Going back into time
surreal_ravi
Sudarshan Raj Tiwari writes about Nepal's ancient capital
Kathmandu Valley is a small bowl, 25 kilometres in diameter, which has
been dotted with small and large settlements since ancient times.
Indeed, the abundance of non-Sanskrit names for places and settlements
in the Sanskrit inscriptions of the Lichchhavis is sufficient proof
that the indigenous population used some other language and lived in
compact settlements on ridges, hillocks, hills and other humps on the
valley floor. Containing the suffix 'pringga', these Kirat settlement
names include Khopringga, Phalapringga, Mhasapringga and
Kadapringga...
The Kirat performed ancestor worship in the latter period of their
independent social existence. This included the worship of
grandmothers, or yumi, and of grandfathers, or theba or hathavan,
forerunners respectively of the ajima and the ajju in later Newari
religious celebrations. An essential part of both rituals was the
sacrifice of an animal such as a male buffalo or lamb.
With the arrival of the Vrijji, the Lichchhavi, and other migrants,
Buddhism and Hinduism and their various sects were introduced to the
valley. Each new influx led to a re-creation and re-interpretation of
the indigenous people's traditional mode of religious and social
practice and resulted in the creation and placing of a myriad of
images, power places, and temples within the physical space.
Indeed, there are so many places in the valley with such assimilated
gods and goddesses as their central piece that a visitor interested in
seeing small, old towns would have a really long list to choose from.
Many of the towns and villages look similar, but each has its own
story, its own festivals and its own tutelary god. Historical overlaps
not only shroud their past in mystery, but also render these places
enigmatic today, as people continue to celebrate their esoteric
festivals.
The valley's people, settlements and festivities seem to come straight
out of history books. For some, it may look as though time stopped
here sometime in the mediaeval ages. But the fact of the matter is
that cultural time in Kathmandu is moving much more rapidly than it is
in other countries - so fast that many of the memories, traditions and
rituals that once bound the place together are eroding. However, a
closer look will reveal that each settlement carries long-term records
of the sequential stamp of the dynamism of various periods. On festive
and religious occasions, these imprints come alive and renew the past.
At such times, one can witness the grandeur that was and still is.
* * * * *
Despite the fast-paced modernization taking place today, traditions do
not seem to die easily, particularly in Kathmandu Valley. For the
residents, traditions are larger than life and certainly their
perpetuation or abandonment is not a matter for the current generation
to decide upon. The current generation exists to play its role in the
cycle of time and in the events that were set rolling by their
forefathers. This attitude does not imply that traditions are static
or that festivities are still enacted entirely as they had when they
first started. Changes have been periodically introduced in order to
adapt them to newer religio-cultural moods and changing faiths. What
we see today is an accretion of adaptations over a long period of time
and sometimes the original is so overshadowed that it takes a very
experienced and watchful eye to make out the origins of a festival...
* * * * *
The travels of the brick and the bull
The distance from Handigaun to the Indus-Saraswoti Valley is a long
one, both physically and chronologically. But since the Jyapu are
possibly descendants of the ancient Kirat, who themselves are one of
the Saka sub-groups, we will have to traverse the distance in time to
see what the Saka were like before the arrival of the Aryans in the
Indo-Gangetic plains. On this journey, we shall see many similarities
that bear out my hypothesis that the two are very closely related.
The ancient civilization around the river Indus, an area that lies
mostly in Pakistan today, was that of the Saka and pre-dated the
arrival of the Aryans by about two thousand years. Their towns seem to
have begun taking shape as early as the first half of the fourth
millennium BCE, as indicated by the archaeological remains of Rahman
Dheri in the upper Indus.
This civilization was sufficiently advanced to use an alphabet and
writing. Although as yet undeciphered, the style and maturity of their
writing indicate a greater level of sophistication than Kish near
Babylon, where an alphabet was also in use at about the same time. The
people of the Indus Valley excelled in pottery, brick-making,
carpentry, weaving, and ivory work, and had established for themselves
a highly successful mercantile economy. Society was expressed
physically in brick architecture and planned townships of superb
quality.In the past century, archaeological excavations have explored
the ruins of many of their towns, of which Moenjodaro and Harappa
(both in Pakistan) and Lothal (in India) are the major ones. But it is
clear from excavations that the civilization had extended as far east
as the river Jamuna in India. The easternmost Saka outpost unearthed
by archaeologists so far has been at Alamgirpur, a town a little to
the north of Delhi, which was lived in until the sixth century BCE.
Therefore, contrary to general perception, the actual physical as well
as chronological distance between Kathmandu and the Indus-Saraswoti
civilization town is not so great. (The Sakya town of Kapilvastu is
even closer.)
The one-square mile area of Moenjodaro is planned in a grid iron
pattern: two streets run east to west and three go north-south,
dividing the city into twelve quarters of equal size. The streets are
wide and the whole town is walled in. The middle quarter on the west
edge is raised to a height of about fifty feet to form the plinth for
central structures such as the palace, the great bath, the granary,
and the flour mill. All other quarters are residential.
Constructed entirely of 12x12x27 cm bricks and timber, the private
houses were served with well water. The whole town was provided with a
drainage system of superb quality. The houses were designed with rooms
placed around a courtyard and the outside walls were windowless. From
the Indus Valley, thousands of terracotta figurines, obviously
personal religious artefacts, have been recovered. Representations
range from a horned and masked Siva to mother goddesses and humped
bulls.
Indeed, the humped bull figurines, which total more than three
quarters of the finds, testify to the popularity of a cult similar to
that of the Saiva traditions that later developed within Hinduism.
Some seals display a three-headed, horned, masked and seated
(kurmasana) image, said to be the non-ithyphallic form of Pashupati
Siva (K.C. Koirala, 2051 BS: p. 18).
The worship of fertility in the form of mother goddesses also appears
to have been common, and the presence of large water tanks in the
central western quarter has prompted speculation about the existence
of water worship. Since no temples or remains of religious buildings
have been found or recognized as such at Moenjodaro, Harappa or
Lothal, one can surmise that religious faith remained only in the
personal realm. However, archaeologists have concluded that worship of
a primal form of Siva was popular in the Indus-Saraswoti civilization.
Sudarshan Raj Tiwari is an architect-cum-cultural historian. He has
taught at the Institute of Engineering, University of Tribhuvan,
Kathmandu for 25 years. He is the author of Tiered Temples of Nepal
and The Ancient Settlements of the Kathmandu Valley.
This book is about Handigaun, the earliest known urban settlement in
Kathmandu Valley. It served as the capital of various kingdoms for
over a millennium. The colourful past of Handigaun remains alive
through the customs and practices of its residents. The Brick and the
Bull draws upon artefacts and relates them to archaeological finds to
tell a fascinating story of Handigaun's origins, legendary figures,
palace intrigues and historical events.
Excerpted with permission from The Brick and the Bull: An Account of
Handigaun, the Ancient Capital of Nepal
By Sudarshan Raj Tiwari
Himal Books, PO Box 166, Pattan Dhoka, Lalitpur, Nepal.
Tel: 977-1-542544.
Email: him...@mos.com.np
ISBN 99933-43-52-8
225pp. Nepalese Rs1,150