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Buddhism Buddhist Art and Architecture in Nepal
by
Erberto Lo Bue

Introduction

The earliest evidence of the presence of Buddhism in the Nepal Valley belongs to the 5th century. According to inscriptions of the Licchavi dynasty, the Buddhist ruler Vrsadeva (fl. c. 400 CE) founded a monastery at Svayambhu. Most Licchavi foundations have disappeared, but a few, such as the Gum monastery near Sankhu, have survived. The Buddhist pantheon in Nepal is obviously related to the Indian tradition, in which Buddhism and Hinduism coexisted and influenced each other through many centuries. Although the sophisticated artistic production in the Nepal Valley represents to some extent the continuation of the aesthetics prevailing in India under the Gupta, Pâla, and Sena dynasties, the art and architecture of its original inhabitants, the Newars, developed in a unique way. Even after their Buddhist tradition was cut off from its sources following the destruction of all Indian monastic universities by the 13th century, Newar artists continued to produce images for Buddhists not only in Nepal, but also in other countries, particularly Tibet. At least two Buddhist traditions and related styles may be distinguished in Nepal: the Newar ones of the Nepal Valley, where Buddhism followed its own local development; and the Tibetan ones, in areas inhabited by people of Tibetan stock and language, such as Lo (Mustang) and Dölpo, and in the Nepal Valley itself, where the number of Tibetan monasteries has increased significantly since the 1960s. That accounts for iconographic and stylistic differences in images produced even by the same artist, who traditionally can adapt easily to the requests of his client. The traditional style of architecture characterizing most of the 363 monasteries in the Nepal Valley, the earliest ones dating to the Licchavi dynasty, may be traced to Buddhist monastic structures such as those found at Sanchi, Ajanta, and Ellora, representing stone versions of now-lost Indian wooden architecture, but at the same time prototypes of the brick and wood monasteries of the Nepal Valley. Newar monasteries are characterized by three essential elements: the main shrine, a small stupa in the middle of the courtyard, and a tantric temple above the shrine. Their courtyards are surrounded by rooms that do not necessarily conform in their function to their Indian models, since, following the decline of Buddhism in the Nepal Valley, they have sometimes turned into residential buildings. Another feature deriving from Indian architecture is the tòrana, originally a decorated arch leading to a shrine, which in the Nepal Valley turned into a semicircular panel placed above the doors of shrines or gates.

General Overviews

There are no general overviews of Nepalese Buddhist art and architecture, both subjects being covered in works dealing also with Hindu art and architecture in Nepal. The first significant study of the art and sculpture of the Nepal Valley was produced by Pratapaditya Pal (Pal 1974, cited under Sculpture, and Pal 1978, cited under Painting), who has since published a series of catalogues on the subject, one of them being devoted exclusively to Newar art (Pal 1985, cited under Collections and Exhibitions). Hutt 1994 provides an introduction to the art and architecture of the Nepal Valley, devoting sections of this work to Buddhist sites. Also, Slusser 1982 deals with Newar Buddhist art and architecture, placing them in their cultural and historical context. Buddhist monasteries and stupas are surveyed by Locke 1985 and Gutschow 1997 (both cited under Architecture), whereas an inventory of sites and monuments in the Nepal Valley in the early 1970s was edited by Pruscha (Pruscha 1975). The only serious guide recording Buddhist as well as Hindu sites and temples all over Nepal is written in French (Rouvre 1975). Newar artists have been active not only in the Nepal Valley, but also in other parts of the Himalayas such as Lo (Mustang), Ladakh, and Bhutan (Lo Bue 1985), and beyond, from Tibet (Lo Bue 1988) to China (Jing 1994).

  • Hutt, Michael, et al. Nepal. A Guide to the Art and Architecture of the Kathmandu Valley. Gartmore, UK: Kiscadale, 1994.

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    An introduction to Newar art and architecture dealing also with Buddhist sites and images in the Nepal Valley, it is intended for a general readership. It includes pictures, some of them in color, maps and drawings, and, being based on authoritative sources, it is useful for students and travelers alike.

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  • Jing, Anning. “The Portraits of Khubilai Khan and Chabi by Anige (1245–1306), a Nepali Artist at the Yuan Court.” Artibus Asiae 54.1–2 (1994): 40–86.

    DOI: 10.2307/3250079Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »

    This essay affords much more than what is suggested by its title, since it documents the life story of the great Newar sculptor, painter, and architect Anige, exemplifying the important role played by the Buddhist artists of the Nepal Valley well beyond the Himalayas.

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  • Lo Bue, Erberto F. “The Newar Artists of the Nepal Valley: A Historical Account of Their Activities in Neighbouring Areas with Particular Reference to Tibet.” Oriental Art 31.3 (1985): 262–277.

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    This essay, published in two parts, represents a first attempt to record the role played by sculptors and painters from the Nepal Valley in the production of images for Buddhist clients and monastic institutions in other Himalayan areas as well as Tibet and India from the 8th to the 20th century. Part 2 in Oriental Art 31.4 (1986): 409–420.

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  • Lo Bue, Erberto F. “Cultural Exchange and Social Interaction between Tibetans and Newars from the Seventh to the Twentieth Century.” International Folklore Review 6 (1988): 86–114.

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    This essay deals with the relationship between Buddhist Newars and Tibetans both in Tibet and in the Nepal Valley, with particular reference to the Newars’ organization in Tibet and to their production of Buddhist images for Tibetan clients and institutions (pp. 91–110).

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  • Macdonald, Alexander W., and Anne Vergati Stahl. Newar Art: Nepalese Art during the Malla Period. Warminster, UK: Aris & Phillips, 1979.

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    This survey deals with Newar cultural history, architecture, and painting during the Malla dynasties (1200–1768). It includes a section on the Newar pantheon (pp. 38–60), which it illustrates with pictures of Hindu as well as Buddhist statues, one on Buddhist architecture (pp. 71–82), and a chapter on painting (pp. 119–150), some of it Buddhist.

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  • Pruscha, Carl, ed. Kathmandu Valley: The Preservation of Physical Environment and Cultural Heritage: Protective Inventory. 2 vols. Vienna: Anton Schroll, 1975.

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    This inventory was meant to be a tool for the Nepalese government to preserve the cultural heritage and physical environment of the Nepal Valley. Although it failed in its purpose, it affords black-and-white pictures of and basic information on scores of Hindu and Buddhist sites all over the valley as they were in the early 1970s.

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  • Rouvre, Évrard de. Népal. Paris: Robur, 1975.

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    This French travel guide, handy, conveniently arranged in alphabetical order, and based on authoritative sources, describes and illustrates in color the most important sites in Nepal, including Buddhist ones.

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  • Slusser, Mary Shepherd. Nepal Mandala: A Cultural Study of the Kathmandu Valley. 2 vols. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1982.

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    Because of the detailed treatment of its variously related subjects, this exhaustive and clearly written study, based on many references to scientific publications and indigenous sources, provides invaluable information on the Nepal Valley, including Buddhist art and architecture, and its reading is compulsory for a serious approach to those subjects.

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Materials and Techniques

Most studies on the materials and techniques used in the Buddhist as well as Hindu art of the Nepal Valley are related to the production of metal images, dating back from at least the 6th century (Slusser, et al. 1999), for which the Newar people have been famous for centuries. Basing their studies on fieldwork in Lalitpur (Patan), Alsop and Labriffe wrote the first detailed accounts of the lost wax process in metal statuary, still the most important of traditional Buddhist arts in the Nepal Valley (Alsop and Charlton 1973, Labriffe 1973). Later Slusser analyzed in detail the repoussé technique (Slusser, et al. 1999). One paper addresses the issue of materials and techniques in contemporary traditional painting in Nepal (Alsop 1993), but a proper study of materials and techniques in the Buddhist painting of the Nepal Valley has not appeared yet. For those used in the culturally Tibetan areas of Nepal one may refer to Jackson 1984. The issue of conservation parameters of Himalayan paintings on cloth is addressed by Bruce-Gardner (Bruce-Gardner 1988), who also touches upon the subject of gold embedded in Newar paintings on cloth (Bruce-Gardner 1975).

  • Alsop, Ian, and Jill Charlton. “Image Casting in Oku Bahal.” Contributions to Nepalese Studies 1.1 (1973): 22–49.

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    This study, grounded on fieldwork, describes and illustrates various phases of the traditional lost wax process as used by leading Buddhist Newar sculptors in their main quarter at Lalitpur (Patan), in the Nepal Valley, during the second half of the 20th century.

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  • Alsop, Ian. “Modern Traditional Painting in Nepal.” WAAC Newsletter 15.2 (May 1993): 15–30.

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    In this presentation the author discusses the techniques and materials used by contemporary Nepalese artists painting religious images, mostly Buddhist, on cloth, known as paubhâ in Newari and thang-ka in Tibetan.

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  • Bruce-Gardner, Robert. “Gold Embedded in Nepalese Mandala Scroll Paintings.” Burlington Magazine 117.867 (1975): 378–381

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    Placing small amounts of gold or other precious substances as well as texts and relics in the core of images and stupas before their consecration has been a traditional Indian practice that was carried on also in Nepal, but few know that gold may be embedded under the surface of painted images, too.

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  • Bruce-Gardner, Robert. “Himalayan Scroll Paintings: Conservation Parameters.” The Conservator 12 (1988): 3–14.

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    A study by a director of the Department of Conservation and Technology at the Courtauld Institute in London on the materials and techniques, context and function, deterioration, conservation parameters and procedures, cleaning, consolidation, structural treatments, lining options, and inpainting restoration of Buddhist Nepalese as well as Tibetan paintings on cloth.

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  • Jackson, David, and Janice Jackson. Tibetan Thangka Painting: Methods & Materials. London: Serindia, 1984.

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    Based on extensive fieldwork in Nepal and India as well as on textual research on original Tibetan sources, this volume is available also in paperback. It affords the most detailed description of the principles, materials, and techniques adopted in Buddhist painting on cloth by Tibetan artists also in Nepal.

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  • Labriffe, Marie-Laure de. “Etude de la fabrication d’une statue au Népal.” Kailash 1.3 (1973): 185–192.

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    An excellent, clearly structured and well-illustrated study in French on the making of a statue by the lost wax process by an important Buddhist Newar sculptor in the main artists’ quarter of Lalitpur (Patan).

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  • Slusser, Mary Shepherd. “Dry Lacquer or Clay? Preliminary Notes on a Neglected Nepalese Sculptural Medium.” Contributions to Nepalese Studies 23.1 (1996): 1–31.

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    A preliminary study on dry-lacquer sculpture in Nepal, based on Newar Buddhist images that the author shows to be modeled from unbaked clay with a mixture of sand particles and fibrous materials as well as resin on an armature made from sal (Shorea robusta) wood, sometimes with iron.

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  • Slusser, Mary Shepherd, Nutan Sharma, and James Giambrone. “Metamorphosis: Sheet Metal to Sacred Image in Nepal.” Artibus Asiae 58.3–4 (1999): 215–232.

    DOI: 10.2307/3250018Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »

    The first study on the traditional technique of repoussé, that is, hammering metal sheets into religious images as well as architectural adjuncts, which has been abandoned by most artistic traditions in the world, but is still practiced by Newar Buddhist artists in the Nepal Valley.

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Sculpture

The earliest historical study on the sculpture of the Nepal Valley, both Buddhist and Hindu, was carried out by Pratapaditya Pal, who first established a chronological framework based not only on stylistic assessments, but also on a corpus of firmly dated images, mostly in stone, up to the 18th century, and on comparison with contemporary Indian statuary (Pal 1974). Whereas most of the publications on the subject are related to metal and stone statuary, a notable exception is Slusser 2010, which deals with Buddhist wooden sculpture. A chronological criterion was also adopted by von Schroeder, who records and describes scores of Buddhist Newar sculptures found all over the world, including Tibet, up to the 20th century (Schroeder 1981, Schroeder 2001). The Newar sculptural heritage in the Nepal Valley has suffered from large-scale thieving since the mid-1960s, especially in the 1970s and 1980s, and is still endangered (Bangdel 1989). Bangdel published an inventory of stone sculptures in Nepal to inspire his countrymen to preserve them, devoting a section to Buddhist sculpture (Bangdel 1995). Newar Buddhist sculptors have shown the remarkable vitality of their aesthetic tradition working also for Tibetan Buddhists up to present times (Lo Bue 2002).

  • Bangdel, Lain Singh. Stolen Images of Nepal. Kathmandu: Royal Nepal Academy, 1989.

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    The author, former chancellor of the Royal Nepal Academy, records and describes statues and reliefs, many of them Buddhist, stolen, maimed, retrieved, or endangered in various parts of the Nepal Valley following the increase of Western interest in Newar art since the 1960s.

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  • Bangdel, Lain Singh. Inventory of Stone Sculptures of the Kathmandu Valley. Kathmandu: Royal Nepal Academy, 1995.

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    Through this unique inventory, illustrating scores of Hindu and Buddhist images extant in shrines but also preserved museums of the Nepal Valley, the author aims at making his countrymen aware of the importance of their unique cultural heritage in order to encourage its preservation.

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  • Lo Bue, Erberto F. “Newar Sculptors and Tibetan Patrons in the 20th Century.” Tibet Journal 27.3–4 (2002): 121–170.

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    An account of the lives and works of the main Buddhist Newar sculptors fashioning metal images for clients and Buddhist institutions, often Tibetan, during the past century.

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  • Pal, Pratapaditya. The Arts of Nepal. Part 1, Sculpture. Leiden, The Netherlands, and Cologne: Brill, 1974.

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    This seminal volume shows the vitality of the Newar artistic tradition, putting together a corpus of datable material, dealing with specific stylistic issues and devoting a chapter (pp. 103–125) to Buddhist sculpture in particular. It represents an indispensable tool for the study of the history of Newar Buddhist statuary.

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  • Schroeder, Ulrich von. Indo-Tibetan Bronzes. Hong Kong: Visual Dharma Publications, 1981.

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    Three chapters in this volume (pp. 292–393) record, describe, and illustrate dozens of metal statues from the Nepal Valley, mostly Buddhist, found in museums and private collections all over the world, arranging them in chronological order and providing also individual bibliographic references.

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  • Schroeder, Ulrich von. Buddhist Sculptures in Tibet. Vol. 2, Tibet and China. Hong Kong: Visual Dharma Publications, 2001.

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    Three chapters in this volume (pp. 292–393) record and describe dozens of Newar Buddhist images found in Tibet, chapter 6 dealing with the wood carvings in the Jokhang at Lhasa, and chapters 7 and 8 with metal statues from around 400 CE to the end of the 15th century.

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  • Slusser, Mary Shepherd. The Antiquity of Nepalese Wood Carving: A Reassessment. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2010.

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    The author, a foremost specialist in the cultural and artistic history of the Nepal Valley, deals with selected carved wooden struts found chiefly in Newar Buddhist monasteries and, by resorting to carbon dating, revises earlier attributions of wooden sculpture in the Nepal Valley by showing that most of the pieces taken into consideration were actually carved between the 6th or 7th and the 12th century.

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Painting

The only systematic account of Buddhist and Hindu painting in the Nepal Valley was carried out by Pal 1978, which analyzes in particular Buddhist manuscript illuminations and images painted on cloth (paubhā) also in relation to their artistic sources. The Nepal Valley, where Buddhism is a living faith, provides a rich repertoire of manuscript illustrations on paper as well as palm-leaf, related to Indian aesthetics and dating from the early 11th century—the earliest dated Buddhist Newar palm-leaf manuscript having been dedicated in 1015—to the 20th century (Pal and Meech-Pekarik 1988). A 15th-century sketchbook published by Lowry 1977 shows its author’s interest in Tibetan painting. With the continued decline of Buddhism, since the 17th century Newars have begun to regard Tibet as their source of inspiration (Pal 1978). Special mention should be made of Buddhist painting and illumination in Nepalese Tibet, particularly in Lo (Mustang; Neumann 1997, Slusser and Bishop 1999, Dowman 1997, and Alsop 2004), where Tibetan as well as Newar artists painted murals of outstanding quality, and Dölpo, where a recently discovered monastic library has yielded Buddhist manuscripts illustrated both in Tibetan and in Newar style (Heller 2009).

  • Alsop, Ian. “The Wall Paintings of Mustang.” Marg 56.3 (2004): 128–139.

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    An introduction to the outstanding 15th-century murals, the finest of them having being painted by a Newar artists, in the two chief temples at Möntang, the capital of Lo (Mustang), referring also to the 14th-century wall paintings in the Luri caves in the same district.

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  • Dowman, Keith. “The Mandalas of the Lo Jampa Lhakhang.” In Tibetan Art: Towards a Definition of Style. Edited by Jane Casey Singer and Philip Denwood, 186–195. London: Laurence King, 1997.

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    The first illustrated study of the wall paintings in the 15th-century temple of Maitreya at Möntang, the capital of Lo (Mustang), including a very fine Vajradhatu mandala painted by the Newar artist Devananda.

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  • Heller, Amy. Hidden Treasures of the Himalayas: Tibetan Manuscripts, Paintings and Sculptures of Dolpo. Chicago: Serindia, 2009.

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    This monograph deals with a library discovered in a remote village of Dölpo, and including over one hundred volumes of Tibetan manuscripts illustrated with Buddhist subjects and depicting their donors, too. Whereas some figures reflect the style of early western Tibetan manuscripts, others reflect the Newar aesthetics of the Nepal Valley.

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  • Lowry, John. “A Fifteenth Century Sketchbook (Preliminary Study).” In Essais sur l’art du Tibet. Edited by Ariane MacDonald and Yoshiro Imaeda, 83–118. Paris: Librairie d’Amérique et d’Orient, 1977.

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    A detailed study of an illustrated sketchbook drawn in April 1435 by the Newar painter Jivarama, with details of Buddhist images and various patterns, revealing also the artist’s interest in Chinese motifs and style as found in Tibetan painting.

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  • Neumann, Helmut. “Paintings of the Lori Stūpa in Mustang.” In Tibetan Art: Towards a Definition of Style. Edited by Jane Casey Singer and Philip Denwood, 178–185. London: Laurence King, 1997.

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    An illustrated description of the fine late-13th-century wall paintings in the stupa cave temple of Luri, in eastern Lo (Mustang), which are also compared with 14th- and 15th-century murals in southwestern Tibetan monasteries.

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  • Pal, Pratapaditya. The Arts of Nepal: Part 2, Painting. Leiden, The Netherlands, and Cologne: Brill, 1978.

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    A complete survey of Buddhist as well as Hindu painting in the Nepal Valley, illustrated by scores of pictures, some in color. It includes a systematic account of Buddhist manuscript illuminations (pp. 36–54) and images painted on cloth (paubhā; pp. 65–88) also referring to their artistic sources.

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  • Pal, Pratapaditya, and Julia Meech-Pekarik. Buddhist Book Illuminations. New Delhi: Ravi Kumar, 1988.

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    The first account covering the history of manuscript illuminations in Buddhist Asian countries. Chapter 3, devoted to the Nepal Valley (pp. 95–134), describes and illustrates a number of illuminations painted on paper and palm-leaf manuscripts as well as on their wooden covers.

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  • Slusser, Mary Shepherd, and Lila Bishop. “Another Luri, A Newly Discovered Cave Chorten in Mustang.” Orientations 30.2 (1999): 18–27.

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    The authors analyze the fine late-13th-/early-14th-century wall paintings in the stupa cave temple excavated at Tashi Geling, in eastern Lo (Mustang), relating them to the 12th-century murals in the cave hermitage of Mentsi, in south Lo, and to the contemporary ones in the cave temple of Luri, in east Lo.

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Architecture

A good introduction to the shrines and temples of the Nepal Valley was provided by David L.Snellgrove, who deals also with Buddhist monasteries and stupas (Snellgrove 1961). The only exhaustive survey of the Buddhist monasteries and monastic institutions in the Nepal Valley was carried out by John K. Locke (Locke 1985), while Niels Gutschow produced the most complete study of its stupas (Gutschow 1997). Specific historical research on the famous stupas of Svayambhu and Bodhnath, including details of their architecture, was done by Franz-Karl Ehrhard (Ehrhard 1989, Ehrhard 1991, and Ehrhard 1990), who describes also the contents of a stupa at Junbesi, in Solu-Khumbu (Ehrhard 2004). References to the development of Tibetan architecture in the Nepal Valley from 1951 to 1954 are afforded by Corneille Jest (Jest 1989).

  • Ehrhard, Franz-Karl. “A Renovation of Svayambhunath-Stupa in the 18th Century and Its History (According to Tibetan Sources).” Ancient Nepal 114 (1989): 1–8.

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    A record of the renovation work carried out thanks to the initiative of Tibetan religious masters on the stupa of Svayambhu, in the Nepal Valley, between 1728 and 1758, based on the study of Tibetan sources.

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  • Ehrhard, Franz-Karl. “The Stupa of Bodhnath: A Preliminary Analysis of the Written Sources.” Ancient Nepal 120 (1990): 1–9.

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    An analysis of the history of the most famous stupa in Nepal based chiefly on Tibetan sources and showing that the present monument was built by a religious master from the Helambu region of Nepal during the second half of the 15th and first half of the 16th century.

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  • Ehrhard, Franz-Karl. “Further Renovations of Svayambhunath Stupa (from the 13th to the 17th Centuries).” Ancient Nepal 123–125 (1991): 10–20.

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    An account of restoration works carried out by Tibetan religious masters and Nepalese authorities on the stupa of Svayambhu, in the Nepal Valley, from the 13th to the 17th century, based on Tibetan records showing that important renovations occurred in the second half of the 13th century, in 1413, 1504, and 1680.

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  • Ehrhard, Franz-Karl. “A Monument of Sherpa Buddhism: The Enlightenment Stupa in Junbesi.” In Special Issue: Tibetan Monuments. Edited by Roberto Vitali. Tibet Journal 29.3 (2004): 75–92.

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    An article related to the all-too-often neglected feature of the relics housed in stupas and Buddhist statues, in which the author describes the contents, including painted images, of a stupa in Solu-Khumbu, in north Nepal, on the basis a Tibetan text listing them.

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  • Gutschow, Niels. The Nepalese Caitya: 1500 Years of Buddhist Architecture in the Kathmandu Valley. Stuttgart and London: Edition Axel Menges, 1997.

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    This monograph represents the first comprehensive study of the stupa—a most sacred Buddhist object generally called by Newars with its more general name of caitya (pron. “chàitya”)—in the Nepal Valley from the 6th to the 20th century. It is preceded by an essay by David Gellner and illustrated with excellent black-and-white photographs, site plans, and drawings, the latter by Bijay Basukala.

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  • Jest, Corneille. Monuments du nord du Népal. Paris: UNESCO, 1981.

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    This French handbook describes and illustrates with pictures and maps temples, mostly Buddhist, in the districts of Humla, Lo (Mustang), Sindhu-Palchok and Solu-Khumbu, in north Nepal, including details of their construction and furniture, and affording suggestions for their conservation.

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  • Jest, Corneille. “Le Bouddhisme, son expression tibétaine dans la vallée de Kathmandu, Népal: Aspects sociologiques et économiques d‘une expansion hors du Tibet, 1959–1984.” Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricarum 43.2–3 (1989): 431–444.

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    This article affords information also on the construction of Tibetan monasteries, meditation centers, and stupas in the Nepal Valley from 1951 to 1984. It lists Tibetan monastic institutions, illustrates some with pictures, and gives details about their religious affiliation and number of monks at the time they were surveyed.

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  • Locke, John K. Buddhist Monasteries of Nepal: A Survey of the Bāhās and Bahīs of the Kathmandu Valley. Kathmandu: Sahayogi, 1985.

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    A complete and detailed survey of major and minor Buddhist Newar monastic institutions in the Nepal Valley, describing each monastery and providing its pictures and position on maps. Descriptions include significant features such as the decorated arch and image of the main shrine, as well as the stupa and mandala in the courtyard.

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  • Snellgrove, David L. “Shrines and Temples of Nepal.” Arts Asiatiques 8.1 (1961): 3–10.

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    This clearly written article, published in two parts, deals chiefly with the most significant Buddhist monasteries and stupas in the Nepal Valley. It includes pictures and maps as well as lists of the main monastic institutions in Kathmandu, Lalitpur (Patan) and Bhatgaon, and represents a good introduction to the topic. Article continues in Arts Asiatiques 8.2 (1961): 93–120.

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Collections and Exhibitions

The Nepal Valley has one of the highest densities of monuments and art works in the world, and only a fraction of Nepal’s artistic wealth is housed in museums. Important collections of Nepalese, mostly Newar, art have been assembled in the United States and Europe, as well as in India and Nepal itself. Institutional and private collections in the West have grown since Western interest in Newar art increased following the opening of Nepal to tourism in the 1960s, and have been boosted by several exhibitions, from “The Art of Nepal” held in 1964 at the Asia Society Galleries in New York (Pal 1985). Important exhibitions of Himalayan art, including fine Buddhist Newar artifacts, were held in the United States (Pal, et al. 1991 and Pal, et al. 2003). The most important collections of Newar art in Nepal are held at the National Museum of Kathmandu, at the Patan Museum of Lalitpur and at the National Art Gallery of Bhaktapur, which include outstanding Buddhist images from the 9th to the 18th century. The Patan Museum illustrates also the repoussé and lost-wax processes still used by the sculptors of Lalitpur (see Slusser, et al. 1999, cited under Materials and Techniques). Notable Newar Buddhist statues, chiefly in copper (generally mercury-gilded) and brass, but also in stone and sometimes wood, are found at the Los Angeles County Museum (Pal 1985), at the British Museum in London (Zwalf 1985), at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford (Heller 2008), at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, at the Musée Guimet in Paris, at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco, at the Cleveland Museum of Art, at the Newark Museum, at the Brooklyn Museum, and at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. Important and fine Nepalese Buddhist statues and paintings are found in the Norton Simon Museum in New York (Pal, et al. 2003) and in the Zimmerman Collection (Pal, et al. 1991). The largest private collection of painting from the Nepal Valley, including several Buddhist images, is the Jucker Collection in Basel (Kreijger 1999).

  • Heller, Amy. Early Himalayan Art. Oxford: Ashmolean Museum, 2008.

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    A section of this lavishly illustrated museum catalogue (pp. 42–71) is devoted to metal and stone images—chiefly Buddhist—produced from the 7th to the 14th century in the Nepal Valley and in western Nepal, each item being accompanied by a detailed description.

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  • Kreijger, Hugo. Kathmandu Valley Painting: The Jucker Collection. London: Serindia, 1999.

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    This catalogue of a private collection is focused largely on the Newar Buddhist painting tradition of the Nepal Valley from the 13th century onward. A useful tool for students, it features thirty-nine images painted on cloth, illustrated manuscripts, painted manuscript covers, and drawings, all described in detail and illustrated in color.

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  • Pal, Pratapaditya. Art of Nepal. Los Angeles and London: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1985.

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    This important and well-illustrated museum catalogue is valuable for students, collectors, and scholars interested in Newar art. It features about seventy statues and reliefs, thirty-nine paintings and illustrated manuscripts, and thirty-one drawings, many of which related to Buddhism and some bearing inscriptions providing their dates of dedication.

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  • Pal, Pratapaditya. Asian Art at the Norton Simon Museum: Vol. 2, Art from the Himalayas & China. New Haven, CT, and London: Yale University Press, 2003.

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    This lavishly illustrated museum catalogue describes in detail and illustrates, mostly in color, in an important group of superb Newar Buddhist metal images dating from the 10th to the 19th century as well as a few fine paintings dating from the 15th to the 19th century.

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  • Pal, Patapaditya, with contributions by Ian Alsop, Heather Stoddard, and Valrae Reynolds. Art of the Himalayas: Treasures from Nepal and Tibet. New York: Hudson Hills, 1991.

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    About one-third of this exhibition catalogue, illustrated mostly in color, is devoted to Nepalese art from the Zimmermann Collection, assembling particularly fine Buddhist Newar metal images and paintings as well as illustrated manuscripts.

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  • Pal, Pratapaditya, with contributions by Amy Heller, Oskar von Hinüber, and Gautama Vajracharya. Himalayas: An Aesthetic Adventure. Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 2003.

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    A quarter of this exhibition catalogue, important for students, collectors, and scholars alike, is devoted to Nepal. The beautiful glossy pictures illustrating Buddhist deities in the corresponding section (pp. 20–89) are accompanied by adequate and stimulating descriptions.

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  • Waldschmidt, Ernst, and Rose Leonore. Nepal: Art Treasures from the Himalayas. New Delhi: Oxford & IBH, 1969.

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    In spite of the date of its publication, this volume, translated from German into English, is still useful in as much as it illustrates and describes several Buddhist images preserved in the main museums of the Nepal Valley.

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  • Zwalf, Wladimir. Buddhism: Art and Faith. London: British Museum, 1985.

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    The author of this exhibition catalogue, formerly at the British Museum, reviews a score of fine Newar Buddhist religious artifacts, including illuminated manuscripts and manuscript covers, stone and metal statues, as well as a tantric helmet from the Nepal Valley (pp. 120–132).

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LAST MODIFIED: 09/30/2011

DOI: 10.1093/OBO/9780195393521-0079

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