<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108181144/636a964a9c7e80680e05dc5cjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000"/>Nepal has the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/can-nepal-be-the-powerhouse-of-asia/">fifth highest hydropower potential</a> in the world. Besides electricity, which can be used for peak energy supply, hydropower <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/reservoirs-of-suspicion/hydropower-geopolitics%20,3991">reservoirs</a> can also play a role in regulating water in rivers, flood control and irrigation.With federalism, Nepal has the potential to <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/Power-for-Nepal-review,2884">decentralise hydropower</a> along with political power. All seven provinces, except Province 2 in the Tarai, have enormous capacity to develop hydropower to generate downstream benefits, such as increasing agriculture output, boosting tourism and generating employment.The government’s current budget includes a provision to develop one large hydropower project in each province. Prioritising water value first and peak energy second, Nepal can double its megawatt potential by maximising storage and daily peaking of run-of-river projects, while regulating river flow.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/making-nepal-powerful/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Making Nepal powerful</a>, EditorialAll this would allow 5.4 million households across Nepal to gradually <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/look-whats-cooking-in-nepal/">replace imported cooking gas</a> and traditional firewood with cheaper electricity, reducing Nepal’s <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/blogs/thebrief/2012/08/14/lost-in-priority/">trade deficit</a> and <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=19406#.XdKA2dIza71">improving health by eliminating indoor pollution</a> from open kitchen fires.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108181144/636a964d9c7e80680e05dc5djpeg.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="281"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>If each family consumes 1KW of energy and if 3 million families switch from cooking gas and firewood, we will need 3,000MW in the morning and evening peak hours, which can be provided by new mega-projects designed to generate 15,000GWh. Of course, the distribution system would need to be improved and <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/the-cost-of-light/">demand side reforms</a> have to be in place.The market value of the electricity generated could reach Rs180 billion, which would replace the import of Rs100 billion worth of cooking gas, Rs20 billion in transportation and petroleum products, and Rs50 billion worth of electricity for industries. With millions of people using electricity in the kitchen, indoor air would be healthier.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/an-energy-windfall-for-nepal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">An energy windfall for Nepal?</a>, Kushal GurungThe main problem for the provinces today is that they do not have this supply, which is impeding industrial development and job creation. Developing hydropower will replace high-value raw materials and energy imports, and allow gross value addition compared to investment in other sectors.Income from selling the energy could provide the provinces with the resources to fund their own development projects. Initially, identifying and developing 500MW projects in each of the six provinces would generate a total of 3,000MW. The Nepal Electricity Authority’s current electricity rate of Rs12/unit would provide each province Rs30 billion in gross income — a total of Rs180 billion that could increase GDP by 10%.This plan would need the central and provincial governments to work closely together, with Kathmandu providing the financial guarantee and licenses for the provincial governments to develop projects.Cost of financing is a major component of the outlay in hydropower. Domestic banks loans at 13% interest would cut into profits, so projects would need international financing at 1-2% for 25 years. The Non-Resident Nepali Association could be the bridge to connect Nepal with financial assistance schemes like the Chinese Government’s BRI, the US Millennium Challenge Corporation, and others.Nepal could also seek financial assistance from the Export-Import (EXIM) Bank of China, Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), Exim INDIA Bank, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), Department for International Development (DFID), World Bank Group, Asian Development Bank (ADB), Export-Import Bank of Korea and others. Financing hydropower development of 5,000MW would require $12 billion in soft credit, to be paid back in 30 years, and earnings from these projects can easily sustain provincial development expenses.The Nepal Government’s 6 projects for 6 provinces would take 6 years to come into production after necessary preparations, such as a study report, environmental impact assessment, land acquisition and lease. A cabinet decision is all it would take to fast track the process, and construction could begin by the second year.  <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=18195#.XdJ_UtIza70">Gyanendra Lal Pradhan</a> is a member of the <a href="http://cnind.org/">Confederation of Nepalese Industries</a>, and is associated with <a href="https://hydrosolutions.com.np/">Hydro Solutions</a>.

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Decentralising (hydro)power

<figure><img width="1500" height="1000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108181148/636a96549c7e80680e05dc60jpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>Photo: EDCW</figcaption></figure>Last month saw the historic signing of the Nepal-India energy Joint Steering Committee agreement to build the new Butwal-Gorakhpur 400KV crossborder transmission line. When completed, it opens up the possibility of Nepal exporting surplus power to regional markets like India and Bangladesh from power projects in the Marsyangdi, Kali Gandaki and Budi Gandaki corridors. With so many hydropower schemes in the pipeline, Nepal may soon have surplus energy at certain times of year, which makes crossborder transmission lines imperative. Discussions about Bangladesh’s desire to import up to 9,000MW of electricity means Nepal must have a clear business model for the regional electricity market.Besides hydropower, the new crossborder transmission line has also opened up the <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/energy-windfall-in-Nepal,2539">prospect of large-scale wind and solar farms</a> in cold, windy and cloudless regions like Mustang and other trans-Himalayan districts.A Global Atlas prepared by the World Bank shows Mustang is ideal for wind and <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-turns-to-solar-and-batteries-to-meet-peak-demand/">solar</a> energy development. Just using 2% of the district’s land area for solar could yield a generation capacity of 3,000MW, along with 1,200MW through wind energy projects. (See accompanying maps).Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/making-nepal-powerful/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Making Nepal powerful</a>, Editorial  <img width="1500" height="993" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108181148/636a96589c7e80680e05dc61jpeg.jpg" alt="">Some will question the need to go for wind and solar in a country with such abundant hydropower potential. However, wind and solar are the fastest growing energy sources globally, accounting for more than 70% of new energy addition since 2013.Low cost and speed of installation make these technologies attractive <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/biomass-energy-for-nepal-plains,2098">even in countries with hydropower</a>. Some of the potential for wind and solar power in Nepal will be discussed at the Independent Power Producers’ Association, Nepal (IPPAN) Power Summit 2019 in Kathmandu, 21-22 November.Latest solar auctions have seen prices drop below two cents per KW/h. In India, the Adani group built the 648MW Kamuthi solar power project in Tamil Nadu within one year. It is unimaginable to build a hydro project of such a size so fast.To be sure, building <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=16902#.XcujT9Iza70">wind</a> and solar projects in Mustang would not be a cake walk. Transmission lines and road access remain challenges, although they are improving and could be surmounted if the resources are allocated. The 10m wide Beni-Korala highway currently under construction would be a notable step forward.A 220KV substation is being built in Dana, 40 km from Jomsom, but land acquisition and environmental approvals are major roadblocks. The entire district falls inside the Annapurna Conservation Area and existing rules require environmental impact assessments for new energy projects — even though nothing would be more environment friendly than renewable energy development. Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/decentralising-hydropower/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Decentralising (hydro)power</a>, Gyanendra Lal Pradhan  <img width="1500" height="1135" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108181148/636a965b9c7e80680e05dc62jpeg.jpg" alt="">Red tape and overlapping jurisdiction between municipal, provincial and national government make the entire approval process more arduous than the construction itself. Likewise, almost 99% of the land in Mustang is government-owned, and buying or leasing it requires official approval, which could also take years. Without resolving these issues, it will be difficult to attract investment, domestic or foreign.The onus is on the federal government to come up with a solution, and with a two-thirds majority in Parliament, the ruling party has an historic opportunity to move fast. One solution could be to replicate the successful model of the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI), a central government undertaking formed under the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy dedicated to developing large-scale, grid-connected solar and wind projects. Registered as a power trader, its role is to auction and manage solar and wind farms.SECI develops large-scale projects then auctions them to independent power producers (IPPs) to build, own and operate. SECI then signs 25-year deals with the lowest bidders, buying the power from them and selling it to state electricity-distributing companies at a nominal premium. The SECI model is a win-win for IPPs and utilities, which do not have to spend time and resources to develop projects, while utilities get electricity at a competitive rate due to the bidding process.Exporting electricity is arguably our biggest opportunity to reduce the trade deficit with India, and together with hydropower we must also pick the low hanging fruits of solar and wind energy. If we want to do it big and quick, we must develop gigawatt-scale wind and solar projects in Mustang, where it is realistic to generate and export 3,000MW of solar and wind power within five years. <a style="background-color: #ffffff; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/wind-energy-for-electricity-in-nepal,1997">Kushal Gurung</a> is CEO of <a style="background-color: #ffffff; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="http://www.windpowernepal.com/">WindPower Nepal</a> and head of the <a style="background-color: #ffffff; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.edcnepal.org/">Energy Development Council</a>.

An energy windfall for Nepal?

<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108141156/636a60af9c7e80680e056e91jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="480"/>The Independent Power Producers Association of Nepal (IPPAN) is hosting the <a href="http://www.nepalenergyforum.com/power-summit-2019/">Nepal Power Summit</a> from 21-22 November in Kathmandu. The event will draw over 700 energy experts from Nepal and globally.<a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/business/Power-investors-meet-2018,4130">Past Hydropower Summits</a> and <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/blogs/thebrief/2013/08/26/powered-up/">Energy Conclaves</a> have yielded little results, and there is mental fatigue among Nepalis about seminars, conferences, workshops and summits because they are usually talk shops with no follow up action and real tangible impact.This year’s Nepal Power Summit is based on Nepal’s achievements in the sector in the recent past, and will focus on regional energy trade, transmission lines infrastructure, enabling regulations and financing. The key breakthrough in <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/invest-in-investment/">mobilising investment in energy</a> will depend on breaking monopolies and opening up new markets. No one will invest in power unless there is somewhere to sell it.Which is why Nepal needs to create <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/the-cost-of-light/">greater demand at home</a>. The summit will look into all possibilities including energy for transport, which presently is almost solely dependent on imported fossil fuels. The idea is that we must use as much energy for productive domestic end uses before we plan to export.The theme for this year’s summit is Powering the Asian Century, and this is a recognition of the region becoming an engine of global economic growth. Rising living standards of Asians need goods and services that are produced with <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-turns-to-solar-and-batteries-to-meet-peak-demand/">clean, renewable</a> energy that do not exacerbate the climate crisis and contribute to air pollution.Nepal can and should position itself as the source of clean hydropower for the Asian century. We need to grab this opportunity, it could our chance to bring really big change to Nepal.While some people <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/how-they-kept-nepal-in-the-dark-ages/">cursed the darkness during the years of power cuts</a>, the private sector stepped up and took the lead. The public and the government began to engage, and then came the investors.  Nepal was still addicted to foreign aid and pleaded at donor meetings to get other countries to build power plants for us, free of cost.The idea of investment replacing aid is now catching on, however old habits die hard and the dependency syndrome is still deeply rooted. The Chinese president just reminded us that only Nepalis can develop Nepal. Others can help mobilise resources, give us access to technology and finance, but at the end of the day, Nepalis will have to do the heavy lifting.Nearly one in four Nepalis are now working, earning and sending money home from all parts of the globe. The spending power of Nepalis can be felt during these weeks of festivities. Gold and land are still the preferred investments for people who still do not trust the market, the businesses and the government.Hydropower is perhaps the one sector that is now able to draw public investment. We have to remind people that investing in hydropower is a good idea and protect the money small and big investors put into energy by expanding domestic and regional demand for the electricity generated.Nepalis then need to wean themselves from imported LPG, petrol and diesel. The energy sector in Nepal can create hundreds of thousands of new jobs and help keep our young professionals at home. Along the way, we have to learn how to better negotiate with our neighbours and respond to their market needs.We are not fooling anyone by lining our streets with flower pots and cloth banners to cover our dirty rivers for a couple of days. Ensuring the prosperity of 30 million people is hard work, but powering the Asian century is our historic opportunity.Anil Chitrakar is President of Siddharthinc.

Anil Chitrakar

Can Nepal be the powerhouse of Asia?

Violations of Nepal’s airspace during WWII

In 2025, Nepal’s Ministry of Tourism <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/the-everest-industry" target="_blank">added six new 8,000m peaks </a>to those listed on its website. These are subsidiary summits of <a href="https://explorersweb.com/kangchenjungas-challenging-confusing-subpeaks/" target="_blank">Kangchenjunga</a> and <a href="https://explorersweb.com/through-the-unknown-to-the-impossible-lhotse-middle/" target="_blank">Lhotse</a>, which some view as insufficiently independent to be called separate peaks. In 2024, the international mountaineering federation (UIAA) responded to a request by the Nepal Mountaineering Association (NMA) and the government to officially recognise these peaks. While recognising that ‘there is no one definition of a “mountain” or a “peak” or a “top” or “point” in topographic terms’, and encouraging further debate the UIAA’s opinion was that the 8,000m peaks should continue to the ‘Classic 14’, first completed by Reinhold Messner in 1986. The degree of prominence and isolation of <a href="https://www.climbing.com/news/new-8000-meter-mountains-nepal/?scope=initial" target="_blank">the six new peaks </a>varies, with Yalung Kang having the strongest claim to being a separate peak with a prominence of 135m, but they are all separate enough to be included on some peak-bagging lists. The UIAA’s own list of 4,000m summits in the European Alps includes Punta Giordani with a prominence of only 6m. Whatever the case for the six peaks being geographically separate mountains, they represent significant climbing challenges. They are not minor tops that can simply be ‘bagged’ on route to a main summit. In the case of <a href="https://explorersweb.com/through-the-unknown-to-the-impossible-lhotse-middle/" target="_blank">Lhotse Middle and Lhotse Shar</a>, no one has ever managed to traverse between them and Lhotse itself.  <figure><img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20260107080144_881321a6e46818beb7bbd4fe6f21589d89d19bf77ae8218474d373ef7ab0c431.png" data-media-id="editor_5" data-image-id="20260107080144_881321a6e46818beb7bbd4fe6f21589d89d19bf77ae8218474d373ef7ab0c431" data-rendition-name="original" width="2888" height="1590" loading="lazy" alt="New 8,000ers"><figcaption>Nepal’s 8 existing 8,000ers: Chomolungma 8,848.86, Kangchenjunga 8,586, Lhotse 8,516, Makalu 8,485, Manaslu 8,163, Dhaulagiri 8,167, Annapurna 8,091, Cho Oyu 8,201. Photo: GOOGLE EARTH PRO</figcaption></figure>   <figure><img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20260107080144_27bf905c1a559c46819dc96ca33d22c27fc301d415fc034f26b8acd105c12da7.png" data-media-id="editor_6" data-image-id="20260107080144_27bf905c1a559c46819dc96ca33d22c27fc301d415fc034f26b8acd105c12da7" data-rendition-name="original" width="1750" height="976" loading="lazy" alt="New 8,000ers"><figcaption>Nepal has listed six additional 8,000ers: Yalung Kang (8,505, Yalung Kang West 8,077, Kanchenjunga Central (8,473, Kanchenjunga South 8,476, Lhotse Middle 8,410, and Lhotse Shar 8,400. Photo: KUNDA DIXIT</figcaption></figure>  Several fine routes have already been climbed on these mountains, such as Slovenians Andrej Štremfelj and Marko Prezelj’s alpine style ascent of the South-West Ridge of Kangchenjunga South. The six peaks have not yet achieved universal acceptance, but it is possible that climbing an expanded list of 20 eight-thousanders could become a new mountaineering challenge, just as the 14 classic peaks are today. It is therefore interesting to analyse who is currently closest to achieving this goal, using data from The Himalayan Database and other Internet research. The first conclusion of my analysis is that these six additional peaks have received far less attention than the classic 14 eight-thousanders. One of them, Yalung Kang West, has never been climbed or even attempted: probably because it is a subsidiary peak of <a href="https://explorersweb.com/kangchenjungas-challenging-confusing-subpeaks/" target="_blank">Yalung Kang</a> which is itself a subsidiary peak. The other five peaks have seen a total of 138 ascents. Just 101 people have ever climbed one or more of the additional peaks, which compares with 354 people who climbed Everest on a single day: 23 May 2019. Russian Evgeni Vinogradski is unique in having climbed five of the six new peaks. He has also climbed six of the classic 8,000ers, giving him a total of 11 out of the 20 peaks on the expanded list. Vinogradski is now 80 and is unlikely to increase this total. Several other former Soviet climbers have climbed three of the new peaks, having participated in the 1989 traverse of the four main summits of Kangchenjunga. This includes two legends of Soviet climbing: Kazakh Anatoli Boukreev and Ukrainian Sergey Bershov, each of whom has climbed 13 out of the 20 peaks on the extended list. Boukreev died attempting Annapurna in 1997. Bershov, one of the only men to have ever climbed Lhotse South Face, is now 78 and, although he was in good form when I met him in Chamonix last summer, he is unlikely to further extend his tally. The addition of the new peaks does not take any of these climbers beyond the total of 14 peaks achieved by the 76 climbers who have completed the classic ‘Himalayan Crown’. Of those who have climbed all 14 classic eight-thousanders, only one, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/um-hong-gil-s-project-impossible" target="_blank">Korean Um Hong-Gil</a>, has climbed any of the six additional peaks.  <figure><img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20260107080144_5651fc6445f5e5fd838f28e1eac1da45da136b309a4a00db1e4aafa7d4836251.png" data-media-id="editor_9" data-image-id="20260107080144_5651fc6445f5e5fd838f28e1eac1da45da136b309a4a00db1e4aafa7d4836251" data-rendition-name="original" width="2142" height="1310" loading="lazy" alt="New 8,000ers"><figcaption>Only one mountaineer, Korean Um Hong-Gil, has climbed any of the six additional peaks.</figcaption></figure>  Um climbed both Lhotse Shar and Yalung Kang, giving him a total of 16 summits. He required four attempts to climb Lhotse Shar, including one attempt in which he turned back just 100m from the summit following the deaths of two teammates. He finally succeeded in 2007 via a route up the Lhotse South Face. If a race to climb all 20 eight-thousanders were to begin, Um is currently in the lead. <a href="https://www.himalayandatabase.com/" target="_blank">The Himalayan Database</a> also lists two additional mountains in Nepal not included among the peaks announced by the Ministry of Tourism: Annapurna Central and Annapurna East. If these are included, bringing the total to 22 peaks, a few additional climbers deserve mention. Poles Piotr Pustelnik and the great Jerzy Kukuczka have both climbed all 14 classic eight-thousanders as well as Annapurna East, giving them 15 out of 22. Swiss climber Erhard Loretan climbed all 14 as well, and both Annapurna subsidiary summits, giving him a total of 16 out of 22 peaks. Annapurna East has a greater prominence than some of the 6 new peaks proposed by Nepal, but Broad Peak Central in the Karakoram has the greatest prominence of any subsidiary 8000m summit. Kukuczka has also climbed Broad Peak Central, so if the list is extended to 23 peaks, he has 16, equal with Loretan and Um. Then, there is a case for Shishapangma Central in China, which further complicates the task of coming up with a definite extended list. At the moment, these subsidiary summits are not attracting a lot of attention: of the 138 summit climbs on them, only 12 occurred in the last 25 years and none since 2011. Most climbers like to have some wide recognition of a target before investing time and money in trying to achieve it, and this may make it hard to build interest. But as completing the classic 8,000m peaks starts to become a rather frequent occurrence, some may be attracted to the longer list. If this new challenge catches on, as the Ministry of Tourism presumably hopes, how long will it be before someone passes Um Hong-Gil’s total and how long before someone climbs all 20 or 22 or 23 summits? <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/comment/dispelling-myths-about-climbing" target="_blank">Edward Morgan</a> is a British author and climber based in Switzerland. His first book, Lhotse South Face - The Wall of Legends, has been published in several languages and his second book, Chasing Mallory's Dream is due out in the UK this year.

New 8,000ers may restart peak-grabbing race

One of the few Newa towns situated outside Kathmandu Valley, Panauti still evokes the feeling of a place frozen in time.&nbsp; Largely untouched by haphazard urbanisation, this town 32km east of Kathmandu used to be a kingdom revered for the sacred confluence of the Punyamati and Rosi rivers.&nbsp; The Bramhayani temple is the site of a 12 yearly Makar Mela which is attended by devotees from as far away as India.&nbsp; Panauti’s crumbling monuments were restored in the 1990s by the French government. Temples, resting places, traditional homes were rebuilt and locals trained to revive their craft. Panauti and France marked 50 years of cooperation in September.&nbsp; However, the priceless murals on the temple walls are fading and need urgent restitution. Now, these crumbling wall paintings are meticulously documented in the Wall Paintings of Panauti and Their Context.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20260106090116_31f6acf06ef879037fec8274b85153eab4468566abf71616490679bf8468b85d.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="20260106090116_31f6acf06ef879037fec8274b85153eab4468566abf71616490679bf8468b85d" data-rendition-name="original" width="1596" height="1074" loading="lazy" alt="Panauti murals"> </figure>  In his foreword, French researcher Gérard Toffin writes about some of the earliest wall paintings from the Malla period in Kathmandu, including a 17th century mural depicting the procession of Rato Machhindranath which has since been restored.&nbsp; Several other pieces still exist but in a pitiful state, defaced by scratches. ‘They were painted on a plaster coating made of soil, husks, or limestone, which were applied to the bricks making up the walls,’ Toffin notes.&nbsp; The book delves into the cult of Asta Matrika among Newa of all castes and classes, the first of which is Bramhayani. These all-pervading deities are linked to Shaktism which focuses on the importance of the female principle and together, combine the forces of life, sex and fertility with that of death and eros. The deities are painted on the wall, carved on the stone or moulded into metallic statues.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20260106090120_836efd2b0a569d8ec0fb2c6651a29b8f2dd8f8f75b72e27bb86b0bfc0ad8461f.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20260106090120_836efd2b0a569d8ec0fb2c6651a29b8f2dd8f8f75b72e27bb86b0bfc0ad8461f" data-rendition-name="original" width="1074" height="1434" loading="lazy" alt="Panauti murals"> </figure>  Riddhi Baba Pradhan, former director general of the Department of Archaeology who oversaw the restoration of Panauti 30 years ago, writes that a colourful wall painting depicting Buddha's past life at the Chabahil Chaitya built or restored during the reign of Lichhavi king Vrisdev in the 3rd century might be the earliest mural in Nepal. As for Panauti, a fragment from a 400-year-old scroll which illustrates a scene of Triveni Ghat with Dalinchok Hill in the background is likely the oldest. But that relic is currently at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in the United States.&nbsp; Pradhan recalls first encountering wall paintings inside Bramhayani temple which were deteriorated by smoke, leaky roof, dust, vermilion, sprinkles of animal blood and lack of maintenance. The team led by chemist Bhimvar Singh Thapa treated the wall paintings and some of the details were recovered including the paintings of Astamatrika and Asta Bhairav on the east, west and southern walls.&nbsp; PAINTINGS ARE NOT VISIBLE The murals were painted during the reign of the last Malla King of Bhaktapur Ranjit Malla and Queen Viswalaxmi Devi 300 years ago. But 40 years after the restoration, Pradhan notes that the murals are again in poor condition: ‘The paintings are not visible, the plaster is severely damaged and the surface has peeled off … electrical wires hang haphazardly inside the temple.’ The second lot of murals at Ghat Sattal are thought to have been commissioned during the late Malla period or the beginning of the Shah dynasty. Exterior walls depict incarnations of Lord Vishnu as well as Sesh Narayan, Ganesh, a scene of Samundra Manthan, of angels Maya, Moha, Ganga. Their attributes, dresses, ornaments, facial expressions, body postures are all skilfully represented but in a deteriorated condition.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20260106090116_88d06703ae23a271905d81f35056d41df92cbbc4b9966fac3f34821659e585a8.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="20260106090116_88d06703ae23a271905d81f35056d41df92cbbc4b9966fac3f34821659e585a8" data-rendition-name="original" width="588" height="862" loading="lazy" alt="Panauti murals "> </figure>  The wall paintings of Bramhayani Dyochhen are 90% degraded even though they were restored and repaired 40 years ago by the Panauti Integrated Project. Compared to other artefacts, wall paintings are more delicate to external factors, and if not preserved an important part of Nepal’s heritage will be lost.&nbsp; Furthermore, most of the wall paintings in Nepal are temperas, and not frescos. Tempera is painted with water-soluble mineral or vegetable pigments fixed with glue on the cow dung clay plaster on the brick walls. While Nepal’s focus has been on the repatriation of stolen artefacts from abroad, religious and cultural objects within the country like the Panauti murals need urgent attention.&nbsp; This slim publication by Panauti Municipality is an important call to begin the work before it is too late.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20260101120124_d0efa1e57b2710a206beb37c7e934ac34e694afc278985934eac2fc52124a92c.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="20260101120124_d0efa1e57b2710a206beb37c7e934ac34e694afc278985934eac2fc52124a92c" data-rendition-name="original" width="1136" height="702" loading="lazy" alt="Wall Paintings of Panauti"> </figure>

Saving Panauti's murals

The American military action in Venezuela and the abduction of President Nicholas Maduro may redefine Nepal’s geopolitics as it juggles between three world powers, India, China and the United States.&nbsp;
Nepal’s interim government is busy preparing for elections on 5 March, and it was late issuing a statement on the American intervention in Venezuela, but the country may have to re-evaluate how it deals with its immediate neighbours and the global power.
“How does Nepal avoid being the next Ukraine or Venezuela? Small countries shouldn’t go around irritating big neighbours. And when big neighbours really get upset, they usually put up a moral fig leaf justifying their miltary action,” says energy economist Dipak Gyawali. “What we see with Venezuela today is bereft of such moral content, essentially banditry which in today’s day and age is unacceptable. Neither the rising new powers nor much of the Global South will take this lying down.”
International relations experts have said that there is now a new world order in which rules-based diplomacy has been thrown out of the window, and the world has been carved into America leading the western hemisphere, Russia is allowed to do what it wants in Ukraine and Europe, and China’s sphere of influence is now the Indo-Pacific.
Foreign affairs expert Nischal Pandey says there is a lesson for smaller nations like Nepal: “We have to be aware of the sensitivities of the major powers in the vicinity.”
There is also a lesson for smaller resource-rich countries not to give an excuse for intervention with poor governance and political instability due to inequity. In Venezuela’s case it was throttling democracy and not using its immense oil-wealth to uplift its people.
Nevertheless, the Trump administration’s abduction of a sitting president of a foreign government regardless of the dictatorial nature of his regime and Venezuela’s volatile internal politics, is illegal and breaches the international order that has been in place since after World War II and its devastation on humanity.
While Trump’s intervention in Venezuela, and threats against Colombia, Cuba and Greenland have brought international condemnation, here in Nepal it has not been taken as seriously as it should.
Says Amish Mulmi, author of the book All Roads Lead North: Nepal's Turn to China: “Some of the reaction on social media has been that of glee over the fall of a dictatorial Communist government on the other side of the world. However, the government statement about fully respecting the principles of sovereignty and the Charter of the United Nations is a strong statement that makes clear Nepal's position on the matter.”
“The abduction of Maduro is a clear sign of Trump's America ensuring its sphere of influence through might and a warning to toe the line,” Mulmi adds. “It also infringes on the sanctity of borders and the preservation of sovereignty. Trump's actions reek strongly of a bygone era of imperialistic control and resource capture.”
Venezuela has 17% of the world’s reserves of crude oil, even though refining this heavy tar-like oil will be costly, and is possible in only a few places including Texas.
“This has to do with a larger political economy of oil, the unravelling of pax Americana and the post-World war II order. This is USA’s heavy-handed response to remain on the top as well as to partly solve its debt of $39 trillion,” explains Gyawali. “But this is not going to help: China is far ahead, Russia has recovered from its 1990s low point, and manufacturing capital has moved away from America. So controlling only financial capital - and using military power so brazenly - is not going to work.”
The might also be specific lessons for Nepal as a smaller country with vast water resources. While water, unlike oil, is renewable, India’s interest in Nepal’s hydro resources cannot be ignored. Ironically, America’s capture of Venezuelan oil reserves could exacerbate climate breakdown and the melting of Himalayan glaciers, which will put Nepal’s water resources in jeopardy in the coming decades.
The only way to deal with this for Nepal and downstream India will be to build reservoirs on rivers to store monsoon precipitation, and that makes water a strategic commodity for the future.&nbsp;
“If we continue in the current mode of hydropower-biased water resources development ignoring irrigation, flood control, navigation, fisheries, tourism and other benefits, India will get the free benefit of regulated water while we pay the upstream environmental and social costs. History will blame our elected leaders for having undersold our resources,” adds Gyawali, who served as water resource minister in the early 2000s.
As for a larger geopolitical lesson: “We in Nepal are fortunate in having not one threatening hegemon but two superpowers India and China: they don’t agree with each other, but do agree on a peaceful Nepal for their own security. However, our current political leaders are irritating both the neighbours, unlike since the centuries past when our rulers looked solely after Nepal’s core interests and our neighbours knew that.”
American intervention in Venezuela also calls for strengthening of our institutions and diplomatic outreach. Nepal has been a non-aligned state, and for all its history has tried to follow a policy of equidistance between India and China. The difference with Venezuela is that Nepal has to deal with two giant neighbours, and not just one.
Says Mulmi: “It is no more only about balancing great power relations but also about benefiting from them. But that will be increasingly difficult as international law and the principles of sovereignty are encroached upon.”