Nepalese Architecture

Email

Whatsapp

Facebook

Pinterest

Twitter

Copy link

The present work is a welcome addition to the slender list of books on Nepal, which was a closed country until 1951. The book is the result of the keen observation of a seasoned archaeologist and art historian and the combination of the study of literary and inscriptional sources which are plentiful in Nepal.
Dr. Banerjee has sought to encompass the entire miscellany of architecture as much as would have been possible within the scope of a single volume The study has brought to light interesting results on the dates and details of the constructions of and periodicals repairs to all categories of the ensemble of Nepalese Architecture comprising the (1) dhungedharas. (n) powahs, (ii) patis. (iv) temples, (v) monasteries, (vi) stupas or chaityas, (vii) common man's houses, (viii) royal palaces, etc.
The inscriptions also mention the names of the texts on architecture followed by the ancient builders as also the processes and various stages of constriction. names of architectural parts, processes of repairs, etc Among the multitudinous miscellany, the so-called Nepalese pagodas with a serrated profile standing on a raised platform, itself the result of a series of receding tiers of plinths, stand out from the rest and have been dealt with comprehensively as a phenomenon in the whole of South and South east Asia.
The book attempts, among other things, to trace the evolution of the twin features of multiple plinths and roofs as architectural phenomena and their evolution, diffusion and eventual fusion and coal essences in Nepal with obvious interconnection with neighbors'. The Sikhara and Nagara style of temples in Nepal evolved on the native soil without the ancillary structures or mandapas. The medieval inscriptions and libratory records have named the style as granthakuta. The author has proposed to call the other, i.e., the so-called pagoda style or the multiple roofed temples with a serrated profile, as the devala temples.
He has paved the way for a detailed study of each monument with the help of inscriptional and literary records. The book also provides a vivid insight into the land and people, the geographical setting, the historical and cultural melleu and the cross currents of the religions and life which have shaped the stream of the vast miscellany of the phenomenon called 'Nepalese Architecture' from the remotest times to the present day.

Nil Ratan Banerjee (B. 1922) King Edward Memorial Scholar of the former CP and Berars, obtained his Master's degree in History from the Allahabad University in 1945 He was awarded a Fellowship by the German Academic Exchange Service k study West Asian Archaeology at the Five University at the Free University of Bestin (1999), and a Fellowship by the Royal Government of Netherlands (1961) conduct research on the Iron Age of India in Amsterdam The Calcutta University awarded him the D Phil degree in 1963 for his pioneering work on the subject.
Dr. Banerjee is one of the distinguished band field of archaeologists to be trained by the late Sir Mortimer Wheeler Before his induction in the Archaeological Survey he was a Lecturer in the Nagpur University. In 1947 he became a Scholar in the Survey for exploring the megalithic monuments in south India. In 1945 he was appointed to the post of Dy Superintending Archaeologist, and thereafter the successfully rose to the position of Directory in the survey in 1976 he was chosen to head the National Museum, New Delhi as Director, which post he hold till date. For a short period between 1966 and 1972 he was Archaeological Adviser to HM's Government of Nepal, when he extensively studied the art, archaeology and history of that country.
Dr Banerjee has explored many archaeological sites in India and Nepal and has conducted a score of excavations both in this country and Nepal, notable among which are Sanur, Amirthamangalam. Sengamedu, Nagda, Ujjain, Ahichchhatra, Tilaurakot and Lumbini.
Dr. Banerjee is a member of several academic associations. He is the president of the Museum Association of India, a Member of the Board of trustees of the Indian Museum Calcutta and the Salarjung Museum, Hyderabad, besides the advisory and Art purchase Committees of many museums and Departments of Archaeology in India. He is a member of the Joint Museum Committee of the Indo-US Sub Commission on education and culture.
Dr. Banerjee has authored several books and about a hundred research papers on diverse subjects encompassing art, archaeology, anthropology and museology. He was also associated with the starting of Ancient Nepal. The official Bulletin of the Deptt. of Archaeology, Govt. of Nepal Dr Banerjee has travelled widely all over the world. Modest, soft spoken, and a distinguished scholar, he is also a linguist, being equally at home in Tamil, Hindi, Marathi, Nepalese Bengali, Sanskrit and German, besides English.

Nepal is so closely knit with India geographically, culturally, historically and in the concept of the four pursaharthas that India has held as its summum bonum and which are held in the same reverence and glory in Nepal, and so close knit is the heritage of the trayividya, the Vedic text and the national epics, the itihasas, here as well as there, that it is impossible to think of Nepal apart from India.
Kalidasa has said that the goddess of royal prosperity, loving both Dilipa and Raghu, divided herself, to enable a portion of her to be transmitted to prince Raghu, herself being so fond of great qualities that abounded in both, like the discerning bee from the lotus to the newly blown lily: agachchhad ardena gunabhilashint navavatarari kamaladivot palam, Raghuvania.
There was a great pride felt by even Buddha and by the mighty Guptas in their relationship with the Lichchhavis. In fact, Samudragupta, the mighty emperor, calls himself Lichchhavidauhitra, daughter's son of the Lichchhavis. Buddha has born in Lumbint in Nepal. A visit to the eight sacred spots associated with Buddha being an important element of pilgrimage for the Buddhists, the pious emperor Aioka not only went to Lumbini, but also planted in the very spot where Buddha was born a pillar, and got it inscribed mentioning that the great master was here born. He had already been coroneted a king for twenty years when his great longing to visit this sacred place was fulfilled. King Priyadarst, beloved of the gods, visited this spot, erected this stone pillar, and as the Master was born in this village, he made it free from taxes and subject to pay only one eighth of the produce as land revenue instead of the normal rate: sila thabhe cha usapapite, hide bhagavan jate ti lumminigame ubalike kate athabha give cha. By a strange coincidence, it is indeed the most beautifully preserved inscrip tion and the letters are among the loveliest in the Asokan series.
Such a great place associated with one of the greatest personalities of the world like Buddha whose influence in philosophy, ethics and religion has spread practically all over the world, and specially in Asia, could not be overlooked by any of the successive generations of rulers, many of whom from the earliest times have had the highest veneration for the teachings of the Buddha. Nepal was the place where the Buddha was born of Suddhodana. In India odana was equated with Brahma, the Supreme One, as from it originated, was sustained and into it ultimately converged all the matter of this universe: yato va imani bhaani jayante, yena jatani jivanti yat prayantyabhisarivifanti, tad brahma. Whatever type of food one takes, the offspring takes after it: yadri gannam bhakshayate tadrist jayate praja. Suddhodhana, as his name suggests, could produce only sattva, as he was fuddha or sattva, and that was Buddha. Sattva, is embodied in the highest ascetics, munis, and if there was a mini among the Sakyas, it was Sakyamuni. So he was Sakyamuni Buddha's philosophy was mainly influenced by the Sankhya of Kapila, and his city itself has shown that reverence to Kapila, even before his advent, by its being known as Kapilavastu.

The present work is the result of my researches on the architecture of Nepal carried out during my tenure as Archaeological Adviser to His Majesty's Government of Nepal from the 18th April 1966 to the 7th January, 1972, under the Indian Cooperation Mission at Kathmandu.
That events happen by the will of God is fully vindicated by the fact of my appointment in Nepal, which took place entirely by accident, though my gratitude and thanks are due in a large measure to those who were intimately connected with the shaping of my career, particularly to Shri A. Ghosh, then Director General of the Archaeological Survey of India. But for this lucky chance, I would never have acquired any insight into the artistic or archaeological heritage of Nepal, and in gratitude to the Divine, I availed myself fully of the opportunity to devote myself to the service of Nepal and to the study of her enormous and distinctive legacy, for the sheer magnitude of which the time at my disposal was comparatively too little.
The studies, of which the present work is a small fragment, were carried out not as the pursuit of any assigned project on the subject, but as pursuit of my own interest in it during the leisure hours. The present study is based mainly on the inscriptional evidence, which is fortunately plentiful in Nepal, and provides ample documentation of the construction, repairs and restoration of structures of all kinds, such as patis, powahs, dhunge-dharas, temples, stupas or chaityas, monasteries and palaces, including the mention of technical terms, through the centuries, as well as actual observation of the extant monuments themselves.
I had also collected a great deal of data on the various forms of architecture in Nepal and I hoped to analyse them at leisure and present as comprehensive a picture as I possibly could at a later stage. However, owing to my official duties, first in the Archaeological Survey of India (1972-76) and then in the National Museum (from March 1976 onwards), which were quite exacting and never left me enough time to consolidate the results of the researches, the dream remained unfulfilled. Meanwhile the time was running out and so I decided to put my thoughts on the basis of the data I had gathered in the form of the present work. 1 am fully aware of the lacunae bound to be in a pioneering work, in spite of the best care in study and exposition.
I avail myself of the opportunity to thank all my colleagues in the Archaeological Department of His Majesty's Government of Nepal, especially to its dynamic Director General, Shri Ramesh Jung Thapa, who made it possible for me to visit a large number of Nepalese monuments and made me feel perfectly at home in Nepal during my entire tenure there. I shall be failing in my duty if I did not express my gratitude to the successive Indian Ambassadors in Nepal, namely, the late Sriman Narayan Agrawal, Shri Raj Bahadur, and Shri LP. Singh, now Governor of Meghalaya and Assam, as well as Shri Rajeshwar Prasad, then Director of the Indian Cooperation Mission, Kathmandu (1969-1972), under all of whom I served and who constantly encouraged me in my studies.
Credit must also be given to Shri Agam Prasad who was primarily responsible for goading me to bring out the book from the obscurity and oblivion of notes and for pushing it speedily through the press as the publisher.
I owe most of the excellent photographs published in the book to the Archaeological Survey of India which had sent a team to Nepal in 1962 to make a quick survey of the sculptural wealth of Nepal. Thanks are particularly due to Shri Ranjit Gupta, Photographic Officer of the Archaeological Survey of India, who had himself taken the photographs, more than seventeen years ago, with observant precision, for helping me with the selection of the illustrations and for preparing the prints for publication. He has also helped me to prepare the lay-out of the dust jacket. To Shri B.K. Thapar, Director General of the Archaeological Survey of India, I am grateful for permission to reproduce most of the photographs. To the Director, Musee Guimet, Paris, I owe them photograph in pl. LXXVII and gracious permission to reproduce it.