Razen Manandhar
KATHMANDU, Feb 23: While the river runs on and the world keeps turning, and the water flows and the sun is burning, and the mountain’s old while we still are learning.....’where kathmandu is’.
Chikanmugal and Ombahal area of Ward No. 23 of Kathmandu Metropolitan City, is probably the only area in the capital that has its population decreasing by the day since the last two years.
The remaining locals say many of the people have left the core area as the old style of architecture has become uncomfortable for them and there are little chances of enhancing economic activities and survival.
According to a recent study, only 68 percent of the old residents are hanging on in this area.
But this is not going to last for long. Officials of KMC are planning to improve the core area in 14 wards and a demonstration of the project will start very soon in Ward No.23, designed to show the locals that such an area, close to the UNESCO-declared heritage zone of Hanumandhoka Durbar Square, can also be a major centre of tourist attraction, and developed into a tourism-related commercial zone.
The area is full of Buddhist monastery courtyards, open space surrounded by artistic traditional houses, made during the Malla, Shah and Rana period. Some houses or monuments are found to be over 300 years old. In the core areas, traditional courtyards display a unique feature of medieval settlements that provide open space and sunlight for its residents and also keep the houses warm and cosy in winter.
National co-director of Kathmandu Valley Mapping Project (KVMP) Padma Sunder Joshi said that Yauta Baha, Ratnakar Baha, Ganthi Baha or Gancchen Nani and Punchhe Baha is being envisaged as the first phase of development in this area.
"We are going to develop the core city area of Ward No 23 as a pilot project that includes providing basic infrastructures like the paving of streets, water, drainage, and street lamps etc.We will also assist the people in developing tourism business in the area," he said.
This programme is being launched to conserve our unique cultural heritage, to maintain a clean living environment, to identify important buildings concerning heritage and to conserve, repair and restore the old heritage buildings and the surrounding demography of the area, according to Joshi.
KVMP intends to complete this project within six to eight months.
"Reviving the deserted core area is a challenge for us. Only the slogan of heritage conservation is not going to bring those locals back. We must help them to generate income. Perhaps, we can bring back the days of the famous Freak Street again," said Joshi.
Senior planner of KVMP Kishor Manandhar said that money would not be a problem for launching the project, but he did not mention the exact amount KVMP is investing in the area.
"Participation of the local people is vital in this project. We want involvement of the locals from the very beginning. We will collect financial contribution from the locals up to 30 percent. By doing this, we want the locals to feel their responsibility to preserve the area," he said.
A steering-committee has recently been set up with the mayor as chairman, ward chairman as vice-chairman, and representatives of the locals and KMC officials as the members.
Ward No. 23 chairman Pabitra Bajracharya said that selecting his ward for the pilot project was a very "fortunate" incident for him.
Sundar Shyam Mathema, a local committee member said that the project would change the face of the core city and the locals would surely participate in it.
"But, it should not collapse midway, as it happens with many of the high-funding projects," he warned.
[Kathmandu Sunday February 24, 2002 Falgun 12, 2058.]
http://www.nepalnews.com.np/contents/englishdaily/ktmpost/2002/feb/feb24/local.htm#7
Sunday, February 24, 2002
Sunday, February 17, 2002
Whose land? Kirtipur farmers don’t know, nor do authorities
By Razen Manandhar
KIRTIPUR, Feb 16[2002]: When the government acquired 4,500 ropanis of Chirrup farmland for setting up the Tribhuwan University three decades ago, the displaced farming families were handed out plots in the outskirts of Kirtipur village. But the distribution of this public land by the local authority, Gaun Sabha, was so arbitrary that the families are now caught in a legal wrangle to prove their ownership over the individual plots.
To complicate matters further, some of the owners of these plots which have no legal certificates, later sold them off to others without any legal basis whatsoever. The Gaun Sabha had also distributed lands to some University deans who later sold it off.
Matters came to a head recently when 95 Kirtipur residents filed a writ (on February 1) against five buyers of such plots, who are building houses there. Acting on the writ the Supreme Court on February 7 passed an interim order to stop construction work. The writ also addresses local authorities like the Municipality, the Chief District Office, the Land Revenue Department and the Land Reform Ministry as respondents.
"We have filed the writ not against those particular houses, but our aim is to save the whole of Kirtipur from such encroachers who have brought a bad name to the town," says Surendra Manandhar, claimant from the petitioners’ side.
Between 1968 and till around 1986, the Gaun Sabha’s Pradhan Panchas distributed innumerable public plots of size 24' x 36', to anybody who ever applied paying the stipulated Rs 100 fee to the village office. In return, the applicants received a chit in small-type, which gave them the right to ownership. There is no "complete" record of the number of plots distributed nor on who got them.
Manandhar says the court’s verdict will help in solving a problem that has vexed Kirtipur farming families for the last three decades.
The local residents say that some 150 houses have been built illegally in Kirtipur Nayabazaar alone, and over 400 more "illegal" houses have come up on the public land around the heart of Kirtipur town.
Seventy-one-year-old Dwarika Maharjan, former Pradhan Pancha, who initiated the illegal distribution, says that the step he took 30 years ago, was the need of the time.
"That was a necessary decision at that time when we saw hundreds of people being displaced from their homes," he says.
At that time, Maharjan even had to appear before the then prime minister, Kirtinidhi Bista, to explain his actions.
But locals say the Pradhan Pancha earned thousands from the whole deal.
The former Pradhan Pancha says his decision to hand out plots to three Tribhuvan University deans—Prachanda Pradhan, Upendra Man Malla and Shekhar Pradhan-was made so that the village would benefit from these educationists. It makes him furious that they sold off the plots. "We thought them to be Gods but they turned out to be demons," says Maharjan.
Maharjan adds that like him, the Pradhan Panchas of neighbouring villages such as Layaku, Paliphal, Bahiri Gaon, Panga, Chobhar and Macchhe Gaon, had also distributed public lands in the same way.
Amidst all this, the Kirtipur Municipality is caught in a dilemma-it can neither call these plots and houses legal or illegal, as the Municipality has to own up to the decisions taken by the earlier local authorities.
Says Kirtipur Mayor, Hira Kaji Maharjan: "We cannot say they are legal. And we have been trying to stop this as far as we can. We have been requesting the police force and the Chief District Officer from time to time that something has to be done to stop illegal construction. But they don’t act saying that it is a political problem."
He says the Municipality did now and again try to stop such constructions, even by seizing construction equipment, but they continued. Asks a helpless Mayor, "What more can we do?"
[Kathmandu Sunday February 17, 2002 Falgun 05, 2058.]
http://www.nepalnews.com.np/contents/englishdaily/ktmpost/2002/feb/feb17/index.htm#5
KIRTIPUR, Feb 16[2002]: When the government acquired 4,500 ropanis of Chirrup farmland for setting up the Tribhuwan University three decades ago, the displaced farming families were handed out plots in the outskirts of Kirtipur village. But the distribution of this public land by the local authority, Gaun Sabha, was so arbitrary that the families are now caught in a legal wrangle to prove their ownership over the individual plots.
To complicate matters further, some of the owners of these plots which have no legal certificates, later sold them off to others without any legal basis whatsoever. The Gaun Sabha had also distributed lands to some University deans who later sold it off.
Matters came to a head recently when 95 Kirtipur residents filed a writ (on February 1) against five buyers of such plots, who are building houses there. Acting on the writ the Supreme Court on February 7 passed an interim order to stop construction work. The writ also addresses local authorities like the Municipality, the Chief District Office, the Land Revenue Department and the Land Reform Ministry as respondents.
"We have filed the writ not against those particular houses, but our aim is to save the whole of Kirtipur from such encroachers who have brought a bad name to the town," says Surendra Manandhar, claimant from the petitioners’ side.
Between 1968 and till around 1986, the Gaun Sabha’s Pradhan Panchas distributed innumerable public plots of size 24' x 36', to anybody who ever applied paying the stipulated Rs 100 fee to the village office. In return, the applicants received a chit in small-type, which gave them the right to ownership. There is no "complete" record of the number of plots distributed nor on who got them.
Manandhar says the court’s verdict will help in solving a problem that has vexed Kirtipur farming families for the last three decades.
The local residents say that some 150 houses have been built illegally in Kirtipur Nayabazaar alone, and over 400 more "illegal" houses have come up on the public land around the heart of Kirtipur town.
Seventy-one-year-old Dwarika Maharjan, former Pradhan Pancha, who initiated the illegal distribution, says that the step he took 30 years ago, was the need of the time.
"That was a necessary decision at that time when we saw hundreds of people being displaced from their homes," he says.
At that time, Maharjan even had to appear before the then prime minister, Kirtinidhi Bista, to explain his actions.
But locals say the Pradhan Pancha earned thousands from the whole deal.
The former Pradhan Pancha says his decision to hand out plots to three Tribhuvan University deans—Prachanda Pradhan, Upendra Man Malla and Shekhar Pradhan-was made so that the village would benefit from these educationists. It makes him furious that they sold off the plots. "We thought them to be Gods but they turned out to be demons," says Maharjan.
Maharjan adds that like him, the Pradhan Panchas of neighbouring villages such as Layaku, Paliphal, Bahiri Gaon, Panga, Chobhar and Macchhe Gaon, had also distributed public lands in the same way.
Amidst all this, the Kirtipur Municipality is caught in a dilemma-it can neither call these plots and houses legal or illegal, as the Municipality has to own up to the decisions taken by the earlier local authorities.
Says Kirtipur Mayor, Hira Kaji Maharjan: "We cannot say they are legal. And we have been trying to stop this as far as we can. We have been requesting the police force and the Chief District Officer from time to time that something has to be done to stop illegal construction. But they don’t act saying that it is a political problem."
He says the Municipality did now and again try to stop such constructions, even by seizing construction equipment, but they continued. Asks a helpless Mayor, "What more can we do?"
[Kathmandu Sunday February 17, 2002 Falgun 05, 2058.]
http://www.nepalnews.com.np/contents/englishdaily/ktmpost/2002/feb/feb17/index.htm#5
Buddhist interpretation of Saraswati
Temple of Manjushree
[HERITAGE TOUR]
By Razen Manandhar
People, tired of chilly winter long for some fresh winds and warmer sun as the Spring approaches. All over the world, people worship the god of spring in different ways. In Nepal, the fifth day of lunar Magha (17th February this year) is celebrated as Sri Panchami, is the day of Spring festival. On this day, people worship Manjushree and Saraswati, the god and goddess of education, wisdom and intelligence. Among the most visited Saraswati Shrines in the Kathmandu Valley, one lies at the western knoll of the Swayambhu hill, that is known as the shrine of Manjushree.
The temple is in the form of a white-washed Buddhist stupa. Guarded by stones on both front and rear sides, the temple has now fenced with iron bar. On the top of the stupa, there is a metal crown with eyes on four sides and thirteen-circular plates. The whole stupa-temple is covered by an open metal roof (Ilaan or Chanduwa) in the form of a Mandala that is hung over the stupa, which gives the shrine an appearance of a temple.
On the eastern side of the stupa, there is an artistic stone gate. And it has a stone torana which has images of Bagishwar, the form of Manjusri, flanked by Ganesh and Buddha on both of his sides. It is an unique example of the combination of Buddhism and Hinduism in one Torana which is rare among the thousands of Toranas scattered in the Kathmandu Valley.
A stone lotus on a small platform, possesses two relief feet with eyes on them. These two feet are the centre of devotion of thousands of Buddhists and Hindus. The eyes are believed to be of Dharma Shri, a disciple of Manjusri. One day, he neglected Manjushree in a religious gathering as the guru was in filthy dresses. Later, as he bent down to greet the guru, his eyes fell on Manjushree’s feet, as a punishment to the sin he committed.
The legends say that the Manjushree came to the Kathmandu Valley from China thousands of years before the Buddha was born. He worshipped the Swayambhu on a thousand-petaled lotus and drained away the water from the lake and make the valley suitable for human habitation. Another legend states that that Kind Prachanda Dev of Gaud (Bengal) came to Nepal and built the stupa of Swayambhu and Manjushree in the date beyond the history can trace. The shrine is now covered with painted iron roof that also has clumsy fringes around it.
Behind the main stupa there are several small stone stupas, which has also been surrounded by iron bar with praying wheels. A score of small and big idols are pasted on a wall with stone texture.
A recently renovated sattal is there opposite of the temple which is now filled with graffiti. Writing holy name of the Manjusri and Saraswati on the temple wall on the day of Sri Panchami is a popular tradition among the young students that is believed to help people obtain sharp mind.
Due to its legendary origin, the date of the temple’s construction and its original shape is unknown. But the temple in the present form is said to be established in the 17th century. The oldest found inscription shows that the temple has been there since the year 1784 AD. A Buddhist monk named Jayapatidev renovated the temple in the present form of a Buddhist Stupa.
The hill of Manjusri is a part on the hill of Swayambhu. It is surrounded by green trees and a naked cliff in northern side. Stone steps from Kimdol Bazaar leads directly to the shrine but can be reached from the top of the hill also.
Manjushree was a prehistoric saint but was given a god’s form as the tantraism gripped the Buddhism of the Kathamndu Valley. He is more commonly depicted as a god of transcendental wisdom and lord of speech, Bagishwor or Dharmadhatu Bagishwor. In his simplest form, he carries a book of Pragyaparamita and the divine sword with which he drives away ignorance and illiteracy.
In the shrine of Manjushree at Swayambhu, his identity and cult are merged with that of Saraswati a Hindu goddess, whose attributes are similar to Manjushree. The merge can also be interpreted as a confusion. Another reason of the confusion is their names., Dharmadhatu-Bagishwor, with Saraswati’s alternate, Bagiswari.
The heritage of the Kathmandu Valley remains live until both the Hindu and Buddhists worship the god or goddess without asking about whether a particular shrine belongs to a Buddhist or Hindu theology. And looking at the mass of people on the day of Sri Panchami, we can proudly say that the tradition of merge, confusion or harmony between Manjushree and Saraswati will continue forever.
[Kathmandu, Sunday, February 17, 2002 Falgun 05, 2058.]
[HERITAGE TOUR]
By Razen Manandhar
People, tired of chilly winter long for some fresh winds and warmer sun as the Spring approaches. All over the world, people worship the god of spring in different ways. In Nepal, the fifth day of lunar Magha (17th February this year) is celebrated as Sri Panchami, is the day of Spring festival. On this day, people worship Manjushree and Saraswati, the god and goddess of education, wisdom and intelligence. Among the most visited Saraswati Shrines in the Kathmandu Valley, one lies at the western knoll of the Swayambhu hill, that is known as the shrine of Manjushree.
The temple is in the form of a white-washed Buddhist stupa. Guarded by stones on both front and rear sides, the temple has now fenced with iron bar. On the top of the stupa, there is a metal crown with eyes on four sides and thirteen-circular plates. The whole stupa-temple is covered by an open metal roof (Ilaan or Chanduwa) in the form of a Mandala that is hung over the stupa, which gives the shrine an appearance of a temple.
On the eastern side of the stupa, there is an artistic stone gate. And it has a stone torana which has images of Bagishwar, the form of Manjusri, flanked by Ganesh and Buddha on both of his sides. It is an unique example of the combination of Buddhism and Hinduism in one Torana which is rare among the thousands of Toranas scattered in the Kathmandu Valley.
A stone lotus on a small platform, possesses two relief feet with eyes on them. These two feet are the centre of devotion of thousands of Buddhists and Hindus. The eyes are believed to be of Dharma Shri, a disciple of Manjusri. One day, he neglected Manjushree in a religious gathering as the guru was in filthy dresses. Later, as he bent down to greet the guru, his eyes fell on Manjushree’s feet, as a punishment to the sin he committed.
The legends say that the Manjushree came to the Kathmandu Valley from China thousands of years before the Buddha was born. He worshipped the Swayambhu on a thousand-petaled lotus and drained away the water from the lake and make the valley suitable for human habitation. Another legend states that that Kind Prachanda Dev of Gaud (Bengal) came to Nepal and built the stupa of Swayambhu and Manjushree in the date beyond the history can trace. The shrine is now covered with painted iron roof that also has clumsy fringes around it.
Behind the main stupa there are several small stone stupas, which has also been surrounded by iron bar with praying wheels. A score of small and big idols are pasted on a wall with stone texture.
A recently renovated sattal is there opposite of the temple which is now filled with graffiti. Writing holy name of the Manjusri and Saraswati on the temple wall on the day of Sri Panchami is a popular tradition among the young students that is believed to help people obtain sharp mind.
Due to its legendary origin, the date of the temple’s construction and its original shape is unknown. But the temple in the present form is said to be established in the 17th century. The oldest found inscription shows that the temple has been there since the year 1784 AD. A Buddhist monk named Jayapatidev renovated the temple in the present form of a Buddhist Stupa.
The hill of Manjusri is a part on the hill of Swayambhu. It is surrounded by green trees and a naked cliff in northern side. Stone steps from Kimdol Bazaar leads directly to the shrine but can be reached from the top of the hill also.
Manjushree was a prehistoric saint but was given a god’s form as the tantraism gripped the Buddhism of the Kathamndu Valley. He is more commonly depicted as a god of transcendental wisdom and lord of speech, Bagishwor or Dharmadhatu Bagishwor. In his simplest form, he carries a book of Pragyaparamita and the divine sword with which he drives away ignorance and illiteracy.
In the shrine of Manjushree at Swayambhu, his identity and cult are merged with that of Saraswati a Hindu goddess, whose attributes are similar to Manjushree. The merge can also be interpreted as a confusion. Another reason of the confusion is their names., Dharmadhatu-Bagishwor, with Saraswati’s alternate, Bagiswari.
The heritage of the Kathmandu Valley remains live until both the Hindu and Buddhists worship the god or goddess without asking about whether a particular shrine belongs to a Buddhist or Hindu theology. And looking at the mass of people on the day of Sri Panchami, we can proudly say that the tradition of merge, confusion or harmony between Manjushree and Saraswati will continue forever.
[Kathmandu, Sunday, February 17, 2002 Falgun 05, 2058.]
Wednesday, February 13, 2002
Health Warning: Beware of hazardous medical waste
Razen Manandhar
The "thrilling" story about an amputated limb found in the busy street of Bagbazaar is quite old. We have also read news stories about a government-owned maternity hospital throwing foetuses and other parts just next to the hospital compound. We read and soon forget such stories, as we have to get on with our busy lives.
But whether we think about it or not, the most aware, intelligent and comfortable citizens of the capital city, have to realise that they are living on a time bomb planted by the health organisations with its high-sounding slogans of quality health service. Any time, a plague can threaten the lives of thousands in this city because of the infectious waste the hospitals, nursing homes, clinics and medicine shops, throw out carelessly on the street every day.
One can hardly believe that in this so-called modern city, health institutions dump over 1,000 kilogrammes of deadly hazardous waste directly or indirectly on the streets every day.
We, the educated people of the valley, it seems know only one way of being health—conscious—chuck all the garbage out of our territory. Our conscience never bothers us that the garbage will not let us live in peace unless it is treated or managed properly. Staying with the garbage problem in the capital has become as common as "dalbhat". We have a decade-long experience in this field.
Medical waste—that is bio-medical waste, hospital waste, clinical waste, pathological waste, infectious waste, pharmaceutical waste, geno-toxic waste, chemical waste and even radioactive waste–are thousand times more dangerous to public health than plastic bags, paper boxes and rotten vegetables. In general, waste of the organic matters decompose while the non-organic ones remain intact.
But the case is quite different with medical waste. Since they are either infected with various bacteria and viruses, they can generate pests that can be harmful to our lives.
Around one-and-half million people from the valley and perhaps the same number from other districts, undergo treatment in the city’s numerous medical establishments. Do we have any idea where does the human tissues, organs, body fluids, other wastes which may transmit viral, fungal, bacterial or parasitic diseases, expired or unused drugs, gaseous chemicals, etc. go? They remain in the valley itself, on or under the ground, and their regenerated forms are flying in the air we breathe. We can’t run away from them. And we are not ostriches to bury our heads.
According to a research done last year by Environment and Public Health Organisation, over 60 hospitals, nursing homes, clinics, etc. produce 1,312 kg of such infectious and clinical wastes in the Kathmandu Valley. But only a few of these places have any equipment to treat the waste. What is happening is that many of the medical establishments mix hazardous waste with the general waste, which, according to experts, multiplies the danger by hundreds of times, because after such waste gets mixed with the general garbage pile, all the pile turns dangerous. Most of the hospitals and nursing homes usually dispose their waste on the roadside containers, and at times, burn and bury them in their institution premises.
This is what the doctors, and other health workers, whom we consider highly health- conscious and masters of health education, are leaving behind. What is there to expect from these people who are not serious about the waste they are responsible for produce?
But the blame lies not just on the health professionals. There are various laws concerning industry, health services and environment. They all say that the institutions must manage the waste that they produce. But no action has yet been taken against those who do not abide by the rules.
What can be done? Recommendations again: The government must amend its laws and punish the wrongdoers; make hospital management, doctors and cleaners aware, and immediately establish a centralised incinerator or get the hospitals and nursing homes to establish their own plants to manage such wastes. And of course, the citizens have a role to play. Have you ever heard of any citizen or civic organisation raising a voice against this deadly mismanagement? I suppose, no. Now is the time, before it gets too late.
[Kathmandu Wednesday February 13, 2002 Falgun 01, 2058.]
The "thrilling" story about an amputated limb found in the busy street of Bagbazaar is quite old. We have also read news stories about a government-owned maternity hospital throwing foetuses and other parts just next to the hospital compound. We read and soon forget such stories, as we have to get on with our busy lives.
But whether we think about it or not, the most aware, intelligent and comfortable citizens of the capital city, have to realise that they are living on a time bomb planted by the health organisations with its high-sounding slogans of quality health service. Any time, a plague can threaten the lives of thousands in this city because of the infectious waste the hospitals, nursing homes, clinics and medicine shops, throw out carelessly on the street every day.
One can hardly believe that in this so-called modern city, health institutions dump over 1,000 kilogrammes of deadly hazardous waste directly or indirectly on the streets every day.
We, the educated people of the valley, it seems know only one way of being health—conscious—chuck all the garbage out of our territory. Our conscience never bothers us that the garbage will not let us live in peace unless it is treated or managed properly. Staying with the garbage problem in the capital has become as common as "dalbhat". We have a decade-long experience in this field.
Medical waste—that is bio-medical waste, hospital waste, clinical waste, pathological waste, infectious waste, pharmaceutical waste, geno-toxic waste, chemical waste and even radioactive waste–are thousand times more dangerous to public health than plastic bags, paper boxes and rotten vegetables. In general, waste of the organic matters decompose while the non-organic ones remain intact.
But the case is quite different with medical waste. Since they are either infected with various bacteria and viruses, they can generate pests that can be harmful to our lives.
Around one-and-half million people from the valley and perhaps the same number from other districts, undergo treatment in the city’s numerous medical establishments. Do we have any idea where does the human tissues, organs, body fluids, other wastes which may transmit viral, fungal, bacterial or parasitic diseases, expired or unused drugs, gaseous chemicals, etc. go? They remain in the valley itself, on or under the ground, and their regenerated forms are flying in the air we breathe. We can’t run away from them. And we are not ostriches to bury our heads.
According to a research done last year by Environment and Public Health Organisation, over 60 hospitals, nursing homes, clinics, etc. produce 1,312 kg of such infectious and clinical wastes in the Kathmandu Valley. But only a few of these places have any equipment to treat the waste. What is happening is that many of the medical establishments mix hazardous waste with the general waste, which, according to experts, multiplies the danger by hundreds of times, because after such waste gets mixed with the general garbage pile, all the pile turns dangerous. Most of the hospitals and nursing homes usually dispose their waste on the roadside containers, and at times, burn and bury them in their institution premises.
This is what the doctors, and other health workers, whom we consider highly health- conscious and masters of health education, are leaving behind. What is there to expect from these people who are not serious about the waste they are responsible for produce?
But the blame lies not just on the health professionals. There are various laws concerning industry, health services and environment. They all say that the institutions must manage the waste that they produce. But no action has yet been taken against those who do not abide by the rules.
What can be done? Recommendations again: The government must amend its laws and punish the wrongdoers; make hospital management, doctors and cleaners aware, and immediately establish a centralised incinerator or get the hospitals and nursing homes to establish their own plants to manage such wastes. And of course, the citizens have a role to play. Have you ever heard of any citizen or civic organisation raising a voice against this deadly mismanagement? I suppose, no. Now is the time, before it gets too late.
[Kathmandu Wednesday February 13, 2002 Falgun 01, 2058.]
Sunday, February 10, 2002
[Bungamati] hometown of Red Machhindranath
By Razen Manandhar
After a ride along the road with old sporadic settlements and new bungalows for about 12 kilometres from the capital’s centre, the 1400 years old village of Bungamati becomes distinct from a height that gives you a fair picture of the clustered settlement with Bagmati river and the hill that goes to Dakshinkali in the background.
After you discover the rows of old houses, you come to know that you are in an ancient Newar settlement that has barely been influenced by the modern lifestyle. One can easily penetrate the settlement with narrow streets that lead you to the main shrine courtyard, where lies the temple of Red Machhindranath.
The houses are traditional and uniform — three floors and with a tilted tiled roof. Small doors and windows keep the mud-and-brick houses warm also in the chilly winter. They generally stand on stone steps, where the locals can sit and go for never-ending gossips in tedious afternoons. And several water ponds are there to let locally bred geese swim.
An inscription of Licchivi king Anshubarma (605-621 AD) proves that the settlement is at least 1,400 years old. In those days it was called "Bugayumi". In different times it was earned names like, Bugayugrama, Amarapur and so on.
The ancient settlement with around 3,000 population there is self-preserved and stick to the earth because it is the holy home of Rato Machhindranath, often considered as the god of compassion and rainfall. The relation between the locals and the deity is retrospective — either the locals nurtured the deity or the settlement is bestowed by the grace of the god.
The white-washed Shikhar temple of Machhindranath lies almost at the middle of the settlement. It is supported by wooden column that is common only in pagoda temples. A temple-house of Hayagriva Bhairav also lies in a corner of the courtyard. The Panjus and Shakyas are the priest and they take care of the temple.
The settlement is directly related with the local deity, whom the locals remember everyday and over every hard times they face. The red, fully-covered idol has obtained around a dozen names in last two millenniums. But the most popular among the locals is "Karunamaya", the compassionate one. Other Newars in the valley address the same deity as Bungadyo, the god from Bunga. Besides, Bungamati Lokeshwor, Avalokiteshowr, Aryavalokiteshwor, Lokanath are other names attributed to him. Specially among non-Buddhists, he is Rato Machhindranath, the Red god of fishes. They worship the deity as a supreme Hindu saint, the guru of Gorakhnath.
Regardless of being Buddhists or Hindus, the Karunamaya is the god of all and Bungamati is proud to house him for six months every year (the idol is taken to the core of Patan city during the other half of the year). People from Buddhist, Shaiv, Shakti and Vaishnav sects worship the holy idol in different forms.
No matter how important place he obtains in both Buddhist and Hindu religion, the history of Machhindranath is not clear. According to a legend, the early 7th century king Narendradev and his companion Bandhudatta brought the god Karunamaya form Assam to let Saint Gorakhnath stand up, who was sitting on nine serpents, causing a long drought. The king thought that Machhindranath being the guru, Gorakhnath would stand up to greet him. There oldest inscription so far found there is dated 1675 AD in the temple.
However, the settlement can no more be untouched from the clutches of modernization — concrete houses, snooker parlours, beauty parlours, VCD rentals etc. are found easily. Adding more storeys and rolling shutters in old houses have become a fashion among the locals. This new whim of desire to call themselves "modern" is a new threat to the village environment. Besides, this old vulnerable settlement has been a bull’s eye of art thieves, the negligence by the security department is to be blamed.
In times, the hard-working locals have made good names as a village of farmers, carpenters and carpet-weavers. Now, it is getting famous as a wood carving centre. There are over 60 wood carving studios, some of which even export the quality handicraft to European countries.
Though a favourate tourist destination, there is little facilities for the visitors. Tourist services like quality souvenir shops, coffee houses and toilets are need to be added to see tourists spending more hours in the quiet old village.
UNESCO has recently launched a programme to initiate Community Learning Centre with cooperation with the local village development committee. Hopes are high that the villagers would realize the significance of the ancient settlement and learn to be proud of being residents of Bungamati. That would inspire them to conserve cultural heritage of the area and develop it as a tourist destination in the near future.
[Kathmandu, Sunday, February 10, 2002 Magh 28, 2058.]
http://www.nepalnews.com.np/contents/englishweekly/sundaypost/2002/feb/feb10/2ndpage.htm#3
After a ride along the road with old sporadic settlements and new bungalows for about 12 kilometres from the capital’s centre, the 1400 years old village of Bungamati becomes distinct from a height that gives you a fair picture of the clustered settlement with Bagmati river and the hill that goes to Dakshinkali in the background.
After you discover the rows of old houses, you come to know that you are in an ancient Newar settlement that has barely been influenced by the modern lifestyle. One can easily penetrate the settlement with narrow streets that lead you to the main shrine courtyard, where lies the temple of Red Machhindranath.
The houses are traditional and uniform — three floors and with a tilted tiled roof. Small doors and windows keep the mud-and-brick houses warm also in the chilly winter. They generally stand on stone steps, where the locals can sit and go for never-ending gossips in tedious afternoons. And several water ponds are there to let locally bred geese swim.
An inscription of Licchivi king Anshubarma (605-621 AD) proves that the settlement is at least 1,400 years old. In those days it was called "Bugayumi". In different times it was earned names like, Bugayugrama, Amarapur and so on.
The ancient settlement with around 3,000 population there is self-preserved and stick to the earth because it is the holy home of Rato Machhindranath, often considered as the god of compassion and rainfall. The relation between the locals and the deity is retrospective — either the locals nurtured the deity or the settlement is bestowed by the grace of the god.
The white-washed Shikhar temple of Machhindranath lies almost at the middle of the settlement. It is supported by wooden column that is common only in pagoda temples. A temple-house of Hayagriva Bhairav also lies in a corner of the courtyard. The Panjus and Shakyas are the priest and they take care of the temple.
The settlement is directly related with the local deity, whom the locals remember everyday and over every hard times they face. The red, fully-covered idol has obtained around a dozen names in last two millenniums. But the most popular among the locals is "Karunamaya", the compassionate one. Other Newars in the valley address the same deity as Bungadyo, the god from Bunga. Besides, Bungamati Lokeshwor, Avalokiteshowr, Aryavalokiteshwor, Lokanath are other names attributed to him. Specially among non-Buddhists, he is Rato Machhindranath, the Red god of fishes. They worship the deity as a supreme Hindu saint, the guru of Gorakhnath.
Regardless of being Buddhists or Hindus, the Karunamaya is the god of all and Bungamati is proud to house him for six months every year (the idol is taken to the core of Patan city during the other half of the year). People from Buddhist, Shaiv, Shakti and Vaishnav sects worship the holy idol in different forms.
No matter how important place he obtains in both Buddhist and Hindu religion, the history of Machhindranath is not clear. According to a legend, the early 7th century king Narendradev and his companion Bandhudatta brought the god Karunamaya form Assam to let Saint Gorakhnath stand up, who was sitting on nine serpents, causing a long drought. The king thought that Machhindranath being the guru, Gorakhnath would stand up to greet him. There oldest inscription so far found there is dated 1675 AD in the temple.
However, the settlement can no more be untouched from the clutches of modernization — concrete houses, snooker parlours, beauty parlours, VCD rentals etc. are found easily. Adding more storeys and rolling shutters in old houses have become a fashion among the locals. This new whim of desire to call themselves "modern" is a new threat to the village environment. Besides, this old vulnerable settlement has been a bull’s eye of art thieves, the negligence by the security department is to be blamed.
In times, the hard-working locals have made good names as a village of farmers, carpenters and carpet-weavers. Now, it is getting famous as a wood carving centre. There are over 60 wood carving studios, some of which even export the quality handicraft to European countries.
Though a favourate tourist destination, there is little facilities for the visitors. Tourist services like quality souvenir shops, coffee houses and toilets are need to be added to see tourists spending more hours in the quiet old village.
UNESCO has recently launched a programme to initiate Community Learning Centre with cooperation with the local village development committee. Hopes are high that the villagers would realize the significance of the ancient settlement and learn to be proud of being residents of Bungamati. That would inspire them to conserve cultural heritage of the area and develop it as a tourist destination in the near future.
[Kathmandu, Sunday, February 10, 2002 Magh 28, 2058.]
http://www.nepalnews.com.np/contents/englishweekly/sundaypost/2002/feb/feb10/2ndpage.htm#3
Sunday, February 03, 2002
Bagmati ghat Grand shrine along the holy river
[herigate tour]
By Razen Manandhar
few people of the modern Kathmandu may know that just at the other side of the busy Teku Thapathali road, there is a vast treasure of cultural heritage along the bank of the holy Bagmati river, stretching for around two kilometres. Around two dozen major temples, mostly built in the politically defamed Rana period of the 19th century.
From the confluence of Bagmati and Bishnumati River at Teku, just behind the central office of Kathmandu Metropolitan City to the Temple of Gorakhnath at Thapathali, on the way to Patan, the temples are positioned in a series, and countless small Hindu and Buddhist idols are also scattered by the river, some of them might be the popular Uma-Maheshowr of the 7th century too.
The main temples in this area are Janga Hiranya Hem Narayan, Narmadeshowr Shivlinga, Tripura Sundari, Radhakrishna, Purneshwor, Dakshinkali, Radhakrishna, Ram, Shivalaya, Ban Bikateshowr, Panchamukhi Mahadev, Radhakrishna, Jagannath and Pachali Bhairav.The temples came into existence from early 19th century to 20th century. Among them, the open shrine of Pachali Bhairav bears inscription of 1649 AD whereas many of the temples in the river bank were erected after the First Rana Prime Minster Janga Bahadur Rana chose the holy river bank to experiment with the European architecture with fusion of Nepali traditional architecture.
The characteristic of this heritage area is that one can find temples built in various lapse of time and obviously, it can be seen in thevariety of architecture and use of building materials. Where the shrine of Pachali is a simple open shrine where the formless idol of the Bhairav is lying on the ground, the temple of Tripura Sundari, made in 1818 AD is a masterpiece of Nepali pagoda. Similarly, the temple of Ban Bikateshwor, made in 19th century is a unique type of temple that has three separate temples inside one. And the dome shaped Janga Hiranya Hem Narayan, built in 1874 AD, is also an example of its kind with Mughal dome and four brass lions on four corners.
The bank of river has been a holy site, an abode of the "Mother Bagmati", since civilization germinated in the Kathmandu Valley. So, the part of the river bank that lies the nearest to the old Kathmandu has been considered as pious. This is also the southern end of the old Kathmamndu.
Beside the religious shrines, the river bank itself is no less religious. After the famous Aryaghat of Pashupatinath, this is the most cared, protected and widely visited river bank of the Bagmati. Thus this part of the bank plays a vital role to make whole river, no matter how it looks like now, religious and make it a cultural part of the Kathmanduites.
There are four major ghats in area, stretching from west to east : Bagmati Ghat, Kalmochan Ghat, Bhagwateshwor Bhat and Pachali Ghat and Teku Dovan Ghat. Among them, the last one, Teku Dovan Ghat must be the oldest considered as a legendary saint called Ne first chose this pious confluence where the Vishnumati river comes to mix with the Bagmati to set up the valley as a centre of civilization, thousands of years ago.
Among others, the temple of Rikheshwor draws thousands of female pilgrims on the day of Rishi Panchami that falls on the month of July. On this day, the pilgrims offer special rites to the phallic idol of Lord Shiva for the long life and prosperity of their husbands.
And the Bagmati ghat is specially remembered on the month of Magh (December-January) when people visit there on chilly mornings, take holy bath and enjoy wood-firing by the river.
But when we talk about its present, we can hardly see something like conservation is taking place, excluding one or two temples getting face-lift at snail-speed. There is a series of ruined temples, debris and carelessly scattered archaeological idols.
The grandchildren of the makers of the temples are trying their luck to make the area their private by destroying historical evidences. And to your surprise, professionals like lawyers and close relatives to police officers have been found erecting concrete buildings on the ghat area. And martial arts centres are opened in the fragile traditional buildings near the central office of Kathmandu Metropolitan City itself.
The ancient holy temples and sattals are turned squatters’ squares in these days. In almost every beautiful, artistic and traditional buildings, built to give shelter to the pilgrims, one can find squatters living rightfully. Neither the government has done anything to drive them away nor has any local representative played role to evacuate the area and maintain its original significance.
Department of Archaeology, UNESCO and John Sanday Consultants prepared projects for conservation of Teku Thapathali Monument Zone in 1996 but it did not materialized.
[Kathmandu, Sunday, February 03, 2002 Magh 21, 2058.]
http://www.nepalnews.com.np/contents/englishweekly/sundaypost/2002/feb/feb03/2ndpage.htm#4
By Razen Manandhar
few people of the modern Kathmandu may know that just at the other side of the busy Teku Thapathali road, there is a vast treasure of cultural heritage along the bank of the holy Bagmati river, stretching for around two kilometres. Around two dozen major temples, mostly built in the politically defamed Rana period of the 19th century.
From the confluence of Bagmati and Bishnumati River at Teku, just behind the central office of Kathmandu Metropolitan City to the Temple of Gorakhnath at Thapathali, on the way to Patan, the temples are positioned in a series, and countless small Hindu and Buddhist idols are also scattered by the river, some of them might be the popular Uma-Maheshowr of the 7th century too.
The main temples in this area are Janga Hiranya Hem Narayan, Narmadeshowr Shivlinga, Tripura Sundari, Radhakrishna, Purneshwor, Dakshinkali, Radhakrishna, Ram, Shivalaya, Ban Bikateshowr, Panchamukhi Mahadev, Radhakrishna, Jagannath and Pachali Bhairav.The temples came into existence from early 19th century to 20th century. Among them, the open shrine of Pachali Bhairav bears inscription of 1649 AD whereas many of the temples in the river bank were erected after the First Rana Prime Minster Janga Bahadur Rana chose the holy river bank to experiment with the European architecture with fusion of Nepali traditional architecture.
The characteristic of this heritage area is that one can find temples built in various lapse of time and obviously, it can be seen in thevariety of architecture and use of building materials. Where the shrine of Pachali is a simple open shrine where the formless idol of the Bhairav is lying on the ground, the temple of Tripura Sundari, made in 1818 AD is a masterpiece of Nepali pagoda. Similarly, the temple of Ban Bikateshwor, made in 19th century is a unique type of temple that has three separate temples inside one. And the dome shaped Janga Hiranya Hem Narayan, built in 1874 AD, is also an example of its kind with Mughal dome and four brass lions on four corners.
The bank of river has been a holy site, an abode of the "Mother Bagmati", since civilization germinated in the Kathmandu Valley. So, the part of the river bank that lies the nearest to the old Kathmandu has been considered as pious. This is also the southern end of the old Kathmamndu.
Beside the religious shrines, the river bank itself is no less religious. After the famous Aryaghat of Pashupatinath, this is the most cared, protected and widely visited river bank of the Bagmati. Thus this part of the bank plays a vital role to make whole river, no matter how it looks like now, religious and make it a cultural part of the Kathmanduites.
There are four major ghats in area, stretching from west to east : Bagmati Ghat, Kalmochan Ghat, Bhagwateshwor Bhat and Pachali Ghat and Teku Dovan Ghat. Among them, the last one, Teku Dovan Ghat must be the oldest considered as a legendary saint called Ne first chose this pious confluence where the Vishnumati river comes to mix with the Bagmati to set up the valley as a centre of civilization, thousands of years ago.
Among others, the temple of Rikheshwor draws thousands of female pilgrims on the day of Rishi Panchami that falls on the month of July. On this day, the pilgrims offer special rites to the phallic idol of Lord Shiva for the long life and prosperity of their husbands.
And the Bagmati ghat is specially remembered on the month of Magh (December-January) when people visit there on chilly mornings, take holy bath and enjoy wood-firing by the river.
But when we talk about its present, we can hardly see something like conservation is taking place, excluding one or two temples getting face-lift at snail-speed. There is a series of ruined temples, debris and carelessly scattered archaeological idols.
The grandchildren of the makers of the temples are trying their luck to make the area their private by destroying historical evidences. And to your surprise, professionals like lawyers and close relatives to police officers have been found erecting concrete buildings on the ghat area. And martial arts centres are opened in the fragile traditional buildings near the central office of Kathmandu Metropolitan City itself.
The ancient holy temples and sattals are turned squatters’ squares in these days. In almost every beautiful, artistic and traditional buildings, built to give shelter to the pilgrims, one can find squatters living rightfully. Neither the government has done anything to drive them away nor has any local representative played role to evacuate the area and maintain its original significance.
Department of Archaeology, UNESCO and John Sanday Consultants prepared projects for conservation of Teku Thapathali Monument Zone in 1996 but it did not materialized.
[Kathmandu, Sunday, February 03, 2002 Magh 21, 2058.]
http://www.nepalnews.com.np/contents/englishweekly/sundaypost/2002/feb/feb03/2ndpage.htm#4
Tuesday, January 22, 2002
Manufacturers wait govt decision to take toxin back
By Razen Manandhar
LALITPUR, Jan 21[2002]:Greenpeace volunteers from Germany, Netherlands, India and other countries worked here for three months to carefully pack 6 tonnes of Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) from a government-owned research centre but the government is still waiting for "donations" to begin procedures to send them back.
It needs only a letter from the government to the manufacturers that would oblige the senders to take them back into their countries at their own expenses. But the government officials say that they have to search for donations to begin the process, instead of writing a simple letter.
Bhaktiraj Palikhe, the pesticide registrar of Nepal Agriculture Research Centre (NARC), said the government is writing the request letter to the manufacturers only when the detail inventory of the total amount of POPs lying in the country. Then the government would ask for donations to send them back, he said, without giving any deadline on the completion of preparing the inventory.
According to the volunteers, CropLife, an umbrella organisation representing the largest multinational pesticide manufacturers, is offering "assistance" to Nepal government to deal with the pesticide stockpiles. They need only a request letter to show their concern over the stock of hazardous pesticides now lying unmanaged in Nepal.
"We need donations to manage the POPs and also to send them back," Palikhe said. His comments came following a press meet organised here today by Greenpeace, which gave details on the collection of date-expired pesticides from the warehouse of NARC into 98 barrels.
But Palikhe did not explain what the government would do with the donation when the manufacturers themselves are positive towards taking back the POPs.
He said that the amount stored by the Greenpeace volunteers are not the only pesticide warehouse Nepal has and any action to manage the deadly elements needs to address the whole amount lying in various parts of the country.
"The unmanaged POPs are a national problem of Nepal and our letter will address the issue," Palikhe added.
However, the environmentalists say that the POPs are stored in Amlekhgunj, Nepalgunj and several other depots in worse condition than in the capital. They say that preparing a detail inventory and managing it would take decades.
It is estimated that there are over 75 tonnes of POPs lying mainly in agriculture-related offices of the country. About one third of the waste is pesticides manufactured by Bayer and Shell with remainders being produced by Union Carbide (Dow), Sumitomo, Sandoz, Rhone Poulenc (now Bayer), Du Pont and Monsanto, among other companies, according to the volunteers.
Environmentalist Bhushan Tuladhar, the executive director of Clean Energy Nepal, said that if CropLife is ready to assist Nepal, we do not need to look out for donors. "The senders are ready to take care of it. Then why should we worry about donations?" he asked.
He blamed that the government is not ready to manage the POPs and the officers are searching for commission to prepare reports. "They are busy working in separate projects in the name of the pesticide we have not cared for the last three decades," he said.
"This actually is our duty, including the NGOs," Tuladhar said. "Now the Greenpece is here to do it for us. We should not linger the matter any more."
These deadly substances found in Kathmandu were donated to Nepal by western companies or channelled through various international aid mechanisms over the last 25 years. Obsolete pesticides pose a serious threat to the environment and the health of the people living in the vicinity of such stockpiles, said Andreas Berstorff, the toxic trade expert from Greenpeace Germany.
[Kathmandu Tuesday January 22, 2002 Magh 09, 2058.]
By Razen Manandhar
LALITPUR, Jan 21[2002]:Greenpeace volunteers from Germany, Netherlands, India and other countries worked here for three months to carefully pack 6 tonnes of Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) from a government-owned research centre but the government is still waiting for "donations" to begin procedures to send them back.
It needs only a letter from the government to the manufacturers that would oblige the senders to take them back into their countries at their own expenses. But the government officials say that they have to search for donations to begin the process, instead of writing a simple letter.
Bhaktiraj Palikhe, the pesticide registrar of Nepal Agriculture Research Centre (NARC), said the government is writing the request letter to the manufacturers only when the detail inventory of the total amount of POPs lying in the country. Then the government would ask for donations to send them back, he said, without giving any deadline on the completion of preparing the inventory.
According to the volunteers, CropLife, an umbrella organisation representing the largest multinational pesticide manufacturers, is offering "assistance" to Nepal government to deal with the pesticide stockpiles. They need only a request letter to show their concern over the stock of hazardous pesticides now lying unmanaged in Nepal.
"We need donations to manage the POPs and also to send them back," Palikhe said. His comments came following a press meet organised here today by Greenpeace, which gave details on the collection of date-expired pesticides from the warehouse of NARC into 98 barrels.
But Palikhe did not explain what the government would do with the donation when the manufacturers themselves are positive towards taking back the POPs.
He said that the amount stored by the Greenpeace volunteers are not the only pesticide warehouse Nepal has and any action to manage the deadly elements needs to address the whole amount lying in various parts of the country.
"The unmanaged POPs are a national problem of Nepal and our letter will address the issue," Palikhe added.
However, the environmentalists say that the POPs are stored in Amlekhgunj, Nepalgunj and several other depots in worse condition than in the capital. They say that preparing a detail inventory and managing it would take decades.
It is estimated that there are over 75 tonnes of POPs lying mainly in agriculture-related offices of the country. About one third of the waste is pesticides manufactured by Bayer and Shell with remainders being produced by Union Carbide (Dow), Sumitomo, Sandoz, Rhone Poulenc (now Bayer), Du Pont and Monsanto, among other companies, according to the volunteers.
Environmentalist Bhushan Tuladhar, the executive director of Clean Energy Nepal, said that if CropLife is ready to assist Nepal, we do not need to look out for donors. "The senders are ready to take care of it. Then why should we worry about donations?" he asked.
He blamed that the government is not ready to manage the POPs and the officers are searching for commission to prepare reports. "They are busy working in separate projects in the name of the pesticide we have not cared for the last three decades," he said.
"This actually is our duty, including the NGOs," Tuladhar said. "Now the Greenpece is here to do it for us. We should not linger the matter any more."
These deadly substances found in Kathmandu were donated to Nepal by western companies or channelled through various international aid mechanisms over the last 25 years. Obsolete pesticides pose a serious threat to the environment and the health of the people living in the vicinity of such stockpiles, said Andreas Berstorff, the toxic trade expert from Greenpeace Germany.
[Kathmandu Tuesday January 22, 2002 Magh 09, 2058.]
Friday, January 18, 2002
Time to revive old ways of excreta as manure
By Razen Manandhar
KATHMANDU, Jan 17: Panna Ratna Maharjan, an elderly Kirtipur farmer, often worries that the vegetables he grows these days are not "as big and tasty" as they used to be two decades ago. He says that’s because he no longer uses human excreta as manure.
"In the earlier days, we used to use human excreta and kitchen waste as manure. That was a productive way of doing agriculture," he says.
Maharjan says the old practice of mixing human faeces, urine and kitchen waste in the soil to make it more fertile is now being regarded as "unhealthy" in the face of so-called modern scientific ways of agriculture.
The only farmers who are still sticking to the old ways are the Sherpas in high-altitude districts like Dolpa and Solukhumbu.
"Our grandfathers were much more scientific, they used to manage solid waste in such a way that it became an essential resource in agricultural production," says farmer Maharjan.
In those ‘grandfather times’, the human faeces in public toilets were collected by sweepers in buckets and deposited in pits dug beside the fields. Then the farmers would add other types of manure to it before pouring it into the field.
Maharjan says pouring human excreta "directly on the earth is a sin".
He says the vegetables grown in such fields have better colour, are more tasty and bigger.
Raj Bhai Jyakami, the Secretary of Jyapu Mahaguthi, a farmers’ organization, says that the practice of using human waste as manure stopped with the change in structure of houses.
Using human excreta as manure is a popular method among the farming communities in many parts of the world. While it might not have been an old practice as in the case of Nepal, it is now being introduced in countries like Zimbabwe, Vietnam and Sweden.
This method started dying out in Nepal also because toilets with water closets came into place.
Although many may think water closets are the best way to deal with excreta, environmentalists say this is a waste of a lot of water and also has a contaminating effect on rivers and ground water.
Dr Roshan Raj Shrestha, the Executive Chairman of Environment and Public Health Organization (ENPHO), says urine and faeces are great fertilisers, and have a good effect on the soil. The Sweden-returned scientist says this method of excreta as manure can be easily revived in the Kathmandu Valley.
"An adult produces on an average 400 litres of urine in a year, which is in fact 4 kg of nitrogen, 0.4 kg of phosphorus and 0.9 kg of potassium," informs Shrestha. "Similarly a person releases on an average 25 to 50 kg of faeces in a year, which is 0.55 kg of nitrogen, 0.18 kg of phosphorus and 0.37 kg of potassium."
He says it’s a tragedy that such fertile elements are flushed out by the larger world population.
"Instead of using them as life-givers, these wastes are now polluting water bodies," he says.
Dr. Shrestha says the human waste ought to be mixed with lime or ash in the soil to drive away bad odour. He, however, says it is important to separate urine and faeces because if they are mixed, they lose out on their fertile properties.
"The sanitised or composted faeces become humus that act as soil conditioner which increases water-holding capacity, reduces pests and diseases, improves soil structure, breaks up organic matter into the basic elements that plants need, and neutralize soil toxins and heavy metals,"
says Shrestha.
Apparently, this system of "ecological sanitation" will also help reduce use of water in flushing. Dr Shrestha says people on an average use 15,000 litres of water to flush 50 litres of faeces and 500 litres of urine.
Says Dr. Shrestha, "If human excreta is not flushed out, the problem of water scarcity can be reduced to some extent. And the use of excreta as manure will also solve the big problem of human waste management."
[Kathmandu Friday January 18, 2002 Magh 05, 2058.]
By Razen Manandhar
KATHMANDU, Jan 17: Panna Ratna Maharjan, an elderly Kirtipur farmer, often worries that the vegetables he grows these days are not "as big and tasty" as they used to be two decades ago. He says that’s because he no longer uses human excreta as manure.
"In the earlier days, we used to use human excreta and kitchen waste as manure. That was a productive way of doing agriculture," he says.
Maharjan says the old practice of mixing human faeces, urine and kitchen waste in the soil to make it more fertile is now being regarded as "unhealthy" in the face of so-called modern scientific ways of agriculture.
The only farmers who are still sticking to the old ways are the Sherpas in high-altitude districts like Dolpa and Solukhumbu.
"Our grandfathers were much more scientific, they used to manage solid waste in such a way that it became an essential resource in agricultural production," says farmer Maharjan.
In those ‘grandfather times’, the human faeces in public toilets were collected by sweepers in buckets and deposited in pits dug beside the fields. Then the farmers would add other types of manure to it before pouring it into the field.
Maharjan says pouring human excreta "directly on the earth is a sin".
He says the vegetables grown in such fields have better colour, are more tasty and bigger.
Raj Bhai Jyakami, the Secretary of Jyapu Mahaguthi, a farmers’ organization, says that the practice of using human waste as manure stopped with the change in structure of houses.
Using human excreta as manure is a popular method among the farming communities in many parts of the world. While it might not have been an old practice as in the case of Nepal, it is now being introduced in countries like Zimbabwe, Vietnam and Sweden.
This method started dying out in Nepal also because toilets with water closets came into place.
Although many may think water closets are the best way to deal with excreta, environmentalists say this is a waste of a lot of water and also has a contaminating effect on rivers and ground water.
Dr Roshan Raj Shrestha, the Executive Chairman of Environment and Public Health Organization (ENPHO), says urine and faeces are great fertilisers, and have a good effect on the soil. The Sweden-returned scientist says this method of excreta as manure can be easily revived in the Kathmandu Valley.
"An adult produces on an average 400 litres of urine in a year, which is in fact 4 kg of nitrogen, 0.4 kg of phosphorus and 0.9 kg of potassium," informs Shrestha. "Similarly a person releases on an average 25 to 50 kg of faeces in a year, which is 0.55 kg of nitrogen, 0.18 kg of phosphorus and 0.37 kg of potassium."
He says it’s a tragedy that such fertile elements are flushed out by the larger world population.
"Instead of using them as life-givers, these wastes are now polluting water bodies," he says.
Dr. Shrestha says the human waste ought to be mixed with lime or ash in the soil to drive away bad odour. He, however, says it is important to separate urine and faeces because if they are mixed, they lose out on their fertile properties.
"The sanitised or composted faeces become humus that act as soil conditioner which increases water-holding capacity, reduces pests and diseases, improves soil structure, breaks up organic matter into the basic elements that plants need, and neutralize soil toxins and heavy metals,"
says Shrestha.
Apparently, this system of "ecological sanitation" will also help reduce use of water in flushing. Dr Shrestha says people on an average use 15,000 litres of water to flush 50 litres of faeces and 500 litres of urine.
Says Dr. Shrestha, "If human excreta is not flushed out, the problem of water scarcity can be reduced to some extent. And the use of excreta as manure will also solve the big problem of human waste management."
[Kathmandu Friday January 18, 2002 Magh 05, 2058.]
Monday, December 31, 2001
Bhaktapur Durbar Square
Heritage tour
By Razen Manandhar
Whenever one talks about the monument conservation in Nepal, he or she names Bhaktapur Durbar Square as a model — the way of protecting it and cashing benefit of conservation — all has set an example for the country itself.
When Henry Oldfield visited Nepal in 1880, Bhaktapur was "largest and most costly of any in Nipal." And Merry Slusser justly writes in her book —"For the moment, at least, Bhakpapur remains one of the remarkable treasures of the Kathmandu Valley — indeed, of the globe."
The indigenous settlements developed a city in Bhaktapur long before the Lichhivis came into power in the fifth century, the historians hypothesize, though, a few Lichhivi inscriptions and architectural remains have so far been frond from there. Still, we have names of ancients palaces like Tripura and Yuthunium, though we can’t locate where they might have stood in the mediaeval Bhaktapur.
Some historians believe that Bhaktapur is the oldest royal palace of the valley. Still, the oldest found inscription of 594 AD shows that it was a Drung (or big town) called Khopring (the city is still called Khwapa in the local Newar language).
Chronicle Gopalraj Banshavali states that King Ananda Dev established Bhaktapur state in 1146 AD. The predominantly Hindu state was developed in the 12th century and different kings, who came to Bhaktapur’s throne after it became a separate state of the valley in 1482 AD. By the 15th century, the state of Bhaktapur was surrounded by strong walls and moats to secure it from unfriendly neighbours (the wall and city boundary have disappeared). It is "traditionally" divided into two parts — upper and lower — that can be traced in the annual festival of Bisket Jatra even today.
The last three kings Jitamitra Malla, Bhupatindra Malla and Ranajita Malla (1673-1769 AD) were among the kings who contributed the most to decorate the royal square, which we see today.
Not only the palace area, but the whole of the city is full of midaeval temples and residential houses. The stone or brick-paved streets, brick-made houses and temples — all equally decorated with smooth bricks, tiled roofs, carved windows and doors, wooden struts or columns with designs of deities and animals and topped with gilded pinnacles.
Today, the fifty-five window palace is the centre of the protected monument zone. The main palace used to stand elegantly with 99 courtyards but now it has only half a dozen to possess. Mulchowk (supposedly the oldest remaining part of the palace), Bhairav Chowk, Ita Chowk, malati Chowk, Siddhi Chowk, Kumari Chowk are some of them.
After undergoing numerous stages of renovations, it still represents the complicated and miraculous Newari architecture and excellent wood carving, and extraordinary wall paintings. However, it has lost its original spectacle after it was restored following the collapse during the earthquake of 1934. The palace is waiting for renovation and the locals say dirty games among the contractors is the reason behind the delay.
The Yakhseshwor Temple, the Statue of King Bhupatindra Malla, Golden Gate, Taleju Temple, The Golden Spout, The Big Bell, Chyasilin Mandap, Siddhi Laxmi Temple, Vatsala Templeand Chaturbramha Mahavihar are the major monuments at the Bhaktapur Durbar Square.
Along with this we cannot neglect other landmark monuments which lie outside the Durbar Square. These include Nyatapola Temple, Bhairavnath Temple, Dattatraya Temple, Bhimsen Temple, Salan Ganesh Temple, Tekhacho Barahi Temple, Wakupati Narayan Temple, Chhuma Ganesh Temple, Nawadurga Temple, Rudrayani Temple, Mahalaxmi Temple, Hanuman Temple and Kamal Binayak Temple. Apart from that, the Peakock Window and Tucchimala Terracota Window and Talako Potter Square are other spectacles of the historic city.
Lokeshwor Mahavihar, Jyetvarna Mahavihar, Akandasheel Mahavihar, Lumbavarna Mahavihar, Mangal Dharma Mahavihar, Indravarna Mahavihar, Dhimottar Mahavihar, Adipadma Mahavihar, Bishow Mahavihar, Parasannashil Mahavihar, Dipankar Mahavihar, Manjuvarna Mahavihar, Yangalvarna Mahavihar, Chaurvarna Mahavihar, Jetvanr Mahavihar (Tekhacho), Jaya Kirti Mahavihar, Sukravarna Mahavihar, Sukravarna Mahavihar (Kwachukhusi) and Tom Baha are all indispensable parts of the cultural heritage of the city of Bhaktapur.
In the Durwar Square itself, three separate museums, for paintings (in the main palace wing), metal-craft (Chikamapa Math) and woodcraft (in Pujari Math) are allocated.
The efforts of the Bhaktapur Municipality in conservation of the cultural heritage is always appreciable. Kamal Binayak Pond, Bahare Pond, Bharwacho Gate, Jagannath Temple, Shiva Parvati Temple, Chhuma Ganesh Temple, Chaurabahi Monstery and other renovations are some major projects the municipality carried out last year. Of course, the much-criticised entrance fee is the bedrock of the renovations. The only demand the citizens have is that the renovation should not be only toursm promotion-centred, all the city should benefit from the money, not only the streets whey the tourists walk around.
By Razen Manandhar
Whenever one talks about the monument conservation in Nepal, he or she names Bhaktapur Durbar Square as a model — the way of protecting it and cashing benefit of conservation — all has set an example for the country itself.
When Henry Oldfield visited Nepal in 1880, Bhaktapur was "largest and most costly of any in Nipal." And Merry Slusser justly writes in her book —"For the moment, at least, Bhakpapur remains one of the remarkable treasures of the Kathmandu Valley — indeed, of the globe."
The indigenous settlements developed a city in Bhaktapur long before the Lichhivis came into power in the fifth century, the historians hypothesize, though, a few Lichhivi inscriptions and architectural remains have so far been frond from there. Still, we have names of ancients palaces like Tripura and Yuthunium, though we can’t locate where they might have stood in the mediaeval Bhaktapur.
Some historians believe that Bhaktapur is the oldest royal palace of the valley. Still, the oldest found inscription of 594 AD shows that it was a Drung (or big town) called Khopring (the city is still called Khwapa in the local Newar language).
Chronicle Gopalraj Banshavali states that King Ananda Dev established Bhaktapur state in 1146 AD. The predominantly Hindu state was developed in the 12th century and different kings, who came to Bhaktapur’s throne after it became a separate state of the valley in 1482 AD. By the 15th century, the state of Bhaktapur was surrounded by strong walls and moats to secure it from unfriendly neighbours (the wall and city boundary have disappeared). It is "traditionally" divided into two parts — upper and lower — that can be traced in the annual festival of Bisket Jatra even today.
The last three kings Jitamitra Malla, Bhupatindra Malla and Ranajita Malla (1673-1769 AD) were among the kings who contributed the most to decorate the royal square, which we see today.
Not only the palace area, but the whole of the city is full of midaeval temples and residential houses. The stone or brick-paved streets, brick-made houses and temples — all equally decorated with smooth bricks, tiled roofs, carved windows and doors, wooden struts or columns with designs of deities and animals and topped with gilded pinnacles.
Today, the fifty-five window palace is the centre of the protected monument zone. The main palace used to stand elegantly with 99 courtyards but now it has only half a dozen to possess. Mulchowk (supposedly the oldest remaining part of the palace), Bhairav Chowk, Ita Chowk, malati Chowk, Siddhi Chowk, Kumari Chowk are some of them.
After undergoing numerous stages of renovations, it still represents the complicated and miraculous Newari architecture and excellent wood carving, and extraordinary wall paintings. However, it has lost its original spectacle after it was restored following the collapse during the earthquake of 1934. The palace is waiting for renovation and the locals say dirty games among the contractors is the reason behind the delay.
The Yakhseshwor Temple, the Statue of King Bhupatindra Malla, Golden Gate, Taleju Temple, The Golden Spout, The Big Bell, Chyasilin Mandap, Siddhi Laxmi Temple, Vatsala Templeand Chaturbramha Mahavihar are the major monuments at the Bhaktapur Durbar Square.
Along with this we cannot neglect other landmark monuments which lie outside the Durbar Square. These include Nyatapola Temple, Bhairavnath Temple, Dattatraya Temple, Bhimsen Temple, Salan Ganesh Temple, Tekhacho Barahi Temple, Wakupati Narayan Temple, Chhuma Ganesh Temple, Nawadurga Temple, Rudrayani Temple, Mahalaxmi Temple, Hanuman Temple and Kamal Binayak Temple. Apart from that, the Peakock Window and Tucchimala Terracota Window and Talako Potter Square are other spectacles of the historic city.
Lokeshwor Mahavihar, Jyetvarna Mahavihar, Akandasheel Mahavihar, Lumbavarna Mahavihar, Mangal Dharma Mahavihar, Indravarna Mahavihar, Dhimottar Mahavihar, Adipadma Mahavihar, Bishow Mahavihar, Parasannashil Mahavihar, Dipankar Mahavihar, Manjuvarna Mahavihar, Yangalvarna Mahavihar, Chaurvarna Mahavihar, Jetvanr Mahavihar (Tekhacho), Jaya Kirti Mahavihar, Sukravarna Mahavihar, Sukravarna Mahavihar (Kwachukhusi) and Tom Baha are all indispensable parts of the cultural heritage of the city of Bhaktapur.
In the Durwar Square itself, three separate museums, for paintings (in the main palace wing), metal-craft (Chikamapa Math) and woodcraft (in Pujari Math) are allocated.
The efforts of the Bhaktapur Municipality in conservation of the cultural heritage is always appreciable. Kamal Binayak Pond, Bahare Pond, Bharwacho Gate, Jagannath Temple, Shiva Parvati Temple, Chhuma Ganesh Temple, Chaurabahi Monstery and other renovations are some major projects the municipality carried out last year. Of course, the much-criticised entrance fee is the bedrock of the renovations. The only demand the citizens have is that the renovation should not be only toursm promotion-centred, all the city should benefit from the money, not only the streets whey the tourists walk around.
Thursday, December 27, 2001
Maitighar corner to get exotic look with mandala, stupa and water spouts
By Razen Manandhar
KATHMANDU, Dec. 26 – The traditional artisans of the Valley’s Kathmandu, Lalitpur and Bhaktapur districts have always been competing with each other in their field since ages. But, for the first time, they are joining hands to create an artistic structure to replace the concrete structures at the Maitighar junction.
About two dozen artisans from around the Valley are working day and night to finish this traditional structure to decorate the two-ropani-land at Maitighar, which has just been cleared for the preparation of the upcoming SAARC Summit.
Kathmandu Metropolitan City is working on a war footing to construct an eye-catching landscape with a 64X64 feet Astamangala Mandala, a Stupa and traditional Dhunge Dhara (waterspout), giving a luxurious look to the corner.
"We are doing our best to complete this project before the SAARC Summit," said Padma Sundar Joshi, co-director of Kathmandu Valley Mapping Project of KMC. "And I believe, it will be completed by that time."
The project team is also thinking of constructing a view tower nearby, as the beauty of the colourful Mandala will not be seen from the surface.
According to the technicians of Astra Development Network Pvt Ltd, the oval-shaped land which lies in the middle of the corner will have a Mandala on a dome in south west, a set of three water spouts in south-east and a stupa on a hillock in North.
A dozen of technicians are making the base for the Mandala with around 14,000 kg of iron at Radha Structure and Engineering Works (RSEW) at Thimi, Bhaktapur.
"We have never done such a huge and artistic job before," said Ghanshyam Poudel, the technical director of (RSEW). "But most of the things will be completed within a week."
He said KMC provided them a small drawing of the Mandala, out of which they produced a 100 per cent drawing with computer and the workers made fragments of iron rods from the drawing. "First we tried a one-eight portion of the whole Mandala on elevated surface and started working on the whole thing."
Now the portion of eight auspicious signs, "Astamangala", is being made in the factory but the cost of the whole project is yet to be estimated.
Chief of the KMC’s Public Works Department Jyoti Bhushan Pradhan said that after the iron base is placed on the surface, it will be filled with coloured materials on every chamber, divided by the iron rods. "It is just like making the traditional Mandala in religious occasions," he said. "The only different is that we are not using colour powder but something that will not be blown away with wind."
Artist Lok Raj Bajracharya and his sons at Gwarko of Lalitpur have already completed the construction of a five and a half feet high Stupa with four Dhyani Buddhas.
"As the KMC came here with the proposal a bit late, we will not be able to complete the water spouts before SAARC Summit," said Bajracharya. "But we have ready-made water spouts which will be temporarily fixed at the site."
[Kathmandu Thursday December 27, 2001 Paush 12, 2058.]
KATHMANDU, Dec. 26 – The traditional artisans of the Valley’s Kathmandu, Lalitpur and Bhaktapur districts have always been competing with each other in their field since ages. But, for the first time, they are joining hands to create an artistic structure to replace the concrete structures at the Maitighar junction.
About two dozen artisans from around the Valley are working day and night to finish this traditional structure to decorate the two-ropani-land at Maitighar, which has just been cleared for the preparation of the upcoming SAARC Summit.
Kathmandu Metropolitan City is working on a war footing to construct an eye-catching landscape with a 64X64 feet Astamangala Mandala, a Stupa and traditional Dhunge Dhara (waterspout), giving a luxurious look to the corner.
"We are doing our best to complete this project before the SAARC Summit," said Padma Sundar Joshi, co-director of Kathmandu Valley Mapping Project of KMC. "And I believe, it will be completed by that time."
The project team is also thinking of constructing a view tower nearby, as the beauty of the colourful Mandala will not be seen from the surface.
According to the technicians of Astra Development Network Pvt Ltd, the oval-shaped land which lies in the middle of the corner will have a Mandala on a dome in south west, a set of three water spouts in south-east and a stupa on a hillock in North.
A dozen of technicians are making the base for the Mandala with around 14,000 kg of iron at Radha Structure and Engineering Works (RSEW) at Thimi, Bhaktapur.
"We have never done such a huge and artistic job before," said Ghanshyam Poudel, the technical director of (RSEW). "But most of the things will be completed within a week."
He said KMC provided them a small drawing of the Mandala, out of which they produced a 100 per cent drawing with computer and the workers made fragments of iron rods from the drawing. "First we tried a one-eight portion of the whole Mandala on elevated surface and started working on the whole thing."
Now the portion of eight auspicious signs, "Astamangala", is being made in the factory but the cost of the whole project is yet to be estimated.
Chief of the KMC’s Public Works Department Jyoti Bhushan Pradhan said that after the iron base is placed on the surface, it will be filled with coloured materials on every chamber, divided by the iron rods. "It is just like making the traditional Mandala in religious occasions," he said. "The only different is that we are not using colour powder but something that will not be blown away with wind."
Artist Lok Raj Bajracharya and his sons at Gwarko of Lalitpur have already completed the construction of a five and a half feet high Stupa with four Dhyani Buddhas.
"As the KMC came here with the proposal a bit late, we will not be able to complete the water spouts before SAARC Summit," said Bajracharya. "But we have ready-made water spouts which will be temporarily fixed at the site."
[Kathmandu Thursday December 27, 2001 Paush 12, 2058.]
Monday, December 24, 2001
Swayambhu hill monument zone
Heritage Tour
By Razen Manandhar
The holy hill of Swayambhu at the north east of Kathmandu City is considered to be older than the valley itself. The origin of the heterogeneous collection of art and architecture, that kept on developing on its own for at least 1500 years, is associated with legends of origin of the Valley. Legends aside, it is a piece of legacy for the whole country and one among the best of the Stupa architectures of the world.
Buddhist hand-written books has adored it with different names like Goshringha, Gopuchha, Bjarakut, Padmagiri and it is popularly known among the Newar community as the Shyegu hill.
The 50 square-metre-big Swayambhu stupa (with idols of Akshobhya Buddha, Vairochan Buddha, Mmaki Tara, Ratnasambhava Buddha, Padmapani Tara, Amitabha Buddha, Arya Tara, Amoghsiddi Buiddha and Sapta Lochani Tara) is the principal monument in the zone. The golden Bajra, Anantapur, Basupura, Bayupura, Harati or Ajima Temple, Buddhism Museum, Gyanmala Sattal, Devdharma Monastery, Karmaraja Monastery, Mangal Bahudwara Chaitya, Nagpura, Pratappura, cluster of Chaityas, Standing Buddha, Agnipura, Abalokiteshwor, Shantipur are other monuments on the top of the hill. And there is Mahamanjusri Temple, Old Swayambhu Stupa etc surround the main temple hill.
The Buddhists believe, thousands of years ago, when the whole valley was a lake, a legendary scholar Mahamanjushi came from China, send the water out a gorge in Chovar and developed the valley as a centre of civilization. According to religious books, the credit of creating Swayambhu goes to the Buddhas who were born thousands of years earlier than Sakyamuni Buddha was born in Lumbini. Bipashwi Buddha planted a lotus on which a "thousand-petalled" lotus emerged.. It later developed five colours, which then turned into five Dhyani Buddhas. Other Buddhas like Shikhi, Bishombhu, Krakuchhanda also visited the hill and paid homage to it. A King Prachanda Dev is said to be the first constructor of the stupa of Swayambhu and other major monuments around it.
According to the Gopalraj Banshavali, the oldest ever found chronicle, it was Brishdev, who constructed the stupa of Swayambhu for the first time. The oldest inscription found there is of King Mandev, the Licchibi king of 5th century AD. All we can say is that the hill and the stupa became a place pilgrimage, Buddhist learning centre and a altar of Buddhist creed, mainly of Mahayana sect as early as 11th century.
In the course of time, the stupa of Swayambhu had to undergo numerous incidents that destroyed and distorted its original beauty. Some, who renovated the main stupa or added new monuments in the vicinity included, King Shiv Singh Malla, King Pratap Malla, King Parthivendra, King Bhashkar Malla and others. Later, King Ranabhadur Shah, King Girban Yuddha Bikram Shah and King Rajendra Bikram Shah also continued the glorious tradition of the Malla kings. Even Ananta Jiv Bharo, Abhay Singh Bharo and others, from the public contributed for renovation of the stupa. The traditional artists and their skill did amazing task to keep the sucha a huge pile of mud and brick intact for hundreds of years on a top of a hill which has its forest thinning year by year. The tradition, still alive, either beautify the monument or blemish the ancient monument.
The birthday of Lord Buddha is the main festival of Swayambhu. And, the Gunla (August-Septempber) is the month-long festival when thousands of pilgrims attend the stupa and scores of musical troupes play special drum called dhaa. Once in a 12 years, an exceptional Samyak-mahapuja takes place which is graced by His Majesty King also.
But, it is disappointing that the original shape and architecture of Swayambhu is being lost mainly in last several years. After being enlisted in the UNESCO World Heritage Sites, a Swayambhunath Conservation Masterplan (Swayambhu 2000) was recognised by the government in 1989 that was supposed to be complete by the year 2002. The masterplan suggested the government to demolish dozens of eyesore structures and to restrict any new construction.
However, the government has not demolished a single building. Instead, new concrete buildings, Mane-gumbas ae being constructed along with serious encroachment of public land. Similarly, the whole hill is being covered by piles of garbage. Only one of two traditional building recently got facelift in last several years.
The holy hill is not in need of money for renovation. A German project that provided assistance for renovation of Swayambhu stopped giving money because it is has enough to self dependant. As other monuments, Swayambhu also charged entrance fee from the visitors but it still lacks fasilities. A ridiculuous fight took place between the federation of "religious" bodies and the municipality when the latter tried to manage the money collected from entrance fee.
This is going to affect the whole valley in near future. The reputation the valley gained after being recognised as a World Heritage Site will be lost if UNESCO delists it in the coming general convention in 2002.
By Razen Manandhar
The holy hill of Swayambhu at the north east of Kathmandu City is considered to be older than the valley itself. The origin of the heterogeneous collection of art and architecture, that kept on developing on its own for at least 1500 years, is associated with legends of origin of the Valley. Legends aside, it is a piece of legacy for the whole country and one among the best of the Stupa architectures of the world.
Buddhist hand-written books has adored it with different names like Goshringha, Gopuchha, Bjarakut, Padmagiri and it is popularly known among the Newar community as the Shyegu hill.
The 50 square-metre-big Swayambhu stupa (with idols of Akshobhya Buddha, Vairochan Buddha, Mmaki Tara, Ratnasambhava Buddha, Padmapani Tara, Amitabha Buddha, Arya Tara, Amoghsiddi Buiddha and Sapta Lochani Tara) is the principal monument in the zone. The golden Bajra, Anantapur, Basupura, Bayupura, Harati or Ajima Temple, Buddhism Museum, Gyanmala Sattal, Devdharma Monastery, Karmaraja Monastery, Mangal Bahudwara Chaitya, Nagpura, Pratappura, cluster of Chaityas, Standing Buddha, Agnipura, Abalokiteshwor, Shantipur are other monuments on the top of the hill. And there is Mahamanjusri Temple, Old Swayambhu Stupa etc surround the main temple hill.
The Buddhists believe, thousands of years ago, when the whole valley was a lake, a legendary scholar Mahamanjushi came from China, send the water out a gorge in Chovar and developed the valley as a centre of civilization. According to religious books, the credit of creating Swayambhu goes to the Buddhas who were born thousands of years earlier than Sakyamuni Buddha was born in Lumbini. Bipashwi Buddha planted a lotus on which a "thousand-petalled" lotus emerged.. It later developed five colours, which then turned into five Dhyani Buddhas. Other Buddhas like Shikhi, Bishombhu, Krakuchhanda also visited the hill and paid homage to it. A King Prachanda Dev is said to be the first constructor of the stupa of Swayambhu and other major monuments around it.
According to the Gopalraj Banshavali, the oldest ever found chronicle, it was Brishdev, who constructed the stupa of Swayambhu for the first time. The oldest inscription found there is of King Mandev, the Licchibi king of 5th century AD. All we can say is that the hill and the stupa became a place pilgrimage, Buddhist learning centre and a altar of Buddhist creed, mainly of Mahayana sect as early as 11th century.
In the course of time, the stupa of Swayambhu had to undergo numerous incidents that destroyed and distorted its original beauty. Some, who renovated the main stupa or added new monuments in the vicinity included, King Shiv Singh Malla, King Pratap Malla, King Parthivendra, King Bhashkar Malla and others. Later, King Ranabhadur Shah, King Girban Yuddha Bikram Shah and King Rajendra Bikram Shah also continued the glorious tradition of the Malla kings. Even Ananta Jiv Bharo, Abhay Singh Bharo and others, from the public contributed for renovation of the stupa. The traditional artists and their skill did amazing task to keep the sucha a huge pile of mud and brick intact for hundreds of years on a top of a hill which has its forest thinning year by year. The tradition, still alive, either beautify the monument or blemish the ancient monument.
The birthday of Lord Buddha is the main festival of Swayambhu. And, the Gunla (August-Septempber) is the month-long festival when thousands of pilgrims attend the stupa and scores of musical troupes play special drum called dhaa. Once in a 12 years, an exceptional Samyak-mahapuja takes place which is graced by His Majesty King also.
But, it is disappointing that the original shape and architecture of Swayambhu is being lost mainly in last several years. After being enlisted in the UNESCO World Heritage Sites, a Swayambhunath Conservation Masterplan (Swayambhu 2000) was recognised by the government in 1989 that was supposed to be complete by the year 2002. The masterplan suggested the government to demolish dozens of eyesore structures and to restrict any new construction.
However, the government has not demolished a single building. Instead, new concrete buildings, Mane-gumbas ae being constructed along with serious encroachment of public land. Similarly, the whole hill is being covered by piles of garbage. Only one of two traditional building recently got facelift in last several years.
The holy hill is not in need of money for renovation. A German project that provided assistance for renovation of Swayambhu stopped giving money because it is has enough to self dependant. As other monuments, Swayambhu also charged entrance fee from the visitors but it still lacks fasilities. A ridiculuous fight took place between the federation of "religious" bodies and the municipality when the latter tried to manage the money collected from entrance fee.
This is going to affect the whole valley in near future. The reputation the valley gained after being recognised as a World Heritage Site will be lost if UNESCO delists it in the coming general convention in 2002.
With ‘useless’ committees dissolved, Lumbini lies abandoned
By Razen Manandhar
KATHMANDU, Dec 23 - The renovation work at Lumbini, the birthplace of Lord Buddha and a 2500-year-old archaeological site, has run into troubled waters after the committees formed to oversee the work were dissolved a month ago.
With no monitoring body around, all restoration work at the Temple of Mayadevi and surrounding areas have come to a standstill in Lumbini, one of UNESCO’s four World Heritage Sites in the country.
On November 23, the Minster for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, Bal Bahadur KC, dissolved the eight voluntary organizations set up to renovate the temple of Mayadevi, calling them "useless", say officials at the Lumbini Development Trust (LDT), the authority in charge of development plans for Lumbini which has the Culture Minister himself as Chairman.
"It’s only in the newspaper that we read about the dissolution of the committees, we have not yet received any such formal notification," says Professor Sudarshan Raj Tiwari, the coordinator of the LDT’s Technical Committee.
Professor Tiwari says the voluntary committees formed seven months ago were a remarkable achievement of the LDT, one that could rope in professionals to work selflessly towards the upkeep of Lumbini.
Special plans for Lumbini were mooted back in the 1967, when the then UN General Secretary U Thant put forth the idea of Lumbini as an international centre for peace. By 1978, a Japanese Professor, Kenzo Tange, had come up with a master plan that covered 1150 bighas of land divided into three zones: for a garden, monasteries and a research centre. But nothing exceptional has taken place in more than two decades.
Nabin Chitrakar, Chairman of one dissolved committee which was looking after promotional aspects, says that Lumbini has now been deserted after many worked for their "personal benefits". He says millions of dollars might have been spent on studying various aspects related to the development of Lumbini. The kind of money that came by way of international donations is incalculable, says Chitrakar.
"Till now, there have been 20 major studies on Lumbini and 22 bank accounts in its name but we don’t even know where they are," he added.
Chitrakar says after Nepal entered an agreement with the Japanese government that a Japanese Buddhist Federation would fund the renovation of Lumbini, a series of problems cropped up as governments kept changing every other year, and there was no communication between the Federation and the Nepali government.
"One after another glamorous plans poured in—from Nepali as well as foreign designers—to beautify the shrine. Each tried to outdo the other, while the politicians and the so-called Buddhists scholars made lots of profit out of the ruins," says Chitrakar.
The sacred garden where Lord Buddha was born 2545 years ago has indeed been subjected to all kinds of renovation ideas. Such as covering the birth marker stone with bullet-proof glass, covering the whole archaeological area with a special rectangular or square tent, and constructing a gold-roofed temple.
Chitrakar also accuses the international experts who "dropped in at the site" as hampering the renovation process. He says an authorized technician from Japan was responsible for delaying the development plans by many years because he never got to submitting the technical report.
Former treasurer of LDT and a member of the Upper House, Laxmi Das Manandhar, says none of the politicians have been sincere in seeing through the restoration work on the temple of Mayadevi, and all that they have done is to hold seminars.
"The LDT does nothing more than making and breaking committees. It should at least do something for the idol of Mayadevi, which has been lying in a cow-shed-like hut for the last five years. Even the pilgrims don’t want to go there," says Manandhar. "The permanent temple might take another decade to complete. But by this time, a temporary temple could have been erected."
The voluntary committees that have been dissolved are: the National and International Coordination Committee; Economic Management Committee; Recruitment Committee; Archaeological Conservation, Research and University Establishment Committee; Promotion Committee; Technical Committee; Employee Security Committee, and the Mayadevi Temple Renovation.
LDT Vice-Chairman Omkar Prasad Gauchan says these bodies have been dissolved for "Lumbini to have a new beginning".
Millions of Buddhists and all those who respect heritage sites, can only hope that it indeed is true.
KATHMANDU, Dec 23 - The renovation work at Lumbini, the birthplace of Lord Buddha and a 2500-year-old archaeological site, has run into troubled waters after the committees formed to oversee the work were dissolved a month ago.
With no monitoring body around, all restoration work at the Temple of Mayadevi and surrounding areas have come to a standstill in Lumbini, one of UNESCO’s four World Heritage Sites in the country.
On November 23, the Minster for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, Bal Bahadur KC, dissolved the eight voluntary organizations set up to renovate the temple of Mayadevi, calling them "useless", say officials at the Lumbini Development Trust (LDT), the authority in charge of development plans for Lumbini which has the Culture Minister himself as Chairman.
"It’s only in the newspaper that we read about the dissolution of the committees, we have not yet received any such formal notification," says Professor Sudarshan Raj Tiwari, the coordinator of the LDT’s Technical Committee.
Professor Tiwari says the voluntary committees formed seven months ago were a remarkable achievement of the LDT, one that could rope in professionals to work selflessly towards the upkeep of Lumbini.
Special plans for Lumbini were mooted back in the 1967, when the then UN General Secretary U Thant put forth the idea of Lumbini as an international centre for peace. By 1978, a Japanese Professor, Kenzo Tange, had come up with a master plan that covered 1150 bighas of land divided into three zones: for a garden, monasteries and a research centre. But nothing exceptional has taken place in more than two decades.
Nabin Chitrakar, Chairman of one dissolved committee which was looking after promotional aspects, says that Lumbini has now been deserted after many worked for their "personal benefits". He says millions of dollars might have been spent on studying various aspects related to the development of Lumbini. The kind of money that came by way of international donations is incalculable, says Chitrakar.
"Till now, there have been 20 major studies on Lumbini and 22 bank accounts in its name but we don’t even know where they are," he added.
Chitrakar says after Nepal entered an agreement with the Japanese government that a Japanese Buddhist Federation would fund the renovation of Lumbini, a series of problems cropped up as governments kept changing every other year, and there was no communication between the Federation and the Nepali government.
"One after another glamorous plans poured in—from Nepali as well as foreign designers—to beautify the shrine. Each tried to outdo the other, while the politicians and the so-called Buddhists scholars made lots of profit out of the ruins," says Chitrakar.
The sacred garden where Lord Buddha was born 2545 years ago has indeed been subjected to all kinds of renovation ideas. Such as covering the birth marker stone with bullet-proof glass, covering the whole archaeological area with a special rectangular or square tent, and constructing a gold-roofed temple.
Chitrakar also accuses the international experts who "dropped in at the site" as hampering the renovation process. He says an authorized technician from Japan was responsible for delaying the development plans by many years because he never got to submitting the technical report.
Former treasurer of LDT and a member of the Upper House, Laxmi Das Manandhar, says none of the politicians have been sincere in seeing through the restoration work on the temple of Mayadevi, and all that they have done is to hold seminars.
"The LDT does nothing more than making and breaking committees. It should at least do something for the idol of Mayadevi, which has been lying in a cow-shed-like hut for the last five years. Even the pilgrims don’t want to go there," says Manandhar. "The permanent temple might take another decade to complete. But by this time, a temporary temple could have been erected."
The voluntary committees that have been dissolved are: the National and International Coordination Committee; Economic Management Committee; Recruitment Committee; Archaeological Conservation, Research and University Establishment Committee; Promotion Committee; Technical Committee; Employee Security Committee, and the Mayadevi Temple Renovation.
LDT Vice-Chairman Omkar Prasad Gauchan says these bodies have been dissolved for "Lumbini to have a new beginning".
Millions of Buddhists and all those who respect heritage sites, can only hope that it indeed is true.
Saturday, December 22, 2001
In the thick concrete jungle, wood is dead
By Razen Manandhar
KATHMANDU, Dec 21 – Nepal might be a country known for its forest wealth, stretching from the east to the west, but it is seldom these days that people build houses using wood. One of the reasons they give is that timber is more expensive than concrete, cement and iron rods.
Devendra Dangol, the chief of Urban Development Department of Kathmandu Metropolitan City, says that out of the over 3,200 houses being built in the capital presently, over 90 per cent are using concrete as the base material.
"The house owners feel proud to have a dhalan (concrete) house. I don’t know whether it is necessary at all, but all the masons and consumers seem to prefer using concrete to wood and other local materials for building houses," says Dangol.
Architect Sharosh Pradhan of SP and Associates says he does not use timber in his construction work because it is too costly. "When we suggest timber for structural use such as beams and columns, the cost gets doubled," he says.
Quality timber is available in the market at prices ranging from Rs 250 to Rs 1000 per cubic feet.
According to workers at the Timber Corporation of Nepal (TCN), the price of timber grows not because of its scarcity or rising demand but because of the bureaucrats and the "commission game" that has been going on for decades in the TCN and other related government bodies.
"The dealers, whether private or government staff, have to pay a specific price to the government as royalty, which is actually very low. Then different parties claim the contract to cut timber at a particular area. For this, these parties have to bribe the officers. In the long process of passing from one contractor to another, the price of timber increases," said a TCN employee. He also added that the government could earn as much as Rs 440 million from the unused timber lying around in different parts of the country.
But Professor Sudarshan Raj Tiwari, the former Dean of the Engineering Faculty at the Tribhuvan University, says the low use of timber has also got to do with the fact that increasingly, the architects are in favour of concrete buildings.
"Most of them have studied in Western countries and are taught about using new materials for building houses. They love to experiment with what they have been taught, and there is a tendency to show off as ‘foreign-returned’," says the Professor.
"Concrete structures are not necessary for small houses. Wood is strong enough for a house of 3-4 floors, and we are indeed rich in wood resources," he says.
Programme Manager of WWF, Ukesh Raj Bhuju, says there are both positive and negative sides in the case of using either wood or cement for house constructions. "We need to cut trees to build wooden houses, and in the case of concrete, we have to put up with smoke of cement factories," says Bhuju.
The general thinking is that hard wood such as Sal are expensive or difficult to procure. But the fact is the government has quite a big quantity of wood lying chopped in jungles or timber depots unsold.
Harishankar Shrestha, the General Manager of Timber Corporation of Nepal, says there are choices of wood, and clients can reduce the cost by 50 per cent if they choose "second class" wood which is "not bad" for buildings.
The Joint Secretary at the Ministry for Forest and Soil Conservation and Spokesman Uday Raj Sharma also says that scarcity of timber is not the reason for the mushrooming of concrete houses. "Millions of cubic feet of timber are decaying in the jungles and in the depots of TCN. There must be some other reason for people not using timber these days," says Sharma.
A recent report, Forest Resources of Nepal (1087-1998), states that the country has a wealth of 108 million cubic feet of Sal trees, the most preferred species of wood for strong structures and the one which has the largest reserve among the eight types of "economic class" trees.
[Kathmandu Saturday December 22, 2001 Paush 07, 2058.]
By Razen Manandhar
KATHMANDU, Dec 21 – Nepal might be a country known for its forest wealth, stretching from the east to the west, but it is seldom these days that people build houses using wood. One of the reasons they give is that timber is more expensive than concrete, cement and iron rods.
Devendra Dangol, the chief of Urban Development Department of Kathmandu Metropolitan City, says that out of the over 3,200 houses being built in the capital presently, over 90 per cent are using concrete as the base material.
"The house owners feel proud to have a dhalan (concrete) house. I don’t know whether it is necessary at all, but all the masons and consumers seem to prefer using concrete to wood and other local materials for building houses," says Dangol.
Architect Sharosh Pradhan of SP and Associates says he does not use timber in his construction work because it is too costly. "When we suggest timber for structural use such as beams and columns, the cost gets doubled," he says.
Quality timber is available in the market at prices ranging from Rs 250 to Rs 1000 per cubic feet.
According to workers at the Timber Corporation of Nepal (TCN), the price of timber grows not because of its scarcity or rising demand but because of the bureaucrats and the "commission game" that has been going on for decades in the TCN and other related government bodies.
"The dealers, whether private or government staff, have to pay a specific price to the government as royalty, which is actually very low. Then different parties claim the contract to cut timber at a particular area. For this, these parties have to bribe the officers. In the long process of passing from one contractor to another, the price of timber increases," said a TCN employee. He also added that the government could earn as much as Rs 440 million from the unused timber lying around in different parts of the country.
But Professor Sudarshan Raj Tiwari, the former Dean of the Engineering Faculty at the Tribhuvan University, says the low use of timber has also got to do with the fact that increasingly, the architects are in favour of concrete buildings.
"Most of them have studied in Western countries and are taught about using new materials for building houses. They love to experiment with what they have been taught, and there is a tendency to show off as ‘foreign-returned’," says the Professor.
"Concrete structures are not necessary for small houses. Wood is strong enough for a house of 3-4 floors, and we are indeed rich in wood resources," he says.
Programme Manager of WWF, Ukesh Raj Bhuju, says there are both positive and negative sides in the case of using either wood or cement for house constructions. "We need to cut trees to build wooden houses, and in the case of concrete, we have to put up with smoke of cement factories," says Bhuju.
The general thinking is that hard wood such as Sal are expensive or difficult to procure. But the fact is the government has quite a big quantity of wood lying chopped in jungles or timber depots unsold.
Harishankar Shrestha, the General Manager of Timber Corporation of Nepal, says there are choices of wood, and clients can reduce the cost by 50 per cent if they choose "second class" wood which is "not bad" for buildings.
The Joint Secretary at the Ministry for Forest and Soil Conservation and Spokesman Uday Raj Sharma also says that scarcity of timber is not the reason for the mushrooming of concrete houses. "Millions of cubic feet of timber are decaying in the jungles and in the depots of TCN. There must be some other reason for people not using timber these days," says Sharma.
A recent report, Forest Resources of Nepal (1087-1998), states that the country has a wealth of 108 million cubic feet of Sal trees, the most preferred species of wood for strong structures and the one which has the largest reserve among the eight types of "economic class" trees.
[Kathmandu Saturday December 22, 2001 Paush 07, 2058.]
Monday, December 10, 2001
Temple complex of Lord Pashupatinath
Heritage Tour
Razen Manandhar
Since thousands of years, the 264-hecate-big complex of Lord Pashupatinath temple by the bank of holy river Bagmati, which shelters around 500 Hindu temples, and also residences of the a thousand or so local people related, have been the centre of creed. Beside being the prime centre of devotion for the Hindus of the Himalayan Kingdom, it has been one of the most adored pilgrimage for the Hindus of India too.
A popular legend has it that a gifted cow used to drizzle milk on a particular knoll by the Bagmati River, on the first step of flourishing of civilization in the Kathmandu Valley thousands of years ago. That was the time when cow herdsmen ruled the valley. One among them became quite curious about the knoll and he dug the place one day, just to discover a "like-a-light" idol of Lord Pashupatinath. The historical cronicles atest that the form of the linga, as the idol, have came into existance in as early as by the begining of the 5th century. However, the present one should not be older than that of 1350 AD as that was the year when a Muslim invader shattered the holy idol into pieces.
After that most of the kings who ruled the country in the past paid homage to the Lord and either re-constructed the prime temple or added individual temples to beautify the complex.
The temple is one among the seven major monument zones that makes the Kathmandu Valley a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Apart from the main shrine, the temples of Basuki, Unmatta Bhairav, Kotilingeshwar and some other are inside the temple courtyard. Guheshowri, Vishowrup, Gorakhanath, Ram, Kirateshwar, Rajrajeshowri, Batsaleshowri, Panchadeval, Bankali and Shitala lie around the holy shrine. And the temples of Battais Putali, Jaya Bageshowri, Charumati Bihar, Chabahil Lokeshowr, Chabahil Stupa, Chandra Vinayak, Bhandareshowr Mahadev, Tamreshowr Mahadev are some among other major shrines of the protected monument zone.
The Pashupatinath Temple area is an abode of rituals and festivals around the calendar. Mahashivaratri is the most widely celebrated festival in the Pashupatinath area. Balachaturdashi, Haritalika Teej, Haribodhini Ekadashi, Harishayani Ekadashi and Mukhastami are some of the local festivals.
A committee was formed in 1977 for the development of the holy area and Pashupati Area Development Trust (PADT) was founded in 1986 to launch and integrated development of the whole area. A Bagmati Area Development Project is spending quite a lot of money to clean the river that flows along the temple area. There are over 200 youth clubs and social organisations are working in the Pashupati area development. Quite a big number of people, including some well-known industrialists have come up with enthusiastic proposals to improve the area.
But almost all have cooled down before the dreams are materialised. The 15 years old state-funded Trust is still selling the dreams and other clubs are juut dormant. The real status of the prominent Hindu shrine of the Hindu State that lies in the centre of the capital city comes under the leaders’ notice only when their close relatives die and they have to sit there for an hour. Then it can not be unusual that their sentimental proclamation to develop the area dries as the monsoon passes.
The PADT has started collecting entrance fee from the tourists several months ago but any remarkable improvement is yet to be seen. There are scores of temples waiting for restoration, some lucky ones were also granted with too slow projects. The security in the archaeological area is almost nil. News of art theft are on the rise. The Trust plans to improve the area by chasing away the local people, who in fact are a part of the living heritage of the temple area. Thy are not allowed renovating their houses and a nightmare of being dislocated haunts them every night. Illegal construction around the area are going on. Even the monkeys and oxen have been victim of the deteriorating environment. The queue of beggars, hawkers, drug-abusers and pseudo-jogis are what today feature the holy area. Under this circumstances, the holy region which is also a major heritage site too, needs more sincere hands to protect and preserve it.
Razen Manandhar
Since thousands of years, the 264-hecate-big complex of Lord Pashupatinath temple by the bank of holy river Bagmati, which shelters around 500 Hindu temples, and also residences of the a thousand or so local people related, have been the centre of creed. Beside being the prime centre of devotion for the Hindus of the Himalayan Kingdom, it has been one of the most adored pilgrimage for the Hindus of India too.
A popular legend has it that a gifted cow used to drizzle milk on a particular knoll by the Bagmati River, on the first step of flourishing of civilization in the Kathmandu Valley thousands of years ago. That was the time when cow herdsmen ruled the valley. One among them became quite curious about the knoll and he dug the place one day, just to discover a "like-a-light" idol of Lord Pashupatinath. The historical cronicles atest that the form of the linga, as the idol, have came into existance in as early as by the begining of the 5th century. However, the present one should not be older than that of 1350 AD as that was the year when a Muslim invader shattered the holy idol into pieces.
After that most of the kings who ruled the country in the past paid homage to the Lord and either re-constructed the prime temple or added individual temples to beautify the complex.
The temple is one among the seven major monument zones that makes the Kathmandu Valley a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Apart from the main shrine, the temples of Basuki, Unmatta Bhairav, Kotilingeshwar and some other are inside the temple courtyard. Guheshowri, Vishowrup, Gorakhanath, Ram, Kirateshwar, Rajrajeshowri, Batsaleshowri, Panchadeval, Bankali and Shitala lie around the holy shrine. And the temples of Battais Putali, Jaya Bageshowri, Charumati Bihar, Chabahil Lokeshowr, Chabahil Stupa, Chandra Vinayak, Bhandareshowr Mahadev, Tamreshowr Mahadev are some among other major shrines of the protected monument zone.
The Pashupatinath Temple area is an abode of rituals and festivals around the calendar. Mahashivaratri is the most widely celebrated festival in the Pashupatinath area. Balachaturdashi, Haritalika Teej, Haribodhini Ekadashi, Harishayani Ekadashi and Mukhastami are some of the local festivals.
A committee was formed in 1977 for the development of the holy area and Pashupati Area Development Trust (PADT) was founded in 1986 to launch and integrated development of the whole area. A Bagmati Area Development Project is spending quite a lot of money to clean the river that flows along the temple area. There are over 200 youth clubs and social organisations are working in the Pashupati area development. Quite a big number of people, including some well-known industrialists have come up with enthusiastic proposals to improve the area.
But almost all have cooled down before the dreams are materialised. The 15 years old state-funded Trust is still selling the dreams and other clubs are juut dormant. The real status of the prominent Hindu shrine of the Hindu State that lies in the centre of the capital city comes under the leaders’ notice only when their close relatives die and they have to sit there for an hour. Then it can not be unusual that their sentimental proclamation to develop the area dries as the monsoon passes.
The PADT has started collecting entrance fee from the tourists several months ago but any remarkable improvement is yet to be seen. There are scores of temples waiting for restoration, some lucky ones were also granted with too slow projects. The security in the archaeological area is almost nil. News of art theft are on the rise. The Trust plans to improve the area by chasing away the local people, who in fact are a part of the living heritage of the temple area. Thy are not allowed renovating their houses and a nightmare of being dislocated haunts them every night. Illegal construction around the area are going on. Even the monkeys and oxen have been victim of the deteriorating environment. The queue of beggars, hawkers, drug-abusers and pseudo-jogis are what today feature the holy area. Under this circumstances, the holy region which is also a major heritage site too, needs more sincere hands to protect and preserve it.
Friday, December 07, 2001
Patan Durbar Square
Heritage Tour
By Razen Manandhar
Asmall but rich in uniqueness city lies just six kilometres south of the capital. The city of Patan or Lalitpur, named Yala in local language, was a separate state three hundred years ago and the kings ruled from the Patan Durbar Roayl Palace till Nepal was conquered by King Prithvi Narayan Shah in 1769.
The Patan Durbar Square is called Chaukot Durbar and Mangal Bazaar, which is derived from Manigla or Manigvala, the ancient name of the palace. It is no less significant than that of the Hanumandhoka of Kathmandu though it is smaller in spatial distribution.
Probably there had been a administrative office by the 7th century as the King Narendra Dev had addressed the area as Yupa Grama in his writing. A chronicle adds that a 11th century king Bara Dev started living in the palace as his father abandoned the throne. Similarly, contexts that King Rudra Dev constructed different courtyards in the palace by 1170 AD but lacks strong conformations.
On the foundation of chronicles, what today is seen there is mostly the creation of three of the prominent kings of the state of Patan King Siddhinarasimha Malla, Sri Nivas Malla and Yog Narendra Malla in 1619 to 1705 AD.
The present status of the Durbar Square has three courtyards - Mani Keshar Chowk, Mul Chowk, Sundari Chowk, the Bhandarkhal Garden and Kamal Pokhari in its complex.
The major temples can be found in and around the palace are : Bhai Degaa, Maharani Pokhari, Octagonal Krishna Temple, Shiva Pagoda, Hari Shankar Temple, Shiva Temple, Narshimha-Vishnu Temple, Jagat Narayan Temple, Krishna Temple, Vishwonath Temple, Bhimsen Temple, Mani Ganesh Temple, Degutale Temple, Taleju Temple, Shiva Pagoda, Ganesh idol, Hanuman idol and Hanuman idol.
The Big bell, Statue column of King Yognarendra Malla, Statue column of Garuda, Mangal Water spout are also the parts of the complex. Besides, the public building of Taha Phalcha, Aayoo Guthi House and the platform of Mani Mandap also have their significance being the public places which shows the cultural proximity the palace permits to the public.
The Patan Museum is sophisticated but it also stands as an example of the intrusion of the foreign technology in conservation of the archaeological monuments. Many archaeologists objected in the form the conservationist gave to the inner courtyard of the Keshav Narayan Chowk.
Further, Shiva Pagoda Temple, Temples of Saugal, Ibahabahil, Machendranath, Minnath, Purnachandi, Kwalakhu area, Hiranya Varna Mahavihar, Kumbheshwor, Chapat Ganesh Rudra Varna Mahavihar and Mahaboudha Temple are some other temples which are close to the historic palace and they all combine to make the Durbar Square a zone of UNESCO World Heritage Site.
But though, this Durbar Square is waiting for conservation. Shops for modern appliances are rented in the Durbar Square and a rows of curio shops, squat upon the main area. One side of the palace is used as a school whereas the other side is left idle, after using it as a district court. The precious doors and windows are decaying and the local Royal Palace Protection Office, a section of Department of Archaeology is waiting for budget to renovate the heritage zone. The masterpiece Tusaa Hiti or Sundari Chowk is closed for several years afer a constly documentation, in the pretext that some international agency would come and renovate it for our sake.
Lalitpur Sub-metropolitan City started levying entrance fee from the tourists in Janaury 2000. Out of the money, it has recently stated renovating several temples outside the palace. But Department of Archaeology is yet to show its existence in the World Heritage Site. The modern buildings are rising in the vicinity against the Protected Monument Zone Act. The whole complex is standing without a single security personal to safeguard the mass of priceless monuments.
Amazingly, it is one of the most favoured platform for the Cummunist leaders to hold mass meeings. Even the radicals, who show their existance by dismantling historic temples in remote districts, choose the velnerable zone to hoist cycle-and-hammer flag on temples being renovated.
"In 1997 work on heritage conservation plan for Patan began with funding from the German Technical Corporation (GTZ) under its Urban Development through Local Efforts programme. Its publication, Patan heritage Conservation Action Plan, 1998, was prepared by Sandy Kentro Associates. This provides detailed suggestions for strategic, physical, and managerial planning with significant inputs also from the Department of Archaeology, but fails to relate its own recommendations to the historical background of earlier planning proposals for the Patan World Heritage Monument Zone," states an evaluation report of International Safeguarding Campaign for the Kathmandu Valley 1979-2001.
By Razen Manandhar
Asmall but rich in uniqueness city lies just six kilometres south of the capital. The city of Patan or Lalitpur, named Yala in local language, was a separate state three hundred years ago and the kings ruled from the Patan Durbar Roayl Palace till Nepal was conquered by King Prithvi Narayan Shah in 1769.
The Patan Durbar Square is called Chaukot Durbar and Mangal Bazaar, which is derived from Manigla or Manigvala, the ancient name of the palace. It is no less significant than that of the Hanumandhoka of Kathmandu though it is smaller in spatial distribution.
Probably there had been a administrative office by the 7th century as the King Narendra Dev had addressed the area as Yupa Grama in his writing. A chronicle adds that a 11th century king Bara Dev started living in the palace as his father abandoned the throne. Similarly, contexts that King Rudra Dev constructed different courtyards in the palace by 1170 AD but lacks strong conformations.
On the foundation of chronicles, what today is seen there is mostly the creation of three of the prominent kings of the state of Patan King Siddhinarasimha Malla, Sri Nivas Malla and Yog Narendra Malla in 1619 to 1705 AD.
The present status of the Durbar Square has three courtyards - Mani Keshar Chowk, Mul Chowk, Sundari Chowk, the Bhandarkhal Garden and Kamal Pokhari in its complex.
The major temples can be found in and around the palace are : Bhai Degaa, Maharani Pokhari, Octagonal Krishna Temple, Shiva Pagoda, Hari Shankar Temple, Shiva Temple, Narshimha-Vishnu Temple, Jagat Narayan Temple, Krishna Temple, Vishwonath Temple, Bhimsen Temple, Mani Ganesh Temple, Degutale Temple, Taleju Temple, Shiva Pagoda, Ganesh idol, Hanuman idol and Hanuman idol.
The Big bell, Statue column of King Yognarendra Malla, Statue column of Garuda, Mangal Water spout are also the parts of the complex. Besides, the public building of Taha Phalcha, Aayoo Guthi House and the platform of Mani Mandap also have their significance being the public places which shows the cultural proximity the palace permits to the public.
The Patan Museum is sophisticated but it also stands as an example of the intrusion of the foreign technology in conservation of the archaeological monuments. Many archaeologists objected in the form the conservationist gave to the inner courtyard of the Keshav Narayan Chowk.
Further, Shiva Pagoda Temple, Temples of Saugal, Ibahabahil, Machendranath, Minnath, Purnachandi, Kwalakhu area, Hiranya Varna Mahavihar, Kumbheshwor, Chapat Ganesh Rudra Varna Mahavihar and Mahaboudha Temple are some other temples which are close to the historic palace and they all combine to make the Durbar Square a zone of UNESCO World Heritage Site.
But though, this Durbar Square is waiting for conservation. Shops for modern appliances are rented in the Durbar Square and a rows of curio shops, squat upon the main area. One side of the palace is used as a school whereas the other side is left idle, after using it as a district court. The precious doors and windows are decaying and the local Royal Palace Protection Office, a section of Department of Archaeology is waiting for budget to renovate the heritage zone. The masterpiece Tusaa Hiti or Sundari Chowk is closed for several years afer a constly documentation, in the pretext that some international agency would come and renovate it for our sake.
Lalitpur Sub-metropolitan City started levying entrance fee from the tourists in Janaury 2000. Out of the money, it has recently stated renovating several temples outside the palace. But Department of Archaeology is yet to show its existence in the World Heritage Site. The modern buildings are rising in the vicinity against the Protected Monument Zone Act. The whole complex is standing without a single security personal to safeguard the mass of priceless monuments.
Amazingly, it is one of the most favoured platform for the Cummunist leaders to hold mass meeings. Even the radicals, who show their existance by dismantling historic temples in remote districts, choose the velnerable zone to hoist cycle-and-hammer flag on temples being renovated.
"In 1997 work on heritage conservation plan for Patan began with funding from the German Technical Corporation (GTZ) under its Urban Development through Local Efforts programme. Its publication, Patan heritage Conservation Action Plan, 1998, was prepared by Sandy Kentro Associates. This provides detailed suggestions for strategic, physical, and managerial planning with significant inputs also from the Department of Archaeology, but fails to relate its own recommendations to the historical background of earlier planning proposals for the Patan World Heritage Monument Zone," states an evaluation report of International Safeguarding Campaign for the Kathmandu Valley 1979-2001.
Thursday, November 15, 2001
Nepal Era awaits government recognition
By Razen Manandhar
KATHMANDU, Nov 14 - He was only a layman but he not only liberated all of his fellow citizens from all their debts but launched a new era by the name of his country, after taking permission from the monarch. That was exactly 1,122 years ago.
The New Year is celebrated with extravaganza — in cultural milieu, rock-n-roll concerts and boisterous motorcycle rally at least in the Kathmandu Valley and some other cities where the Newars predominantly reside.
"There was a merchant called Shankhadhar Sakhwa in ancient Kathmandu who possessed piles of sand that turned into gold. Rather than using it for his personal purposes, he paid off all the people’s debt and launched a new era," says historian Bhuwan Lal Pradhan, quoting ancient history books.
The kings of all the dynasties marked this Era in their historical inscriptions for over a millennium until the year 1911 when Rana Prime Minister Chandra Shumsher replaced it by a solar calendar Bikram Era, on the pretext that the government had to pay salary of 13 months in every three years when lunar calendar was used.
Pradhan adds that Nepal Era plays a pivotal role in the cultural life of Nepalis as most of the festivals are celebrated according to the lunar calendar upon which Nepal Era is based.
Though the whole cultural life of Nepali people is guided by the Nepal Era, it is never used directly in administration these days.
Secretary of Nepalbhasa Academy Indra Mali said that the Nepal Era deserves government recognition as it is established by a citizen and carries the country’s name. This must be only one Era of its kind in the world as most of the eras are either based on religions or established by monarchs.
The Newars, the indigenous people of the Kathmandu Valley took initiative to revive the glory of Nepal Era after the democracy of 1950. The Nepalbhasa Mankaa Khala (NMK), a community organisation gave it a formal touch after the NMK started carrying out cultural rally on the first day around the core city in 1988 and a glamour events like motorcycle rally also became the part of the festival-cum- movement.
However, as community leaders admit, this support of the Newars to Nepal Era unknowingly gave an impression among the people that the Era belongs only to the Newars.
Padma Ratna Tuladhar, the chairman of NMK says that as the Newars show active participation in celebrating this national event, people from other communities as well as political parties have a misconception that Nepal Era is a Newari one with significance only to the Newar community.
"This is the reason why after promising speeches on its value and importance of its recognition by the government from political parties, several prime ministers and other prominent political figures, the implementation is showing lukewarm response," he says.
Tuladhar says if Nepal Era belongs to the Newars only, this must also be the case with the art and architecture of the ancient Kathmandu Valley that was created by none other than the Newars.
"The state should recognise Nepal Era as the national heritage and emblem of unity, coming out of boundaries of who created this Era in the name of the country," Tuladhar adds.
He says since the present official calendar Bikram Era is Indian by origin, the state should replace it with Nepal Era, which has a rich history and is attached to the cultural life of the whole country.
Tuladhar suggests that the state could use internationally recognised Western calendar for daily use after accepting Nepal Era as our national calendar.
He further clarifies that the movement of Newars for indigenous people’s right or development of their mother tongue is quite different from the annual function that takes place on the fourth day of Tihar.
"The movement of Nepal Era may end after the government recognises it. But the movement for the development of local language and culture will not," he says.
KATHMANDU, Nov 14 - He was only a layman but he not only liberated all of his fellow citizens from all their debts but launched a new era by the name of his country, after taking permission from the monarch. That was exactly 1,122 years ago.
The New Year is celebrated with extravaganza — in cultural milieu, rock-n-roll concerts and boisterous motorcycle rally at least in the Kathmandu Valley and some other cities where the Newars predominantly reside.
"There was a merchant called Shankhadhar Sakhwa in ancient Kathmandu who possessed piles of sand that turned into gold. Rather than using it for his personal purposes, he paid off all the people’s debt and launched a new era," says historian Bhuwan Lal Pradhan, quoting ancient history books.
The kings of all the dynasties marked this Era in their historical inscriptions for over a millennium until the year 1911 when Rana Prime Minister Chandra Shumsher replaced it by a solar calendar Bikram Era, on the pretext that the government had to pay salary of 13 months in every three years when lunar calendar was used.
Pradhan adds that Nepal Era plays a pivotal role in the cultural life of Nepalis as most of the festivals are celebrated according to the lunar calendar upon which Nepal Era is based.
Though the whole cultural life of Nepali people is guided by the Nepal Era, it is never used directly in administration these days.
Secretary of Nepalbhasa Academy Indra Mali said that the Nepal Era deserves government recognition as it is established by a citizen and carries the country’s name. This must be only one Era of its kind in the world as most of the eras are either based on religions or established by monarchs.
The Newars, the indigenous people of the Kathmandu Valley took initiative to revive the glory of Nepal Era after the democracy of 1950. The Nepalbhasa Mankaa Khala (NMK), a community organisation gave it a formal touch after the NMK started carrying out cultural rally on the first day around the core city in 1988 and a glamour events like motorcycle rally also became the part of the festival-cum- movement.
However, as community leaders admit, this support of the Newars to Nepal Era unknowingly gave an impression among the people that the Era belongs only to the Newars.
Padma Ratna Tuladhar, the chairman of NMK says that as the Newars show active participation in celebrating this national event, people from other communities as well as political parties have a misconception that Nepal Era is a Newari one with significance only to the Newar community.
"This is the reason why after promising speeches on its value and importance of its recognition by the government from political parties, several prime ministers and other prominent political figures, the implementation is showing lukewarm response," he says.
Tuladhar says if Nepal Era belongs to the Newars only, this must also be the case with the art and architecture of the ancient Kathmandu Valley that was created by none other than the Newars.
"The state should recognise Nepal Era as the national heritage and emblem of unity, coming out of boundaries of who created this Era in the name of the country," Tuladhar adds.
He says since the present official calendar Bikram Era is Indian by origin, the state should replace it with Nepal Era, which has a rich history and is attached to the cultural life of the whole country.
Tuladhar suggests that the state could use internationally recognised Western calendar for daily use after accepting Nepal Era as our national calendar.
He further clarifies that the movement of Newars for indigenous people’s right or development of their mother tongue is quite different from the annual function that takes place on the fourth day of Tihar.
"The movement of Nepal Era may end after the government recognises it. But the movement for the development of local language and culture will not," he says.
Monday, November 12, 2001
New scheme to save ancient idols
By Razen Manandhar
Time has changed and the technologies to conserve the ancient monuments should also undergo a worldwide change. So, many international agencies have landed in this country and each of them has taught one or another lesson to Nepali neo-conservationists. Just to name a few are those who built the inner courtyard of the Keshav Narayan Chowk at Patan and Chyasilin Mandap of Bhaktapur. Let’s learn from them.
The Department of Archaeology (DoA), the body that has been entrusted by the government to safeguard the historical monuments of this country, is launching a new project largely to save thousands of idols in the Kathmandu valley. It is just "the thousands" because the department has neither made a complete list of the existing monuments, nor of the stolen ones; so it often quotes foreign heritage experts. Well, the leader of this innovative project has a grand design in his mind to protect the monuments, which will put an end to the decades old saga of priceless idols being stolen from the valley almost every week.
Actually, devising a great plan to launch this new scheme was quite difficult. To make it happen, the enlightened officers of DoA had to travel in one or another country almost every month. They were so busy in attending seminars that they did not remember the topics and outcomes.
The unprecedented scheme will be implemented in three phases: In the first phase, all the ancient idols will be removed from the old and out-of-fashion temples. The department has recently announced a vacancy for the post of plucking officers. Only professionals will be allowed to touch the idols. It would have been better, if the temples had also been preserved, but that needs more money than it is possible for a government body where nobody can escape the Auditor General’s report. Though the authority has not yet imagined how big a warehouse they need to store those idols, the department will manage to keep all of them in its dusty godown.
In the second phase, the newly made fake idols will be reinstalled on those vacant nitches or pedestals of the temples. DoA sources said that the government was ready to spend quite a lot of money to instal fake idols for cultural monument preservation. Local craftsmen will be approached first to copy 200 to 2000 years-old idols. If they can’t install them satisfactorily, international craftsmen will be invited from across the border. If the budget does not allow the authority to have all the replicas of the idols made, they will place colour photographs instead.
The city dwellers have no sense to differentiate between the century old idols influencing the creed, sentiment and culture and the fake idols and photographs. The project manager has a premonition that devotees will love to rest their foreheads on the fake idols and photographs.
The readers might wonder where on earth are the displaced idols supposed to be kept in future. Here is the answer.
In the third phase, all the plucked-out idols will be distributed to royal palaces to make them decorative pieces. Antiques will be kept in air-tight cases of glass, with artistic looks. The cultural property that the UNESCO recognizes as symbol of the local civilization will enhance the value of such luxurious buildings where public access is almost impossible. Even if they can go, they will strictly be prohibited from performing foolish acts like worshipping and asking for blessing.
Authorities say this scheme will also prevent such valuable archaeological objects from being smuggled out.
Time has changed and the technologies to conserve the ancient monuments should also undergo a worldwide change. So, many international agencies have landed in this country and each of them has taught one or another lesson to Nepali neo-conservationists. Just to name a few are those who built the inner courtyard of the Keshav Narayan Chowk at Patan and Chyasilin Mandap of Bhaktapur. Let’s learn from them.
The Department of Archaeology (DoA), the body that has been entrusted by the government to safeguard the historical monuments of this country, is launching a new project largely to save thousands of idols in the Kathmandu valley. It is just "the thousands" because the department has neither made a complete list of the existing monuments, nor of the stolen ones; so it often quotes foreign heritage experts. Well, the leader of this innovative project has a grand design in his mind to protect the monuments, which will put an end to the decades old saga of priceless idols being stolen from the valley almost every week.
Actually, devising a great plan to launch this new scheme was quite difficult. To make it happen, the enlightened officers of DoA had to travel in one or another country almost every month. They were so busy in attending seminars that they did not remember the topics and outcomes.
The unprecedented scheme will be implemented in three phases: In the first phase, all the ancient idols will be removed from the old and out-of-fashion temples. The department has recently announced a vacancy for the post of plucking officers. Only professionals will be allowed to touch the idols. It would have been better, if the temples had also been preserved, but that needs more money than it is possible for a government body where nobody can escape the Auditor General’s report. Though the authority has not yet imagined how big a warehouse they need to store those idols, the department will manage to keep all of them in its dusty godown.
In the second phase, the newly made fake idols will be reinstalled on those vacant nitches or pedestals of the temples. DoA sources said that the government was ready to spend quite a lot of money to instal fake idols for cultural monument preservation. Local craftsmen will be approached first to copy 200 to 2000 years-old idols. If they can’t install them satisfactorily, international craftsmen will be invited from across the border. If the budget does not allow the authority to have all the replicas of the idols made, they will place colour photographs instead.
The city dwellers have no sense to differentiate between the century old idols influencing the creed, sentiment and culture and the fake idols and photographs. The project manager has a premonition that devotees will love to rest their foreheads on the fake idols and photographs.
The readers might wonder where on earth are the displaced idols supposed to be kept in future. Here is the answer.
In the third phase, all the plucked-out idols will be distributed to royal palaces to make them decorative pieces. Antiques will be kept in air-tight cases of glass, with artistic looks. The cultural property that the UNESCO recognizes as symbol of the local civilization will enhance the value of such luxurious buildings where public access is almost impossible. Even if they can go, they will strictly be prohibited from performing foolish acts like worshipping and asking for blessing.
Authorities say this scheme will also prevent such valuable archaeological objects from being smuggled out.
Sunday, November 11, 2001
Controversy puts Mhapuja in limbo
By Razen Manandhar
KATHMANDU, Nov 10 - Mhapuja, one of the most significant festivals among the Newar community of Nepal is facing a problem since over a decade due to controversy in dates a group of astrologers bring about almost every year, says the community leaders.
The controversy of dates has put the people in a difficult situation as they find it extremely difficult to make time for Mhapuja, which is traditionally celebrated on the evening after Laxmipuja and a day before Bhaitika.
"Mhapuja is the day when the indigenous people of the Kathmandu Valley worship their own body as a platform to exercise the spiritual power but over a few years due to the controversy in dates people tend not to celebrate the festival at all", they say.
Tihar generally a five-day-long festival of lights contains days for worshipping crow, dog, Laxmi or the Goddess of wealth, cow-dung (Goverdhan) and brothers. According to tradition, the evening of the fourth day of Tihar or the day to worship Goverdhan is celebrated as the Mhapuja.
According to chancellor of Nepalbhasa Academy Satya Mohan Joshi, this festival binds the diverse nature found among the Newars.
"This festival embodies the ethnical unity and hereditary common original culture of the Newars," said Joshi, quoting the Birtamod Declaration of 1995 recognised by the second national conference of the Newars.
However, General Secretary of Newaa Dey Daboo (Newar National Forum) Naresh Bir Shakya said that since a decade or so, the chain of festive events has not been regular except once or twice.
Shakya said "A handful of astrologers want to distort the spirit of Tihar to please some high profile people."
Prem Man Chitrakar, the chairman of Nepal Traditional Artists’ Association, who has been publishing the lunar calendars since the last 11 years said that though different social organisations publish calendars for the following year - from Tihar to Tihar, a Calendar Decision-making Committee (CDC) dispatches a notice through state-owned media a week before the festival and most of the time they change the five-day series of the festival.
"They (CDC members) turn it into either four-day or six-day long, saying it is decided according to the lunar movement", Citrakar said.
He added, "A number of astrologers want to please the Royal Palace by setting the appropriate time of Bhaitika as per the Royal Authority’s demand. As a result, the former day, that is the day of Mhapuja, keeps shifting," he said.
Chitrakar further added that the date of this year’s Mhapuja had been set a year ago when his association, including other two dozen bodies published calendars according to the Nepal Era, which follows the lunar movement. "But CDC, as usual, published a notice on November 5 which claimed that what we set a year ago is wrong and warned that unwanted hazards would follow if CDC’s new timing is not followed."
Most of the astrologers had fixed this year’s Laxmipuja for November 15 and Mhapuja on November 16, leaving November 17 for Bhaitika following the lunar calendar a year ago. But last week, CDC issued a notice that Bhaitika must be carried out on November 16 Friday and carrying out Bhaitika on 17 would not be appropriate.
Chairman of CDC Dr Mangal Raj Joshi said that it is the committee’s duty to find out auspicious time of Bhaitika for the Palace and the general public also follows it.
"We issue the notice for interest of the general public saying that they should follow the dates issued by us. Bhaitika is the festival of all the people whereas Mhapuja is only celebrated by the Newars. In this context we have to give priority to Bhaitika rather than Mhapuja," he admitted.
On the other hand, cultural scholar Maheshwor Juju Rajopadhyay charged Dr Joshi for working under other people’s pressure and that even he himself cannot follow what he prescribes through the fabricated notice of CDC.
"Last year he said that the date of the festival should be determined with the lunar date of the time of the sunrise but this year he contradicted his own philosophy and followed the clock," Rajopadhyaya said.
Dr Joshi has prescribed us to first "invite" Laxmi in homes and then go to worship dogs — which is just against the tradition.
He warned, "In many cases a group has been quite active in suggesting people to celebrate religious festivals on wrong dates. This is why serious ominous events are taking place in the country. And even bigger catastrophe will follow if not checked in time."
[Kathmandu Sunday November 11, 2001 Kartik 26, 2058.]
[http://www.nepalnews.com.np/contents/englishdaily/ktmpost/2001/nov/nov11/local.htm#5]
By Razen Manandhar
KATHMANDU, Nov 10 - Mhapuja, one of the most significant festivals among the Newar community of Nepal is facing a problem since over a decade due to controversy in dates a group of astrologers bring about almost every year, says the community leaders.
The controversy of dates has put the people in a difficult situation as they find it extremely difficult to make time for Mhapuja, which is traditionally celebrated on the evening after Laxmipuja and a day before Bhaitika.
"Mhapuja is the day when the indigenous people of the Kathmandu Valley worship their own body as a platform to exercise the spiritual power but over a few years due to the controversy in dates people tend not to celebrate the festival at all", they say.
Tihar generally a five-day-long festival of lights contains days for worshipping crow, dog, Laxmi or the Goddess of wealth, cow-dung (Goverdhan) and brothers. According to tradition, the evening of the fourth day of Tihar or the day to worship Goverdhan is celebrated as the Mhapuja.
According to chancellor of Nepalbhasa Academy Satya Mohan Joshi, this festival binds the diverse nature found among the Newars.
"This festival embodies the ethnical unity and hereditary common original culture of the Newars," said Joshi, quoting the Birtamod Declaration of 1995 recognised by the second national conference of the Newars.
However, General Secretary of Newaa Dey Daboo (Newar National Forum) Naresh Bir Shakya said that since a decade or so, the chain of festive events has not been regular except once or twice.
Shakya said "A handful of astrologers want to distort the spirit of Tihar to please some high profile people."
Prem Man Chitrakar, the chairman of Nepal Traditional Artists’ Association, who has been publishing the lunar calendars since the last 11 years said that though different social organisations publish calendars for the following year - from Tihar to Tihar, a Calendar Decision-making Committee (CDC) dispatches a notice through state-owned media a week before the festival and most of the time they change the five-day series of the festival.
"They (CDC members) turn it into either four-day or six-day long, saying it is decided according to the lunar movement", Citrakar said.
He added, "A number of astrologers want to please the Royal Palace by setting the appropriate time of Bhaitika as per the Royal Authority’s demand. As a result, the former day, that is the day of Mhapuja, keeps shifting," he said.
Chitrakar further added that the date of this year’s Mhapuja had been set a year ago when his association, including other two dozen bodies published calendars according to the Nepal Era, which follows the lunar movement. "But CDC, as usual, published a notice on November 5 which claimed that what we set a year ago is wrong and warned that unwanted hazards would follow if CDC’s new timing is not followed."
Most of the astrologers had fixed this year’s Laxmipuja for November 15 and Mhapuja on November 16, leaving November 17 for Bhaitika following the lunar calendar a year ago. But last week, CDC issued a notice that Bhaitika must be carried out on November 16 Friday and carrying out Bhaitika on 17 would not be appropriate.
Chairman of CDC Dr Mangal Raj Joshi said that it is the committee’s duty to find out auspicious time of Bhaitika for the Palace and the general public also follows it.
"We issue the notice for interest of the general public saying that they should follow the dates issued by us. Bhaitika is the festival of all the people whereas Mhapuja is only celebrated by the Newars. In this context we have to give priority to Bhaitika rather than Mhapuja," he admitted.
On the other hand, cultural scholar Maheshwor Juju Rajopadhyay charged Dr Joshi for working under other people’s pressure and that even he himself cannot follow what he prescribes through the fabricated notice of CDC.
"Last year he said that the date of the festival should be determined with the lunar date of the time of the sunrise but this year he contradicted his own philosophy and followed the clock," Rajopadhyaya said.
Dr Joshi has prescribed us to first "invite" Laxmi in homes and then go to worship dogs — which is just against the tradition.
He warned, "In many cases a group has been quite active in suggesting people to celebrate religious festivals on wrong dates. This is why serious ominous events are taking place in the country. And even bigger catastrophe will follow if not checked in time."
[Kathmandu Sunday November 11, 2001 Kartik 26, 2058.]
[http://www.nepalnews.com.np/contents/englishdaily/ktmpost/2001/nov/nov11/local.htm#5]
Thursday, November 08, 2001
Future of Okharpauwa landfill site still uncertain
By Razen Manandhar
KATHMANDU, Nov 7 - The future of the 250 million-rupee landfill site at Okharpauwa is still uncertain as the Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC), the prime user of the site, is not convinced that the solution is indeed practical.
Municipality officials say the new landfill site being constructed by the government will cost about Rs 680,000 per day for the municipalities because it is located far away from the city centre.
The Solid Waste Management and Resource Mobilisation Centre (SWMRMC) of Ministry of Local Development is constructing infrastructures to turn this 430 ropanis of land at the northern fringe of the Valley, Sisdol of Okharpauwa VDC, into a landfill site. Okharpauwa has been regarded as the proper alternative for solid waste management in the Kathmandu Valley, at least for the next 5 to 7 years.
But KMC is still indifferent to the solution being sought since last two years after the previous landfill site at Gokarna was filled up.
Mayor of Kathmandu Keshav Sthapit has repeatedly opposed the government’s selection of the site, saying that it is not practical and is "motivated by the personal interest of political figures." Instead, he has asked the government to provide 200 ropanis of land outside the city area, where a composting plant could be established to manage solid waste.
"Everybody knows that dumping 300-400 metric tonnes of solid waste at a place as far away as Okharpauwa, about 28 kilometres away from the city, in trucks is not possible," the mayor said. "This will only create unwanted hazards everyday."
Head of KMC’s Environment Department Shanta Ram Pokharel said KMC has been asking the government to provide a nearer location, where a composting plant could be established because solid waste is not a thing to throw away but to reuse it.
"We have been asking the government to provide us some land in Halchowk or Chobhar areas but our voice has never been heard," Pokharel said.
But he did not say whether KMC would deny using Okharpauwa or not. Rather he added that the present facility of vehicles KMC now has is insufficient to transport solid waste there.
Solid Waste Section Chief of KMC Rajesh Manandhar said the biggest problem KMC will have to face now is because of the distance. The site lies 28 kilometres away from the city centre and the vehicles will have to face long traffic jams, especially at the Balaju Bypass.
He estimated that the transportation alone would cost KMC about Rs. 250 million if they use the new landfill site. Instead, the government should use this money to acquire land in nearer location, he said.
KMC presently has seven compactor trucks and one open dump truck to transport 650 cubic metres of solid waste that the Kathmanduites produce everyday.
"We will have to make four trips of eight trucks to travel 28 kilometres each carrying 20 cubic metre of garbage in narrow roads. That is quite difficult if not impossible. And one cannot expect all the vehicles to be in condition everyday," says Manandhar.
However, Devi Prasad Subedi, general manager of SWMRMC, says that finding a site near the city is not possible.
"We agree, the proposed site is far away. But there is no other way than choosing that place to make a landfill site," Subedi said. "And the distance is not very far in the present day."
Subedi added that the construction of roads has been completed except for the last three kilometres and two bridges and a public notice for land acquisition is being published soon.
Kathmandu and Lalitpur have been dumping the wastes along the banks of the Bagmati river for the last seven months. Earlier, the garbage was used to fill the area around Guheshwori and Jorpati until protests arose as birds hit aeroplanes in the nearby Tribhuwan International Airport.
[Kathmandu Thursday November 08, 2001 Kartik 23, 2058.]
KATHMANDU, Nov 7 - The future of the 250 million-rupee landfill site at Okharpauwa is still uncertain as the Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC), the prime user of the site, is not convinced that the solution is indeed practical.
Municipality officials say the new landfill site being constructed by the government will cost about Rs 680,000 per day for the municipalities because it is located far away from the city centre.
The Solid Waste Management and Resource Mobilisation Centre (SWMRMC) of Ministry of Local Development is constructing infrastructures to turn this 430 ropanis of land at the northern fringe of the Valley, Sisdol of Okharpauwa VDC, into a landfill site. Okharpauwa has been regarded as the proper alternative for solid waste management in the Kathmandu Valley, at least for the next 5 to 7 years.
But KMC is still indifferent to the solution being sought since last two years after the previous landfill site at Gokarna was filled up.
Mayor of Kathmandu Keshav Sthapit has repeatedly opposed the government’s selection of the site, saying that it is not practical and is "motivated by the personal interest of political figures." Instead, he has asked the government to provide 200 ropanis of land outside the city area, where a composting plant could be established to manage solid waste.
"Everybody knows that dumping 300-400 metric tonnes of solid waste at a place as far away as Okharpauwa, about 28 kilometres away from the city, in trucks is not possible," the mayor said. "This will only create unwanted hazards everyday."
Head of KMC’s Environment Department Shanta Ram Pokharel said KMC has been asking the government to provide a nearer location, where a composting plant could be established because solid waste is not a thing to throw away but to reuse it.
"We have been asking the government to provide us some land in Halchowk or Chobhar areas but our voice has never been heard," Pokharel said.
But he did not say whether KMC would deny using Okharpauwa or not. Rather he added that the present facility of vehicles KMC now has is insufficient to transport solid waste there.
Solid Waste Section Chief of KMC Rajesh Manandhar said the biggest problem KMC will have to face now is because of the distance. The site lies 28 kilometres away from the city centre and the vehicles will have to face long traffic jams, especially at the Balaju Bypass.
He estimated that the transportation alone would cost KMC about Rs. 250 million if they use the new landfill site. Instead, the government should use this money to acquire land in nearer location, he said.
KMC presently has seven compactor trucks and one open dump truck to transport 650 cubic metres of solid waste that the Kathmanduites produce everyday.
"We will have to make four trips of eight trucks to travel 28 kilometres each carrying 20 cubic metre of garbage in narrow roads. That is quite difficult if not impossible. And one cannot expect all the vehicles to be in condition everyday," says Manandhar.
However, Devi Prasad Subedi, general manager of SWMRMC, says that finding a site near the city is not possible.
"We agree, the proposed site is far away. But there is no other way than choosing that place to make a landfill site," Subedi said. "And the distance is not very far in the present day."
Subedi added that the construction of roads has been completed except for the last three kilometres and two bridges and a public notice for land acquisition is being published soon.
Kathmandu and Lalitpur have been dumping the wastes along the banks of the Bagmati river for the last seven months. Earlier, the garbage was used to fill the area around Guheshwori and Jorpati until protests arose as birds hit aeroplanes in the nearby Tribhuwan International Airport.
[Kathmandu Thursday November 08, 2001 Kartik 23, 2058.]
Tuesday, October 23, 2001
People unconcerned about meat quality
By Razen Manandhar
KATHMANDU, Oct 22 – For all the non-vegetarian Hindus, the festival of Dashain is always the best time of the year as meat is synonymous to the celebration.
The festival is never complete without an exclusive preparation of different meat dishes. But, people tend to forget or have less time to think about the quality of the meat they consume.
Sacrificing male animals to Hindu Goddess Durga is one of the most important aspects of the festival as thousands of buffaloes, goats, cocks and geese are sacrificed in various temples as a part of the festival puja.
Professor of theology at Balmiki Campus Ram Chandra Gautam said that strict rituals should govern the sacrificing of animals, which people seldom follow. "The animal to be sacrificed should be healthy, strong and without any bruises and they should be slaughtered with least pain," says Gautam.
However, as amateurs carry out the most sacrifices in the temples and homes, the meat can be less hygienic.
And most of the local butchers here are found be practicing unhealthy method of slaughtering. They generally use small knives to kill animals and use little water to clean the meat.
Shyam Krishna Khadgi, a local meat sealer at Khichapokhari, said that the present market price of the meat do not allow them to use more hygienic practices in killing and treating the meat as it cost them more than what it cost at present.
"Those who advocate about quality meat should also be ready to afford the price," says Khadgi. "Why do people make a hue and cry when we are selling the meat at nominal profit."
But experts stress that quality should come first than the price. They argue that improper killing of animals make the meat substandard.
Dr Durga Dutta Joshi, chairman of National Zoonoses and Food Hygiene Research Centre (NZFHRC), has an interesting logic. "If the animals are killed while they are in stress or tense, then the meat becomes less hygienic," Dr. Joshi said.
"Even the animals can feel and their body reacts when they are in immense tension at the time of slaughtering," he said.
He said the animals sustaining physical and mental stress before slaughtering and killed in slow process make the meat less attractive, green, greasy, foamy, stiff, tasteless and difficult to cook.
Dutta said that the animals should be transported, kept and slaughtered without letting them feel stressed to produce the best of their meat.
A Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) booklet states that glycogen or sugar content of the muscle is high in healthy and well-rested animal.
If the animal is stressed before and during slaughter, the glycogen is used up, and the lactic acid level that develops in the meat after slaughter is reduced, it is said in the booklet. "The acid in the muscle has the effect of retarding the growth of bacteria that have contaminated the carcass during slaughtering and dressing, which obviously will have adverse effect on the quality of meat."
"It is also important for animals to be well-rested for 24 hours before slaughter," says the booklet.
However, the quality of meat in the market here is far from satisfactory as the majority of the shopkeepers sell unhygienic and substandard meat. No one has ever thought about developing a proper system of checking animals before slaughtering. And to make the matter worse, there is no provision of monitoring the quality of meat before it reaches to the market.
According to a data provided by Dr. Dilip Subba, a food scientist, Kathmandu is the largest market for meat, where people consume 368 buffaloes, 218 goats and 17,558 chickens every day.
There had already been an effort from Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) to construct a proper slaughterhouse for the last one year. It had even selected a location for the construction at the city’s ward No. 12.
But, locals there, who till now been involved in unscientific butchering of buffaloes, protested the KMC’s move. This has left the project in a limbo, further delaying the process of guaranteeing safe meat in the capital market.
KATHMANDU, Oct 22 – For all the non-vegetarian Hindus, the festival of Dashain is always the best time of the year as meat is synonymous to the celebration.
The festival is never complete without an exclusive preparation of different meat dishes. But, people tend to forget or have less time to think about the quality of the meat they consume.
Sacrificing male animals to Hindu Goddess Durga is one of the most important aspects of the festival as thousands of buffaloes, goats, cocks and geese are sacrificed in various temples as a part of the festival puja.
Professor of theology at Balmiki Campus Ram Chandra Gautam said that strict rituals should govern the sacrificing of animals, which people seldom follow. "The animal to be sacrificed should be healthy, strong and without any bruises and they should be slaughtered with least pain," says Gautam.
However, as amateurs carry out the most sacrifices in the temples and homes, the meat can be less hygienic.
And most of the local butchers here are found be practicing unhealthy method of slaughtering. They generally use small knives to kill animals and use little water to clean the meat.
Shyam Krishna Khadgi, a local meat sealer at Khichapokhari, said that the present market price of the meat do not allow them to use more hygienic practices in killing and treating the meat as it cost them more than what it cost at present.
"Those who advocate about quality meat should also be ready to afford the price," says Khadgi. "Why do people make a hue and cry when we are selling the meat at nominal profit."
But experts stress that quality should come first than the price. They argue that improper killing of animals make the meat substandard.
Dr Durga Dutta Joshi, chairman of National Zoonoses and Food Hygiene Research Centre (NZFHRC), has an interesting logic. "If the animals are killed while they are in stress or tense, then the meat becomes less hygienic," Dr. Joshi said.
"Even the animals can feel and their body reacts when they are in immense tension at the time of slaughtering," he said.
He said the animals sustaining physical and mental stress before slaughtering and killed in slow process make the meat less attractive, green, greasy, foamy, stiff, tasteless and difficult to cook.
Dutta said that the animals should be transported, kept and slaughtered without letting them feel stressed to produce the best of their meat.
A Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) booklet states that glycogen or sugar content of the muscle is high in healthy and well-rested animal.
If the animal is stressed before and during slaughter, the glycogen is used up, and the lactic acid level that develops in the meat after slaughter is reduced, it is said in the booklet. "The acid in the muscle has the effect of retarding the growth of bacteria that have contaminated the carcass during slaughtering and dressing, which obviously will have adverse effect on the quality of meat."
"It is also important for animals to be well-rested for 24 hours before slaughter," says the booklet.
However, the quality of meat in the market here is far from satisfactory as the majority of the shopkeepers sell unhygienic and substandard meat. No one has ever thought about developing a proper system of checking animals before slaughtering. And to make the matter worse, there is no provision of monitoring the quality of meat before it reaches to the market.
According to a data provided by Dr. Dilip Subba, a food scientist, Kathmandu is the largest market for meat, where people consume 368 buffaloes, 218 goats and 17,558 chickens every day.
There had already been an effort from Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) to construct a proper slaughterhouse for the last one year. It had even selected a location for the construction at the city’s ward No. 12.
But, locals there, who till now been involved in unscientific butchering of buffaloes, protested the KMC’s move. This has left the project in a limbo, further delaying the process of guaranteeing safe meat in the capital market.
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