Vishvarupa Mandir- A Study of Changu Narayan, Nepal's Most Ancient Temple (An Old and Rare Book)

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Nepal is a country of marvelous, rich, and varied cultures that are unique to Asia and to the world. There is no better symbol of that civilization than its temple architecture and the Kathmandu Valley is a treasure trove of Hindu and Buddhist monuments-more than 2000 in all. With two years spent there as a graduate student specializing in wooden architecture, and as I return to the Himalayas again and again, I am aware of both the problems and the rewards of working with medieval structures that have not lost their original meaning nor their original beauty The main difficulty in approaching these subjects is that of being an outsider who strives to know the art from the inside But the effort is worth it.

Jeff Lidke has accomplished a remarkable study in his analysis of Changu Narayan temple as a Vishtarupa symbol. The building is indeed one of the most significant in Nepal, and surely it is among the country's earliest surviving visualizations and settings of traditional Hindu-Buddhist worship. By spending much time there, by consulting the classical writings of South Asia and the Himalaya, and by working closely with scholars and religious authorities, Jeff Lidke has immersed himself in the past and present manifestations of Vishnu worship at this remarkable place. He attempts to define the hazy beginnings of the temple site, and he refers to ongoing patterns of respect and worship that survive there. Most important, he has conveyed what he knows and what he still seeks to learn in a solid and clear analysis that all readers can share. His study is intended for lay-persons as well as for specialists, and it makes an important contribution to the field of Himalayan studies. It is lively and readable as well as solidly rooted in fact, and it is colored by his own enthusiasm.

The international Himalayan Studies Association is perhaps the main foreign organization dedicated to opening the kingdom of Nepal to in-depth study by the world's scholarly community, and Jeff Lidke illustrates the achievements that are possible by an investigator who brings knowledge and sincerity to research in the field. His cooperation with Tribuvan University as sponsoring institution and his close work with Nepalese scholars are crucial to what he has been able to accomplish.

Hermeneutics of the Vishvarupa

The Westerner attempting to analyze Changu Narayan is confronted with obvious difficulties. This temple is the embodiment of another culture's belied system. It symbolizes an understanding in some ways familiar to the West and yet, in other ways, very distant. It is this fact that makes things difficult when we try to "understand understandings not our own." This attempt at understanding is called hermeneutics. This science asks the root question "How is it that we can or cannot understand ourselves and others? It makes us aware that there are many difficulties in studying the "other" In Nepal, the first obvious barrier is language. Seven months of extensive Nepali training does not enable one to penetrate past the basics of food and age. The country's native texts remain foreign. For this reason, the author had to call upon English translations where available, or rely on the capacity of my informants to translate. In this process, one comes across a deeper cultural barrier-one perhaps at the root of language differences-the difference in mind sets, in the way people perceive the world. When translating a text the informant places it within the context of his own understanding, and then conveys it to the author. In this act of conveyance two mind sets interact. What results may be an understanding different from what is written in the original text. Perhaps, if the scholarship is thorough the message remains, in essence, the same. In this regard, the author has attempted to translate meanings as carefully and accurately as possible. He has tried to formulate the Nepali mind set in Western terms. This task, however, is "one of those things like riding a bicycle that is easier done than said."?

This is not to understate the difficulty of the process of doing, but rather that even if one can comprehend the Nepali world view, the larger task is then to convey this understanding. One may sense that he understands the Nepalese pagoda. One may receive an insight into its meaning, but how is this meaning to be conveyed? The temple is a brick-thought. In it is enshrined the symbolic mind of Nepal. The key to interpretation is penetrating this mind. To begin to put the symbolic terms of the temple into Western formulations, the author found it helpful to live with and among the native people.

Atop Doladri Hill, six kilometers outside Bhaktapur (the city of devotees) stands Changu Narayan, temple of the beheaded Lord. From Bhaktapur it is a short but steep pilgrimage to the gateway of the temple. Towering brick walls surround the inner courtyard, making clear the boundaries of this sacred realm. Passing through the entrance-way, one encounters an amazing sight. In the center of the complex arises an awesome two-storey pagoda of such beauty and ornamentation that it stops the breath. Engraved in this temple's struts, doors, walls and windows are over a hundred deities and religious icons, producing an almost overwhelming affect. This is Nepal's most ancient temple; its age and beauty combine in an aesthetic experience that people's of all lands can appreciate. Within its doors is the deity Changu Narayana, a headless form of Vishnu found nowhere else in the world. This is a deity who, though His roots are in Indian Vaishnavism, is a very unique and special expression of Nepalese religion. Enshrined within the central chamber (garbha-griha), Changu Narayana is the architectural and spiritual heart of this enormous temple site. His symbolism is the key to understanding this foreign.

edifice. Having stopped to digest this towering central shrine whose pinnacle extends some thirty feet into the blue sky, the eyes begin to scan the periphery. This is an historic wonderland. The stone laid courtyard is studded with sculptures and inscriptions dating back to the fifth century A. D. There are over twenty stone sculptures of the gods Krishna, Avalokiteshvara, Vaikuntha, Narasinha, Bhairava, Vamana, and Narayana; eight encircling shrines to the deities Chinnamasta, Krishna, Lakshmi-Narayana, Shiva, and Ganesha.

In this site the Nepalese tradition is alive. In the transcultural language of artistic beauty it speaks to you from every image and every shrine. Here the world of the gods comes crashing into the human sphere. The medium is sculpted form. Through architectural and sculptural forms the Nepalese artists have created a structure which sends the mind soaring upwards into metaphysical thought. Changu Narayan has endured nearly two-thousand years of earthquakes, fires and cultural change. Its outer structure has been levelled numerous times, yet each time it has been rebuilt. Here, expressed in a unique and ancient architectural form, is the enduring spirit of Nepalese religion The power of this monument is an inspiration not just to the Nepalese, but to all peoples. In 1928 the journeyman Perceval Landon, after travelling through nearly all of Asia, recorded these thoughts:

One remembers all the wealth of carving of the rest of the Valley, one remembers the woodwork of Peking, the Queen's golden monastery in Mandalay, and the temples at Nara and Horius in Japan. But when all is recalled it is probably to the shrine of Changu Narayan that one offers the palm. l'erhaps one drives back home from the city of Bhaktapur more full of thought than from any other expedition to the many outlying places of the crowded centre of holiness and history and art.

This "crowded centre of holiness" is the Kathmandu Valley. This lush and beautiful region, enclosed by mountains, is the geographical and cultural heart of Nepal, and the Hindu kingdom which is the extended setting of Changu Narayan. Within the limited expanse of the Valley walls, there are over two-thousand Hindu and Buddhist temples. It was after viewing nearly all of these temples that Landon wrote the above words of praise to Changu Narayan.

In a simple sense, this book is my attempt to elaborate on Landon's remarks. My aim is to provide a thorough analysis of Changu Narayan's history, art and "holiness," so that the reader, as Landon did, might walk away from their exploration of Changu Narayan "full of thought."

Sources

This study began during my junior year in college, which I spent living in and studying the culture of Nepal. It is the fruit of my first on-site field study, and many months spent in Kathmandu and Boulder reading, writing and editing the text. During this time I have consulted a number of sources. With the exception of Mohan Khanal's Changu Narayana Aitasika Samragi [The Historical Documents of Changu Narayan) written in Nepali, there is no single study devoted solely to Changu Narayan. Although this temple has received two or three pages of attention in many books devoted either to history, architecture, sculpture or religion, no book has combined all of these approaches into a single analysis. This book is the first to do so. For this reason an ensemble approach is demanded. A variety of texts from a variety of fields, ranging from art-history to iconography, from historical chronicles to ancient scriptures and manuals of architectural design have been utilized.