This article was downloaded by: [University of Tennessee, Knoxville]On: 14 September 2014, At: 18:57Publisher: RoutledgeInforma Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House,37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK

South Asian StudiesPublication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information:http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rsas20

The Lotus Pool: Buddhist Water Sanctuaries in theKathmandu ValleyJulia A.B. HegewaldPublished online: 11 Aug 2010.

To cite this article: Julia A.B. Hegewald (1997) The Lotus Pool: Buddhist Water Sanctuaries in the Kathmandu Valley, SouthAsian Studies, 13:1, 145-159, DOI: 10.1080/02666030.1997.9628533

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02666030.1997.9628533

PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE

Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the “Content”) containedin the publications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis, our agents, and our licensors make norepresentations or warranties whatsoever as to the accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of theContent. Any opinions and views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors, andare not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Content should not be relied upon andshould be independently verified with primary sources of information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable forany losses, actions, claims, proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoeveror howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to or arising out of the use ofthe Content.

This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematicreproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing, systematic supply, or distribution in anyform to anyone is expressly forbidden. Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-and-conditions

South Asian Studies 13 1997

The Lotus Pool: Buddhist Water Sanctuaries in the Kathmandu Valley J U L I A A.B. H E G E W A L D

The importance of water architecture in South Asia has been widely underrated in art-historical writing. Tanks and wells have been seen as primarily utilitarian structures, plain and lacking any artistic value or religious connotations [1]. Only a few regional art-historical studies aim at shifting this emphasis and at drawing attention to the importance of water-related structures [2], Anthropological studies of funerary and bathing rites, mainly at Benares, have drawn attention to the importance of water in Hindu culture and religion [3]. In the few articles and books at present available on the subject, however, it is Hindu and Islamic water architecture which gains most attention. Neglected almost entirely is the water architecture of the Buddhists. This paper aims to redress this imbalance and to draw attention to the wealth of tanks, fountains, and water sanctuaries of the Buddhists in the Kathmandu Valley of Nepal, and the importance of water for Buddhist religion and rituals.

Water and Buddhism—religions groundings

The fact that hardly anything has been written about Buddhist water architecture may partly be due to the fact that Buddhism largely disappeared in India around the twelfth century A.D., and that many of its buildings were destroyed, to make space and to provide building material for new edifices. Other structures fell into severe neglect and decayed through disuse and adverse climate. Today in South Asia, it is mainly in Sri Lanka and Nepal that Buddhism survives as a living tradition, where ancient monuments were preserved because they did

not fall into complete disuse, and where the religion continued to exist and develop after its decline in India.

Moreover, there is a general belief that Buddhists do not attribute any importance to water and that for them it has no religious connotations. S. Tachibana in his book on the ethics of Buddhism addressed one of his chapters to issues of purity and purification drawing a strict line between the views and customs of Hindus and Buddhists. Much of his argument, however, is based on a misunderstanding of Hindu bathing and purification rituals, which he characterizes as being merely external, physical, materialistic and ceremonial, not referring to an inward state of the soul. This superficial view of Brahmanical purification rituals does not take into account that they do involve praying and the reciting of the appropriate Sanskrit verses, and are the visual expression of a spiritual transformation and inner purification. According to the Upanisads, purification and liberation only come from wisdom. Bathing in the Ganges and uttering the right mantras before one's death may lead to enlightenment, but it is not the material water of the river that extinguishes guilt and sin, but one's own insight and wisdom (Eck, 1993, pp. 333-334). The sacred power of the river Gahga can only enhance this process.

There are several passages in Buddhist literature where the Buddha or one of his disciples is shown in discourse with a Hindu who believes in the purifying abilities of water. In Vinayapifaka I. 31, 32, and Udana 9, for instance, the Buddha tells ascetics who bathe in the Ganges to be cleansed from their sins, that they could be purified only by means of truth and righteousness. In passages in the Therigatha (236-51) and the Suttanipata (521) the

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity o

f T

enne

ssee

, Kno

xvill

e] a

t 18:

57 1

4 Se

ptem

ber

2014

146 Julia A.B. Hegewald

nun Punnika concludes that from the Brahmanical point of view, animals who dwell in water must be cleansed from all thier sins and naturally go to heaven, which convinces a Brahmin to convert to Buddhism (Tachibana, 1986, p. 168). Also Hiuen-tsang recalls how in the first century A.D., the famous Buddhist scholar Arya Deva stood up in a large group of pilgrims bathing in the Ganges and preached against their superstition (Mahajan, 1984,, p. 19).

Nevertheless, it is interesting to see in other passages, such as when the Buddha talks to a Brahman involved in a morning bath, that in Buddhist writing, water was clearly used as a metaphor of righteousness and purity and the image of bathing for the process of gaining enlightement.

Righteousness is a lake, with virtue as its strand for bathing, Clear, undefiled, praised by the good to good men, Wherein in sooth masters of lore come bathing. So, clean of limb, to the beyond pass over. Sarhyuttanikaya I. 182. (Tachibana, 1986, p. 167) In the Buddhist Sutras, water is on the one hand

an image of change and transitoriness and belongs to the realm of relativity and illusion. Reflections on water are often used in tests to visualize the illusionary character of the human perception and this-worldly goods. On the other hand, water also carries in it the seed of transcendence and enlightenment. This idea of a positive association with water in Buddhism is expressed through the image of the lotus pool, a lake or water basin out of which lotus flowers arise and as they open up, reveal the Buddha nature and nirvana. The homogeneity and inexhaustible depth of water, particularly of the ocean, is equated with the nirvana and it is a reminder for man that enlightenment can be achieved by all living beings. Therefore, water is also an expression and source of hope, wisdom and enlightenment. A river is the border or transitional sphere between this world and the world of nirvana, through which everybody has to pass to gain a better rebirth or enlightenment. This is why bodhisattvas are frequently referred to as ferry-men who safely guide man over to the far shore.

Among the five Buddhist elements, water came to be the purest embodiment and symbol of the Buddhist teachings and of the Buddha nature. It also

plays an important role in Buddhist cosmology, where the central mountain Sumeru (Meru), the axis mundi is surrounded by fifteen concentric ranges of mountains and seas, and the Buddhists believe that at the end of each era, a kalpa, the universe is periodically destroyed and returns to water out of which is a new cosmos is born. Thus, water is the cource of all life, and an image of the eternal return and of the cyclic renewal of time and life. Buddhist cosmological images and ideas about the creation of the universe also influenced Buddhist architecture where we encounter water symbolism for example in the construction of the Jokhang in Lhasa or the form of the stupa.

Particularly in Mahayana Buddhism, where gaining merit is seen as a means to reach enlightenment, purification rituals and offerings gained new importance. Major bathing and purification rituals are for instance to be executed on the birthday of the historical Buddha and at the New Year festival. These rituals do not only apply to the people, but also to the cult image in the temple.

Buddhists attribute religious importance to water in as far as their religious texts use water as a metaphor for purity of soul and mind, the Buddha nature, and for enlightenment and nirvana. Water plays an important role in Buddhist cosmology, perceptions of time and cyclic world eras, in Buddhist architecture and also in Buddhist ritual, festivals, and in every day temple practice.

Buddhism in Nepal

Although Siddartha Gautama, a prince of the Sakya clan, was born in Lumbini in Nepal, the young future Buddha left his birthplace and probably never returned to what is today's Nepal. Although the first firm evidence for the presence of Buddhism in the Kathmandu Valley is found among the remains of the Licchavi Period (c. 300-879 A.D.), Buddhism is believed to have reached Nepal in about the third century B.C. As in India, early Buddhism in Nepal followed the Hinayana School, and monks and nuns were housed in monasteries and worship was restricted to aniconic depictions of the Buddha. In the following centuries, these communities were joined by followers of the Mahayana School, bringing with them the idea of the bodhisattva and

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity o

f T

enne

ssee

, Kno

xvill

e] a

t 18:

57 1

4 Se

ptem

ber

2014

The Lotus Pool: Buddhist Water Sanctuaries in The Kathmandu Valley 147

the practice of worshipping the Buddha. From the seventh century A.D. there is also evidence for the existence of Vajrayana concepts. Although Buddhism, in its various manifestations, played an important role in Licchavi period Nepal, it appears to have reached its height during the Transitional Period (c.879-1200 A.D.). The monasteries increased in numbers, became important cultural forces, and had a vivid exchange of students and teachings with Indian University institutions, particularly from the east. It was at the end of this period that many Buddhists had to flee the Islamic invasions in India and came to settle in Nepal. From the twelfth century on, Nepal was dominated by the Hindu Malla kings (c. 1200-1769), and by the end of the twelfth century, changes had come about in Nepalese Buddhist practice whereby the Hindu and lay Buddhist groups slowly became a single, caste-oriented community conforming to Hindu social traditions (Slusser, 1982, pp. 286-287), and a gradual drift from monasticism into secularization became discernible. Particularly under the orthodox Malla king Sthitimalla (1619-1661 A.D.), official pressure was applied to lay Buddhists and the sarngha to adapt to Hindu customs. By the sixteenth or seventeenth century, Tibet, which had received Buddhism via Nepal in about the seventh century A.D., had in turn become the Buddhist holy land and it is due to the influence of Tibetan Buddhism, particularly through close trade relations with Tibet in that period, that Buddhism survived in Nepal untial the end of the Malla period. Under the Saivite rule of the Rana family (c. 1846-1951), Buddhism again came under strong Hindu pressure and in danger of decline. In the twentieth century, although most ancient monasteries in the strictest sense are not used as such any more, they are still important institutions of contemporary Buddhism in Nepal which was again revitalized after 1950, when thousands of Buddhists fled the Chinese invasion of Tibet into Nepal. Therefore, the Kathmandu Valley not only contains a large number of ancient Buddhist monuments, but it is a place where Buddhism, mainly of the Mahayana School, continues as a living tradition.

Hindus and Buddhists in the Kathmandu Valley share many religious concepts and sacred places. But despite the many parallels in the worship of deities and the duties of priests for example, it would be wrong to conclude that the two religions are one

(Gellner, 1994, p. 89). Buddhism is an accretive religion which always exists alongside with non-Buddhist systems and communities which provide for their worldly needs. David Gellner points out (Gellner, 1994, p. 101), that Buddhists do not break their religious framework as long as they refrain from worshipping Hindu gods to gain salvation. From a Mahayana point of view any means is permissible to lead suffering beings to enlightenment, which gave the religion the flexibility to adapt to new cultures and spread throughout Asia. The similarities among the two religions in the Valley have not to do with syncretism, meaning that the two religions have been combined in a single exclusive and monotheistic framework (Gellner, 1994, p. 100), but more with borrowing, with the creation of functional equivalents, and with the renaming and appropriation of certain cults of a coexisting religion while remaining within the boundaries of one's own belief.

Buddhist water architecture in the Kathmandu Valley

In the villages and towns, but also outside the dense settlement area of the Kathmandu Valley, exist a whole range of water related structures, such as reservoirs, tanks and wells. The water structures in the domestic areas of villages and towns are primarily functional, providing water for the every day needs of their inhabitants. Due to the high importance of water for life and because of its cleansing and regenerating abilities, however, water places have often been associated with divine forces and turned into open-air shrines. Water structures in Nepal are usually not utilitarian alone, but have religious images integrated into their walls and small shrines set above the water spouts. Particularly in the morning, private religious ceremonies will be conducted by women in the tanks, and many water structures are integrated as stations on the routes of important religious festivals (jatras). While some tanks and reservoirs show only Buddhist imagery, others combine Buddhist and Hindu sculptures and symbols within one structure. While the Buddhists integrate images of the Buddhist pantheon into the wall niches of tanks and set small votive stupas (caityas) into the basins, the Hindus have Hindu icons and siva-lihgas instead. Both faiths employ

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity o

f T

enne

ssee

, Kno

xvill

e] a

t 18:

57 1

4 Se

ptem

ber

2014

148 Julia A.B. Hegewald

Fig. 1. Misa Hiti, Patan. In the centre of the dhara is a caitya.

images of snakes, the nagas, but while Buddhists may have allusions to water- or snake-related religious figures, such as the Buddha Amoghasiddhi, one may find references to the Ganges and makaras, the mythical sea animals, in Hindu structures. In the Kathmandu Valley, the veneration of images and religious symbols by the two religions are similar in character (Gellner, 1994, p. 89). Primarily religious, and not meant for basic water provision or washing, are the water sanctuaries situated at the edges of the Valley. These will be discussed last in the paper.

Dharas and pokharis

The most distinctive type of Nepali water structure is the deep fountain, called dhunge-dhara or gaihri-dhara in Nepali and ga-hiti or lo-hiti'm Newari [4]. Usually, dharas have a square perimeter, although oval, cruciform, multilobed and rectangular ones exist, and contain a series of terraces in diminishing

stages. One or several stairways lead down to the water at the bottom of the pit, which issues from up to nine spouts emerging from the lowermost retaining wall. Drains carry off the overflow to the fields, rivers and pokharis. In depth and size, the dharas vary considerably, depending on the level of the water source and its distance from the dhara. The deep fountains are usually made of brick, the standard building material in the Kathmandu Valley, but many have stone steps, pavements and cornices, and a few are made entirely of stone.

There are many dharas which have Buddhist caityas, miniature stupas, associated with them. In front of the western entrance to the Kumbhesvara Pagoda in Konti in Patan, are two dharas. The dhara to the west, Konti Hiti, is Saivite and has a siva-lihga in its centre, while the eastern Misa Hiti is Buddhist and has a caitya in this place (Fig. 1). Architectural arrangements like this, may refer to Buddhist cosmology where the cosmic mountain Meru is situated at the centre of the cosmic ocean.

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity o

f T

enne

ssee

, Kno

xvill

e] a

t 18:

57 1

4 Se

ptem

ber

2014

The Lotus Pool: Buddhist

More frequently, dharas have a caitya in one of their corners , such as in Kva Hiti in Ka thmandu , Bhlmdyo Hiti at the western end of Dattatrcya Square in Bhaktapur and in Tapa Hiti in Patan. Furthermore, one prominent caitya may be placed at street level in front of the main stairs of access to the dhiira, as is the case in the dhara at the cross­road before leading down to the ghats in Pasupatinath, and in the largest dhara on the main road in Panauti. A further possible arrangement is to have a row of small stupas lining the edge of the upper terrace of the dhara (Fig. 2). Standing outside the water structure, the cailyas are on ground level, but from within the dhara, when fetching water, they are on eye level with the person at the water spout. Two examples from Patan are Cakba Ivaha Hiti and Alko Hiti. The latter also has a caitya in its basin. In the Nagbaha Hiti in Patan, there is a single caitya set on the lowermost retaining wall right above the water spout (Fig. 3). This is the place where usually shrines containing iconic images of the Buddha or of Hindu deities are found.

At the foot of Svayambhu Hill, there is also an example of a pokhariox daha (Nepali), also known as pukhu (Ncwari), which has a caitya in its centre. Pokharis are large, usually rectangular brick lined tanks serving as civic water supplies which through a complicated channelling system supply the dhara and wells with water. Because pokharis almost always hold plenty of water, the cosmological Mount Mcru symbolism becomes even clearer than in the dharas which do not always store water.

Together with caityas, we also find images of the Buddha associated with dharas and pokharis. Kanibaha Hiti in Patan, for instance has a small seated Buddha in bhumisparsa-mudra in the shrine above its spout. The same arrangement is repeated in the dhara at the foot of Svayambhu Hill. In the dhiirii at the cross-roads in Pasupatinath, is an image of Buddha Amoghasiddhi above the water spout (Fig. 4). Amoghasiddhi is shown in ahhaya-mudra and a serpent behind his back, on whose coiled body he is seated, forms an umbrella over his head. In front of Amoghasiddhi shrines is frequently found a depression or miniature tank, representing the. place where his p ro t ec to r se rpen t res ides (Bhattacharyya, 1993, p. 5). In the example at Pasupatinath, the entire water basin of the dhara in front of the image gives monumental shape to this feature. A similar situation is found in Alko Hiti in

Sanctuaries in The Kathmandu Valley 149

Fig. 2. Alko Hiti. Patan. A row of small slupas lines the upper terrace of the dhara.

Patan, where an image of Amoghasiddhi was later placed in front of an image of Visnu over the eastern spout. Among the dharas of the Kathmandu Valley, there arc a few interesting examples where either Hindu images were set in front of Buddhist icons, or the other way round. On the road from the Kathmandu Darbar Square to Svayambhunath is a small dhara, where an image of Visnu and Laksmi in a shrine has been set slightly below and in front of a Buddha in vitarka-mudra sheltered by a snake and contained in an earlier shrine (Fig. 5). Both images are still visible, although the Hindu ensemble was inserted later and partly obscures the Buddhist icon. The later Hindu addition mav have occurred

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity o

f T

enne

ssee

, Kno

xvill

e] a

t 18:

57 1

4 Se

ptem

ber

2014

150 Julia A.B. Hegewald

s *■■», mutpi * $

Fig. 3. Buddhist caitya set above the water spout of Nagbaha HitI at Patan.

around the seventeenth or nineteenth century, when Hinduism aimed at bringing the Buddhist community of the Valley under its influence. Interesting, however, is that the Buddhist image was not entirely covered or even removed from its niche, as is so often the case with Licchavi caityas with empty niches. This fact may rather hint at a change in the population of this part of Kathmandu. Being close to Svayambhunath, it may initially have been dominated by Buddhists. The later arrival of Hindu communities may have led to this addition and undestructive interaction, typical of the Kathmandu Valley. An arrangement of Buddhist images set in front of Hindu icons, again only partially overlapping with the former ones, is found in Alko Hit! at Patan (Fig. 6). The dhara has three makara spouts in its northern wall above which are three small shrines. Over the central spout is an image of Buddha-dharma-cakra which either had no preceding Hindu image, or which entirely obscures it (Fig. 2). Above the left spout is an image of Laksml Narayana with

Buddha Sakyamuni set later in front (Fig. 6). On the right side, it is Visnu ArdhakuntI which is partly obscured by an image of Buddha Amoghasiddhi [5]. It could be possible that in the course of the Hinduization process of the Buddhist communities of the Valley, Hindu images were set in front of Buddhist icons. At a later stage this process was then partially reversed by reinstalling Buddhist icons but tolerating Hindu images associated with them.

While all Buddha images discussed above are about thirty to forty cm in height, life-size sculptures of the Buddha were installed in Nagbaha HitI and Alko HitI in Patan (Fig. 7). In both instances, the images are situated at the stairs of access to the dhara, reminding the bather or water fetcher of the religious connotations of water and the sacred nature of the site. The image in Nagbaha HitI is a standing Buddha in abhaya-mudra, while the Alko HitI example is seated in bhumisparsa-mudra. A further large Buddha image is found in Naya HitI in Patan, where a seated Buddha in bhumisparsa-

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity o

f T

enne

ssee

, Kno

xvill

e] a

t 18:

57 1

4 Se

ptem

ber

2014

The Lotus Pool: Buddhist Water Sanctuaries in The Kathmandu Valley 151

Fig. 4. Image of Buddha Amoghasiddhi in the dhara at the cross-road in Pasupatinath.

mudra was set in a casket on top of a pillar in the centre of the dhara. Here, the Buddha is represented as cakravartin, the ruler of the world, seated on the axis-mundi at the centre of the universe [6]. The arrangement is also interesting from a point of view of user or caste restrictions. While Chyasal Hiti, located on the same square, slightly to its north, is not open to lower castes, all castes have access to the waters of Naya Hiti. The central Buddha image was installed in 1980 and understood by the local people as a sign against caste restrictions (Becker-Ritterspach, 1995, pp. 10-13).

Bodhisattvas are also frequently depicted in the dharas of the Kathmandu Valley towns. Sixth and

Fig. 5. Dhara on the way to Svayambhunath. An image of Laksmi Narayana has been set in front of a Buddha icon.

ninth century depictions of the Buddha flanked by bodhisattvas are found in the Siddha-pokhari in Bhaktapur and in Alko Hiti in Patan. A ninth century image of the Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara with two kneeling female attendants is situated in Ga Hiti in Patan, and a large image of Avalokitesvara as Padmapani Lokesvara with two female attendants, is contained within a small caitya, facing a draw well in the north of Patan. Avalokitesvara, also called Padmapani (Lotus-bearer), Lokesvara, Lokanath (the latter two meaning Lord of the World) and specific to Nepal, Karunamaya, is the earliest bodhisattva to be represented in Nepal (Deva, 1984, p. 75). During

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity o

f T

enne

ssee

, Kno

xvill

e] a

t 18:

57 1

4 Se

ptem

ber

2014

152 Julia A.B. Hegewald

Fig. 6. Alko Hiti, Patan. A Buddha statue has been set in front of an image of Laksmi Narayana.

the Transitional Period, he became the most favoured and popular bodhisattva of Nepal. Depictions of the female Bodhisattva Tara, the consort of Avalokitesvara, are enshrined in the dhara at the foot of Swayambhu Hill and in the largest dhara on the main road in Panauti. The Swayambhu image is a standing Tara, while the one at Panauti depicts her seated in lalitasana, with her right leg hanging down and supported by a lotus (Fig. 8). Carrying a rosary and a book in her upper set of hands, she might be a Dhanada Tara. Avalokitesvara and Tara are believed to be special protectors and guides of all human beings crossing the ocean of existence to a new rebirth.

Among the aniconic depictions of the Buddha in early Nepali reliefs are water vessels, known as kalasa, ghata or kumbha, which filled with water {purna kalasa) are auspicious symbols of divinity (Slusser, 1982, p. 352). An example of this is found on the pedestal of Tukan-bahal, Kathmandu, and another, which once decorated the drum of a stupa, is integrated into a shrine sacred to Kumari at Jaisideval-tol, Kathmandu. Later on, water vessels became symbols of Hindu mother goddesses. A small dhara on the main road in Panauti has carvings of large water vessels on either side of the spout-niche, which may represent the Buddha in aniconic form. It is also interesting that water-filled pots may become the temporary dwelling place of gods when images need repairing or to be moved. This was the case, when in the seventeenth century, the palace of Patan was expanded under King Siddhi-Narasimha, and the Hatkovihara, an eleventh century Buddhist monastery, had to be shifted to a new location in the west of Patan. Still today, in the month of Gula (July/August), at the end of Buddhist year, a ca. fifty cm high copper water basin containing an image of the Buddha is set up in front of the gate of the palace extension. The ceremony relates to the transfer of the divinity to a vessel for transporting it to its new location, and shows that reminders of earlier phases of developments often survive in rituals (Gutschow, 1982, pp. 151, 178).

Tute-dharas Tute-dharas (Nepali), also called jahrii (NewarT) or

jaladroni and siladroni (in Licchavi Sanskrit inscriptions), are reservoir fountains found in the streets and on the squares of the Newar towns, reserved for drinking water only. They consist of stone cisterns holding a few gallons of water and are either free-standing or built into the wall of a house or monastery. The tute-dharas are filled manually via a funnel arrangement in the rear, and the stone containers are drilled for spouts, and furnished with stoppered spigots to release the water. Sectarian attributions of tute-dharas axe often difficult, because most troughs are plain, probably because they were painted and the paint has worn off [7]. Some tute-dharas. however, are found in front of or built into the facades of Buddhist monasteries (Bahals, BahTs), as for instance in front of the Jetavarna Mahavihara in Bhaktapur. A clearly Buddhist example is situated behind the first

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity o

f T

enne

ssee

, Kno

xvill

e] a

t 18:

57 1

4 Se

ptem

ber

2014

The Lotus Pool: Buddhist Water Sanctuaries in The Kathmandu Valley 153

Fig. 7. Alko Hiti, Patan. A monumental seated Buddha image was enshrined in the west wall.

gateway of the Kwa Bahal, the 'Golden Temple' at Patan, before entering the actual court-yeard (Fig. 9). The tute-dhara has a small stupa set on its top and an image of a standing bodhisattva in anjali-mudra, possibly Avalokitesvara as Krtafijali Lokesvara, on the lower part of the stone cistern.

Ghats The most important Buddhist cremation ground for both Newars and Tibetans, the two main Buddhist communities in the Valley, is Karabir Maman, also called Karnadip or Varahi Cremation Ground (ancient name: Ramadoli), situated just south of the confluence of Bagmati and Bisnumati, below Bidjeswari Bahal, south of Kathmandu. It is a sacred place for the Buddhist community where many of their most revered teachers were cremated [8]. Also further along the Bagmati, east of the confluence, one finds Buddhist shrines and caityas from all periods intermingled with Hindu temples and images. Many Buddhist votive stupas and images

are concentrated at Teku Dobhan, just east of the confluence, called Chitamani Tirtha by the Buddhists of the Valley, and at Pacali Ghat slightly further up stream. Amatya, in his short study of the Bagmati emphasizes that the river is for both Hindus and Buddhist a sacred place (Amatya, 1994, p. 9).

Pasupatinath, the most important Hindu cremation ground in Nepal, is also sacred to the Buddhists of the Valley. They believe that the original form of Pasupatinath is a Buddhist deity and revere Pasupatinath as the Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara who, like Siva, is called Lokesvara, the Lord of the World (Dowman, 1995, p. 39). In this respect it is interesting that still in the sixteenth century, Buddhist priests had rights at Pasupatinath, and still today, on the occasion of an annual festival, a bodhisattva crown is placed onto the Pasupati linga which subsequently is worshipped as Avalokitesvara or as an image of the five Dhyani Buddhas (Tathagatas) (Slusser, 1982, p. 220) [9]. There is also

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity o

f T

enne

ssee

, Kno

xvill

e] a

t 18:

57 1

4 Se

ptem

ber

2014

154 Julia A.B. Hegewald

Fig. 8. Seated Tara in the dhara on the main road in Panauti.

a fine twelfth century standing Buddha image partly sunken into the ground of Rajarajesvari Ghat at Pasupatinath. At Surye Ghat, north of the Pasupati Temple and right on the river, a couple of caves were excavated from the rock. Tradition holds that the two revered Buddhist Mahasiddhas Tilopa and Naropa, who were supporters of a tantric stream of Buddhism that later developed into the Tibetan Kagyu School, lived here in the tenth century A.D.

Buddhist water sanctuaries Svayambhunath and Bodhnath Stupas One of the earliest Buddhist foundations in the

Fig. 9. The Buddhist tutc-dhara of the Kwa Bahal in Patan.

Kathmandu Valley is the stupa of Svayambhunath (the Self Existent Lord). It was founded by the Buddhist King Vrsadeva at the beginning of the fifth century A.D. and is still of great importance for the Buddhists of the Valley and for pilgrims from Tibet and India. In the creation story of Svayambhunath, which is also the cosmogony of the Nepal Valley, found in the Svayambhu-purana, the stupa, situated on a hill, is surrounded on all sides by the cosmic waters of the lake Toadhanahrada which filled the entire Valley. In other versions of the story, a lotus growing from the lake opens up and reveals Svayambhunath. This story again refers to the Buddhist theme of the lotus pool as the

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity o

f T

enne

ssee

, Kno

xvill

e] a

t 18:

57 1

4 Se

ptem

ber

2014

The Lotus Pool: Buddhist Water Sanctuaries in The Kathmandu Valley 155

nourishing source and origin of Buddhism, an image of the vast and fruitful Buddha nature, and of water as container of the seed of transcendence, discussed before. In order to provide access to the stupa and liveable space in the Valley, the Bodhisattva Manjusri cut a cleft into the mountain range in the south of the Valley and drained off the waters through the Chobar (Cobhar) Gorge.

At the stupa as it stands today, there is an interesting water connection. Directly next to the stupa on its northern side is a small shallow basin containing a rectangular oblong stone (Fig. 10). The small basin is called Nag-Pur or Vasiga (Snake Sanctuary) and the stone represents the water spirit which is venerated by worshippers, who by pleasing the spirit hope to secure rain and fertility for their crops (Josephson, 1985, p. 18). In the Buddhist tradition the northern direction is connected with the element water, with the Buddha Amoghasiddhi and the lotus. Therefore, the Buddha enshrined in the niche above the miniature tank is Amoghasiddhi, in front of whose shrine is frequently placed a small square pit in which his protective snake is said to dwell.

At the stupa of Baudhanath (Bodhnath), a further important water spirit, the naga-raja Vasuki, is present. Vasuki is also installed on the north side of the stupa, and raised on its lowermost platform. The sculpture shows him, half-human half-snake, riding on a turtle. Snakes are a primary symbol of water and attract deep reverence from both the Buddhists and the Hindus of the Valley. According to Nepali mythology, there are nine chief nagas. The nagas used to dwell in the lake that once filled the Kathmandu Valley and were washed away to India when Manjusri drained off the water. The nagas, however, did return to Nepal, and chief among them is Vasuki, who presides over the treasure of Pasupatinath. Vasuki's temple at Pasupatinath is situated next to the Pasupati temple. As Mucalinda, the serpent is closely associated with the Buddha, with the Dhyani Buddha Amonghasiddhi and with the Dipaiikara Buddha whose vehicle is a snake. According to the tradition, the nagas were more capable than human beings of understanding the fundamental teachings and philosophy of Buddhism. Therefore, only the snakes received the full teachings of the Buddha and revealed them only centuries later to Nagarjuna who then taught Mahayana Buddhism to humanity.

Fig. 10. The Nag-Pur (Vasiga) on the northern side of Svayambhunath Stupa.

Budhanilkantha and Balaju At Budhanilkantha, ca. six kilometres north of Kathmandu, a monumental stone image of Visnu reclining on the cosmic snake Sesa or Ananta (Jalasayana Narayana) was set into an eighteen metre square water tank, portraying the god as floating on the cosmic ocean in-between two kalpas. The image was consecrated by Visnugupt about A.D. 641 and is the largest image of its kind in Nepal. Although iconographically, the sculpture is an image of Visnu, Buddhists worship it as a form of the Buddha (Slusser, 1982, p. 215) [10]. Because the Buddha, as Janardana, is conceived as an

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity o

f T

enne

ssee

, Kno

xvill

e] a

t 18:

57 1

4 Se

ptem

ber

2014

156 Julia A.B. Hegewald

incarnation of Visnu, and because the Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara has a particular form called Nilakantha (Bhattacharyya, 1993, p. 48), this may not be so surprising. At the site, there are many prayer flags around and over the water basin, stating a clear Buddhist presence.

Also at Balaju, where an image of Jalasayana Harihara (van Kooij, 1978, p. 6) is set into the centre of a fifteen by twelve metre water basin, is a site sacred to the Buddhists. North of the twenty-two water spouts, the Baisdhara, between the fishpond and the tank containing the Harihara image, is a temple of the Buddhist goddess Haritl. Several Buddhist sculptures are spread over the area around the water tanks and placed above the spouts of the Baisdhara.

Ses Narayan and Godavari Kund

Ses Narayan is a water sanctuary just north of Pharping in the south of the Valley. There are four tanks on two different levels at the site. The two lower pools are rectangular oblong and semi-circular, separated by a bridge or causeway running in-between them. On a slightly raised level, reached in continuation of the causeway, are two more pools, one irregularly shaped with a semi-circular bay, and a circular one. Above the pools, built against a cliff face is the temple of Ses Narayan. Next to it is a row of Buddhist sculptures, depicting the Green Tara, Guru Rinpoche Padmasambhava and a bodhisattva in lalitasana. Next to these is the Yangleso Cave of Guru Rinpoche. A Tibetan guidebook from the eighteenth century describes this Newar Buddhist site as the place where Padmasambhava sat in samadhi when a group of venomous snakes appeared hanging down from the cliff. The Guru, by striking with his vaj'ra, turned them into stone.

For the Buddhists, Godavari is the site where the Bodhisattva Manjusri rested, and overlooking the lake that filled the Kathmandu Valley, decided to drain off the water in order to worship Svayambhunath in its centre. Godavari Kund, is a sacred water site with four tanks. The most sacred pool is in front of a natural spring in the east of the compound. Next to the rock cut pool is a shrine where the Buddhists worship Vasundhara, the goddess of the earth, and several images of the Buddha are scattered over the area. Colourful

prayer flags make a Buddhist presence clear, but the Hindus also come here to pay homage to the goddess Sri Laksml. A screening wall separates the sacred spring from a large rectangular tank with five makara spouts on the east side. To the south of the tank is a further small tank. The fourth tank is outside the complex, built against the compound wall and was probably used for ablutions before entering the sacred precinct. K. Van Kooij, in his study of the religions of Nepal, remarks that the fact that many important sites are sacred to both Buddhists and Hindus, does not mean that they have become more or less one religion. It rather shows that both religions have left their distinct marks at places which were sanctified through the presence of water, and the Buddhists and Hindus can worship their own gods in a common sacred place (van Kooij, 1978, pp. 5-7).

Nala, Karunamaya Temple

Probably the most fascinating and least well known Buddhist water sanctuary in the Kathmandu Valley is the site of the Karunamaya Temple at Nala (Fig. 11). Nala is a small village about twenty kilometres east of Bhaktapur and three kilometres north of Banepa, and the temple is found at its western edge. Karunamaya is an epithet of Avalokitesvara, the Luminous Lord of Infinite Compassion, among whose many names, Karunamaya is the one preferred in Nepal. He is the lord of compassion, the world saviour, but also the giver of rain and fertility (Slusser, 1982, p. 282). The Karunamaya Temple complex is a walled compound, entered from the east. At the western end is the Karunamaya pagoda temple, and in front of it is a twelve by nine metre tank, with the shorter side pointing towards the temple. It has a square platform in its centre which is reached by a narrow causeway from the eastern side of the tank. Although in India there are many examples of islands or platforms in tanks and lakes reached by causeways, they usually carry Hindu and Islamic religious connotations, and few examples belong to the Sikh and Jain religions. The Karunamaya temple tank arrangement is a rare case of a Buddhist association with an island in the centre of a tank. This is particularly interesting because it is not a common feature of the other religions in the Valley to construct islands in tanks, and the Rani Pokhari and the Macche Narayana temple at Macchegaon are the

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity o

f T

enne

ssee

, Kno

xvill

e] a

t 18:

57 1

4 Se

ptem

ber

2014

The Lotus Pool: Buddhist Water Sanctuaries in The Kathmandu Valley 157

Fig. 11. The Karunamaya Temple and water tank with island and bridge at Nala.

only other two examples in Nepal known to the auther. In the centre of the platform at Nala stands a stone slab with an image of Avalokitesvara on the top and a worn inscription beneath. In front of the slab is a moulded lotus slab with a depression in its centre, probably used for offerings. On the west wall of the platform are sculptures of donors. Behind the platform, almost centrally located in the tank is a pillar with a casket on top, containing an ever burning flame, which may refer to Avalokitesvara as Lord of Light. While the platform is reached via the bridge from the east, access to the water of the tank is from the west, on the side of the temple, where wide steps lead down to the water level. Considering the rarity of this architectural arrangement in Nepal, its previously unknown association with Buddhism, and the high degree of elaboration of the structures, it is surprising that it has not yet found mention and detailed discussion in any Western art-historical writing.

Conclusion

With respect to the large number and immense variety of Buddhist water structures in the Kathmandu Valley, it becomes clear what high importance Buddhist donors and builders of tanks and reservoirs must have attributed to water and water structures, and how interwoven they are with Buddhist practice and religious belief. Although, in this article, I have concentrated on the Kathmandu Valley of Nepal, Buddhist water architecture is found outside the Valley and in all other Buddhist countries. Even in arid Tibet, we find Buddhist water structures. The Jokhang was allegedly built on top of a water basin, and Lake Manasarovar, the most sacred lake of the Buddhists, is situated in Tibet. Among the Buddhist water sites of India, there are Buddhist images on the ghats at Jahngira at Benares, at Allahabad, and also the ghats at Nagarjunakonda were used by the Buddhist

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity o

f T

enne

ssee

, Kno

xvill

e] a

t 18:

57 1

4 Se

ptem

ber

2014

158 Julia A.B. Hegewald

community. At Vaisall, there are three major Buddhist tanks, the Kharauna Pokhara or Coronation Tank, the Lotus Tank and the large Market Hrda or Monkey Tank at the stupa complex at Kolhua. There are famous Buddhist tanks at Rajgir and Bodhgaya and a modern monumental Buddha image centralizes the Hussain Sagar at Hyderabad. In Sri Lanka, there are many Buddhist tanks such as the 'Sea of Parakram' which had an island with a stupa in its centre, the Lotus tank at Polonnaruwa, the Kuttam Pokuna (Twin Tanks) and the tank of the Isurumuniya monastery at the Tisa Veva, the latter two at Anuradhapura.

The religious connotations and importance water carries in a Buddhist context become clear from the Buddhist Sutras which frequently use water as a metaphor and an image of purity, from Buddhist cosmology, cosmogony, perceptions of time, and from ritual temple practice and purification rituals involving water. This importance is also reflected in Buddhist architecture. Due to the often complicated constructions, the high degree of elaboration, the many Buddhist images associated with water places and the frequent presence of water at sacred Buddhist sites of worship, it becomes clear that water was not only seen as essential to survival, but that it was closely connected with religious belief and practice. Buddhist water architecture in the Kathmandu Valley is not due to syncretism or the close connection with Hindu customs, but it reflects the high importance of water for Buddhists in South Asia.

Acknowledgement

The work on Water Architecture in South Asia was generously supported by the University of London Central Research Fund and by the School of Oriental and African Studies, London. All photos are by the author.

NOTES

1. See for example, the Ph.D. thesis by J.A. Patt and the many monographs and articles on temple sites not even mentioning the related water structures.

2. Examples of regional art-historical studies are by J. Jain-Neubauer, K. Mankodi, D. Davison-Jenkins, and

R.O.A. Becker-Ritterspach. Many water structures, particularly ghats, were also included in C. Pruscha's book.

3. Particularly important are the studies of J.P. Parry and P. Amado.

4. Licchavi inscriptions refer to them as pranalf. The earliest known reference dates from A.D. 550, when the grandson of king Manadeva I, Bhairavi, established a fountain at Harigaon.

5. Identification of the icons by Pandit Hem Raj Shakya, Patan (Becker-Ritterspach, 1995, p. 56).

6. Also in India, one finds examples of the Buddha as cakravartin in the centre of tanks. A seated image of the Buddha is found in the Lotus Pool near the Mahabodhi Temple at Bodhgaya, and a standing Buddha was set up in the Hussain Sagar at Hyderabad.

7. A tute-dhara north of the Darbar Square in Patan shows still such paintings. For an illustration, see Fig. 1, p. 60, of my article in South Asian Archaeology 1995 (Hegewald, forthcoming).

8. In the fifteenth century for instance, the last of the panditas, Mahapandita Vanaratna was cremated there (Dowman, 1981, p. 228).

9. Although access to the Pasupati Temple is mainly restricted to Hindus, Buddhists of certain castes have access to the compound.

10. Nilakantha is also an epithet of Siva.

BIBLIOGRAPHIC REFERENCES

Amado, P. 1971. Le Bains dans la Gange-Sa Signification. Bulletin de I'Ecole Frangaise d'Extreme Orient. No LXIII: 197-212.

Amatya, S. 1994. The Bagmati (Between Teku and Thapathali) - A Monument Guide. Modern Printing Press, Kathmandu.

Bangdel, L.S. 1987. 2500, Jahre nepalesische Kunst. List Verlag, Munchen.

Becker-Ritterspach, R.O.A. 1995. Water Conduits in the Kathmandu Valley. Munshiram Manoharlal, New Delhi.

Bhattacharyya, B. 1993. (first published 1924). The Indian Buddhist.Iconography. Asian Educational Services, New Delhi & Madras.

Brauen, M. 1992. Das Mandala — Der Heilige Kreis im tantrischen Buddhismus. Du Mont Buchverlag, Koln.

Conze, E. 1988. A Short History of Buddhism. Unwin Paperbacks, London.

Davison-Jenkins, D. 1988. The Irrigation and. Water Supply System of the City of Vijayanagara. PhD thesis, Cambridge.

Deva, K. 1984. Images of Nepal. Archaeological Survey of India, New Delhi.

Dowman, K. 1981. A Buddhist Guide to the Powerplaces of the Kathmandu Valley. Kailash. 8, 3-4: 183-291.

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity o

f T

enne

ssee

, Kno

xvill

e] a

t 18:

57 1

4 Se

ptem

ber

2014

The Lotus Pool: Buddhist Water Sanctuaries in The Kathmandu Valley 159

Dowman, K. 1993. The Great Stupa of Boudhnath — The Tibetan Legend of the Great Stupa. Footpr in t Publishing, Poulnabrucky, Ballyvaughan, Ireland.

Dowman, K. 1995. Power Places of Kathmandu — Hindu and Buddhist Holy Sites in the Sacred Valley of Nepal. Thames and Hudson, London.

Eck, D.L. 1993. Benaras — City of Light. Penguin Books, New Delhi.

Gellner, D.N. 1994. Monk, Householder, and Tantric Priest — Newar Buddhism and Its Hierarchy of Ritual. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

Gutschow, N. 1982. Stadtraum und Ritual der newarischen Stadte im Kathmandu-Tal — Eine architekturan-thropologische Untersuchung. Kohlhammer Verlag, Stuttgart.

Harvey, P. 1990. An Introduction to Buddhism. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

Hegewald, J.A.B. forthcoming. Water Architecture in the Kathmandu Valley — Function and Faith, in: South Asian Archaeology 1995, B. Allchin, ed. Oxford & IBH Publishing Co. Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi.

Jain-Neubauer, J. 1981. The Stepwells of Gujarat in Art-Historical Perspective. Abhinav Publications, Delhi.

Josephson, R. 1985. Swoyambu Historical Pictorial. Satya Ho Book, Kathmandu.

van Kooij, K.R. 1978. Religion in Nepal. Brill, Leiden. Mahajan, J. 1984. The Ganga Trail — Foreign Accounts

and Sketches of the River Scene. Clarion Books, New Delhi.

Mankodi, K. 1991. The Queen's Stepwell at Patan. Project for Indian Cultural Studies No 3, Bombay.

Parry, J.P. 1994. Death in Banaras. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

Patt, J.A. 1979. The Use and Symbolism of Water in Ancient Indonesian Art and Architecture, 2 Vols., Ph.D. thesis, University of California, Berkeley.

Pruscha, C. 1975. Kathmandu Valley — The Preservation of Physical Environment and Cultural Heritage -Protective Inventory, 2 Vols. Anton Schroll & Co., Vienna.

Schlombs, A. and E. Strober. 1992. Qucllen — Das Wasser in der Kunst Ostasiens. Museum fur Kunst and Gewerbe, Hamburg & Museum fur Ostasiatische Kunst, Koln, Hamburg.

Slusser, M. 1982. Nepal Mandala — A Cultural Study of the Kathmandu Valley, 2 Vols. University Press, Princeton.

Tachibana, S. 1986. (first published 1926). The Ethics of Buddhism. Cosmo Publications, New Delhi.

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity o

f T

enne

ssee

, Kno

xvill

e] a

t 18:

57 1

4 Se

ptem

ber

2014