# Picturesque Nepal/Chapter 9

CHAPTER IX
THE ARTS OF THE NEWARS
Art and Religion—Indian and Chinese Influences—Nepalese Architecture—The "Chaitya"—Buddhist Temples—Bodhnath and Shambu-Nāth—Symbolism of the "Chaitya"—The "Pagoda"—Origin of the Pagoda.
METAL WORK ON A TEMPLE FRONT AT KATMANDU.
In Nepalese art there is no "unmeaning ornament." Every detail is full of religious symbolism.
Not only is Nepalese art of an intensely religious character, but hand in hand with this it is also supremely symbolic; there is no "unmeaning ornament," almost every element in its composition being emblematic of the creed it adorns. In other words, art was utilized by the priesthood to catch the eye of the illiterate many, to put before those who could not read a visible tangible object which illustrated a legend or emphasized a dogma. And to do this it required to be ​powerfully dramatic, to depict to the masses the Good and the Bad in its most graphic and forceful interpretation, so that the Nepalese artist either elevates the observer by the transcendental nature of his celestial conceptions, or terrorizes him into docility by his suggestions of purgatory. It is an art, therefore, as far as the people themselves are concerned, which inspires awe and veneration more than pleasure, and is worshipped rather than admired.
IN THE DURBAR SQUARE AT BHATGAON.
The flight of steps in the foreground is guarded by five pairs of grotesque figures and animals.
A reference has been previously made to the great religious and political storm-wave of Mohammedanism which swept over Hindustan during the "Middle Ages," and the effect this had on the institutions of the peninsula, ​including that country's art. The tenets of the victorious faith not only encouraged the destruction of the Hindu temples, but regarded iconoclasm as a sacred duty. As in another instance, the order went forth to "destroy their altars, and break down their images, and cut down their groves, and burn their graven images with fire" (Deut. vii.). To correctly understand the situation in India at this period, it must be realized that the religion of the country was a Pantheism, and that the sacred edifices of the Hindus rioted in sculptured representations of the deities and their attributes, the thousand and one gods of the national creed, in all their various forms and incarnations. Natural and living creations were introduced into all ornamentation, in wood, stone, or metal, and "graven images" were the chief feature of every temple and shrine. The old religion of the Aryans was based on a worship of Nature in its most sublime aspects, and the influence of this reverence for the supreme forces is evident in their sacred art wherever it was applied. The country of Hindustan was rich in ​buildings, sheltering divinities of every shape and size, and whose decorations palpitated with the natural and floral forms so closely associated with the fundamental principles of the creed. This was the state of art in India before the Mohammedan invasion, and if it is possible to conceive the diametrical antithesis of this, the subsequent artistic condition of the country can be imagined. Not that the conquerors were blind to the æsthetic—a glance at the buildings of the Moguls at the present day will at once disprove this suggestion—but their art, as originally understood, was as far removed from that of the Hindus as the poles are asunder. For Mohammedanism brought with it all the leading convictions of that forceful cult which planted its indelible mark on the art and architecture of the world from Cordova to Canton. And in place of the unrestrained thought of the Hindu and his picturesque mythology, we have the stern conventions of Islam, and an art bound by the canons of a religion whose doctrine forbade representations of living objects, just as the early Christians abhorred the graven images ​of Pagan gods. Mohammedanism, states Waddell, "is practically devoid of symbolism, and its sanctuary is a severely empty building, wholly unadorned with images or pictures." But Nepal, secure in Himalayan fastness, remained untouched by this epoch-making current which permanently changed every aspect of the great countries with which it came into contact, and therefore its value to the student of Oriental history is incalculable. In the words of Fergusson, Nepal "presents us with a complete microcosm of India as it was in the seventh century Hieun Tsiang visited it—when the Buddhist and Brahmanical religions flourished side by side; and when the distinctive features of the various races were far more marked than they have since become under the powerful solvent of the Mohammedan domination."
A WINDOW OF CARVED WOOD AT BHATGAON.
A peacock forms the centre, from which radiates a remarkable design of tangential bars.
THE DOME OF BODHNĀTH.—Page 139.
The architecture of Nepal may therefore, be broadly consigned to two great styles, the "Chaitya" and the "Pagoda," but there is one other form occasionally present which may be briefly referred to. A few religious edifices are to be seen of the typically Hindu character, as found in India, and described by Fergusson as "a square tower-like temple, with a perpendicular base, but a curvilinear outline above," which this authority suggests are originally of "Daysu" or aborigine source. This style of building is, however, not common, and merely serves to indicate the spiritual ​link which has at different times connected this independent State with the neighbouring Empire of Hindustan.
In the "Chaitya," or earlier and more purely Buddhist style of building, there are several interesting examples in the Valley, the two most famous being the temples of Shambu-Nāth and Bodhnāth, both situated near Katmandu. The former is the richer and more popular shrine, besides being built on a hill in a very picturesque and commanding position, but the latter, standing alone and in the centre of the open plain, has an impressive character of its own. Its main feature is the great pairs of eyes, figured high up on each face of the toran or square base of the spire, which gaze serenely over the smiling fields of the Valley, as they have done for a thousand years and more. For Bodhnāth is the largest and one of the oldest temples in Nepal, and before those impassive enamelled eyes has passed the ebb and flow of the country's history, its tribal battles, alien horsemen trampling down the golden grain growing up to its very wall, survivors ​from a local outbreak at Katmandu a few meadows away fleeing to the Bodhnāth cells for sanctuary, and all the events which have thrilled and stirred the seething bazaars of the neighbouring capital. At the present time, in peace and security, the husbandman tills his fields under the watch and ward of this silent sentinel, while mothers point to the great gold face, and restrain their children with stories of the god who is looking down day and night at their doings, good or bad. To us, from the outside world of the twentieth century, the calm eyes seem to regard our advent with a mild stare of supercilious contempt, a mere incident in the passage of time, while we, on our part, endeavour to read some story in this inscrutable metal mask of the Buddhist Sphynx.
According to Waddell, this building is one of the most celebrated places of Lamaist pilgrimage outside Tibet. Immense numbers of Tibetans, both Lamas and laity, visit the stupa every winter, and encamp in the surrounding field for making their worship and offerings, and circumambulating the sacred ​spot. Its special virtue is reputed to be its power of granting all prayers for worldly wealth, children, and everything else asked for. A copy of a printed booklet sold at this shrine to the pilgrims indicates the manner in which the building is brought into intimate relation with the chief legendary and historic persons of early Lamaism. It also states that Bodhnāth "enshrines the spirit of the Buddhas of the ten directions, and of the Buddhas of the three times (i.e. the present, past, and future), and of all the Bodhisats, and it holds the Dharma-kāyā."
But to properly understand the Chaitya style of Nepalese architecture, the student must toil up the steep flight of over five hundred steps leading to the gorgeous temple of Shambu-Nāth, and there examine the sacred shrine dedicated to Swayambhu Buddha—the Self-Existent. This edifice stands about a mile to the west of Katmandu, on a richly wooded detached hill, and consists of a masonry hemisphere surmounted by toran and umbrella of burnished gold. The majestic size, and severe simplicity of outline of this temple, with ​its gilded cone, set off by the dark garniture of woods, constitute a very beauteous composition. Ascending the stone stairway, which by its perpendicularity loses itself among the overhanging tree-tops, one emerges breathless on to the plateau at the top, where the first striking object which confronts one is a colossal metal thunderbolt of Indra, resting on a stone pedestal (dharm-dhātu-mandal), with representations of twelve animals in bold relief carved around it. These are said to depict the twelve months of the Tibetan year. Beyond this feature, amidst a forest of smaller structures, stands the body of the main temple—a solid dome of earth and brick about 60 feet in diameter and 30 feet in height. This supports a lofty conical spire, the top of which is crowned by a richly decorated pinnacle of copper-gilt. The square toran or basement of this spire is covered with plates of metal, and, like Bodhnāth, has the two eyes of Buddha, painted in crimson, white, and black colours, on each of its four sides. Springing from the tops of the four sides of the toran are four large pentagonal slabs or ​escutcheons, also of copper-gilt, on each of which are riveted five metal figures of the Dyani Buddhas. Round the base of the hemisphere, and built partly into its plinth, are five large shrines, four of them facing the cardinal points of the compass. They are plated with copper-gilt, and each contains a metal figure of a Buddha rather larger than life-size. The whole design is, of course, supremely emblematic, and fully bears out the axiom that those people who are endowed with artistic sense tend to clothe their religion with symbolism. The cone or pyramid surmounting the dome is divided into thirteen tiers, and is typical of the thirteen Budhisatwa heavens of Buddhist cosmography. Above this is a finial in the form of an umbrella, the whole of which represents the highest heaven, or that of Adi Buddha. The five spokes of the umbrella refer to the abodes of the five Dharma Buddhas, while the great eyes on the toran signify omniscience.
THE BUDDHIST TEMPLE OF SHAMBU-NĀTH.—Page 142.
Of the age and history of this great building there is nothing really authentic, except records of restorations commencing from the sixteenth century, but tradition relates that the first Chaitya was built by Gorades, a raja of Nepal, between two and three thousand years ago.
DOORWAY OF A SMALL TEMPLE AT BHATGAON.
DETAILS OF A TEMPLE DOORWAY AT BHATGAON.