Book review in Pioneer about Nepal.
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Vignettes From the Himalayas
Utpal K Banerjee
<b>NEPAL: OLD IMAGES, NEW INSIGHTS, ED PRATAPADITYA PAL , MARG PUBLICATIONS</b>
Nestling in the Himalayas amidst picturesque environment, Nepal has held a fractured society in recent times. The multiparty political system, quite effete at the best of times, has never been a total success. The Maoist uprising over half a decade has spread its dragnet on the bulk of Nepal's districts, creating road blockades, affecting trade, business and outside capital flow, and bringing school education to a standstill.
The current 'palace coup' - ostensibly to counter insurgency in an all-out manner - has pulled the rug from under democracy's feet, attracting widespread, international ire. "No other people on earth...has produced such intricate beauty in as small a space as the Valley of Kathmandu...As a human achievement, it ranks with the creations of Persia and Italy," as an eminent professor of Columbia University put it in the beginning of the 21st century, may sound near sacrilegious today.
Yet, as the beautifully produced and lavishly illustrated tome from Marg Publications shows, the land has man-made treasures that are second to none, giving the country a unique cultural heritage that goes back several centuries. For the editor, it seems a particularly cherished labour of love, as it links up with the doctoral research in his alma mater half a century ago. As has been made out, the dozen or so articles in the book throw new light on concepts of space and time in the Tantric tradition, sculptural arts and paintings, both extant murals and recent portable findings.
Of particular interest are the newly discovered works in caves and temples in western Nepal that are remarkable testimony to the Newar artists' mastery in the technique of wall-paintings in the 15th century and even earlier. Of special interest are the detailed analyses of individual painting masterpieces and critique of the less-known Buddhist murals of the mysterious kingdom of Mustang and the sequestered region of Dolpo.
In the annals of Indo-Nepal arts, the boundaries of the sacred and the secular often get blurred in the cultural milieu and nowhere is it more pronounced than in the Tantric domain. The Vedic rituals, such as, Agni Chayana (fire-setting), was perhaps a precursor to Tantric Mandalas that served to mediate between the mundane world and the cosmic world of the deities.
According to Tantras, the deity and the practitioner are identical, and Mandala portrays the self where the divine body is identical to the Yogin's. The world as Mandala is the expression of the cosmic power residing in Shiva, assuming two forms: deity Mandala (giving human form to the deity) and the ritual Mandala (with triangles, squares, circles and differently-petalled lotuses). Shiva manifests in time as Mahakala, while his consort Shakti emanates in space as Bhuvaneshwari. Tantric art portrays beauty as divine, depicting the forms of Guhyakali (deity of esoteric time) and Kamakalakali (desire incarnate).
Krishna as Kaliyadamana (taming the Naga Kaliya) in the royal Hanuman Dhoka palace in Kathmandu is a famous seventh century sculpture highlighted in the book, in addition to the mammoth Vishnu Sheshashayin (reclining on the Naga Shesha) statute on a huge water-bed of the city. <b>While Nagas of Kathmandu valley have been adequately dealt with, with special reference to the Medieval Lichchavi period, there is a surprising omission of the widely held scholarly conjecture that the iconic Naga - travelling through Nepal and Sinkiang valley - was eventually transmuted into the fearsome, fire-emitting dragon, part of the folklore of entire East Asia. </b>
Similarly, the Genies of Kathmandu, whose legends abound in the valley, are endearingly recapitulated through the collections of sculptures, paintings and manuscripts especially in the Buddhist monasteries, there is no mention of the far more tangible presence of the Samanic tradition that is held strongly all over the rural Nepal and has been manifest in many literary and artistic forms.
On the whole, in an exceptionally well-produced series of books focusing on the regional arts of South Asia, Marg perhaps needs some direction to be given to the coverage of the total cultural heritage of the lands and their people. The vibrant performing traditions of Nepal, for instance, resonate in the valley and give life-sustenance to the population of Nepal in the form of ritual music, Newar musical instruments and the art of dancing, that span both west and east Nepal.
The book under review covers Ragamala paintings and mention, en passant, Natya Shastra, Sangeet Ratnakar and Brihaddeshi, but does not dwell upon their impact on Nepal's music and dance heritage, nor the vital performing arts linkage between Nepal, on one hand and India and Bengal, on the other. Do these art forms not contribute to Nepal's enduring 'Images' and 'Insights'?
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I always wondered about the origins of the Chinese dragon and this is the first time I see a ref to the Sesha Naag as the precursor to the Chinese dragon. In the West teh dragon is a fiery symbol of tyranny. In China it is a benign symbol that protects the people.
A link: Indian Nagas and Draconic prototypes
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Vignettes From the Himalayas
Utpal K Banerjee
<b>NEPAL: OLD IMAGES, NEW INSIGHTS, ED PRATAPADITYA PAL , MARG PUBLICATIONS</b>
Nestling in the Himalayas amidst picturesque environment, Nepal has held a fractured society in recent times. The multiparty political system, quite effete at the best of times, has never been a total success. The Maoist uprising over half a decade has spread its dragnet on the bulk of Nepal's districts, creating road blockades, affecting trade, business and outside capital flow, and bringing school education to a standstill.
The current 'palace coup' - ostensibly to counter insurgency in an all-out manner - has pulled the rug from under democracy's feet, attracting widespread, international ire. "No other people on earth...has produced such intricate beauty in as small a space as the Valley of Kathmandu...As a human achievement, it ranks with the creations of Persia and Italy," as an eminent professor of Columbia University put it in the beginning of the 21st century, may sound near sacrilegious today.
Yet, as the beautifully produced and lavishly illustrated tome from Marg Publications shows, the land has man-made treasures that are second to none, giving the country a unique cultural heritage that goes back several centuries. For the editor, it seems a particularly cherished labour of love, as it links up with the doctoral research in his alma mater half a century ago. As has been made out, the dozen or so articles in the book throw new light on concepts of space and time in the Tantric tradition, sculptural arts and paintings, both extant murals and recent portable findings.
Of particular interest are the newly discovered works in caves and temples in western Nepal that are remarkable testimony to the Newar artists' mastery in the technique of wall-paintings in the 15th century and even earlier. Of special interest are the detailed analyses of individual painting masterpieces and critique of the less-known Buddhist murals of the mysterious kingdom of Mustang and the sequestered region of Dolpo.
In the annals of Indo-Nepal arts, the boundaries of the sacred and the secular often get blurred in the cultural milieu and nowhere is it more pronounced than in the Tantric domain. The Vedic rituals, such as, Agni Chayana (fire-setting), was perhaps a precursor to Tantric Mandalas that served to mediate between the mundane world and the cosmic world of the deities.
According to Tantras, the deity and the practitioner are identical, and Mandala portrays the self where the divine body is identical to the Yogin's. The world as Mandala is the expression of the cosmic power residing in Shiva, assuming two forms: deity Mandala (giving human form to the deity) and the ritual Mandala (with triangles, squares, circles and differently-petalled lotuses). Shiva manifests in time as Mahakala, while his consort Shakti emanates in space as Bhuvaneshwari. Tantric art portrays beauty as divine, depicting the forms of Guhyakali (deity of esoteric time) and Kamakalakali (desire incarnate).
Krishna as Kaliyadamana (taming the Naga Kaliya) in the royal Hanuman Dhoka palace in Kathmandu is a famous seventh century sculpture highlighted in the book, in addition to the mammoth Vishnu Sheshashayin (reclining on the Naga Shesha) statute on a huge water-bed of the city. <b>While Nagas of Kathmandu valley have been adequately dealt with, with special reference to the Medieval Lichchavi period, there is a surprising omission of the widely held scholarly conjecture that the iconic Naga - travelling through Nepal and Sinkiang valley - was eventually transmuted into the fearsome, fire-emitting dragon, part of the folklore of entire East Asia. </b>
Similarly, the Genies of Kathmandu, whose legends abound in the valley, are endearingly recapitulated through the collections of sculptures, paintings and manuscripts especially in the Buddhist monasteries, there is no mention of the far more tangible presence of the Samanic tradition that is held strongly all over the rural Nepal and has been manifest in many literary and artistic forms.
On the whole, in an exceptionally well-produced series of books focusing on the regional arts of South Asia, Marg perhaps needs some direction to be given to the coverage of the total cultural heritage of the lands and their people. The vibrant performing traditions of Nepal, for instance, resonate in the valley and give life-sustenance to the population of Nepal in the form of ritual music, Newar musical instruments and the art of dancing, that span both west and east Nepal.
The book under review covers Ragamala paintings and mention, en passant, Natya Shastra, Sangeet Ratnakar and Brihaddeshi, but does not dwell upon their impact on Nepal's music and dance heritage, nor the vital performing arts linkage between Nepal, on one hand and India and Bengal, on the other. Do these art forms not contribute to Nepal's enduring 'Images' and 'Insights'?
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I always wondered about the origins of the Chinese dragon and this is the first time I see a ref to the Sesha Naag as the precursor to the Chinese dragon. In the West teh dragon is a fiery symbol of tyranny. In China it is a benign symbol that protects the people.
A link: Indian Nagas and Draconic prototypes