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Kathmandu Saturday December 29, 2001 Paush 14, 2058.
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Maitighar mandala draws controversy
Post Report
KATHMANDU, Dec 28 - The huge Mandala, being set up by Kathmandu Metropolitan
City at Maitighar at the cost of millions of rupees ahead of the SAARC summit has invited
controversy even before the construction work is complete.
Traditional artists said that the mandala is being installed in the wrong
position and it is a distortion of the traditional value of
mandala which is unique to the Bajrayana Buddhism of the Kathmandu Valley.
A two ropani land at Maitighar is being developed as a green park with a huge
mandala, a stone stupa and a set of three water spouts. But the mandala is set up in 45
degrees to the stupa.
Artist Lok Chitrakar said that as the stupa and mandala have a direct
relations with directions, they must be set up in accordance with the traditional rules.
"Placing of a mandala in the wrong position is tantamount to defying of
the traditional concept of which is thousands of years old," he said.
"Mandala is just like a stupa. Each of the faces of the square of a
mandala has to face one specific direction. The mandala must be placed parallel with the
stupa," said Chitrakar who has been painting traditional paintings or paubhas of
mandala for years.
He added that each of the four directions has its own colour and element to
represent.
Each colour symbolizes one of the five elements which composes the world.
"North is green and it stands for air, south is yellow and stands for earth, east is
blue and it stands for sky, and west is for red which symbolizes fire element. The one
element that is left is water which is represented at the centre of the four faces,"
said Chitrakar.
Artist Batsa Gopal Vaidhya, the designer of the mandala, said that he had
only designed the mandala, which was later applied to the whole landscaping design.
Bipin Chitrakar, the consultant at Astra Development Network, said that the
architects had taken a long discussion on the position of the mandala and we later came to
the decision to make a fine composition. The mandala is to be placed diagonally because it
has eight corners.
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