Shiva Rijal
This is a review of Bhaktapur: The Capital of Malla Nepal Mandala, a collection of research articles on Bhaktapur’s cultural and artistic heritage. Written by Sudarshan Raj Tiwari and published by Rich Architectures Company in 2023, I emphasis that the book needs to be brought into limelight for the benefit of general public. Filled with concentrative and analytical power on Bhaktapur’s urban fabrics and performance cultures, Prof. Tiwari tours his readers down the memory lanes of the city. With him, readers march into ancient history through the medium of architectural constructs, rituals and festivals of Bhaktapur. Dyochhe, hiti, idols and rajakulo or canals among other human built structures seen through Tiwari’s observations and interpretations become creative mediums for the readers to comprehend the ancient memories of Bhaktapur.
As a theatre critic and someone involved in the research of performance culture of the Valley, I have read poets, intellectuals and commoners alike being struck by beauty and history of Valley’s arts and culture. There exists a certain gap between people of the present and the denizens of the then times. It looks as if populace of ancient times are communicating important message and we find it very difficult to comprehend. We listen to the sounds that are undecipherable. Reading Bhaktapur enables readers to nurture certain creative power to grasp such message and sound of the ancient times.
Importantly, Tiwari makes his readers stand at some spots where once stood a majestic palace known by the name, Tripurasundari. Here, he takes readers’ time as he explains them the palace’s architectural contours. Bhaktapur now claims its 55-windowed palace or pachpannajhyale darbaro as a major artistic achievement. But the one known by Tripurasundari, Tiwari says, was even more majestic. He further tours his readers round debris, streets, buildings and courtyards which still resonate with such architectural memories of the past. Like a muse, Tiwari reconstructs the palace that is no more. Narrating the palace with proofs and conjectures, he defines himself as a medium between the heritage and the contemporary times. With him, readers build the same palace in their mind, and carry it with them. Deep down they regard the palace, Tiwari recreates, as a metaphor of history of Bhaktapur itself.
Tiwari points out that the very name Bhaktapur given to the city originates etymologically from a word ‘Khopipringga’, a Kirat name. Shortened to Khwopa, it is now recognized as a Newar city. He tells his readers that Bhaktapur is not only a Malla town; it is much ancient than a thirteenth century construct. His readers now live in the Federal Republic Nepal. Bhaktapur for them is run by a certain political party for some period. Under the elected leadership, it is trying to define itself as a Newar town. But Tiwari adds some new knowledge to our understanding of Bhaktapur. Tiwari says it definitely got expanded during the Malla regimes and went through further transformations in the Shah regime and is living with new dynamism in the changed political context. But historically, its builders include people who are ethnically known now as Kirats, the ones who had ruled the place before the Lichchhavi arrived. Khopipringga was renamed as Bhaktapur by Lichchhavi simply by substituting the indigenous Kirat key word ‘kho’ (which possibly meant the sun) by the Sankskrit ‘bha’ (meaning sun rays) and Kirat ‘pringga’ by Sankskrit ‘pur’, Tiwari expands his readers’ horizon over Bhaktapur studies.
Tiwari draws readers’ attention to the activities of Gathas, the significant performers of Navadurga dance. Soon the readers realize that with Gathas, they follow the civilizational world views already in practice before Lichchhavi arrived in the Valley. Watching Gatha’s activities and reading their tales, observing the way they conduct puja and offer puja to idols, display their love and respect to certain location in the street make the readers and observers hypothesize that Gathas are definitely distinct from the people who came to settle in the Valley later. Though they are known by different names, castes and identity in the present social and political context, they perform their Kirat memories through rituals and festivals. Tiwari states, “Although the festivals in Bhaktapur appear dominantly dated on Hindu faith as practiced in the hey days of Malla period following the firm fixing of the house of Rajalladevi and Jayasthiti to the Nepal throne, still the mix of festivals from other faiths in town and still others continuing from earlier period of its history play out as vibrantly at the community level” (58). He decodes several symbols displayed in jatras and rituals, excavate spatial locations as well as architectural spots and articulate faiths and world views the ancient people had lived with. With him, readers follow rajkulo or canals which would be the heartline of the then society. Several segments of rajkulo are buried now. But its remainings no matter how meagerly scattered they are, Tiwari takes them as clues to trace the lane the canal would flow once. With him, readers gradually get a vision that since the Kirat economy was agrarian, people needed to build canals as a matter of necessity. Following the canal route enables readers feel a heartline of the ancient settlements. Importantly, the ancient people had installed rituals and festivals to bring the members of their community together to clean and manage it. Rituals held with such purpose do still take place in Bhaktapur, and following such rituals, Tiwari shares his findings, reveal priorities and philosophies that the people then had lived with. According to him, rituals and festivals such as spring-cleaning of rivers and ponds, wells, hitis and rajkulos form an important segment of heritage of performance cultures. They carry memories of Kirant time (53). With rituals and festivals, the ancient people shared their worldviews not only with themselves but also with the one who would migrate to their land later. Tiwari further suggests the readers to watch idols and dyochhe installed at various locations and water conduits found in the city. Importantly, Tiwari points out that images of proto Shiva and mother goddesses worship, the animistic practices were already in practice before the Lichchhavi settled in the Valley (82). Kirtas, therefore, are here and now, known with different names and social identity.
The twelfth century Malla ruler Ananda Deva, in Tiwari’s studies, emerges as a very important protagonist in the saga of architectural history of Bhaktapur. Under his reign did the older face of Bhaktapur did go through major transformation. The Kirat settlements, itself a subject of change and transformation, might have gone some changes during the Lichchhavi period, as changes took place in a slow pace then. Much Kirat memories are sure to have remained for centuries even after the Lichchhavi took over it. Tiwari points out that the scale of architectural changes that Bhaktapur experienced during the regime of Anand Deva was historically remarkable. Tiwari regards it as an important finding and wants to share with his readers earnestly. He also points that this transformation did not deviate Bhaktapur from its former face and facets. The Malla regimes should be remembered and thanked for fusing traditional faces of the city with new wave of innovations in the domain of architecture and urban planning practiced in their time.
The book ends with a note that the restoration work of the 55-windowed Palace or Pachpannajhyale Darbar in the post-2015 earthquake is a remarkable achievement. Despite limited budget and bureaucratic hassles, local experts and human resources defied the established tendency of depending on donors for all kinds of heritage management in the nation. Tiwari recognizes it as the rise of significant force and something to be noted by the people and their organization involved into the preservation of heritage. Though donors had already approached with supports to restore the palace, a very dedicated team of locals and experts emerged to accomplish the job that they thought they should be doing on their own. The palace now stands with a pride, and is assured of future that any damage done to it is repairable by the people whom it belongs to culturally, economically and intellectually. The locals have emerged as a force capable of looking after their architectural heritage, thanks to the decentralization of power due to the political changes of the recent times. Tiwari provides a happy reading experience to his readers as they meet a force that is aware of responsibility of heritage management in the last section of the book.
At the end, this is a must read book for experts, researchers and students involved on the study of Valley’s performance culture. Prof. Tiwari must be thanked for bringing the hidden world to the attention of general public. Reading this book is definitely going to be an enriching experience to all. Thanks to the life-long dedication that Tiwari, a child of the Valley has done to the study of artistic and cultural heritage of the Valley.
[Rijal, PhD, is a theater expert and critic, and a faculty at the Central Department of English, Tribhuvan University.]
