Near Pimbahal Pokhari in Patan is a vast courtyard lined with historic Newa houses. At the centre is the two-tiered pagoda of Ratneswar Mahadev.&nbsp; The original carvings on the windows, doors, cornices date back at least to the 14th century. However, radio-carbon analysis of a sample taken from the western doorframe of the temple suggests a date somewhere between 1020 and 1210 CE, making the 8m-tall temple one of the oldest tiered structures in Kathmandu Valley. Sixteen beautifully carved wooden struts support the temple roofs, and most of these were stolen in the 1970s and 1980s, along with the other wooden carvings of the temple. The struts depicted the distinctively stylised and elongated figures of Salabhanjika: standing full breasted slender figures, with wide hips and crossed legs, holding a tree branch with one hand. They stood above the yaksas, their male counterparts, who are by contrast stout and unrefined.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2023051714054_8367e31a8ae034d0f61889f1cb360d696f2c0229b98f4c2ddda0e4423eca6c1b.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="2023051714054_8367e31a8ae034d0f61889f1cb360d696f2c0229b98f4c2ddda0e4423eca6c1b" data-rendition-name="original" width="3259" height="4888" loading="lazy" alt="Australian galley returns stolen strut to Nepal"> </figure>  By the 1980s, the temple had further deteriorated, the roof had collapsed and all but two of the temple’s original primary struts had been stolen. Those only survived because one was buried in debris inside and another was taken by a sympathetic neighbour for safekeeping, and both are currently on display at the Patan Museum. One of the stolen struts was finally returned to Patan this week from Australia’s Art Gallery of New South Wales (AGNSW) where it was located in 2001, almost 50 years after it was stolen.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2023051714054_1229837934f7f8770a9da7281b640b5172b35912cedfddf20be3bfecf3869bdd.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="2023051714054_1229837934f7f8770a9da7281b640b5172b35912cedfddf20be3bfecf3869bdd" data-rendition-name="original" width="3259" height="4888" loading="lazy" alt="Australian galley returns stolen strut to Nepal"> </figure>  AGNSW Director Michael Brand formally handed over the strut to Heramba Raj Rajopadhyay, the head priest of the Ratneswar Temple on 16 May 2023. In attendance were Australia’s Assistant Foreign Minister Tim Watts (see interview, below) and Mayor of Lalitpur Metropolitan City Chiri Babu Maharjan. Watts said at the ceremony: “In 1975, thieves took it, illegally removed it. A collector acquired it, treasured it. When he died, he donated it. It sat in an Australian art gallery, which exhibited it, honoured it. People came to see it, were moved by its elegance and craft. But it didn’t belong there either – that wasn’t its home.”  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2023051714054_8e1507cca47cdba601fa25db3cfd484c6f0cc6a0436094d36dbc8adccf335d2a.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="2023051714054_8e1507cca47cdba601fa25db3cfd484c6f0cc6a0436094d36dbc8adccf335d2a" data-rendition-name="original" width="2859" height="4288" loading="lazy" alt="Australian galley returns stolen strut to Nepal"> </figure>  Thousands of stone, metal and wooden heritage have been stolen from the Kathmandu Valley since the 1970s and, as with many of these artefacts, how this particular strut was smuggled out of the country remains a mystery.&nbsp; What is known is that in the intervening years, the strut changed hands until it reached Alex Biancardi, an Australian-British collector of Asian art. Coming from an old family from Alexandria in Egypt, Biancardi arrived in Australia in 1947 after a stint in the air force, where he became a textile trader. He returned to France in 1962 but would frequently revisited Australia. He died in November 1998, bequeathing much of his collections to the AGNSW, including the Ratneswar strut in 2000. In 2001, scholar Mary Slusser informed the gallery that she had taken photographs of the struts in 1969 before they were stolen. The gallery began its own research to find out more about where it came from, but because of the turmoil in Nepal after the royal massacre could not return it.&nbsp; Brand first visited Nepal with his brother in 1973 when he was only 15 and met architectural conservator John Sanday who was then leading restoration work on the Hanuman Dhoka.&nbsp; Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/review/remembering-nepals-lost-and-the-found">Remembering Nepal's lost and the found</a>, Ashish Dhakal He told Nepali Times: “Nepal changed my life, and ultimately led to me studying the art of South Asia before becoming a curator, and then an art museum director.”&nbsp; Brand would then later join the J Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles in 2005 as its director. In 2010, the Getty was under extreme pressure from the Italian and Greek governments to return Italian, Greek and Etruscan antiquities.&nbsp; Getty returned 45 artefacts to Italy, signing an agreement for cultural exchange, which allowed for the museum to borrow on long-term loan other objects.&nbsp; So, when heard about the Ratneswar strut at the AGNSW, Brand was already experienced in working through these issues and realising what the best approach would be. “The number one goal for me to protect artefacts from looting no matter where it stays,” he says.&nbsp; Back in Nepal, restoration of the temple began in earnest in 1992 by the KVPT and World Monuments Fund (WMF). Replicas of the stolen struts were designed based on Slusser's photographs and the caretaker's memories by Indra Kaji Shilpakar in 1998.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2023051714054_1179ac406a52a64d07796476b00bc0310ae9522cd11ab9cb6f8c2cae1a123c32.jpg" data-media-id="editor_4" data-image-id="2023051714054_1179ac406a52a64d07796476b00bc0310ae9522cd11ab9cb6f8c2cae1a123c32" data-rendition-name="original" width="2933" height="4399" loading="lazy" alt="Australian galley returns stolen strut to Nepal"> </figure>  But immediately after the first restoration, one of the strut reproductions and the toran were stolen, with the most recent theft 10 years ago. Slusser then wrote: ‘Attempts to steal the modern reproductions from the temple made it clear that the (AGNSW) strut had best be left on loan to Australia.’&nbsp; Between 2001 and 2006, the Gallery and the KVPT investigated options for returning the sculpture and agreed that, for safekeeping, the Gallery would retain custody of the strut. Roshan Mishra of Nepal Heritage Recovery Campaign notes that Slusser however did not have the authority on where the strut should stay, that say belonged to the community of Sulima. On a visit to the AGNSW in 2019, Mishra found that the gallery displayed the strut, specifying that it was originally from the Ratneswar temple in Patan, which he says was unusual for galleries and museums to do.&nbsp; The discussions between the gallery and Nepal government were once again hampered by the 2015. But the strut was formally deaccessioned by the gallery in 2022, and the governor of New South Wales signed off on the return.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2023051714054_0e8bd039620dfb76662ed1dc1d9ef189cbe47aa278fdbb58544c22bb035369ff.jpg" data-media-id="editor_5" data-image-id="2023051714054_0e8bd039620dfb76662ed1dc1d9ef189cbe47aa278fdbb58544c22bb035369ff" data-rendition-name="original" width="3071" height="4606" loading="lazy" alt="Australian galley returns stolen strut to Nepal"> </figure>  Brand adds that the return and his trip to Nepal are important to build a relation with curators, scholars, the Department of Archaeology, the ministries, the community in Nepal and Australia. “Nepal is fortunate to have such fantastic culture that people are interested in,” he says. Two other struts from the Ratneswar Temple have since been located by Lost Arts of Nepal: one in the collection of Chino Roncoroni, and other with Theresa McCullough in London. The return of the strut is among the many stolen cultural heritage returned in recent years from museums, galleries and collections abroad. On 11 May 2023, the American Homeland Security Investigations handed over to the Embassy of Nepal in DC 40 artefacts, including 39 engraved and painted wooden panels and a carved wooden shrine dated to the 19th-20th century. Earlier, stone statues of Uma Mahesvara, Chaturmukh Shivlinga, Nagaraja, Padmanpani and Shakyamuni Buddha were repatriated and wooden statues of Nritya Devi and standing stone statue of Lord Buddha. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Read on: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/faith-stolen-lost-in-nepal-found-in-america?fbclid=IwAR339kc1dVacPz-FtNvJMdX7wBCk68KWkYD9EYasJsPphlbsQdwG-cfMkSg">Faith Stolen: Lost in Nepal, found in America</a> <h2>"The joy of returning it to the place it belongs"</h2> Australia’s Assistant Foreign Minister Tim Watts attended the historic handing over of the stolen strut from Patan’s Sulima Ratneswar temple on 16 May. He spoke to Nepali Times after the ceremony. Excerpts:  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2023051714058_031d022cf7263778751f47e9e3fdee9583729390136a17354b103d83df40f521.jpg" data-media-id="editor_7" data-image-id="2023051714058_031d022cf7263778751f47e9e3fdee9583729390136a17354b103d83df40f521" data-rendition-name="original" width="1600" height="1066" loading="lazy" alt="Australian galley returns stolen strut to Nepal"> <figcaption>The Australian Assistant Minister for Foreign Affiars Hon Tim Watts, MP, in conversation with Mayor of Lalitpur Chiri Babu Maharjan at the handing over ceremony for the Ratneshwar Mahadev strut on Tuesday. Photo: TIM WATTS MP/FACEBOOK</figcaption> </figure>  Nepali Times: How did you come to find out about the strut and why did you want to visit Nepal for its return?&nbsp; Tim Watts: As the Australian Assistant Minister for Foreign affairs, we often say that Australia’s foreign policy begins with our identity. Australia is one of the most multicultural countries in the world: half of Australians are either born overseas or have a parent born overseas. This connects us with every corner of the world which can look at Australia and see it reflected. We can look into ourselves and understand the world better. The Nepali Australian community is the fastest growing in Australia, with about 130,000 Australians having Nepali ancestry. I was interested in the Australia-Nepal relations in that context. I understand the deep importance of faith and culture for our diaspora community, and maintaining that connection with their country of origin. I became aware through the Embassy of Nepal of the discussions between the AGNSW, the Department of Archaeology in Nepal (DoA), and the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation about the investigation into the provenance of this tudal (strut) from the Ratneswar temple, and its potential repatriation. And I thought this was enormously praiseworthy of the gallery and this was a model of the ethical practice in international obligations and wanted to show my support. The credit here goes to the AGNSW because they were the ones, when made aware of the potential problematic provenance of the tudal, engaged in the investigation, worked with the authorities in Nepal, and arranged for the repatriation. And my presence here is to throw the spotlight on [the repatriation] as the best practice and saying that the Australian government supports and endorses it. What can be the process for this best practice? Each artefact will have its own cultural context, its own history and present-day circumstance that will impact what the best practice is for it. Its safety is an important consideration, the changing cultural contexts of governments on both sides matter as well. There is not only one appropriate response. The momentum we have been seeing around the world for governments recognising where it is best to repatriate is a really positive thing that we want to show our support for.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20230517140516_f801b6b3dc2661f380f13fa6b23c378cf737753d0f5956c5206b31689e4b1f8e.jpg" data-media-id="editor_8" data-image-id="20230517140516_f801b6b3dc2661f380f13fa6b23c378cf737753d0f5956c5206b31689e4b1f8e" data-rendition-name="original" width="4888" height="3259" loading="lazy" alt="Australian galley returns stolen strut to Nepal"> </figure>  Like Australia, Nepal is also a multilingual and multicultural country. How does it feel to witness the handing over? I found it to be enormously meaningful and a moving celebration, for a number of reasons. Firstly, being there on the ground, it was really clear how much this tudal meant to the local community, to see the joy of returning it to the place it belongs to them. It was not just a historical artefact but a living expression of culture. It was also meaningful to me as a representative of the Australian government that puts our identity at the heart of our foreign policy. I know how meaningful acts like this are to our Australian Nepalis. I had a number of meetings with the Nepali communities in Australia before I came here. The word that this happening had gone around, and people were really proud that Australia was the kind of country that returned cultural artefacts and didn’t unjustly hold on to them. Obviously, there are many cultural contexts of removal, et cetera, and it’s difficult to generalise. But in this particular instance, the best practice was to return it and I was proud to have been part of that. I was aware of an increasing number of artefacts returning to Nepal in particular, largely from the US, and I think that the momentum behind the returns is a really positive thing. That is part of why we were very keen on holding a public celebration of this repatriation, to draw attention to this as a model of the best ethical practice and international cooperation. It is important to us Australians to see that we not just repatriate the artefact but we model to the world on how we do this. A reason behind this is that many Australian cultural artefacts are held in institutions away from Australia, and more egregiously the remains of Indigenous Australians held in academic and cultural institutions. We have often sought the return of these to Australia because they are incredibly meaningful to Indigenous Australians who have a profound connection with the place and country they come from and it is enormously distressing for them when they are removed from the country. What does the repatriation of this strut from Ratneswar mean to the Australia-Nepal relations? There was intense cooperation between the Nepali and Australian governments, the embassy, and the DoA. I think that as a multicultural country, Australia has a lot of experience in the importance of cultural heritage to our diaspora communities. There is this phenomenon where the further you are from your mother country, the more intensely you value, celebrate and want to preserve that culture. As such, this is doubly meaningful for the Nepali-Australian community because it validates and supports their cultural practices and connects them to Nepal, and also gives them pride in their Australian identity – that they are a member of the country that does the right thing with respect to cultural artefacts. There is nothing more Australian than celebrating our multicultural identity. Read more: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/how-nepali-antiquities-got-to-chicago-museum">How Nepali antiquities got to Chicago museum</a>, Alisha Sijapati

Ashish Dhakal

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Australian gallery returns stolen strut to Nepal

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111414110/63723cbc9c7e80680e0c9634jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="3000" height="1422"/><figcaption>Interior of I-Baha Bahi. All photos: LOST ARTS OF NEPAL.</figcaption></figure>One of the oldest Buddhist monasteries in Patan is I-Baha Bahi. Official records date it to 1418 CE, but its history goes back millennia.The two-storey structure with a finial on top is located along the holy route of the annual Machindranath chariot procession, and is also known also as Rajashri Mahavihar or Singha Varna Mahavihar.Guarded by two large stone lions at the entrance, the vihar retains much of its original mud, brick and wood structure, which was renovated in 1995 with support from the Nippon Institute of Technology of Japan.Daily rituals are performed in the mornings and evenings by initiated members of the sangha who take turns every month. Rajashri Mahavihar also used to host the grand Bahidyo Bwoyego festival every year when sacred paintings, artefacts and statues of the gods used to be brought out for display during the holy month of Gunla in August.The whole community, and devotees from further afield, used to attend this parade of the gods, making offerings, chanting stotra and singing hymns.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111414110/63723cbf9c7e80680e0c9635jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="3000" height="1422"><figcaption>Amoghapasa Lokeswar and Dipankar Buddhas on display in I-Baha Bahi.</figcaption></figure>But one day in 1970 when sangha members were busy preparing for the ritual, they discovered that the sacred treasury above the main shrine had been broken into the night before, and the gods had been stolen. No written record existed of what was lost: there were only the memories of elders and caretakers.The Jesuit scholar John K Locke in his 1985 book <a href="https://archive.org/details/BuddhistMonasteriesOfNepalSurveyOfBahasAndBahisOfKathmanduValleyByJohnK.Locke">Buddhist Monasteries of Nepal: Survey of Bahas and Bahis of Kathmandu Valley</a> writes: ‘The bahi originally had quite a collection of old wood and terracotta images but most of these have disappeared in the last ten years and what remains is thrown in a corner near the entrance, damaged and unattended.’Then in 2015, almost as though the gods themselves ordained it, a colour photograph was discovered. It was taken in 1969 by scholar Mary Slusser and published in her article <a href="https://www.asianart.com/articles/paubhas/index.html#23">Conservation Notes on Some Nepalese Paintings</a> published in 2003.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111414114/63723cc39c7e80680e0c9636jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="3000" height="1422">In the picture, five large wooden sculptures can be seen, along with four empty pedestals. Two other pedestals that had small miniature sculptures which did not belong there originally were also in the photo.This image was the starting point in our long saga of tracking down the sacred objects stolen from the Rajashri Mahavihar in 1970: three Nrityadevi images, one Chintamani Lokeswar, and one standing Tara.We showed Slusser’s photo to 84-year-old Saraswati Tamrakar who lives just behind the vihar in Patan (pictured above). She told us: “The deities used to be displayed on the ground floor during Gunla and the corridors would be filled with different gods. It was a sight to see.”Using Slusser’s in situ photograph, we at Lost Arts of Nepal began our investigation, scouring auction sales, private collections and museums across the globe.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111414114/63723cc69c7e80680e0c9637jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="2160" height="2652"><figcaption>Colour in situ photograph by Slusser of the three Nrityadevi, one Chintamani Lokeshwar and standing Tara with their matches in the collections of several US museums.</figcaption></figure>Eventually, the Chintamani Lokeswar (No4) was traced to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), but the picture in the database of the collection did not match the one in Slusser's photograph. The Lokeswar in her picture held a tree branch with the proper-left hand while the deity in the museum's catalogue held it in its proper-right hand. The statue had been donated to LACMA by Anna Bing Arnold in 1984.We thought the Lokeswar in the photograph in Slusser’s book and LACMA could have been part of a pair. We posted the photograph online, titled 'Lost Twins' in March 2018 to get some response from the museum.Photographs from the University of Michigan Archives taken in 1988 of the LACMA collection were then discovered. Among these was another picture of the same Lokeswar which matched perfectly with Slusser's picture. The photograph on the museum website turned out to be a mirror image, and LACMA later corrected it on its website.Meanwhile, the search for the three Nrityadevi took us to the Metropolitan Museum of Art (The Met) in New York. This is a rare and unique subject in Nepal’s religious iconography, so it was easy to identify. One of the three from Slusser's photo was a perfect match for an image in The Met catalogue, complete with a broken proper-left hand (No5). The statue came to The Met collection from the Zimmerman family in 2016.Another Nrityadevi (No3) was discovered in 2019 when it was announced as an item for sale at the Bonham's Auction in New York. It had been acquired in New York in 1982 and was part of a private collection in Florida of an individual who had once served as a diplomat to Nepal. Their identity has been kept anonymous as they are willing to repatriate the statue to Nepal.The standing Tara (No1) was then located at the Art Institute of Chicago. This was a tough one to match, since in Slusser’s photograph it was wrapped in ceremonial garb with only its head and unique facial expression visible. The statue was gifted by the prominent collector of Himalayan art, Marilynn B Alsdorf, to the Institute in 2014.The Alsdorf collection had other stolen Nepali artefacts, and many of them still remain at the Art Institute, including the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/how-nepali-antiquities-got-to-chicago-museum/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Taleju necklace dating back to the 17th century</a> CE from Hanuman Dhoka, stolen 46 years ago.The last remaining Nrityadevi (No2) was tracked to the Philadelphia Museum of Art. It had been purchased by the museum with the Stella Kramrisch Fund – named after another prominent scholar of Nepali art – in 2000.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111414114/63723cc99c7e80680e0c9638jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="3000" height="1422"><figcaption>Interior of I-Baha Bahi</figcaption></figure>Ever since the deities were stolen 52 years ago, Gunla at the I-Baha Bahi has been a forlorn affair, and sangha members feel orphaned. Chaturatna Shakya of Patan remembers another instance in the 1980s when a large gilt copper image of the main deity of the vihar, Ashobhya, was stolen from the sanctum sanctorum at midnight.Another witness, Kanchha Shakya remembers, “There must have been more than 10 people. It was a heavy object, and the thieves had to drag it across the floor and down the steps to a waiting vehicle, leaving behind marks all along the way.”A police report was filed in the morning, but the culprits were never found. Instead, police interrogated sangha members, suspecting them of foul play, and to deter them from pursuing the matter. Many first-hand witnesses from the time have now died. Only stories and rumours remain, but a new generation is eager to know the whereabouts of the gods of their ancestors, and want them returned.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111414114/63723ccc9c7e80680e0c9639jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="2880" height="2880"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111414114/63723ccf9c7e80680e0c963ajpeg.jpg" alt="" width="2880" height="2880"><figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111414114/63723cd39c7e80680e0c963bjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="3000" height="1420"><figcaption>Wooden fragments in the vihar. On top, match made by Lost Arts with the two photographs taken by Mary Slusser at the vihar which she wrongfully attributed to Yampi Mahavihar near the northern Ashok Stupa in Patan.</figcaption></figure>Besides the photograph of the five statues from I-Baha Bahi, Slusser took two more photographs around the same period, wrongly attributing them to Yampi Mahavihar near the northern Ashok Stupa in Patan. The wooden fragments, multiple wooden pedestals and broken limbs in the photos are actually from I-Baha Bahi.When Nepal opened up to the outside world, and the first visitors started arriving, observation and curiosity about Kathmandu’s ‘exotic’ culture eventually led to the objectification of spirituality. Statues of deities and sacred items that were still being actively worshipped, were reduced to objets d’art on their shopping lists.It signified a sense of superiority, a status symbol for Western museums and individuals to hold stolen cultural relics from the far ends of the world.In those days, people in Kathmandu Valley neighbourhoods would often wake up to the news of yet another god which had vanished in the night. They would go to temples for morning worship, and the deity would be gone. The gods that were supposed to protect communities, needed protection themselves.Over three decades, Kathmandu Valley was plundered, often with the connivance of local authorities, to meet the demand of art connoisseurs in the West. The gods that remain are still being stolen to this day. But unlike Grecian or Roman antiquities, these were not museum pieces, but represented the faith, identity and way of life of a vibrant culture that lives today.Many of the stolen objects were too big to be smuggled out in a suitcase. How could they have crossed borders, passed through customs and ended up in museums in America, Europe or Australia? It would not have been possible without the involvement of an organised art trafficking ring.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111414114/63723cd69c7e80680e0c963cjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="3264" height="2184"><figcaption>The exterior of I-Baha Bahi in Patan, more popularly known as Rajashri Mahavihar.</figcaption></figure>It was pure luck that Mary Slusser's photograph was found. All five artefacts in it have been now identified and tracked to museums in America. According to the Department of Archaeology, 93 stolen gods have been returned so far, but the work does not end there: the gods need to be returned to Nepal and reinstated to their original shrines and purpose.Many stolen deities have been replaced with replicas, but for the communities it is not the same. They were a consecrated part of a much larger culture that lives and breathes, and their return can help us understand the legacy left by our ancestors.One day, at I-Baha Bahi the gods will all be on display again for the Bahidyo Bwoyego during the holy month of Gunla.Lost Arts of Nepal is an anonymously-run social media campaign dedicated to locating and assisting in repatriation of stolen gods of Nepal from museums and collection abroad. Begun formally in August 2015 as an awareness initiative, Lost Arts have succeeded in locating over 50 stolen artefacts.

Faith Stolen: Lost in Nepal, found in America

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111410110/637203cb9c7e80680e0b2828jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="2560" height="1707"/><figcaption>A Memorandum of Understanding was signed by Bishnu Prasad Gautam, the Acting Consul General (left), and Dr Jorrit Britschgi, the Execute Director of Rubin Museum (right) for the return two wooden art works to Nepal. Photo: CONSULATE GENERAL OF NEPAL.</figcaption></figure>After increased international spotlight on stolen antiquities, the <a href="https://rubinmuseum.org/">Rubin Museum in New York</a> is returning two wooden carvings stolen in the 1980s from Kathmandu Valley temples that were in its permanent collection.Activists had been <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/2-more-nepali-antiquities-traced-to-us-museum/">lobbying for the return</a> of the 14th century flying Apsara/Gandharva stolen from Itum Bahal, and the upper section of the 17th century torana wrenched out of the main doorway of Yampi Mahabihara/I-Bahi in Patan.‘As custodians of the art in our collection, the Rubin recognises that we have an ongoing duty to carefully research the art and objects we collect and exhibit … the Rubin’s collecting activities adhere to the highest standards of ethical and professional practice related to provenance,’ said Jorrit Britschgi, Executive Director of Rubin Museum.<a href="https://nyc.nepalconsulate.gov.np/press-release-the-rubin-museum-of-art-to-return-two-wooden-art-works-to-nepal/">Britschgi signed an MoU with Bishnu Prasad Gautam</a>, Acting Consul General of Nepal in New York on 10 January.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111410110/637203ce9c7e80680e0b2829jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1440" height="1440"><figcaption>The 17th-century wooden Torana Stolen (left) and the 14th-century Flying Gandharva (right) was tracked by the Lost Arts of Nepal in Spetember 2021. Photo: LOST ARTS OF NEPAL.</figcaption></figure>Gautam said the Consulate and the Rubin Museum will “work closely in the promotion of art and culture” from the Himalaya.The Rubin has agreed to bear the cost for returning both the objects to Nepal, possibly by the third week of May. Until then the objects will remain in the custody of the museum.The Apsara, originally from Keshchandra Mahabihara, was added to the museum’s collection in 2003, while the torana in 2010. The online group <a href="https://www.facebook.com/lostartsofnepal/photos/2995487014105084" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Lost Arts of Nepal</a> had tracked the objects to the museum’s collection and the <a href="https://nepalheritagerecoverycampaign.org/news/rubin-museum-to-return-nepalese-relics-thought-to-have-been-stolen/">Nepal Heritage Recovery Campaign</a> had alerted the Nepali consulate and the museum in September 2021 about the provenance of the two objects, after which Rubin had promptly withdrawn them from public display.Rubin said in a statement that the two objects – both extraordinary examples of traditional Newa devotional art – were the first in its collection found to have been unlawfully obtained.The Consulate General and the Rubin collaborated to verify the origins of the artefacts, and the museum engaged two scholars of Nepali art to examine and research their known provenance. The scholars found that the Gandharva went missing from Itum Bahal in 1999 and was purchased by the Shelley and Donald Rubin Cultural Trust four years later.According to Sandrine Millet, a spokesperson for the museum, the two artefacts were purchased in private sales, but she declined to name the dealers.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111410110/637203d29c7e80680e0b282ajpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1920" height="2560"><figcaption>The Consulate General and the Rubin Museum officials standing next to the Gandharva and the Torana on Monday. Photo: CONSULATE GENERAL OF NEPAL.</figcaption></figure>Speaking with <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/10/arts/design/rubin-museum-returning-nepalese-relics.html">the New York Times</a>, Roshan Mishra, the director of <a href="https://www.facebook.com/TaragaonMuseum">Taragaon Museum</a> said, “If museums like the Rubin are actively repatriating their artefacts, I think it will be easier for other museums to follow their lead.”Once in Nepal, the Department of Archaeology will determine whether the objects will return to their original shrines, or to the National Museum. The Gandharva and the torana are among <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/who-looted-nepals-gods/">the 55 artefacts</a> currently in the list of antiquities that the Department is negotiating with museums and collections for repatriation.In the past year, six stolen stone and bronze sculptures have been <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/nepals-gods-return-from-exile/">handed back to Nepal</a>, including a 800-year-old <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/the-enigma-of-arrival-of-nepals-gods/">Laxmi-Narayan statue from Patko Tole</a> in Patan by the Dallas Museum of Art and returned to its original site last month.The 10th century stone figure of <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/us-returns-another-antiquity-to-nepal/">Uma Maheswar, stolen from Gaa Hiti</a> in Patan 50 years ago, was also handed over to the Nepal Embassy in Washington DC by the Denver Art Museum in September 2021.Similarly, a 15th century Ganesh was returned by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office and a 13th century Shivalinga stolen from Kathmandu was returned to the Nepal Embassy in DC by the Art Institute of Chicago.

Rubin to return Nepal antiquities

This is the first instalment in a new limited series in Nepali Times on the historic transportation infrastructures of Nepal. Nepal’s Forest Railways As<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/india-s-border-trains-that-connected-nepal"> India’s railway network </a>expanded in the 1890s and 1900s, the demand for wooden railway sleepers, called ‘ties’ in America, likewise increased. The <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/the-rana-reign-a-recap-of-history,3751">Rana regime</a> realised that western Nepal’s dense forests, from which sal trees could be extracted and sold, represented a valuable source of revenue. There was a problem of accessing large tracts of <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/the-tarai-s-shrinking-forests">Tarai forests</a>. However, once Indian railway lines are extended to Nepal’s border in several places, this issue could be resolved by constructing logging railways, also known as ‘tramways’ or ‘light railways’. The Nepal Government awarded a contract to Punjabi timber contractors to supply 15,000 sal sleepers to Chandan Chauki station of India’s Oudh &amp; Rohilkhand State Railway in 1908. The contractors also received a concession to construct a steam tramway to run 48km into <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/reviving-nepals-community-forestry-success-story">Nepal’s forests</a> for cutting and transporting trees. The author found no records, however, indicating that such an ambitious tramway was built in 1908. The hewn logs were probably carried into India by bullock carts or <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/elephants-become-white-elephants">elephants</a>. The earliest known forest railway in Nepal was built in 1914 in the southwestern corner of the present-day Parsa district. A British engineer went to the Indian border town of Bikna Thori to plan a 4-mile portable light railway for the transport of timber from <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/on-the-tri-junction-of-wildlife-conservation-conflict-and-co-existence">the forest of Chitwan </a>to the Thori depot on the Bengal &amp; Northwestern Railway. This short line was laid upon wooden sleepers, and its rails could be taken up and repositioned when logging in one section of the forest was completed. This forest railway was in operation at least through 1917.&nbsp; A few year down the line in 1923, J V Collier of the Indian Forest Service built a narrow-gauge railway in Kailali district also to export of timber to India. This line, the Nepal Government Forest Railway, departed Chandan Chauki in Uttar Pradesh and ran 48km northwest into Nepal.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250824150820_84ddef57433c2f847b2c7e56c2d9c924084b6e6a504bbca905d2c593fac8eabd.jpg" data-media-id="editor_6" data-image-id="20250824150820_84ddef57433c2f847b2c7e56c2d9c924084b6e6a504bbca905d2c593fac8eabd" data-rendition-name="original" width="1130" height="689" loading="lazy" alt="Nepal's little railways"> <figcaption>A Nepal Government Forest train in Kailali District hauling sal sleepers in 1925. Photo: DAVID CHURCHILL </figcaption> </figure>  It was a 2-foot railway supported by 11kg rails. The line was ‘temporary’ in that as sal trees were thinned out in one area, railway tracks were shifted to uncut areas of the forest. The railway crossed seven small <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/saving-what-is-left-of-himalayan-rivers">rivers</a>, but the bridges were taken down during the summer and monsoon. Trains ran only from November to April. This forest railway purchased four 4-6-0T ‘tank’ engines built in Leeds, England. Each bogie could carry 100 broad-gauge sleepers, and two engines were needed to haul a 21-car train loaded with 2,100 sleepers. This huge commercial forest operation once employed about 14,000 men, most of them Indians. During one season, nearly 800,000 broad and metre-gauge sleepers were exported to India. When India suffered a depression in 1930, large scale operations came to an end. Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/rust-in-peace?fbclid=IwAR1_eg88TCOS6RGRW1af7WvaWx5mzh_rY8-vT1MnJxSs41QtCpaA988oXk8">Rust in peace</a>, Daniel W Edwards  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250824150828_13a0b894b9ea0c478904d358028f0c976d84f284432ee25106787366598d38e5.jpg" data-media-id="editor_9" data-image-id="20250824150828_13a0b894b9ea0c478904d358028f0c976d84f284432ee25106787366598d38e5" data-rendition-name="original" width="6000" height="4000" loading="lazy" alt="Nepal's railways"> <figcaption>Rails extended north from this spot into the virgin sal forests of Bardia in western Nepal 100 years ago.  DANIEL W EDWARDS</figcaption> </figure>  A third railway was built in <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/the-big-bulls-of-bardia">Bardia </a>where some scattered rails and signs of an old roadbed were seen in the 1960s. It ran from Nishangada in India to Khairbhatti in Nepal. From there, stations heading south were Ranipur, Karmak, Taratal and Madhuwan. Collier likely <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-train-project-struggles-to-stay-on-track">built this railway </a>as well in the 1920s. An elderly man in Bardia in 2022, whose father had worked on this forest railway, was interviewed for this account. Kathmandu Valley’s Motor (Trolley) Railway Merchants importing goods from India via the<a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/business/ropeways-connecting-nepal,1749"> ropeway</a> Chandra Shamsher built in 1927 had to go to the ropeway’s terminus at Matatirtha near Thankot to claim their goods and then haul them 6km to the customs house Bhansar Adda at Teku for clearance and payment of customs duties. The Motor Railway was built to carry goods from the<a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=16839"> ropeway station </a>directly to the customs office, making it cheaper and more convenient for merchants to receive their shipments. In December 1931, Prime Minister Bhim Shamsher issued an order (sanad) putting Lt Gen Singha Shamsher Rana in charge of building this rail line to Teku and on to ‘Nabalak Khana’ in Tripureswar, a distance of 10km. The project was subdivided into four sections or ‘phant’, and for each, budgets and timelines were established. There was bato phant (constructing the roadbed), lik sleeper and jordne phant (laying sleepers and joining the rails), culvert phant (installing culverts) and pul phant (building bridges). Colonel Kishore Narsingh Rana was put in charge of the sleeper and rail section, while Colonel Dilli Jung Thapa, an engineer at Ghar Kaj Adda, also was involved. The Motor Railway was completed by the end of 1933. In the beginning, the railway’s small wagons may have been pulled and pushed by men and bullocks. However, in 1938 a British railway manufacturer sent Nepal a four-wheel, 5½ ton, 2-foot narrow-gauge diesel-powered locomotive with mechanical transmission, hence the name motor railway. Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/latest/nepal-railways-janakpur-test-drive?fb_comment_id=3554227181262227_4263866616964943">Nepal Railways Janakpur test drive</a> Leaving Matatirtha, the trains passed Satungal, Naikap, the Bishnudevi Temple, crossed an iron bridge over Balkhu Khola, then to Ghattepakha, Sunagau, through what is now a section of Kuleshwor (‘Lik Marg’) to the Customs Office at Teku.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250825020852_033f0cee9775d7dadde7811132f84da876f614c386e3677e560ba7aed79909d9.jpg" data-media-id="editor_15" data-image-id="20250825020852_033f0cee9775d7dadde7811132f84da876f614c386e3677e560ba7aed79909d9" data-rendition-name="original" width="2000" height="1333" loading="lazy" alt="railways in Nepal"> <figcaption>Lik Marg in Kuleswor, the former route of the Motor Trolley Railway. Photo: DANIEL W EDWARDS</figcaption> </figure>  In 1945, Motor Trolley had four engines, but spare parts was badly needed. The charge for transporting one maund (about 40kg) of cargo from Matatirtha to Teku was 50 paisa. Even though the trains ran slowly and only for a short distance, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/fatalism-and-fatalities">accidents were not unknown</a>. A train loaded with rice, salt and cotton derailed on a curve in July 1946, and two railway employees were crushed under the cars and killed, five others were injured. Besides the driver and a brakeman, guards rode the trains to prevent theft of goods.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250824150836_63a327d4db3b067a23dd5c6cf17a31ffe811ffd4a8429bc31011d62298a90060.jpg" data-media-id="editor_17" data-image-id="20250824150836_63a327d4db3b067a23dd5c6cf17a31ffe811ffd4a8429bc31011d62298a90060" data-rendition-name="original" width="6000" height="4000" loading="lazy" alt="Nepal's railways"> <figcaption>The author by the remains of the Balkhu Khola bridge built in 1932 with American steel. Photo: JEEVAN NEPAL</figcaption> </figure>  By 1953, government budget estimates indicated the Motor Railway would break even with an income of Rs70,000 against Rs71,000 in expenditure. It appears the railway stopped service around 1957 with the opening of the Raj Path and the extension of the ropeway from Matatirtha to Bhansar Adda. Bent steel beams of the bridge across Balkhu Khola and two plaques recovered from the river a few years ago are the only remains of this railway today. Photos of the Motor Trolley Railway in operation are hard to come by.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250825020848_3a7cd17d0ffc36bbf5fdad404f5f6e91c7aa0e4f4ed729ed2c7e9c186f32ca9b.jpg" data-media-id="editor_18" data-image-id="20250825020848_3a7cd17d0ffc36bbf5fdad404f5f6e91c7aa0e4f4ed729ed2c7e9c186f32ca9b" data-rendition-name="original" width="5189" height="1979" loading="lazy" alt="railways in Nepal"> <figcaption>Steel plaque commemorating the construction of a Motor Trolley bridge across the Balkhu Khola. Photo: DANIEL W EDWARDS</figcaption> </figure>  The Kosi Project Railway (KPR) As early as 1941, India and Nepal considered building a dam on<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/the-kosi-s-sorrow-and-scope"> the Kosi River</a> to prevent destructive floods caused by <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/when-it-rains-it-pours-ksqprbu3">monsoon rains</a>. Floods in 1950 inundated 500 villages in Bihar and left 500,000 people homeless. The two governments signed an agreement in 1954 to build a barrage on the Kosi, and King Mahendra and Prime Minister Nehru laid the foundation stone in April 1959. To transport stones from a quarry near Dharan to use in mixing concrete at the construction site, the Indian government, in charge of building the barrage, made plans to build a narrow-gauge railway linking Bihar and its border town of Bhimnagar with Nepal’s settlements at Chakraghatti, Chatra and Ghopa, the outskirts of Dharan.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250824150816_fc5e13b01022c63c64f1e83589da0015eee7ecd002bdd3d97b88c98c1f3d45b7.jpg" data-media-id="editor_21" data-image-id="20250824150816_fc5e13b01022c63c64f1e83589da0015eee7ecd002bdd3d97b88c98c1f3d45b7" data-rendition-name="original" width="4011" height="2645" loading="lazy" alt="Nepal's railways"> <figcaption>Steel plaque commemorating the construction of a Motor Trolley bridge across the Balkhu Khola. Photo: DANIEL W EDWARDS</figcaption> </figure>  The section of the KPR in Nepal totaled 66km — the country’s longest railway to date. The stations south of Chakraghatti were Rajabas, Maduhuwan, Kushaha, Haripur and Bhantabari. The line built, operated and owned by the Indian Government, was opened in 1958 and known locally as Dhunge (stone) Rail. Procuring locomotives, wagons and other materials was a challenge. India’s Railway Board searched the country for old 41 lb rails, and located steam engines, most built around 1910, in poor condition, and stored in ‘retirement’. These decrepit locomotives were later cannibalised for parts to keep the remaining engines running, and six newer locomotives built in Yugoslavia were sent to the KPR in 1960 to prevent the railway from shutting down and halting construction of the barrage.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250824150832_fd644f9e2674c5047a531de5dfeb2c8860b0f93dddc7a2df3db867bf31b2c94b.bmp" data-media-id="editor_22" data-image-id="20250824150832_fd644f9e2674c5047a531de5dfeb2c8860b0f93dddc7a2df3db867bf31b2c94b" data-rendition-name="original" width="3171" height="2069" loading="lazy" alt="Nepal's railways"> <figcaption>KPR locomotives, water tank and staff at Chakraghatti in Nepal. Photo: JOHN BENSON</figcaption> </figure>  Used bogie-wagons (gondolas) came from <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/india-nepal-rail-diplomacy">Indian railways</a> that had been converted to metre-gauge, others were manufactured in Muzaffarpur without couplers due to the non-availability of steel. A hundred new wagons arrived from Japan, but only half could be put in service, as couplers from the other 50 were removed and attached to the Muzaffarpur wagons. This smorgasbord of equipment kept shop mechanics and work crews busy, but now-abandoned railways in Nepal always operated under less-than-ideal conditions. Although the purpose of the KPR was to transport gravel, stones and boulders to the site of the barrage, photographs show people riding in loaded wagons. Excluding Dharan, there was no bus service through the wild animal infested jungle between Dharan and Chakraghatti or along the dusty paths linking other small villages on the KPR, so patient locals sat in wagons at Dharan, waiting perhaps for hours for trains to depart.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250825020852_7d011dcc8e9b8cb0fe745b352486ebc4a84dac99419eadb35875333db20837c6.jpg" data-media-id="editor_24" data-image-id="20250825020852_7d011dcc8e9b8cb0fe745b352486ebc4a84dac99419eadb35875333db20837c6" data-rendition-name="original" width="3965" height="2659" loading="lazy" alt="railways in Nepal"> <figcaption>Ticketless riders on a train of gravel and stones in the forest between Dharan and Chakragatti in 1966. Photo: JOHN BENSON</figcaption> </figure>  Sons of former railway workers in Chakraghatti say that there were no fixed schedules, three or four trains ran both ways daily in the early 1960s. Southbound trains carried gravel, stones and boulders, while northbound trains would carry coal, cement and provisions, including sacks of coins to pay the workers. Trains even ran at night, and the crews worked long hours. Workers received free housing in project-built tenements but had to buy food supplies and items for personal use. The Babu Saheb or the superintendent lived at Chakraghatti, and at one time supervised more than 1,000 employees, nearly all of them from India. The barrage was completed in 1964, but by 1970, the Kosi Project Railway had passed into history. Daniel W Edwards was a Peace Corps volunteer in 1966 and is the author of several books on Nepal.

Nepal’s five little railways

The cost of preserving Nepal’s past

Turkish Airlines is official airline partner for the second edition of the Vatsalya Everest Women’s Volleyball League (EWV). The league, scheduled for 5-13 September, will take place in Pokhara and feature 18 international players alongside elite Nepali volleyball talent. The agreement was signed by Turkish General Manager Serkan Başar, and EWV CEO Snevy Chapagain. “Turkish Airlines’ support ensures a seamless journey and adds immense prestige to the league’s goal of women’s empowerment through sports as well as the agenda of sports tourism,” said Chapagain. “We are thrilled to partner with Vatsalya Everest Women’s Volleyball League as the official airline. With this association, we aim to support women role models in sports. We believe this association will connect countries to Nepali volleyball,” remarked Basar.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250825030844_36df66612152abbea71f15579358a2bb0fe797f21cbe7e7c7f28e3fe91655ae4.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="20250825030844_36df66612152abbea71f15579358a2bb0fe797f21cbe7e7c7f28e3fe91655ae4" data-rendition-name="original" width="1920" height="1280" loading="lazy" alt="Turkish"> </figure>

Turkish to sponsor women’s volleyball league

India and China have a long-standing border dispute along their Himalayan border which has erupted in violent skirmishes. But Indian and Chinese officials last week agreed to ignore Nepal’s own border dispute with India to facilitate trade. The Indian Ministry of External Affairs this week flatly rubbished <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/territorialism">Nepal’s territorial claims</a> to the Lipulek Pass and the Kalapani Region, including Limpiyadhura, which Nepal considers as the source of the Mahakali River that forms Nepal’s western border with India. The latest episode in this dispute has come as Sino-Indian relations have thawed after US President Donald Trump slapped <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/nepal-and-the-us-india-tariff-tiff">sanctions on Indian exports</a>. The joint communiqué in Beijing said India and China had agreed to resume their border trade through the Nathu La, Sipki La and Lipulek during Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi’s visit to New Delhi. Lipulek is a pass 10 km north-east of <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/there-is-precedent-to-settling-kalapani">Kalapani</a> which has been disputed ever since the Survey of India published its 1879 map, where the source of the Mahakali was suddenly shifted from Limpiyadhura to Lipulek.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250826060824_4e68dd5964e0995b91148de9978a1de52b19691e1b01f52a405924fd130c22bd.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="20250826060824_4e68dd5964e0995b91148de9978a1de52b19691e1b01f52a405924fd130c22bd" data-rendition-name="original" width="2000" height="2083" loading="lazy" alt="Lipulek dispute explainer"> </figure>  This tributary of the Mahakali was called the Kali on this map, and is a fordable tributary and not the main channel of the border river. The main Kali River was renamed Kuti Yangdi, and this happened while the British were still in India presumably to gain access to the Lipulek in contravention of the 1816 <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/borderline-disorder">Sugauli Treaty</a>.&nbsp; This subterfuge continued even after India gained independence in 1947. Nepal has maintained that the main channel of the Kali is the border as per the 1816 treaty, when Nepal lost a third of its territory to British India. It is all well and good that India and China are now friendly enough to <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=19447">open border trade</a> routes, but it should not be in violation of Nepal’s territorial integrity. Nepal should be called for diplomatic and political negotiations regarding the Lipulek pass and the Kalapani region comprising Limpiyadhura.&nbsp; Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/comment/when-xi-meets-modi-and-oli">When Xi meets Modi and Oli</a>, Kanak Mani Dixit China and India, but especially the latter, should invite Nepal to discuss these issues and iron out the disputes based on facts and evidence and maps. Nepal had sent seven diplomatic notes to India and three to China so far regarding the Lipulek and Kalapani. India has not responded to any of them. China replied once saying that Nepal and India should sort out their border disputes first before voicing their opinions. Nepal welcomes the recent talks between India and China that it hopes will positively impact on settling border disputes that are mostly stalled since the 1962 Sino-Indian war, the 73-day military standoff over the disputed Doklam region between China and Bhutan, and the 2020 Galwan clash in Ladakh. Nepal’s two large neighbours seem to have come to their senses and realised that it is in their interest to collaborate rather than confront each other when President <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/trump-s-first-month">Trump is acting erratically</a> with threats of sanctions and tariffs.&nbsp; Prime Minister K P Oli should bring up Nepal’s grave concerns about the Lipulek during his state visit to India next month when he will meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Bodh Gaya. The two are also expected to meet next week at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in Tianjin when Chinese President Xi Jinping will also be present. But even before that Nepal should send diplomatic notes to both the Indian and the Chinese governments regarding their agreement to resume border trade through the Lipulek.&nbsp; Here is a timeline of the developments regarding the Lipulek: Sino-Indian Agreement of 1954 This 8-year Agreement on Trade and Exchange between Tibet and India was signed in Peking on 29 April, 1954 by the Chinese Vice-Foreign Minister Chang Han Fu and the Indian Ambassador Nedyam Raghavan.&nbsp; There was no explicit mention on the border settlements either on the Line of Actual Control (LAC) or on Ladakh, although trade and pilgrimage through Lipulek and other 5 passes (Sipki La, Mana Pass, Niti Pass, Kungri Bingri Pass and Dharma Pass) were agreed upon.&nbsp; Trade between Uttar Pradesh state and the Tibet Autonomous Region was through ‘border &nbsp;point of the agreement states: ‘With a view to facilitating the visits of persons engaged in border trade and the exchange of commodities and means of transportation, (India and China) have decided that Lipulek (Qiangla) be the border pass for the entrance and exit of the said persons, commodities and means of transportation from the two sides.’ The agreement expired on 6 June 1962 during the Sino-Indian war, and the two sides did not renew it. Bilateral ties started to normalise only in the 1990s with the Indian decision in 1988 to abandon its policy of settling ‘territorial issue’ for ‘normalisation of relations’. India There was no reaction from Nepal to the 1954 agreement since Nepal did not have diplomatic relations with China yet at the time. Sino-Indian Agreement of 2005 The Political Parameters and the Guiding Principles for the Settlement of the Sino-Indian Boundary Question is detailed in 11 Articles, which outline the steps to be taken for a Peaceful and Tranquil Border. The agreement was a direct outcome of the Special Representatives mechanism that had been set up through a 2003 agreement. It also incorporated the Confidence Building Measures in Military Field along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the Sino-Indian Border Areas signed in 1996.&nbsp; A protocol on Modalities for the Implementation of Confidence Building Measures in the Military Field along the Line of Actual Control in the India-China Border Areas signed during Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao’s India visit, which stated in Clause 2 of Article 5: ‘Both sides agree to extend in principle to expand the mechanism of border meeting points to include Kibithu Dhamal in the Eastern Sector and Lipulek Pass (Qing La) in the Middle Sector. The precise locations of these border meeting points will be decided upon mutual consultations.’ Nepal’s Foreign Ministry issued a statement in 2005 stating that Nepal had asked China about the issue and the Chinese Embassy clarified that the agreement had nothing to do with Kalapani. This was perhaps the first time that Nepal had objected to the Sino-Indian agreement on Lipulek. King Gyanendra had staged a coup d’état on 1 February 2005, just two months prior to this agreement. The Nepali press voiced criticism of China in particular for disregarding the country’s sentiment.&nbsp; Sino-Indian Agreement of 2015 India and China signed several documents during the state visit of Chinese President XI Jinping to India on 18 September 2011. Number one on the list was: ’Opening a New Route for Indian Pilgrimage (Kailash Mansarovar Yatra) to the Tibet Autonomous Region of the People’s Republic of China’.&nbsp; The Indian foreign ministry stated: ‘The MoU provides for conducting the annual Kailash Mansarovar Yatra through Nathula Pass in Sikkim in addition to the existing Lipulek Pass in Uttarakhand’. On May 15, 2015, China and India issued a Joint Statement during Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to China. Point 28 under the ‘Trans-border Cooperation’, states that the two sides agreed to ‘hold negotiation on augmenting the list of trades commodities, and expand border trade at Nathu La, Quingla/Lipulek Pass and Sipki La Pass’. Nepal’s objection to the 2015 agreement was stronger than in 2005. Prime Minister Sushil Koirala called up Narendra Modi to express Nepal’s displeasure It was not until 2020 that Nepal’s Foreign Minister disclosed that ‘Nepal had expressed its disagreement in 2015 through separate diplomatic notes addressed to the governments of both India and China … including Lipulek Pass as a bilateral trade route without Nepal’s consent.’  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250826060824_d4497e2620bba81211d27e427393974877e09006abc26e13055508996e5b29ea.jpg" data-media-id="editor_8" data-image-id="20250826060824_d4497e2620bba81211d27e427393974877e09006abc26e13055508996e5b29ea" data-rendition-name="original" width="1108" height="1550" loading="lazy" alt="Lipulek dispute explainer"> </figure>  The new political map of India published by the Survey of India in November 2019 that incorporated areas east of the Kali River including Kalapani as Indian territory sparked renewed public, and political, attention to the Mahakali dispute. The Nepal government then countered by formally approving the publication of the new Political and Administrative Map of Nepal including all territories lying to the east of the Mahakali River on May 18, 2020. In June, the House of Representatives unanimously endorsed the second amendment to the Constitution of Nepal to update the country’s new political map in the national emblem. Sino-Indian Consensus of 2024 A 6-point Consensus on Peace and Tranquility on the Line of Actual Control (LAC) was agreed on December 18, 2024 between the Special Representative of the People’s Republic of China, Wang Yi, and the Special Representative of the Republic of India, Ajit Doval.&nbsp; India has not denied that this is a consensus, while China made it clear that this was not a Joint Statement. This Consensus is in line with the 2005 agreement, and was agreed during the 23rd round of the Special Representatives talks held after a gap of five years aimed at restoring bilateral ties frozen because of the military standoff in Ladakh. The agreement included: cross-border communication and cooperation, promoting the resumption of pilgrimages by Indians to Xizang, cooperation on crossborder rivers, and trade at the Nathu La Pass. Nepal made no reaction to the statement despite Lipulek being the pilgrimage route for Mansarovar and Kailash.&nbsp; Prabhakar Sharma is a construction engineer and an international border expert who has worked as a survey engineer for the Cameroon-Nigeria border demarcation by the United Nations.