Gyawali, ed., Bhanubhakta Smarak Grantha, Darjeeling, V. S. 1997, pp. 102-103). Later, in 1962, the Samshodhana-mandala edited the text using all the

three variants of this inscription (Dhanavajra Vajracharya, chief editor, Itihasa- samshodhanako pramana-prameya, Lalitpur, V. S. 2019, pp. 82-84). It is interesting to

note that a few years back, the original version-- that is in the Newari language-- of this Nepali-language inscription was published (Mahes Raj Pant, Pratap mallako

tirthajatra, Purnima no. 137, V. S. 2069 pp. 20-21).

Exerpt from inscription: how much those who

Built it cared about rani pokhari (and I said “those

Who build it, not pratap malla, cos there is a

Hypothesis that pratap malla’s chief rani commissioned

The pond in memory of her deceased son

Whose Heritage is it anyway?

Read Rishi Amatya’s article first http://ecs.com.np/features/whose-heritage-is-it-

anyways

Dipesh Risal: hill bahun from Kathmandu. Elite. But..

People saked meL are you from Maru? Why are you interested? Because it is MY

heritage. If the building falls, MY building fell. If artwork is stolen, someone stole it

from MY house. This feeling must be in every Nepali, and in every resident of

kathmandu.

So when they do this to Kasthamandap and degu taleju (show photos) we must be

angry, we must feel violated.

The Newa people are doing a great job, others must also join them. Without

Example of my fiction

Which one? Return to the uncreate? This might be too deep/dense

Jung bahadur?

How do I “present” this fiction? Perhaps describe then read “live” from one

episode that is more audience-friendly?

Mary’s Nepal Mandala

Must read for all Nepalis, in all libraries

Critisism by KP malla as being too “biased” but as an encyclopedia of

myths, legends, documented history, art, culture, and the thousands of precious

footnotes, references and bibliography, it is unmatched.

Nautalle darbar

Use this as a transition point for my own “plug” at the end

It fell, I felt bad, looked into it...

Show the details of teh external facade

So much history/ art/ mystery RIGHT IN FRONT OF US (How maby of us have

eaten at the rooftop restaurant beside it...ask that question)

Photo from my collage and ask: who knows where this is?

Then ask: how maby have hung out in: Rooftop Cafe?

...speaking of which: MS covers,..look at this

beautiful one from the “same” MS (note, not really

same)

bilanpaus

Screenshots of two books by leinhard

So much history...

DONT USE HERE:

For later article

In asianart.com

Compare this with basantapur

Yashti (2) and later more erotic

ones

statues/ art all over the world

Torn about it: for fragile stuff: perhaps OK to be in museums?

For statues: repatriate?

Lain singh bangdel book of lost statues

Same from huntington collection

If someone spends some time/ energy, a database of stolen art and

location can be easily started: lots of IT-savvy youth in Nepal. DO IT!

Drive form india (from stolen gods twitter account) and recent news of repatriation

Buddha with Avalokiteswara

Khitai, China 500-700 CE

National Museum, New Delhi

1. one of teh early articles for "list of heritage writing" on my own google doc, as well as add to Nepali times/group xls: Nepali

artists in Tibet: Jivarama and the OTHER one (see below): so the influence was massive. Pal supports this!...but there is

more...http://huntingtonarchive.osu.edu/resources/downloads/jchArticles/5_30%20Leaves%20in%20Orientations.pdf page 14:

Pala school influenced Nepal, which accomodated it by 15th c, then the method moved to tibet (wait...need to make sure this is

accurate, and corroborated by Pal, etc)

http://huntingtonarchive.osu.edu/resources/downloads/jchArticles/5_30%20Leaves%20in%20Orientations.pdf page 16 RHS also

speaks strongly about how important kathmandu was: not just as a conduit between tibet and the :source" of eastern india, esp

magadh (i,e pala region), but after 13th century, with brutal muslim destruction of Pala monasteries in bihar and bangal, Nepal

became teh ONLY source of Pala style...shar mthun read for definition

..also from 12th c, Tibetan Bal (Nepal) school of painting esp strong in gTsang district (bal bris = painters in nepali style). During

13th c, predominant style, started feeding influence BACK to Nepal...THEN teh arniko (anige) story 129x...

End f 12th c maim musim invasion end f 13th buddhism amst ver in india

Who drew all this? How did they learn/ pass on the

tradition? Intangible HeritageWe don't have examples from the 11th c, but one suggestion from the 14th

century survives.....would be great if I found jivarama sketches

similar to what I have shown already...

Talk about THAT artist sketch book: show some great examples; one GREAT

image per slide, no text and speak over it/ or don’t and just flip through...now

these were made in 14xx [check!] by a Nepali. Yes Arniko went to China and

became famous, but when will we commemorate this Nepali artist? (xx years

AFTER ARniko)...

THEN, show cloud mofit from sketch book, followed by in next few slides: the

same cloud motif in subsequent centuries...ending in.... Bhairav from

Machendranath rath! And maybe even a contemporary thangka from THAT

a. 2014821842687_UNESCO_Intangible_Cultural_Heritage.pdf. Definition of intangible heritage from here

http://www.unesco.org/culture/ich/en/convention#art2

Cud motif frm bi

One example of jivarama’s influence: that GOOD

paubha

http://collections.lacma.org/node/238296

http://collections.lacma.org/node/238271

http://collections.lacma.org/node/238275

Now add jinah Kim book p 100 ff comparisons

Confirms pal points ....

BUT what about Kim p 117 (ms a4

Is the height of what nalanda artisans could

Achieve ..also fig 2.1

http://www.asia.si.edu/collections/edan/object.php?q=9934

Ajanta cave 1 46-48 CE National Museum, New Delhi

Nepal, 1015 CE Bihar, 1150 CE

Eastern Indian (Pala) vs. Nepali Style

None of the [modestly adorned] Pala manuscripts can match the richness of

[early Nepali] manuscripts.

Palette of the Nepali artists betrays a richer variety

Perhaps because of the cursive quality of the drawing, the Eastern Indian

figures tend to reveal coarser features...The Nepali figures are soft and pliant

with delicate features

The Eastern Indian figures appear more spirited and energized, whereas the

Nepali figures are more gentle and almost fragile

University of Cambridge

(MS Add.1643)