Preserving Yetkhabaha’s esxquisite architecture

Sudha Shrestha

Nothing is impossible if we make sincere efforts. The recent restoration of the Kwapaa Dyo Chhen at one of the Buddhist monasteries in Kathmandu, Bhasker Kriti Mahavihar at Yetkhabaha sets a successful example of the conservation efforts of the locals and Kathmandu Valley Preservation Trust

If you stand in the middle of any streets in the heart of Kathmandu, you will see ancient temples and monasteries standing majestic with their beautiful and artistic woodcarving telling the stories of the ancient glory. It is not without reason they lure the tourists visiting this country.

But over the past few years, these cultural heritages of Nepal have suffered invasion as the result of city expansion. Amidst the concrete jungle of the Kathmandu valley, the ancient beauty of these monuments have come under shadow. The ever growing modern structures of the valley is overshadowing the cultural heritages of the city. There are many monuments in the valley which are succumbing to decay while still others are being encroached or neglected due to lack of monitoring. Today, the future of cultural heritage that our forefathers have bequeathed to the posterity is at stake. So is our image in the international arena.

Already the alarm bells is ringing loud with the UNESCO team warning in their recent visit to Kathmandu that Nepal would be outlisted from the World Heritage Sites for not paying attention to its criteria. So it is high time to conserve our precious cultural heritage before it is too late. Nothing is impossible if we make sincere efforts. The recent restoration of the Kwapaa Dyo Chhen at one of the Buddhist monasteries in Kathmandu, Bhasker Kriti Mahavihar at Yetkhabaha sets a successful example of the conservation efforts of the locals and Kathmandu Valley Preservation Trust.

The restoration of the Kwapaa Dyo Chhen, the ‘home’ of the prime deity of the 14th century Buddhist monastery was carried out by Kathmandu Valley Preservation Trust, an INGO working in the restoration sector since the past ten years under the funding of Sumitomo Foundation of Japan affiliated with UNESCO.

But the restoration works got materialized only after the tangle was sorted out with the sincere efforts of the conservation office as well as the Tamrakar families in the courtyard whose ancestors had built the monastery and who run Shree Aryanama Sangati Trust.

According to Tejratna Tamrakar of the trust, his grandfather Bekharatna Tamrakar had hired a Buddhist priest as a caretaker 75 years ago to perform the rituals. However, his family is said to have acquired the ownership illegally in breach of the trust, though it was a common property of the eight member trust of the Tamrakars, Shree Aryanama Sangati Trust

Later, the project had the house re-bought by the Tamrakars for which KVPT and Kathmandu Metropolitan City also provided a fund. The total project cost around Rs. 2.7 million rupees. For this Sumitomo Foundation provided $US dollars 23,200 which KVPT itself collected a fund of 12,500 from various sources. Now the restored building is in the ownership of the common trust that it cannot be resold. The Yetkhabaha is said to be one of the masterpieces of the Malla period with its ornate building Kwapaa Dyo Chhen decorated with unique tympanum (torana) and struts.

Although the site was in the list of WHS, the trust chose the site for restoration for preservation of its exquisite architecture.

"We chose the building because it is a rare specimen of the ancient architecture that can proudly represent the civilization that flourished in the valley some seven hundred years ago," said Dr. Rohit Ranjitkar, the architect of the KVPT.

He added that the restoration not only preserved one particular building but also preserved the traditional technology of constructing building by using the indigenous material and craft.

Although a small measure of success has been achieved in restoration works, public awareness about the importance of the cultural heritage is the most challenging part of the works, according to Dr. Ranjitkar.

"Modernisation has simply changed the taste of people. In their craze for the modern structures, they have dismantled old structure altogether leaving no signs of the past. This is absurd. What we should do is integrate old designs with the new ones. At least the façade of the most of the traditional buildings should be conserved in its originality," he observed. Hence according to Dr. Ranjitkar, public awareness is vital for preservation of cultural heritage.

IN Wilderness

Watching a scientific process can be fun. Especially, if the process involves animals, writes Somesh Verma

Despite many differences, Laxmikali and this scribe had one thing in common. Both of us were professionally driven in our journey (not that we lacked passion for it !). And that we were together. The differences were starker though. Me, a human just over a hundred pounds, while her weight could be measured only in tonnes.

While I was on a voyage to shoot the rhino translocation process for the upcoming Kantipur Television, her job was to carry us – me along with our cameraman and a few others – into the jungle.

Laxmikali is an elephant, whose job includes carrying wildlife enthusiasts in the Royal Chitwan National Park. Almost 75-year-old – well past retirement of most of the human beings – she works as a professional at one of the resorts in Sauraha.

And the big day – 31st of April, 2003, when the first of the 10 rhinos of this lot would be captured – was just another day at job for her. So much unlike this reporter, who would be seeing a live rhino in the open for the first time (after so many failed attempts where peacocks had been the only visible animals worth remembering to these eyes riding on the elephant).

The day was a warm one and Dr Claude Martin, Director General of WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature) International, had tipped me in the morning, "The translocation professionals in Nepal are really good at their job. They are capable of doing it anywhere in the world."

And was I not going to see it?

As fifty-three (well, that was the official number, though I thought there were many more) elephants – including Laxmikali – entered the jungle, one could not help but think of the battles mentioned in our religious epics. Such huge animals and that too, in such a huge number.

However, there was a remarkable difference in the both the scenes. While those in the religious scriptures go to war on these animals carrying different, the men on these animals now were equipped with scientific instruments, to dart the rhinos (with tranquilizers) and take them to another part of the country.

It’s not an easy ride in the jungle for a 75-year-old, even if she is an elephant. Noticeably, she was a little slow on the tracks, and was at the receiving end of the Mahut’s stick (thick ones at that!). No wonder, most of the visitors were ahead of us. After almost an hour’s journey, we reached a clearing where the rhino experts had cornered a rhino.

Excited to see a rhino, we (those on Laxmikali’s howda) started to tell Mahut to take us faster towards this single-horned mammal.

Rhinoceros unicornis can be a fascinating animal to look at (well, not if you are not riding on an elephant and just meters away from it!). Strongly built, every move of this animal looks orchestrated. And the one we were looking at was exactly what the experts would have wanted. A subadult male rhino, almost 15-16 years of age.

The whole process of the capture is like a script of a blockbuster movie, starting with a little suspense (as to where will we find the animal and how will he/she react), a little excitement (when it is found and darted) and ending with happiness (when the animal is captured in the crate and taken to its new home (Royal Bardiya National Park, in this case). And ours was no different, except that the animal (wild, so it had no name) had to be darted thrice (initial two attempts did not hit at the proper place) and took somewhere around 40 minutes to be tranquilized (a combination drug of M99 and Acipromozine) after the first shot.

Dr Martin was right. The individuals involved did look a professional bunch. For they were, in a way, responsible for me being able to touch a live rhino for the first time. So what if the rhino was tranquilized?

SECOND-PAGE | RECOLLECTIONS