Introduction
Nepal is a small landlocked country in the South Asian region stretched between two giant countries: China and India. Nepalese historian, such as the late Dhanavajra Vajracarya believed that the ancient state of Nepal was almost as big as the modern Nepal. However in the latter period of history only the Valley of Kathmandu began to be known by the name “Nepal.†Evidences found from excavations and inscriptional sources confirm that already during the Licchavi period (2nd to 9th Century AD) there used to exist highly sophisticated settlements, art and architecture in Nepal. Although there are no buildings traceable from the Licchavi period, scholars believe that in later periods, Nepalese rulers and people continued the tradition established by the Licchavis.
The art and architecture that survives till today in Nepal is mostly dated from the Malla period (12th to 18th century AD). Some of it survived the two major earthquakes that occurred in Nepal in 1833 and 1934 and destroyed most buildings. Most of the buildings destroyed especially public places, such as temples and restplaces were reconstructed. In many cases in their original form but in many instances they lost their original shapes and in some cases they disappeared all together.
Throughout the Kathmandu Valley and beyond the Valley, especially in all Newar settlements, traditional houses are garnished with artistically carved windows and doors. More specifically temples, god houses and rest places are adorned with carved windows and doors. These religious monuments, pagoda style temples, stupas, god houses, restplaces, public buildings and monuments in the Kathmandu Valley are considered one of the important cultural heritages of Nepal.
The town of Sankhu
Sankhu is an old and historical trading town situated about 17 km northeast of Kathmandu on the ancient trade route to Tibet. The foundation of the kingdom of Sankhu is attributed to the goddess Vajrayogini, whose shrine is located in the forest above the town of Sankhu. The temple of Vajrayogini is an important pilgrimage site for Buddhists and Hindus alike. The yearly festival of the goddess is also the main event in Sankhu's ritual cycle. According to the legend Manisailamahavadana, Vajrayogini instructed the priest Jogdev and the first king Sankhadev to build the town of Sankhu in the shape of a conch shell. The oldest inscription found in Sankhu is dated 538 AD.
After the opening of alternative trade routes to Tibet the town lost in importance. Nowadays Sankhu is a mainly agricultural town, which offers a medieval sight in spite of its proximity to Kathmandu. Sankhu’s surrounding villages; Lapsephedi and Nanglebhare Village Development Committees are the most remote and backward areas of Kathmandu.
Heritage Conservation Projects
Sankhu as an ancient town consists numerous historical monuments. In the past, wealthy individuals, religious groups or families used to build such monuments to obtain religious merits. However, as they lost the sources of income these monuments are now left without maintenance, so many of them are in dilapidated condition. Most recently, the NGO Friends of Sankhu (FoS) is taking responsibility of conservation of heritage of the town. The Friends of Sankhu (FoS) is a non-government organisation established by enthusiastic youth in Sankhu in 1991. The main aim of FoS is to enhance rural development through self-awareness among the people of the community and to activate them to put collective efforts into socio-economic development, environmental protection, human resource development and heritage conservation. It assists in improving situation of women by encouraging their participation in all its activities. The primary resources of FoS are its members. FoS believes that the development process will only be successful through participation of the community. Working areas of the FoS are Sankhu and its surrounding villages in the northeast corner of the Kathmandu Valley.
In the past years, the Friends of Sankhu has completed five major heritage conservation works in Sankhu. The most interesting thing about heritage conservation in Sankhu is that every project carries with it a sequel again, and that the path taken now is turning this small town already into a concentration point of Dutch efforts at cultural preservation and its spin-offs. In its efforts in carrying out heritage conservation in Sankhu besides local people’s supports the Friends of Sankhu have received financial support from the Royal Netherlands Consulate (SNV-Nepal KAP, a short Embassy project), the Royal Netherlands Embassy Neda, the Government of the Netherlands, the VNN-Netherlands-Nepal Association (Vereniging Nederland-Nepal) CORDAID, Seva Foundation the Netherlands and Wilde Ganzen, the Netherlands. Local Government organisation Vajrajogini VDC supported it financially and in each instance FoS was able to mobilize community participation.
The Mahadev Temple
The Mahadevadhvaka square, with the Mahadev temple and its Shiva shrine (phallus), holy pond, and numerous shrines of other deities, is one of the most sacred religious sites in Sankhu. The main shrine of Shiva is located in the middle of the ground-floor of a two-storeyed temple. This shrine is also known as Jyotirlingesvara, the self-emanated light of Shiva. A small water channel, which runs close to the temple, is also considered a holy place for religious people.
Several inscriptions are scattered around the Mahadeva temple square. The oldest inscription found at the Mahadeva square is dated 1599 AD. An inscription dated 1635 AD tells that the construction of the Jyotirlingesvara temple was completed and a golden water jar (kalasa) was offered to it on the fourth day of the bright half of Baisakha. Whether the temple was constructed for the first time or was only reconstructed or renovated is unclear from the inscription.
The two-roofed Mahadeva temple is a magnificent example of a Newar pagoda-style temple. Its roofs are made of traditional tiles called ayapa and its walls are built with traditional bricks called dachiapa. The temple has a square shape and is surrounded by four walls. On the ground floor it has four wooden doors facing toward the four main directions, above each door is placed a semi-circled wooden tympanum decorated with various figures. Only the gate facing south is opened as the entrance to the temple for the public, while the other three gates remain closed. Inside the temple, at the centre of the ground floor a stone phallus (linga) attached to a female organ (yoni). Devotees in Sankhu worship the shrine by offering water, flowers, coloured powders, vegetables and other items. Wooden frames and wooden struts support the diagonally attached roofs of the temple. A special kind of tile (ayapa) is used on the roofs to protect it from the rain. Wooden struts are connected to the temple walls and roofs. They are carved with various religious images. Twelve wooden struts are attached to support the first roof from the ground. On each corner there is a strut with an animal figure. The eight struts placed at the centre of the walls depict Bhairava, the god of death. Each of the Bhairava is in a different mood, so they are known as eight Bhairava (astabhairava). Bhairava is also considered to be one of the forms of Shiva himself. At the bottom of each of these struts, images of copulating human couples are depicted. Such erotic symbols on temples are common in Nepal, especially on Shaiva temples. Some people believe that such symbols are carved to protect the temple from lightning, while others believe that they carry tantric value. Many also believe that it was a way of educating people about sex. Below the roof, in the middle of each wall, a wooden window is attached. The top roof and walls are smaller in size but similar in structure, and the wooden struts are decorated with different figures. On the top of the temple a brass pinnacle is fixed.
In addition to the temple of Mahadev there are numerous other statues around the Mahadeva square, such as a life size Ganesa, Visnu together with his consorts Laksmi and Sarasvati, Bhimsen, sleeping Visnu (Bhuijasinarayan), Radha and Krsna, Satyanarayana, Triratna, Minaga, Sitalamaju, Caturmukhi Siva, a small stone temple of Siva, Camunda with a troupe of Astamatrka considered to be one of the eight matrka inside the town, Siva-Parvati and several other scattered shrines of Siva. Besides the main temple with its Siva shrine, there are at least fourteen other stone shrines of Siva scattered around this square. Mahadeva pond is another sacred spot in this square.
The restoration was urgent
Several stone inscriptions found in Mahadevadhvaka-square makes it clear that during the time of the installation of these temples and images of the gods, various religious associations (guthi) were also established to look after their maintenance. Unfortunately almost all of them have disappeared because they lost the sources of income necessary to maintain the integrity of the holy ground. Community rituals, festivals and individual worship went on as before, but against the background of an overall decay of the holy site itself. The pond became polluted, then empty; the pagoda-type temple came near to collapse and was stolen of some of its woodcarvings; other statues, sculptures and inscriptions lost their pedestals, fell down and were left scattered around. Not that all beauty of the Mahadeva temple square vanished already, but it became more than clear that the old system of maintenance did not work any more and had to be replaced. Therefore the NGO "Friends of Sankhu" took the initiative of restoring the sacred site, and was supported by the Vajayogini Village Development Committees of Sankhu and fund-raising started. An elaborate technical plan was drawn up by a specialized consultancy. The friends of Sankhu set priorities: the Mahadeva temple, the sacred pond and the canal feeding it were the first to be repaired then all other monument. In 1996, the Royal Netherlands Consulate and the Netherlands-Nepal Association (VNN) decided to contribute to its first phase plan. As soon as the first phase of the plan completed second phase of renovation was carried with the same enthusiastic donors’ contributions. From 1996 to 1998 both the phases of the restoration of Mahadev temple and surrounding monuments were accomplished.
The temple of Vajrayogini
Vajrayogini is one of the most important goddesses of Nepal. Besides being a divinity of national importance with a long-attested history, Vajrayogini is also the protective goddess of Sankhu town. She is one of the major Buddhist deities of Nepal. For the people of Sankhu, Vajrayogini is also considered to be a form of the Hindu goddess Kali or Durga.
Vajrayogini has her temple in the forest above the town of Sankhu; till the present day it is a centre of pilgrimage for Buddhists and Hindus alike. People in Sankhu till today call "Gum Vihara" or "Gumbaha", the "forest monastery" to the area containing a number of shrines in the Vajrayogini sanctuary. The earliest mention of “Gum Vihara†is found in an inscription of a king Amsuvarma at Hadigaon in northeast Kathmandu dated AD 600, in the context of the king's donations to various important shrines of those days.
Her temple is a three storeyed pagoda style building. The top roof of the temple is made of gilded copper, the second roof is partially gilded (on the southern side) and the third roof is fully copper. The wooden struts supporting the roofs are carved with different images of Buddhist deities. The door is facing south. The ground floor of the temple covers an area of ten square metres. The topmost roof of the temple is supported by eight struts, the middle one by sixteen struts, the lowest roof is supported by twenty-four struts and the four corners of each roof are supported by two pairs of griffins and fabulous creatures (sarduls). All the struts, griffins and sardulas are made of wood and are beautifully carved. A gilded copper patah, believed to be a divine serpent naga, hangs from the pinnacle down to the lowest roof of the temple. The structure of the temple is standing over a single rock.
The restoration of the main temple of the Vajrayogini takes place when the necessity is felt. In 1999-2000, the latest restoration of this temple took place under the auspices of the Friends of Sankhu, a local NGO. It received major financial assistance from the NEDA, the Dutch government and the VNN.
During the Malla period, king Pratap Malla embellished the Vajrayogini temple in 1655. We are not exactly sure what the shrine of Vajrayogini looked like before, but a historical note tells that Pratap Malla demolished the old temple to reconstruct it in 1651. Only in 1712 AD that the king Bhaskar Malla's mother Bhuvanlaksmi inaugurated the pagoda-styled temple that exists today.
Despite of magnificence appearance of the structure of the temple its condition was decaying. The woodwork was rotting, not only the delicate pieces, but also the struts on which the structure rests. Also the splendid roofs of the temple appeared to contain cracks, and the resulting leakage increases the decay exponentially. Even though the Goddess would have continued to exist, her temple would have collapsed if not renovated it in time. Therefore the Friends of Sankhu took an initiative to start an overall restoration of the temple.
The Friends of Sankhu made an initial survey of the project at the beginning of 1998 and in November 1998 the Vajrayogini Temple Restoration Project (VRP) started. Almost two years later in March 2000 the temple was restored.
The restoration of the Vajrayogini temple
The cost of estimation had to be made accordingly on line with conservation note provided by the Department of Archaeology of Nepal. Therefore many shortcomings were felt later on. First of all, the topmost roof and pinnacle was thought to be safe and sound because it was renovated only twenty years ago, but it was found in dilapidated condition. The rituals to take out the pinnacle was very interesting but took long span of forty days.
The whole wooden members of the temple were taken out and restored with new ones where needed. The wooden members were given a coat with the black tar in order to save then from termites attack. The base part of this pinnacle was further covered completely with the thinner copper sheet in order to arrest the rainwater percolation. Finally, the old gold gilded copper sheets covered whole base and the pinnacle is topped on. All the different members of the pinnacle were also strengthened with necessary iron clamps, nails, ties and supports. All those works are the additional task including extra scaffoldings.
Once the roof was removed the core wall were found cracked in many parts on all four sides. It was found that the monkeys dismantled four layers of bricks in south wall. The core wall also has had to be raised by 5 layers of bricks in lower roof and 3 layers on the middle roof. But this time the wall had to be raised by five layers of bricks in lower roof and three layers in middle roof in order to bring the roof surface in its original level. If the bricklayers were not increased the inclination of the roof would be distorted and the mistake would be conspicuous as in other temples renovated in Kathmandu valley.
The shocking fractures found on the left of the main entrance to the sanctum, but it has been decided not to touch this portion because there would be very long and ritualistic fire sacrifice had have to go through in order to relocate the Goddess Vajrayogini temporarily somewhere out of the temple and later on bringing her back to sanctum sanctorum. The ritual sacrifice only entails for months and lot of money has had to be spent engaging dozens of priests and people for months and feasting them as well.
All the rotten wooden members in the temple have been changed with new ones and the carved members are reused as many as possible. All the carved wooden members were given chemical spraying from all sides as far as possible. In the roofs, the copper sheets gilded with brass in the middle roof were cleaned and reused as much as possible. Few pieces, which were totally cracked and not reusable, were replaced. In the lowest roof the copper sheets were completely changed with new sheets. The copper sheets used this time are thicker than the original ones.
The Saravata Satah
Satah or Phalca are wayside shelters or restplaces or resthouses built by wealthy individuals, religious groups or families to give shelter to travellers. People used to build restplaces in order to obtain religious merit and to obtain heaven after death. When a restplace is built, a guthi was usually created to look after its maintenance. If not, the descendants took care of the maintenance of such restplaces. In recent times only a few people have built such restplaces while most restplaces to be found in Sankhu today were built hundreds of years ago. Many collapsed but others were repaired or reconstructed.
Usually rest places are highly decorated with woodcarvings and stone statues of gods and goddesses. They are adorned with artistic traditional wooden windows. In this regard Saravata Satah and Dutta Phalca in the Imla quarter in Sankhu are excellent examples. However, some of the woodcarvings from both these restplaces have been stolen in the past decades. Their roofs were leaking and the walls were cracking as they remained neglected.
The Saravat Satah is situated in the Imla quarter of Sankhu. The inscription attached on the wall of the Saravata satah mentions that it was built in AD 1716. The Jogis, a marginal Newar low caste, has been using this place for their communal meetings and playing devotional music during different seasons and religious occasions. Members of the guthi belonging to this rest place distributed foods to yogis at this restplace four times a month in the past, but the tradition has been abandoned as the income source of the guthi collapsed.
The restoration of the Saravata Satah in Pukhulachi VDC, Sankhu is the third renovation project implemented by Friends of Sankhu (FOS) in Sankhu area. As it was during the restoration of Vajrayogini temple, advice from archeologists and technicians were taken from the time of inception of this project. Several meetings with local people were held for transparency, and these people were recruited for joint participation resulting in the formation of the Users Group (UG). All the responsibility regarding the entire construction was given to the group. A well-recognized and experienced technician, Mr. Saroj Man Amatya did all the estimation work, required monitoring and supervision of the entire project. A well-known carver of Nepal, Mr. Shiva Silpakar from Bhaktapur was given the responsibility of the whole construction work. Many skilled labours were also brought from Bhaktapur. Local peoples were used for unskilled work and collecting local resources like sand, mud, bamboo for scaffolding, etc. The norms of the Department of Archeology had been followed for the whole restoration project – all the reusable old stuffs such as wooden carvings have been reused. An experienced archeologist, Mr. Sukra Sagar of the Department of Archaeology was consulted for his expertise throughout the period of the project as were the case during the previous restoration works in the past.
In May 2001, the initial restoration work began with the dismantling of the Satah. With the dedicated support and participation of local people the entire reconstruction of the Saravata Phalca was completed in October 2001. Through the Vereniging Nepal Samaj Nederland (NSN), the Netherlands, the CORDAID provided financial support to FoS. Similarly, FoS also received financial assistance from VNN for this purpose.
The Datta Phalca
The Datta Phalca is another important historical rest places in Sankhu. It a one roofed restplace situated in the centre of the Imla quarter. It is also known as “royal rest place†(layku phalca) as it lies in the neighborhood of the old palace of Sankhu. Till present day, during the eight-daylong festival of Vajrayogini in the town, the royal sword carrier representing reigning king of Nepal uses it to take ceremonial rests. During the Rana regime (1856-1951), the local administrative chief (dvare) used this rest place as a local court where public hearings carried out and convicted punished. The Datta Phalca is also important as a traditional community-meeting place where local people carry out singing of devotional songs. The travellers who spend nights in Sankhu also use it as wayside shelters.
For decades, it remained neglected and was in dilapidated condition. Some of the woodcarvings were stolen and other decayed. Its beams were broken, carved bricks and wood stuffs were rotten and falling down. Therefore it was necessary to be restored. With a financial assistance of Wilde Ganzen, the Netherlands, the FoS successfully reconstructed it in April 2002.
New plans
The Friends of Sankhu is seeking financial assistance from interested national and international organisations to restore numerous historical monuments in Sankhu. It is remarkable that each restoration work the Friends of Sankhu carried out in Sankhu, they received not only financial supports from different international organisations but also they received active supports and participations of local community. Therefore, they are determined to continue with such restoration works for in the coming days too. There are several important heritage sites in Sankhu, which are still waiting for their turn to be restored. In this sequence, they are now in the process of restoring the Imla Genesh temple in Sankhu. The aim is to rebuild the temple in its original shape as it was before the 1934 earthquake. As it was in the past, the VNN, the Netherlands has already extended its helping hands by promising to provide a part of the budget for the proposed project, but the FoS would need more contributors to make this project a success.
Bal Gopal Shrestha (1959) is an anthropologist from Nepal, as a Program Advisor of the Friends of Sankhu (FoS), is active in contributing to heritage conservation programs of the FoS in the town of Sankhu since 1996. He received his MA in Political Science from Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu and completed his PhD in Anthropology from the University of Leiden, the Netherlands in September 2002.
The University of Leiden awarded him a PhD fellowship from 1996 to 2001. He was a recipient of a Jan Gonda Fellowship from the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW), Amsterdam at the International Institute for Asian Studies (IIAS) from 2001 to 2002. His PhD dissertation The Ritual Composition of Sankhu: The Socio-Religious Anthropology of a Newar Town in Nepal (Leiden, 2002) deals with Newar culture and rituals.
In 1988, he began anthropological research together with the late Bert van den Hoek, a Leiden-based anthropologist and Indologist, on “The Sacrifice of Serpents and the Festival of Indrayani in Northern Kathmandu†(1992). Together with van den Hoek and Dr. Dirk J. Nijland, he has made the award-winning ethnographic documentary film Sacrifice of Serpents: The Festival of Indrayani, Kathmandu 1992/94 (Leiden, 1997). He is now engaged in making of documentary films on the Agnimatha fire temple in Patan, Nepal.
Since 1990 he participated in national and international workshops and conferences in Nepal, Europe, and the USA. He has published several research articles in English in prestigious international journals. In 1992-94 he carried out extensive anthropological fieldwork in the city of Kathmandu, on its ritual structure, together with Bert van den Hoek.
He also worked as a journalist in Nepal and published numerous articles in the Newar and Nepali languages. He is one of the compilers of A Dictionary of Classical Newari, Compiled from Manuscript Sources, edited by Kamal P. Malla (Kathmandu: Nepal Bhasa Dictionary Committee, 2000). He wrote a number of literary and research books in the Newar language and has translated Folk Stories of Sri Lanka into the Newar language. Some of his poems have been translated into English. He was the first person to receive a “Thakurlal Manandhar Award†in 1993 from the Nepalbhasa Parisad (The Newar Literary Council), Kathmandu for his literary contributions to the Newar language.
Since 1993 he is a Lecturer at the Centre for Nepal and Asian Studies (CNAS), Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu and is currently affiliated to theDepartment of South Asian Studies, University of Leiden.
