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A NEW DAWN after Earthquake: Local Community and Indigenous Practices
Monalisa Maharjan, PhD Student, CIDEHUS/ University of Évora, E-mail: [email protected]
Summary When 7.8 magnitude of Earthquake hit Nepal on 25th April 2015, with the epicenter in Lamjung district (81 km northwest to Kathmandu), killed more than 8,000, injuring more than 22,000 with
immense damage to the physical infrastructure. Magnificent monuments and temples tuned to the piles of bricks and wood, got wide international attentions especially UNESCO World Heritage
Sites of Kathmandu Valley. The concern of local people towards their heritage in the time of tragedy was note worthy. That event underlined the importance of local community and indigenous
practices that have been ignored in the formal conservation practices. Just few months after the massive disaster, while many people the makeshift and coping the numerous aftershocks, the local
community of Kathmandu Valley managed to continue its traditional practices in from of festivals. This poster which is a part of PhD research tries to look after the importance of the local
community and indigenous practices which has been taken for granted despite local community being the real custodians.
Background
Kathmandu Valley taking advantage of its fertile soil and strategic location for trade, developed a strong base of art, architecture, rituals and festivals whose living example can be seen in the
Valley. Once the traditional festival comes alive in the ancient city of the Valley, it gives a sense of travelling back hundreds of years from now. This magnificent at and architectures survived not
only because of the building technologies, given Kathmandu Valley is seismic zone and every hundred year there has been a disastrous earthquake. But also due to the ancient traditional practices
called Guthi.
Guthi Guthi is a fundamental unit of social organization of Newars (indigenous people of Kathmandu Valley) based on caste, kinship and territory which are responsible for maintenance of the temples
and monuments, organizations of festivals as well as taking care of the everyday rituals, found to be present since 5th Century. Still Guthi is a major component in the Newar society, even with the
influence of globalization, modernization and urbanization. When the monuments were constructed and festivals were initiated, the patrons kept land and properties for the smooth operation of the
festivals including endowments from normal people as a piety. Change in the political situation brought changes in Guthi just in the recent centuries, major blow being the nationalization of all Guthi
land in 1964. This made Guthi are loos its traditional value causing ripple affects on the monuments and traditional landscape.
Picture 1: Historic Landscape dominated by monuments in Kathmandu Durbar Square before the
earthquake and in background can be seen the mushrooming high raise building. © Impact
Production
Picture 2: Traditional mask dance known as Devi Pyakha being performed during the
festival of Yenya Punhi which is organized by the indigenous association called Guthi. ©
Author
Picture 3: Chariot procession being carried out by the Guthi members during the
festival of Yenya Punhi. There are numerous Guthi and each Guthi has their own
specific role . © Author
Earthquake of 2015 and Yenya Punhi Festival
Earthquake of 2015 changed the traditonal landscape of Kathmandu Valley in an unimaginable way.
Many monuments and private houses within the valley were destroyed (see pictures on right). After
shocks continued frequently and even till date of making this poster, aftershocks keep waking up people
in the Valley. Lack of periodical maintenance in the monuments is being considered a major reason
behind such a massive damage. Just after humanitarian crisis, monuments got the immediate attention.
Local people helped in collecting the remains of the monuments for the reuse, most of them digging the
rubbles even with the bare hands. Still when government was busy solving the primary crisis, people
were one step ahead in helping with the destroyed monuments.
Just five months after the earthquake, indigenous people even organized the biggest festival of
Kathmandu city Yenya Punhi which is 7-8 days long with many sub-festivals within it and many indoor
rituals taking place a month before. Every part of ancient Kathmandu is seen celebrating with music,
processions and dance during this festival as in Picture 2 & 3. With the backdrop of fragile monuments
the Guthi members carried out the festival successfully. Considering the situation ome practical changes
were made during the festival apart from which all the other functions continued as usual.
Referências obrigatórias CIDEHUS - UID/HIS/00057/2013 (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007702)
Picture 4: Kathmandu Handumandhoka Palace which was
destroyed by Earthquake © Impact Production.
Picture 5: Temple turned into rubble in Patan due to Earthquake. © Shailesh Rajbhandari
Picture 5: Kathmandu Handumandhoka Palace which was destroyed
by Earthquake in support of wooden pillar © Amar Shrestha.
Findings - Intangible heritage matters as much as tangible
to the indigenous people. - The momentum of intangible heritage which was
started centuries back kept up its pace even during the disaster because of indigenous system i.e. Guthi
Conclusion
The disaster proved the importance of traditional practices and local community in order to
continue the heritage. After Nepal rectified UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of
the Intangible Cultural Heritage 2003 and is in the initial process of it, These types of
examples should be taken seriously before its too late. Culture worldwide now face the
risk of homonization. Also Guthi is at high risk because of changing dimensions within the
Newar society. It is high time to take of them and recognize the contribution it has been
making in the safeguarding of cultural heritage (both tangible as well as intangible
heritage).
People
Place
Practices Interconnected
Figure : People, Place and Prac4ces are interconnected in the case of heritage like Kathmandu Valley ©Author
Picture 7: Chariot procession during the festival of Yenya Punhi 2015. In the
background can be seen people climbing in the remaining plinth of the
temple. © Nabin Man Singh
Picture 8: Traditional army with the music during the festival of Yenya
Punhi 2015. In the background can be seen the fragile building in the
support of wooden poles. © Impact Production.
References Toffin, G. (2008). Newar Society: City, Village and Periphery (2nd ed.). Kathmandu: Social Science Baha. Slusser, M. S. (1998). Nepal Mandala: A Cultural Study of the Kathmandu Valley (Vol. 1-2). Kathmandu: Mandala Book Point. Regmi, M. C. (1968). Land Tenure and Taxation in Nepal (Volume IV.). Berkeley: University of California. Weise, K. (2015, September 2). Conserving continuity: Reconstructing monuments of cultural heritage in Nepal will need community involvement. Himal South Asian. Retrieved from: http://himalmag.com/heritage-sites-earthquake-nepal/#