Laudable Work

THE temple of Lord Pashupatinath and its surrounding areas are not only of religious significance but they carry their own unique cultural, historical and archaeological identity. It is also listed as one of the World Heritage Sites. There are many theories suggesting the construction of the holy temple at the site beside the sacred Bagmati River. Pashupatinath Temple and the premises with hosts of other temples has been the converging religious site for the millions of Hindus all over the world. Nepal is proud that the temple of such significance lies in Nepal. Every pious person has a desire to visit and pay homage to Lord Pashupatinath at least once in his/her lifetime. For such an important religious site the infrastructures must be in place. These include the repair, maintenance and renovation of the hundreds of temples and other structures spread around the Pashupati area. It needs no reiteration that efforts at maintaining the sanctity of the site has been top priority since ages. With the realisation for the need to maintain the Pashupati area as per its religious significance and stop encroachment resulting from the rapid urbanisation in Kathmandu, the Pashupati Area Development Trust (PADT) was formed. Since PADT was formed, many development activities have been carried out in the area albeit a piece at a time.

Though late, the PADT has now swung into action to restore the glory of the Pashupati area. It has 20 programmes lined up according to the ten-year master plan implemented in 1998.Under the first phase the unauthorised people living in the various patis and sattals were shifted while 110 out of the 119 houses in the core areas of the temple complex have been demolished and the residents compensated for. The effort of PADT at sprucing up the holy area has attracted attention from all quarters including that of Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba himself. Prime Minister Deuba, while on an inspection of the works being carried out by PADT, the other day, said that the government was behind the efforts of the activities carried out by PADT for the preservation of the heritage of historical and archeological importance. Being dependent on the government to run its programmes, the PADT has said that it would work to generate and utilise its own income. The costs for maintaining the glory of Pashupati Area is daunting but PADT has shown its commitment which means much. The Bagmati river has been cleaned, much renovation works have been carried out and many activities streamlined. Now, the pilgrims who flock to the temple of Lord Pashupatinath to pay homage will see a sea change so that their pilgrimage to the temple will be facilitated. Definitely, optimism prevails.

Praiseworthy Pact

ON behalf of Nepal and Germany, the Department of Archaeology and the Asia-Africa Institute of the University of Hamburg, as per a news item carried by this daily the other day, signed an accord to produce an on-line catalogue of the entire collection of manuscripts and historical documents of Nepal that are on microfilm. It may be recalled that the National Archives and the German Oriental Society, from 1970-2001, had microfilmed about 180,000 manuscripts from both public and private collections. As per the same pact, all negatives along with one positive copy each will be housed in a separate building in the compound of the National Archives while additional positive copies of the same material will be deposited in Germany's State Library in Berlin. Nepal, to ancient and medieval scholars, is a rich repository of priceless historical documents and manuscripts. One reason for this could be due to Nepal's recorded history right from the ancient times. Except for a few decades of gray areas due to, among others, dynastic transition, scholars and historians have been enabled to trace the march of Nepalese civilisation with the help of the documents and manuscripts written down during those times. Be it in the field of fine arts or architecture, medicine or music, agriculture or irrigation, tax and revenue systems or polity, religion or culture, successive generations of Nepalese scholars had meticulously recorded them down in the form of manuscripts and documents. Of course, modern day scholars and historians, with their rigorous methodologies, may not find all such documents and manuscripts to their liking or use. Nevertheless, such documents and manuscripts do afford them comprehensive glimpses into their respective areas of interest that prevailed during those ancient and medieval times.

Provided, of course, such documents and manuscripts could be found in a preserved form and state. Regarding this, no one seems to know how many of such precious documents and manuscripts, with their invaluable knowledge, have been lost forever due to faulty preservation methods resorted to by the keepers of such valuable legacies. At a time when the whole world is fast transforming itself into a Global Village, such legacies, with their imbedded corpus of valuable knowledge, undoubtedly belong to both Nepal and humanity at large. As such, the recent Nepal-German pact to produce an on-line catalogue of the entire collection of manuscripts and historical documents of Nepal should be viewed in this light.