Over the last three decades, Nepal’s national government has spent Rs2.1 billion to beautify the holy river that flows through the capital. The Bagmati is still a cesspool. Now, the government wants to take a big loan to build a 95m high dam inside the Shivapuri-Nagarjun National Park to flush the river.
<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/dam-dangerous">As we reported last week</a>, it is an expensive bad idea. The reservoir carries seismic, ecological and financial risk.
So far, attempts to rehabilitate the river have resulted in constricting its flow into narrow canyons, building walkways and planting trees along its banks. To be fair, the Bagmati would be uglier without these half-complete measures. But storing monsoon water to regulate the flow of the Bagmati will not clean it up if we keep on dumping the city’s sewage and garbage into it.
The new Rs25 billion project funded by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to build the dam is being justified because ‘there is no other viable option to preserve the Bagmati civilisation’.
The proposed dam on the Nagmati stream which is a tributary of the Bagmati in the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/frozen-shivapuri">dense forest of the national park</a> will be just 18km upstream from the city centre. It will create a reservoir 50 hectares in area.&nbsp;
When released in the dry season, the stored water is supposed to wash away the waste, flush the stench of sewage, and raise the level of the aquifer. However, no amount of water released into the Bagmati will clean it as long as it continues to be a sewage canal and a dumping ground for solid waste.&nbsp;
Even the project's Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report concedes that the quality of water in Bagmati can only be restored by blocking the direct discharge of sewers into the river.&nbsp;
We talked to engineer and former joint secretary at the Ministry of Drinking Water Rajan Pandey. He has calculated that even when 450 l/s of water is released from the reservoir, it will only raise the water level in the river by 3cm.&nbsp;
Officials directly involved admit that water released from the dam will not be sufficient to purify the Bagmati, but argue that it will “dilute the pollution” and buy time to <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/where-to-take-a-dump">divert sewers</a> to wastewater treatment plants. But the construction of that system has already been delayed by more than 30 years.
As Nagendra Sitoula of Tribhuvan University Institute of Engineering Studies told us, “The Nagmati dam is like pouring a bucket of clean water into a tank full of dirty water in an attempt to clean it up. It is pointless.”
Pollution in water bodies is measured with a unit called Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD) representing the amount of biodegradable organic matter in the water. The higher the BOD, the more polluted the water.
Drinking water has a BOD of 1 ppm (parts per million). At Sundarijal, the Bagmati has a BOD of 2 ppm, and a dry season measurement of the river after it has flowed through the city at Chobhar last year showed 340 ppm. It is clear that no amount of water released from the proposed dam will dilute the Bagmati’s contamination. &nbsp;
The Nagmati Dam will be a white elephant nearly as expensive as Pokhara airport, and similarly will have no immediate economic return. The Rs25 billion ($189 million) loan to finance this project will increase the inter-generational debt burden of Nepalis.
Rs25 billion could build 500km of two-lane black-topped highways connecting Nepal’s remote districts, or irrigate one-third of Nepal’s arable land increasing food production. Instead, the money is being lavished on an already pampered capital. &nbsp;
<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/the-monsoon-mess-in-melamchi">The disaster in 2021 </a>that nearly destroyed the $800 million Melamchi project supplying drinking water to Kathmandu should have been a lesson that such mega schemes are at increased risk from the impact of climate breakdown in the Himalaya. Weak governance and unreliable construction practices make large-scale development projects even more risky.
A collapse of the Nagmati Dam would wash away Pashupati, roads, bridges and houses all the way down to Chobhar directly impacting 500,000 people in Kathmandu Valley. Then there is the ecological cost of submerging a large area of the carefully protected Shivapuri watershed.&nbsp;
The Nagmati Dam also exposes the inequity of yet another expensive <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/development-destruction-yt3t1yhu?amp=1">Kathmandu-centric project</a> when less than 25% of Nepalis have clean drinking water, and much of the Karnali suffers chronic food insecurity. It also lays bare the misguided priority of international lenders just out to expand their portfolios.
Ramesh Kumar

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Nagmati won't clean Bagmati

The Nepal government is all set to launch a Rs25 billion project to build a dam inside Shivapuri National Park to flush the Bagmati, wash away its waste and stanch its stench as it flows through Kathmandu. However, critics say it is an extravagant undertaking that carries financial, seismic and environmental risks, and that the Bagmati can be more effectively cleaned with a sewage network, water treatment plant and better <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/where-to-take-a-dump">urban solid waste management</a>. &nbsp; The Department of Water Resources and Irrigation is planning to build the 95m high dam on the Nagmati stream to also augment Kathmandu Valley’s drinking water supply and generate some electricity. The scheme is an extension of a project funded by the Asian Development Bank (ADB).&nbsp; Engineer Nishchal Chhatkuli of the ADB-supported <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/kathmandu-gets-first-pump-track">Bagmati River Basin Improvement Project </a>says the environmental impact assessment is awaiting approval and clearing trees and construction of an access road will begin soon. The project is expected to be completed by 2032 by when the reservoir will be capable of storing 9.4 billion litres of monsoon runoff and releasing 450 l/s into the Bagmati River as it starts to flow through Kathmandu 18km downstream.&nbsp; The primary purpose of the dam is said to be to flush out the polluted Bagmati River, although some of the water will also be added to the mains connected to the Melamchi tunnel, as well as generate 1.86MW of electricity.&nbsp; The Project started in 2013 to improve Kathmandu’s river system under which another 24m high dam has already been built at Dhap, upstream from the proposed dam.&nbsp; But the Dhap reservoir was deemed to have insufficient storage to flush the Bagmati all year round, and the ADB supported a detailed feasibility study completed by an Australian company in 2017 that endorsed a<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/kathmandu-creeps-up-surrounding-mountains"> higher dam downstream </a>near Mulkharka, 3km above the confluence of the Nagmati and Bagmati.&nbsp; “Since water cannot be brought from elsewhere, stored rainwater drained from this lake is the only way to deliver it to Bagmati during winter and take the river back to how it was three decades ago,” Chhatkuli explains.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024020301024_c7f7c1a0165e10d96afa0244389de367da0c24c99b5e864a9a275e455ecf20cc.png" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="2024020301024_c7f7c1a0165e10d96afa0244389de367da0c24c99b5e864a9a275e455ecf20cc" data-rendition-name="original" width="761" height="403" loading="lazy" alt="Nagmati NT"> <figcaption>Shivapuri-Nagarjun National Park showing Dhap Dam and the proposed Nagmati Reservoir.</figcaption> </figure>  The dam construction itself will cost Rs19 billion, and additional money will be spent on protecting the watershed, construction of the power house, drinking water use and building tourism facilities. &nbsp; Although the Nagmati project’s stated aim is to protect the river basin, critics say it will come at significant <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/development-destruction-yt3t1yhu?amp=1">ecological cost</a> to the national park. The environment impact assessment itself says more than 80,000 trees will have to be cut, and the access road will add to human disturbance in the wilderness area.&nbsp; ‘Permanent effects of the project include loss of local biodiversity, destruction of wildlife habitat, and construction activities that will alter local topography, increase soil erosion, and increase turbidity in the river,’ the report states.&nbsp; Nature activist Shrawan Sharma argues that impounding a reservoir of this size will harm the already fragile ecosystem of the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/frozen-shivapuri">Shivapuri- Nagarjun National Park</a> and the Bagmati watershed.&nbsp; The current government policy is to replace every tree cut with 10 saplings, which would mean that 800,000 saplings would need to be planted. But there is no land area for so many trees in Shivapuri. D P Jaisi, an engineer formerly with the Department of Irrigation says the construction of a big dam in an area with high seismic risk directly upstream from a densely populated city is a bad idea. Climate change adds to the risk.&nbsp; “Large infrastructure projects need to be future-proofed to withstand major disasters, but such structures are always a risk,” says Jaisi. “If the Nagmati Dam were to collapse, it would be catastrophic for Kathmandu.” The project’s detailed report does look at a potential dam collapse, and shows that 3.47 million litres per second would rush down to Kathmandu, reaching Sundarijal in 15 minutes and Pashupati within 90 minutes. “The debris flow in the event of a Nagmati Dam collapse will affect 500,000 people all the way down to Chobhar and even change the course of the Bagmati as it flows through Kathmandu,” Jaisi warns. Water resources professor at Pulchok Engineering Campus Hari Pandit says the damage would be large-scale and long-lasting. “We simply cannot rely on dam design in a country like ours with its weak governance and weak construction,” he adds. &nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024020301024_b34372ab9e8091db5abbd59d604d01b5a3bc566616e3951b3fb0f77db895ec93.jpg" data-media-id="editor_6" data-image-id="2024020301024_b34372ab9e8091db5abbd59d604d01b5a3bc566616e3951b3fb0f77db895ec93" data-rendition-name="original" width="2500" height="3333" loading="lazy" alt="Nagmati NT"> <figcaption>The Nagmati inside the national park near the proposed dam site is a boulder-strewn stream. Photo: KUNDA DIXIT</figcaption> </figure>  Project officials like Chhatkuli say all this is scare-mongering and there is no reason to be alarmed because the dam is designed with the worst-case scenario for seismic and cloudburst risk in mind. But critics are not assuaged, especially considering the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/the-monsoon-mess-in-melamchi">disaster that struck the Melamchi water supply scheme</a> in 2021, Nepal’s biggest infrastructure project so far. An investigation showed that Melamchi headworks and tunnels did not take into account clear and present danger from climate change in the river's headwaters. Hydraulic structures expert Ravi Rajbhandari with Cemat Consultants says the dam, which will have concrete slabs on one side and rock-fill on the other, will be "like a sword hanging over Kathmandu’s head". He says we should learn lessons from last year’s catastrophic dam breaches in Libya and Sikkim. Experts also question why the Department of Irrigation is involved when the project has nothing to do with agriculture, and when the Rs25 billion lavished on another big project in Kathmandu could have been spent to irrigate rain-fed farms in rural areas and increase harvests.&nbsp; Some experts say the Nagmati project will mire Nepal in another <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/soaring-debt">debt trap</a>. The country’s public debt has reached Rs2.38 trillion and now accounts for more than 44% of the country’s GDP. Pouring money into a low-return project like Nagmati will push generations of Nepalis into indebtedness. Ravi Rajbhandari and Hari Pandit also doubt whether water released from the dam will actually make the Bagmati cleaner if sewage and garbage continue to be dumped into the river. The money could have been spent on extending the Melamchi tunnel to Larke and Yangri to increase water volume. But the project’s Nishchal Chhatkuli argues that the return on investment from the Nagmati Dam should not be measured only from an economic standpoint. “The price that locals have had to pay for living and being in proximity to the polluted Bagmati is incalculable,” he says. “The advantage of a cleaner Bagmati goes beyond purely financial benefit.”

Dam dangerous

Fenerbahçe Beko won the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague finals in Abu Dhabi, held 23-25 May, defeating Monaco 81-70 in the final. Olympiacos, who defeated Panathinaikos 97-93, finished the series in third place. The Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the final match, Nigel Hayes-Davis from Fenerbahçe Beko, received a prize of 1,000,000 Miles&amp;Smiles from Turkish Airlines’ Chief Commercial Officer Ahmet Olmuştur. The carrier has been the title sponsor of the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague, a top tier tournament, since 2010.

Turkish Basketball

Thousands of Nepali students dreaming of an American education have been forced to look elsewhere as the Trump administration’s visa restrictions make their future uncertain.
The US was long considered a top destination for higher studies, making Nepal the 10th biggest country of origin for international students in America.&nbsp;
However, that number has seen a significant decline with the total for Nepali students now at 16,482. Some 8,000 Nepali students obtained no-objection certificates to study in the US from the Ministry of Education in the past year.&nbsp;
India, Australia, Canada, South Korea, United Kingdom and Japan are the other popular destinations for Nepali students. There are no clear numbers for Nepalis going to India, but a slight decline was noted this year after the deaths of two female students.
The US State Department has issued a circular to its embassies not to issue new visas to applicants until further notice. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in the directive stated that the department planned to expand the screening of applicants' social media.&nbsp;
While new applicants are barred including those applying for visitor visas, students with scheduled interviews are allowed to proceed.
“Many of our students are affected by the new restrictions, but those who had applied for student visas earlier have got interview dates,” one Kathmandu-based college counsellor told us.
Meanwhile, even foreign students with spotless records already in the US have not been spared, as visa scrutiny intensifies under the new policy. In a move that underscores the growing sense of insecurity, many US colleges advised international students to carry their passports and documents at all times, even when traveling locally.
“Me and my friends did not go home this summer because we were not sure we would be allowed back, so we just went to Niagara Falls,” said a Nepali undergrad in Ohio, who like many interviewed for this report did not want her name used for fear of repercussion.
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Nepali students have adopted a cautious stance, with many choosing not to return home during summer vacation due to fear of visa revocations as well as travel bans. Meanwhile, over 7,000 Nepalis with Temporary Protected Status (TPS) will have to come back to Nepal by 5 August or face deportation. Thirty-seven were flown back to Kathmandu on Omni Air last week.
“The US is one of the most sought-after destinations for higher education, and the ban will definitely impact bright students,” says Narottam Aryal of the King’s College in Kathmandu.
Indeed, Nepali undergraduates admitted into Ivy League colleges for the 2025 academic year have been asked to look for alternatives. The entire Fulbright Foreign Scholarships Board resigned on Wednesday citing interference from the Trump administration on the selection of this year’s cohort. Some Nepali students already on Fulbright scholarships have noted disruptions, delays and even cancellation of stipends.&nbsp;
The student visa restrictions were initially just for foreign students admitted to Harvard University, but it was later extended to all Chinese students and now to all students. Universities like Columbia which actively recruit foreign students, face sharp enrolment declines, threatening their financial stability and diversity.
An Indian female PhD candidate at Columbia University had her visa revoked by the US State Department, and said she was targeted on the basis of her social media posts on Israeli military attacks in Gaza. Social media vetting of political activism has raised concerns about privacy and freedom of expression in a country where such rights were a given.
Many students have been informed via email that their visas have been revoked for getting speeding or parking tickets, but even others with no criminal record have been affected. The fear of deportation looms large amongst international students, including those from Nepal.&nbsp;
For most Nepalis who migrate to the US for education, the journey is a high-stakes investment. They come largely from middle-class families, often rely on a patchwork of scholarships, work-study programs, loans, or even the sale of family assets to afford fees.
Most Nepali students pursue STEM subjects which offer extended Optional Practical Training (OPT) periods that help fund their education. But with the US backsliding on education and humanitarian matters, countries like the UK and Canada are becoming more attractive despite their own recent stricter controls on student visas.&nbsp;
The UK universities saw a 63% rise in Nepali students’ admissions in 2024. Japan is another popular destination with 64,816 Nepali students enrolled as of 2024.
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Already, China, Hong Kong and Malaysia are poised to benefit from the increased scrutiny of US student visas. Several Hong Kong universities are offering unconditional admission to affected students, while Malaysian institutions are targeting previously US-bound Asian students. China and India have 330,000 and 280,000 students respectively in America, but the numbers for China have seen a sharp drop in the past year.
Elsewhere, branch campuses of American institutions such as NYU in Abu Dhabi, Georgetown in Dubai and Northwestern in Doha are getting more admission applications, and universities in the Gulf region are expanding infrastructure to accommodate those who would otherwise have gone to the US.&nbsp;
Even educational institutions in Nepal are hopeful that the US visa restrictions can be an opportunity to at least keep Nepali undergrads in Nepal, and also attract foreign students from the region.&nbsp;
“Many students might choose to complete their undergraduate degree here in Nepal and then move abroad for their Master’s degree later,” says Aryal of King’s College. “There was a need for quality higher education in Nepal anyway in terms of innovation and opportunities, so this could be the time to reduce our dependence on other countries.”
Nepal’s strategic position between India and China makes it sensitive to US policy shifts. India, a key ally, is also under US scrutiny for potential student travel restrictions. Chinese universities are already offering more scholarships to Nepali talent to capitalise on the US retreat.
American universities have challenged student visa restrictions in the courts. A federal court in Boston revoked the blanket ban on Harvard, and the State Department has ordered the resumption of processing student and exchange visitor visas.&nbsp;
Some are still hoping that President Trump will backtrack on the student visa restrictions, just like he has done with many of his more drastic executive orders.
Even so, the visa see-saw and longer-term uncertainties about living in the United States and its education system means students across the world are making alternative plans.
Says Aryal: “Policies of foreign countries change according to their needs, so excessive dependence was never a good idea. We should work to create different opportunities and choices of higher education within Nepal, so students are retained.” &nbsp;

America no longer prime destination for Nepali students

While Nepal was hosting the Sagarmatha Sambaad international climate conference in Kathmandu this month, on Mt Everest it was pretty much business as usual.&nbsp; The signs of climate breakdown are all there: a river now runs through Base Camp in summer, the Khumbu Icefall is more unstable, and there are more &nbsp;frequent avalanches. When expeditions arrived in March, the mountains were bare: it had not snowed since September, but then blizzards dumped unseasonal snow in May. And despite climate worries, such is the pull of Himalayan mountaineering that the Everest Industry showed no signs of slowdown. More than 600 international climbers and their Nepali guides had made it to the summit of the world’s highest mountain. At one point there were an estimated 2,000 people in the tent city on the Khumbu Glacier. All the ropes and ladders on the Icefall came down on Thursday, marking the official end of the spring climbing season, and just in time to avoid a monsoon cyclone approaching from the Bay of Bengal. It has been an action-packed season. One factor could be that Everest fees will go up from September: each foreign climber needs to pay a $15,000 royalty, up from the present $11,000. The cost for a Nepali climber on the South Col route will also go up: from Rs75,000 to Rs150,000.&nbsp; The fee to climb Everest in autumn is $7,500 (up from $5,500), but most climbers still prefer spring. Winter permit fee (December-February) is only $3,750 per person and the mountain is now also open for monsoon (June-August) climbs, when the fee is ever lower at $2,750. The revised rule also makes it mandatory for every two climbers on an 8,000m peak to hire one Nepali mountain guide.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025053004050_67f856fe52714e4bdcf21ae7d45c6f18c82117b9d0a5f73ed1efa04c96de1046.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="2025053004050_67f856fe52714e4bdcf21ae7d45c6f18c82117b9d0a5f73ed1efa04c96de1046" data-rendition-name="original" width="931" height="732" loading="lazy" alt="The Everest Industry graph 1"> </figure>  In addition, climbers also have to pay for porters and guides, equipment, Base Camp costs, Ice Fall and fixed rope team fees, so climbing Everest does not come cheap. But such is the draw of climbing the world’s highest peak that some say the increased fees will not diminish the crowds next year. The government has tried to spread expeditions out to other seasons and other 8,000ers, but with not much success. Earlier this year, Nepal unilaterally increased the number of 8,000m peaks to 14 by adding six more sub-summits to broaden the choice for climbers. Added were: Yalung Kang (8,505m), Yalung Kang West (8,077m) &nbsp;Kangchenjunga Central (8,473m), Kangchenjunga South (8,476m), Lhotse Middle (8,410m) and Lhotse Shar (8,400m).&nbsp; The announcement could go against the accepted topographic criteria that a stand alone peak has to be at least 300m higher than an adjoining prominence, and at more than 3km isolation from it. The UIAA (Union Internationale des Associations d'Alpinisme) still recognises only 14 mountains as eight-thousanders, and only eight of those are in Nepal, or on the border with China. Nepal’s revised mountaineering regulations also increased the insurance coverage of high-altitude workers to protect porters and high altitude guides who usually take more risks on the mountains. Rescue teams and clean-up campaigners to collect trash and remove bodies of dead climbers up to Camp IV of Mt Everest do not need permits.&nbsp; The Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee is now using drones to fly down trash in 20kg sacks. Each climber is also required to bring down at least 6kg of waste and not just their own, but this rule is erratically enforced. With five fatalities on Everest and Lhotse, Spring 2025 had a historically low death toll. Another five climbers died on Annapurna, Kangchenjunga and Makalu.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025053004050_38681de22f0fefb6faa12b01755566d09c5064d0ff84e12ccc7b5d68ea9ba38a.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="2025053004050_38681de22f0fefb6faa12b01755566d09c5064d0ff84e12ccc7b5d68ea9ba38a" data-rendition-name="original" width="665" height="740" loading="lazy" alt="The Everest industry graph 2"> </figure>  Journalist Ben Ayers who ran the Everest Live social media channel from Everest Base Camp with daily updates credited the low death rate to dramatic rescues of climbers from the ‘Death Zone’ by their Nepali guides and longline helievacs — the visuals all uploaded on YouTube.&nbsp; “Ironically, this perception of safety is bringing more and more inexperienced climbers to the mountain, and they need more rescues,” Ayers said in one of his dispatches.&nbsp; American expedition chronicler and summiteer Alan Arnette suspects there is a lot of under-reporting given that the jet stream and storms were lashing Everest even till late in the season. He told us: “I heard a lot about frostbite and rescues that were not made public. It’s become practically impossible to cover the details on Everest. All the teams report nice news, and they don’t talk about bad stuff to avoid hurting businesses.” Although trash on Nepal’s mountains makes headlines, what does not receive as much attention is the climate impact of so many expeditions. The Sagarmatha Sambaad conference sidestepped this issue, which is ironic given that the impact of climate breakdown is most evident on Himalayan peaks and their glaciers.&nbsp; <h2>Need for Speed</h2> The big stories this year have been about speed-running from their home cities to the top of Everest. Ukrainian entrepreneur Andrew Ushakov flew out of JFK on 15 May at 10:15AM Nepal time, and was on the summit 3 days, 23 hours, and 7 minutes later on 19 May at 9:22AM.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250601080640_1c5cc6fc991307861768f07037ed9d30930fb20f35dbb57dc31c9a92a9e1a885.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="20250601080640_1c5cc6fc991307861768f07037ed9d30930fb20f35dbb57dc31c9a92a9e1a885" data-rendition-name="original" width="1440" height="1800" loading="lazy" alt="The Everest Industry"> <figcaption>Andrew Ushakov at the summt. Photo: ELITE EXPED</figcaption> </figure>  “I could never find the time for the traditional 40-50 days of acclimatisation,” Ushakov explained matter-of-factly. His ‘Everest Sea-to-Summit’ climb was possible because he spent 400 hours in hypoxic sleep tents over the past four years in New York. However, Ushakov did use ropes already fixed, hired four Nepali guides, helicoptered to Base Camp, and used much more oxygen than an average climber. And after the climb, Ushakov was arrested at Kathmandu airport for being in possession of $20,000 of undeclared cash and spent a night in jail and fined $60,000.&nbsp; The other speedsters were Garth Miller, Alastair Cairns, Anthony Stazicker, and Kev Godlington, all former British Army commandos. They left London and summited five days later on 21 May, and flew right back. They also used hypoxic tents to simulate the thin air high on Everest.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250601080644_90c8dd5cc07b4b43f2989b1dc0c0650ab80f10ebb06680c25a6909c519957bd8.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="20250601080644_90c8dd5cc07b4b43f2989b1dc0c0650ab80f10ebb06680c25a6909c519957bd8" data-rendition-name="original" width="810" height="668" loading="lazy" alt="The Everest Industry "> <figcaption>All four members of the Furtenbach team at the summit. Photo: Sandro Gromen-Hayes</figcaption> </figure>  But more controversial was their use of xenon gas therapy in a German hospital to ramp up the production of oxygen-carrying haemoglobins in their blood. Xenon is banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency for being performance enhancing in sports. Expedition leader Lukas Furtenbach said this rule does not apply to mountaineering, as it is not a regulated sport like swimming. Nepal has no rules about xenon, but the Department of Tourism said it was launching an ‘investigation’ to decide on future policy since it is difficult to ban xenon, but allow oxygen. The controversy has also divided the mountaineering community, with some climbers saying they just want to maximise their chances of survival. Spending less time on the mountain could make climbing safer by reducing avalanche risk. It would also mean less trash on the mountains, but it would reduce the income of Nepal’s expedition industry. It is also unclear how much of the success was due to xenon therapy and whether the ex-special forces were already in good physical shape.&nbsp; The need for speed hides the fact that climbing in the Himalaya is dangerous business, and climbers cannot sprint to the top just by huffing xenon. But ultra-fast climbs could be charged more, and the revenue generated can be used to establish state-of-the-art rescue operations, and increase pay and insurance for guides. Two other speed chasers this season were Swiss-Ecuadorian Karl Egloff and American Tyler Andrews, both on Everest without oxygen. Andrews choppered to Base Camp to catch a weather window, but turned back from 8,500m due to high winds. Heavy snow and wind also forced Egloff to descend from 7,000m. Slow and steady climbers like Anja Blacha from Germany did make it to the summit without oxygen, while Kami Rita Sherpa broke his own record with his 31st Everest summit as he led a 26-strong Indian Army group. There were 468 permits issued for foreign climbers from 48 expeditions to Everest this spring. Nepal’s other eight-thousanders together had only 17 expeditions. Nepal has more than 1,000 peaks above 6,000m, and has opened only 476 of them for climbing.&nbsp;

The Everest Industry

That winter day in January 1664 marked an exceptional event in the reign of King Pratap Malla of Kathmandu. It was 15 Paush 784 of the Nepal Sambat and for the first time, a historical event was being immortalised on canvas for generations to come.&nbsp; The occasion was the grand Tuladaan ceremony of the King’s youngest son Chakrabartendra Malla from his wife Anantapriya, an Indian princess from Cooch Behar in present-day Assam.&nbsp; During the ritual, the prince was weighed against gold, silver, pearls, and other precious stones, which were then offered to Goddess Taleju Bhavani, the guardian deity of the Malla dynasty.&nbsp; The 170 x120cm painting captures the time of King Pratap Malla in all its splendour and is more than a personal tribute to his son: it is a significant visual historical document. It was evidently completed five years later in 1669, and could be considered a photographic record, with retrospective recreation of the event by the unknown artist. A Tuladaan ceremony is performed to purify one’s karma, quell impending bad luck, or as an act of charity and devotion. Chakrabartendra Malla was not well, and the ritual was performed in hopes of restoring his health. King Pratap Malla had arranged for each of his sons to take turns ruling Kathmandu so they got administrative experience. But Chakrabartendra died just two days after assuming power in 1670 (790 NS). This painting is considered the earliest known example in which the composition is dominated by an architectural landscape: the Taleju Temple. Given the stylistic features such as side-profile facial depictions and the rendering of human forms, it is believed that the Nepali artist was trained by a Rajput master.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250615040624_ddad3bc27a327e3f9926c8473287e4f14b53081296c295049009f327a4d97051.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="20250615040624_ddad3bc27a327e3f9926c8473287e4f14b53081296c295049009f327a4d97051" data-rendition-name="original" width="3248" height="4395" loading="lazy" alt="Tuladaan NT"> </figure>  During that era, there were regular exchanges of artists between Northern India and Kathmandu Valley. The painting is also a melding of Nepali, Tibetan, Mughal, and Rajput art styles of the time. Pratap Malla could have been inspired by a painting of Mughal Emperor Jahangir’s Tuladaan ceremony for his son Khurram in 1607. The Mallas and Mughals shared cordial relations, which is reflected in the cultural influences seen in the art and attire of the period.&nbsp; The clothing of the Malla ruling class, in particular, features colourful tunics, turbans, and jewelry that display strong Rajput and Mughal stylistic elements. The musicians in the upper tier are also dressed in Indian-style clothing, while the ensemble on the lower steps wear local attire, notably without turbans. Their hairstyles also differ, with the lower group wearing their hair tied in a bun at the front. This national treasure is currently in storage at the Collège de France in Paris, and has never been publicly displayed. Nepal’s art scholars like Gautam Vajracharya, Pratap Aditya Pal and Anne Vergati have written about this iconic paubha in the past, but the only detailed study is from the perspective of music history by researcher Richard Widdess who had access to high resolution copies of the original.&nbsp; Widdess from the Department of Music at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London describes the paubha as the most significant and richly detailed documentation of music in Nepali art. He identifies distinct musical ensembles on the terraces of the temple, and remarkably most of them are actively used today. One of them reflects the Mughal naqqārakhāna model — a loud outdoor ensemble typically composed of kettledrums, trumpets, and cymbals, traditionally performed from the gateway of the emperor’s palace to announce his entrances and exits. The depiction of such an ensemble in the tulādāna painting is likely the earliest known representation of a complete naqqārakhāna in Nepal — considered the forerunner of the panche baja, the traditional Nepali ensemble. On the stepped pyramid base of the temple are two groups of musicians playing local instruments: dhimey, bhushya, and dha. They are unmistakably Newar musicians, wearing short skirts and short-sleeved tops, with bare heads and legs—clearly distinguished as local performers.&nbsp; Higher still on the temple pyramid are musicians of apparently higher status, positioned close to the king, and his courtiers, possibly professional court musicians from India, well-versed in rāga and tāla. A dāphā group is also clearly depicted, identifiable by their characteristic instruments.&nbsp; Dāphā bhajan is likely the oldest surviving tradition of Newar devotional singing, and this paubha is the oldest visual record of it. Pratap Malla himself is believed to have composed songs that continue to be performed by dāphā groups throughout Kathmandu till today.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025061211064_d67636730cdc0ec778c02494817aca0b99654f2950d0fae4b95499a61faf7ef3.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="2025061211064_d67636730cdc0ec778c02494817aca0b99654f2950d0fae4b95499a61faf7ef3" data-rendition-name="original" width="596" height="768" loading="lazy" alt="Priceless paubha in Paris NT"> </figure>  The artist’s thorough attention to musical detail may be attributed to King Pratap Malla’s own deep interest in music. His inscriptions on this painting and elsewhere proclaim his mastery of all branches of knowledge, including music. He is also known as the author of dance dramas and poems, penning his name as Kavindra (king of poets). Some noteworthy elements of new art techniques stand out: for example, the roof of the temple is filled with realistically rendered white doves, pigeons, and crows. This is a rare feature in paubha, where animals and birds are stylised, mythological forms. This remarkably talented unknown artist has managed to also render an orthographic projection: the front and side view of Nepal’s first architectural paubha. The Taleju Temple, with its staggering multi-tiered structure and numerous steps and platforms, is masterfully translated into layers within the painting. This represents a significant artistic achievement of the time, especially considering that dimensional perspectives had not started in deity-based paubha.&nbsp; The artist has also made a meticulous effort to capture architectural details such as the toran (ornamental arch) and temple struts with impressive precision. There are flickering lamps along the steps and some people carrying what appear to be oil pots.&nbsp; It is a full moon night and the dark sky is adorned with all the gods and goddesses, who are depicted as blessing the ceremony while seated on stylised thangka clouds. There is a lot happening in this painting, with people engaged in various activities. The artist has also rendered a forest backdrop behind the temple, complete with deer, trees, and flowers. Could there have once been a royal garden behind the Taleju Temple?&nbsp; More details and clarity can only be achieved if we are able to view the original or a high-resolution scanned version of the artwork. Many countries proudly display art depicting historical events in their national museums with great reverence. France, for example, has The Coronation of Emperor Napoleon and Empress Joséphine by Jacques-Louis David (1808–1822), along with numerous paintings of the Napoleonic Wars. Many were commissioned by Napoleon himself for future generations to remember.&nbsp; For Nepal, the equivalent is the Tuladaan paubha which is a visual record capturing a historic moment involving one of Kathmandu’s greatest kings, on the very day the event took place. Sadly, we await the day when this masterpiece is displayed, shared in high resolution for detailed study, or more rightfully — repatriated to its homeland, where it truly belongs. &nbsp; Shaguni Singh Sakya is the Director of the Museum of Nepali Arts (MoNA) at Kathmandu Guest House in Thamel. <h2>Gods homeward bound</h2> The Nepal Heritage Recovery Campaign and Nepal’s Department of Archaeology are convening the first international conference on the Recovery of Cultural Heritage from 16-18 June in Patan. The conference will address urgent issues of theft, illicit trafficking, the campaign to repatriate looted cultural artifacts, and explore how the return of sacred antiquities contributes to justice, healing, and reconciliation for communities and nations affected by cultural loss. American art crime professor Erin L Thompson and Saubhagya Pradhananga of the Department of Archaeology will deliver the keynote. Meanwhile, author and Nepali Times publisher Kunda Dixit will lead a conversation on Illicit Trafficking: Public Opinion and Role of Media with Erin Thompson, Amr Al Azm, associate professor of Middle East History and Anthropology at Shawnee State University in Ohio, as well as Bradley J Gordon, a lawyer based in Phnom Penh. There will be sessions looking at repatriation perspectives from Cambodia, India, Vietnam, China and Poland, international frameworks for repatriation, emerging digital technologies in the repatriation of cultural heritage, cultural property agreements, museums as well as trends in the art market, and heritage diplomacy and the role of media.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025061211068_59cfccfa8f5d73bfe8b4c5811a7f53abc09ea04e8cb7c638933d62e5283efdf6.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="2025061211068_59cfccfa8f5d73bfe8b4c5811a7f53abc09ea04e8cb7c638933d62e5283efdf6" data-rendition-name="original" width="1080" height="1350" loading="lazy" alt="Heritage recovery NT"> </figure>  <h2> </h2> Some of the other highlights include James K. Reap, a professor in the Master of Historic Preservation Program at the University of Georgia who has a session on the US response to illicit trafficking. Art historian Lea Saint-Raymond is taking on “Gods at Auction: The Market for Himalayan Artefacts”, while lecturer of criminology at the University of Glasgow Emiline Smith is delving into transformative approaches to heritage ownership and repatriation. Helena Arose of Antiquities Coalition and Melina Antoniadis of NOSTOS Strategies that specialise on the return home of cultural heritage as well as Hao Liu of International Cultural Heritage Law at the School of Law at Shandong University are some of the others attending. The Nepal Heritage Recovery Campaign was set up in 2020 to develop a coordinated movement to reclaim Nepal’s stolen gods and goddesses, with an aim to ensure that recovered items are returned to their original shrines, niches or sanctums. Ahead of the conference opening organisers have arranged for a film screening of Loot &amp; Return: 4 Documentaries at YalaMaya Kendra in Patan Dhoka between 14-15 June. Following the conference is a multimedia exhibition titled Absent Gods: Nepal’s Lost Heritage from 31 July to 4 August at Patan Museum.

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