Saraswati Puja on 14 February also marks the first day of spring on Nepal’s lunar calendar. Schools hold special functions, students sing hymns, and children go to temples of the goddess of knowledge to write their first letters in chalk on the walls. The belief that goddess Saraswati resides in books, musical instruments, even laptops and other devices for intellectual pursuit prevails to this day.&nbsp; The most exquisitely carved figure of Saraswati in all of Nepal was in a temple in Pharping, 20km south of Kathmandu. On 11 November 1984 devotees were shocked to see that their goddess had been beheaded. This was in the 1980s when idol theft in Kathmandu Valley was rampant. International traffickers in collusion with Nepal’s high and mighty were smuggling out sacred objects to sell to collectors and museums abroad.&nbsp; Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/nepal-s-diaspora-helps-return-stolen-gods">Nepal’s diaspora helps return stolen gods</a>, Alisha Sijapati Since the 1.2m high Saraswati carved out of black granite was so large and heavy, the thieves hacked off just the head and took it away under cover of night. Black granite is not found locally, and is similar to the stone used in the sleeping Vishnu at Budhanilkantha and the Bhagwati at Kavrepalanchok — all believed to date back to the Lichhavi period 1,000 years ago. German historian Jürgen Schick was living in Kathmandu at the time, and was deeply troubled by the plunder of Nepal’s religious treasures, and the emotional toll it was taking on local communities. He started his own photographic documentation of missing sacred objects and published the book, Die Götter verlassen das Land, in 1989. It was updated and translated in 1997 into English as The Gods are Leaving the Country: Art Theft from Nepal.&nbsp; Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/faith-stolen-lost-in-nepal-found-in-america">Faith Stolen: Lost in Nepal, found in America</a>, Lost Arts of Nepal  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240213120244_ee3c3b4bdd2c9db368171fbfc0a6ef9101327cccb717fb0e23eff0feca4aa696.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="20240213120244_ee3c3b4bdd2c9db368171fbfc0a6ef9101327cccb717fb0e23eff0feca4aa696" data-rendition-name="original" width="817" height="498" loading="lazy" alt="The godhead of Patan"> <figcaption>THE REAL FACE: German historian Jürgen Schick's photographs of the Pharping Saraswati (above) taken before and after it was decapitated by thieves in 1984. The head was sold to an art collector in the United States, who returned it to Nepal in 1999. Since then it has been stored at the National Museum, and for the past two years has been on display with other repatriated stolen deities (below).</figcaption> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240213120244_f17dba3a2da5cd75a87ab75aa9c0ba63f0cbeca1363f1a65291e557fce9bf1c7.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="20240213120244_f17dba3a2da5cd75a87ab75aa9c0ba63f0cbeca1363f1a65291e557fce9bf1c7" data-rendition-name="original" width="1000" height="1500" loading="lazy" alt="The godhead of Patan"> <figcaption>Photo: GOPEN RAI</figcaption> </figure>  On 8 May 1984, Jürgen had photographed the intact Pharping Saraswati. He went again on 10 December 1984 and took a picture of the decapitated goddess which also had its right foot missing.&nbsp; Residents of the area, Mohan Narayan Balami and Sapta Balami, told Schick that when they arrived for morning prayers, the Saraswati was tilted, with her head missing. There was a huge nationwide outcry as word of the theft spread. &nbsp; "The fate of the Saraswati statue is special because it clearly shows that the art robbers do not shy away from even decapitating a beautiful statue of a deity that has been worshipped for centuries," Schick said. "There could be no clearer evidence of their brutality, the same brutality that they also use against the human protectors of the sacred images, as was clearly shown during the theft of the Halchok Akash Bhairav image in 2021 when they threatened the temple priest with a knife to his throat."&nbsp; Eventually, Pharping's devotees replaced the head with a replica that was so ugly that many found it an insult to the deity, and a reminder of the crime. It was replaced with a more accurate carved head, which is there to this day but still does not match the artistry and beauty of the original. Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/review/remembering-nepals-lost-and-the-found">Remembering Nepal's lost and the found</a>, Ashish Dhakal In 1999, Riddhi Baba Pradhan, then Director-General of the Department of Archaeology, received a letter from the Nepal Embassy in Washington DC that a US-based art curator Pratapaditya Pal had located the Sarswati head and four other sacred objects from Nepal with a private collector. &nbsp; Pratapaditya Pal checked Lain Singh Bangdel’s seminal book, The Lost Art of Nepal, and brought this to the notice of the collector, who promptly agreed to return the objects. The Saraswati head was then returned to Nepal in 1999 along with three other sacred objects and have been in the National Museum at Chhauni ever since.&nbsp; “When the boxes arrived from the airport customs, it was a very emotional moment for all of us," recalls Pradhan, who is now chair of the Nepal Heritage Recovery Campaign.&nbsp; Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/itumbahas-living-museum">Itumbaha's living museum</a>, Sahina Shrestha  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240213120244_9f71a0815f3a655c8f3c0b590df1044297a33d4c60f39e58ff0fa5da4b33ab69.jpg" data-media-id="editor_6" data-image-id="20240213120244_9f71a0815f3a655c8f3c0b590df1044297a33d4c60f39e58ff0fa5da4b33ab69" data-rendition-name="original" width="1388" height="2080" loading="lazy" alt="The godhead of Patan"> <figcaption>TWO HEADS: The Saraswati figure (above) at the shrine in Pharping (below) where thieves hacked off the head in 1984 and took it away to be sold to international art traffickers. The head was replaced with an ugly replica, and later by a more accurate version which has been worshipped now for 40 years. The real head, which was returned from a collector in the United States in 1999, is now in the National Museum in Chhauni. Photos: SAURAV THAPA SHRESTHA</figcaption> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240213120244_5a11c3d4b7dea4538698c29ba487ac6bf298269ce55008b55250daaa1673e256.jpg" data-media-id="editor_7" data-image-id="20240213120244_5a11c3d4b7dea4538698c29ba487ac6bf298269ce55008b55250daaa1673e256" data-rendition-name="original" width="1499" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="The godhead of Patan"> </figure>  She adds, "It was the first indication that our gods would be returning to their rightful places.”&nbsp; Bal Ram Balami in Pharping still remembers the first time he heard on tv news that the Saraswati head was coming back: “I had this deep sense of happiness, I was overwhelmed with joy and relief.” &nbsp;&nbsp; Many in Pharping wanted the retrieved head to be reinstated on the Saraswati and were looking forward to its true homecoming. But 25 years later, the head is still in the museum. It was in storage till two years ago when it went on public display with other repatriated stolen objects. The National Museum and the Pharping community have been in constant communication, but no tangible progress has been made.&nbsp; Pharping’s Ward Chair Shailesh Man Manandhar says the locals want the Saraswati returned, but security concerns persist.&nbsp; Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/the-homecoming-of-nepal-s-gods">The homecoming of Nepal's gods</a>, Alisha Sijapati National Museum director Jayaram Shrestha agrees that worries about it being stolen again persist, and the community also does not want to take responsibility for its safekeeping. “For now, it is important for the head to remain where it is until a final decision is reached,” says Manandhar, who has plans to establish a museum in Pharping itself with other religious objects.&nbsp; By now, the local community has become attached to the replica head since it is being worshipped and already embodies the essence of Saraswati’s wisdom and knowledge.&nbsp; He says, “It may be wise to let the original head remain where it is under protection of the National Museum until we are ready to take it back.” Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-s-deities-in-transit">Nepal’s deities in transit</a>, Anita Bhetwal

Alisha Sijapati

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The godhead of Pharping

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110161144/636d1c659c7e80680e0af358jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1000" height="667"/><figcaption>Photo: MONIKA DEUPALA</figcaption></figure>A narrow street behind Patan’s Krishna Mandir leads to Patko Tole with its two-tiered temple dedicated to Laxmi-Narayan. It was from here that a 800-year-old stone idol was stolen one night in 1984.Devotees came in the morning for their daily prayer rituals to find an empty niche where the Laxmi-Narayan statue was, with bricks strewn around. Six years later, the stele finally surfaced in New York while being auctioned at the Sotheby’s.It was bought by David T Owsley, a prominent American collector of antiquities, who gave it to the Dallas Museum of Art on a 30 year long-term loan where it was displayed in 1993 for first time after its theft.Back in Patan’s Patko Tole, Bhai Raja Shrestha remembers the commotion that morning 37 years ago when neighbours found their god missing. The androgynous idol was eventually <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/replicating-nepals-stolen-gods/">replaced with a replica</a>.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110161144/636d1c689c7e80680e0af359jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1330" height="992"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>“People still came to do puja every day, but it was not the same thing,” recalls Shrestha, who is now 79. “We had no hope of finding the lost god and with the disappearance of our patron deity, the community also started falling apart.”Information about the Laxmi-Narayan finally was first found in the <a href="https://issuu.com/dallasmuseumofart/docs/dma_artsofindiasoutheastasia2">museum catalogue in 2013</a>, but the real breakthrough came six years ago when an anonymous blogger posted a picture of the exhibit at the Dallas Museum of Art and American artist <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/Narratives-of-Faith-and-Memory-Remembering-the-Lost-Sculptures-of-Kathmandu-exhibition,987">Joy Lynn Davis</a> located the idol on display through Google Image Search.Davis was familiar with the statue because the Laxmi-Narayan was one of the paintings in her 2013 exhibition at the Patan Museum depicting shrines in which she replaced the stolen sacred objects with their images in gold.It took another six years for the Dallas Museum of Art to remove the stele from its display. After relentless media coverage, an FBI investigation, and diplomatic pressure, the Laxmi-Narayan was flown back to Kathmandu <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/the-homecoming-of-nepals-gods/">in April</a> and handed over to the Patan Museum for safekeeping."Diplomacy isn’t just about politicians, agreements, or high-level meetings. It’s about people and connection," says US Ambassador to Nepal, Randy W Berry. "One of the things that connects us most is respect for one another’s culture. The fact that so many of Nepali’s cultural and religious artifacts have been stolen is tragic - but it’s a tragedy that I hope is reversing."<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110161144/636d1c6b9c7e80680e0af35ajpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1200" height="842"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>"We hope to inspire other countries and museums to look into the issue and help reunite Nepali communities with their lost artifacts," he adds. "I know we will do whatever we can to ensure other pieces of Nepali cultural and religious heritage also come home."The god will be enshrined once more in its original sanctum at the temple in Patko Tole amidst a procession and ceremony on 4 December — nearly 40 years after being in foreign custody.“It is a truly joyous occasion,” says Bhai Raja Shrestha. “Even when one brick stolen from the temple is returned, it is special to us.”The Patko Tole community has deliberated long and hard about where to put the 10th - 15th century idol that depicts a composite figure of Laxmi and Vishnu. Only seven of the eight arms on the stone sculpture are still intact, and carry various objects attributed to the two gods: wheel, mace, lotus, manuscript, mirror and water pot.The replica at the temple has its lost arm holding a conch shell restored, and it has already been moved to the left side of the shrine to make way for the original, which will be prominently displayed and anchored to the altar with concealed stainless steel bars.“The fact that it is a little damaged is not a major concern,” says Bhai Raja Shrestha. “We will worship both the original and the replica at the temple.”Shrestha dismisses concern that the statue might be stolen again. Besides the steel bars put up by the <a href="https://kvptnepal.org/">Kathmandu Valley Preservation Trust</a> (KVPT), the Kathmandu University Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering has installed infrared movement sensors, CCTV coverage, and door contact detection gadgets.“There is no market value for the statue now. Because of the media coverage, no museum or collector will want to buy or hold a stolen item,” says KVPT’s Rohit Ranjitkar.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110161144/636d1c6e9c7e80680e0af35bjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="694" height="909"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure><figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110161144/636d1c719c7e80680e0af35cjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1000" height="667"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>American arts crime professor Erin Thompson agrees. The US, UK and Nepal are among 141 countries which have ratified the <a href="http://portal.unesco.org/en/ev.php-URL_ID=13039&amp;URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&amp;URL_SECTION=201.html">1970 UNESCO international treaty</a> to prohibit and prevent the illicit import, export and transfer of ownership of cultural property.“Plenty of museums, collectors and dealers will say that there is no problem as long as the objects left Nepal before 1970,” says Thompson. “But <a href="https://whc.unesco.org/en/statesparties/np/laws/">that’s not legally true</a> since the objects are still essentially stolen no matter when.”At least in the United States, the legal climate is changing and public prosecutors have been seizing antiquities, no matter when they were stolen.Looking back at the paintings of Joy Lynn Davis, the return of Laxmi-Narayan to its original shrine is almost a manifestation of her art in real life, which has in turn helped to raise awareness about the stolen sacred objects.“I wanted to ask through my art if it was possible to imagine a future in which the statues are returned to their shrines,” says Davis, who like Thompson have flown to Kathmandu to attend the consecration ritual at Patko Tole on Saturday.Patan Museum has been holding several stolen objects that have been repatriated from abroad. At 11AM on Saturday, the Laxmi-Narayan will be adorned with a special copper garment and carried in a palanquin from the Museum to Patko Tole in a ceremonial procession for the kshyama puja – a ritual seeking forgiveness.“This consecration ceremony is a historical event, the Laxmi-Narayan also restores our faith and belief,” says Roshan Mishra of Taragaon Museum, who is also involved with the <a href="https://nepalheritagerecoverycampaign.org/">Nepal Heritage Recovery Campaign</a>.The Campaign was launched in September 2021 as a collaborative international effort for the repatriation and restitution of Nepal’s sacred stolen objects, as far as possible to its original community in Kathmandu Valley.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110161144/636d1c739c7e80680e0af35djpeg.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="960">The prominent driving force for the campaign as well as Saturday’s restitution of Laxmi-Narayan has been the continued significance and role of the sacred sculptures in Nepal’s culture, faith and heritage. The figures used to be <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=7311#.YahVc1VByJA">actively worshipped when they were stolen</a>, but became mere sterile ‘objets d'art’  when exhibited at museums, or in the living rooms of rich collectors abroad.“At the Dallas Museum, the Laxmi-Narayan was exhibited out of context with a tag noting the statue's name, date and Nepal as the place of origin. Unless a visitor knew something about the culture of Nepal, it would be easy to assume the statue was part of an ancient civilisation and dug out of the ground,” says Joy Lynn Davis. “Of course, that it not the case. It was stolen, and not long ago.”<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110161144/636d1c769c7e80680e0af35ejpeg.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="427"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110161144/636d1c789c7e80680e0af35fjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="427">Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-wants-stolen-antiquities-returned-from-france/">Nepal wants stolen antiquities returned from France</a>, Alisha Sijapati<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/2-more-nepali-antiquities-traced-to-us-museum/">2 more Nepali antiquities traced to US museum</a>Indeed, unlike antiquities from Greece or Egypt, the Laxmi-Narayan and other stolen Kathmandu Valley deities were part of a vibrant living culture and represented a community’s collective faith and belief system, still in practice.An anonymous initiative on Facebook, Lost Arts of Nepal, has been actively tracking down on Nepal’s stolen heritage in museums and private collections abroad, and increasing awareness about our sculptures, struts and gods who are missing from their original homes.Nepal Times approached the account for a reaction, and this was the reply: ‘The restitution of the Laxmi-Narayan sculpture is a milestone in ongoing repatriation efforts. It will set an example and show to the world how our gods are important to the country’s cultural heritage.’<h3>What about all the other sacred objects stolen from Nepal?</h3><figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110161144/636d1c7b9c7e80680e0af360jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1000" height="662"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>American arts crime professor Erin Thompson believes that appeals for repatriation henceforth can be made to museums and collectors using two arguments: legal and ethical.“Private collectors often hold the objects because there is sentimental value, so you can appeal to their love of culture,” Thompson says. “They can also be offered an opportunity to experience the meaning of the object first-hand by inviting them to Nepal for the restitution.”With the museums, the approach has to be different, as the recent restitution of several sacred objects from the United States, Austria and other countries have shown.“Museums do their research, record provenances, and as such do not have an excuse to say that they did not know if a certain object was stolen or not,” says Thompson.Indeed, more than legal arguments, museums can be pressured by naming and shaming on media, raising ethical concerns, diplomatic pressure and negotiations.“Publicity is really important in this case,” says Thompson (see <a href="https://twitter.com/artcrimeprof/status/1465806577860890627" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">tweet</a>). “Since these collections are driven by public interest and attention, and the Laxmi-Narayan restitution sets an important precedent.”The return of the Laxmi-Narayan shows that because these are objects of living worship by communities, attention should be paid to restitution and not just repatriation.Museums abroad often argue that the objects are much safer in their collection than in Kathmandu. And the continued theft of religious objects like the statue in <a href="https://www.facebook.com/diwakar.chettri/posts/10224235900352580" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Godavari’s Panch Dhara</a> this week bolsters that argument.However, Thompson believes that Laxmi-Narayan’s successful return to its original temple makes a strong case for museums abroad to return other stolen gods they are holding.“Having seen the communities and shrines first-hand, I know that it is lie that the sacred objects are safer in museums abroad,” says Thompson. “It is ridiculous to think that Nepalis do not care about these statues and sculptures.”<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110161144/636d1c7d9c7e80680e0af361jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="465" height="837"><figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110161144/636d1c7f9c7e80680e0af362jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="586"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Egypt and Greece have for decades been demanding that the British Museum and the Louvre return antiquities stolen in past centuries. In October, Germany and Nigeria signed an agreement setting out a timetable for the return of 1,100 objects from German museums. Artist Joy Lynn Davis believes that there is now a more conducive international climate for repatriation of antiquities, and <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/nepals-gods-return-from-exile/">Nepal can take the lead</a>.Appealing to the conscience of collectors has worked in the past. In August 1994, an American collector voluntarily returned four gods after he was shown Lain Singh Bangdel’s photographs proving their public ownership: a 12th century Saraswati, a 9th century Buddha, a 14th century Surya, and a 10th century Vishnu. In 2000, the Museum für Indische Kunst in Berlin returned the 12th century Uma-Maheswar stolen from Wo Tole in Dhulikhel in 1982.In April, a 13th-century Chaturmukhi Shivalinga was handed over by the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/how-nepali-antiquities-got-to-chicago-museum/">Art Institute of Chicago to</a> the Nepal Embassy in Washington DC, and in September the Denver Art Museum returned <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/us-returns-another-antiquity-to-nepal/">the 10th century Uma-Maheswar</a> that had been stolen 50 years ago from Ga Hiti of Patan.One pressing concern is that the original shrines may have been destroyed or damaged in the 2015 earthquake. Some communities may also not be prepared to take the objects back right away.Suresh Man Lakhe of Patan Museum says that while the best option is always to give the repatriated objects to the community, museums in Nepal should also be prepared to hold them for safekeeping until the community is ready.“The priority is always full restitution,” Lakhe says, “But when these objects return, they do not immediately go back to their original places. So, Patan Museum is opening a gallery for returned objects while they await re-installation.”Apart from safekeeping, museums can also conduct necessary documentation and research, since some returned objects have not been properly identified.Lakhe adds, “To install them <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/Nepal-needs-to-be-prepared-for-the-return-of-stolen-religious-figures,986">in situ </a>is our priority. The deities become stale and stagnant in museums. Restored to their shrines, the gods can be worshipped again.”

Ashish Dhakal

The enigma of arrival of Nepal's gods

<figure><img width="1500" height="1272" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109121140/636b924b9c7e80680e06f13djpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>The 400-year-old necklace once worn by the Taleju Bhawani goddess in Kathmandu that is now in a museum in the United States. Photo: ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO</figcaption></figure>Two months after the <a href="https://www.artic.edu/">Art Institute of Chicago</a> returned a stolen 800-year-old stone sculpture, many more of Nepal’s religious antiquities have been located at the museum, raising questions also about the identity of the international criminal networks and their accomplices in Kathmandu responsible for the thefts.An America-based Nepali posted photographs on Friday of a whole section of the Art Institute of Chicago that is dedicated to religious objects from Nepal and other South Asian countries. Sweta Gyanu Baniya, an assistant professor at Virginia Tech University, recently visited the Art Institute of Chicago and was appalled by what she saw. Among them was an intricate <a href="https://www.artic.edu/artworks/130700/necklace-inscribed-with-the-name-of-king-pratapamalladeva">gilt-copper necklace stolen from Kathmandu’s Taleju Temple</a> 45 years ago, and her <a href="https://twitter.com/Sunkesharee/status/1403467078443622401">Twitter post</a> about it was widely shared. “I had heard about the Nepal section at the Art Institute, and sure enough there was the necklace and other deities from Nepal on display,” Baniya says. “I felt like bowing down to pray.”Besides the necklace, there were also other Hindu and Buddhist gods and goddesses on display, alongside antiquities from India and Pakistan. But it was the necklace that emotionally moved Baniya the most, since the Taleju Temple is open to the public only once a year back in Kathmandu.“And here it was on show all year round. I knelt before the display and was overcome with tears. I knew the necklace was not where it was supposed to be, it belonged back in the Taleju Temple in Kathmandu,” she said. “I was emotionally moved, and could not move away from it.” <figure><img width="640" height="853" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109121140/636b924e9c7e80680e06f13ejpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>As more and more Nepali antiquities are traced to <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/the-homecoming-of-nepals-gods/">Western museums and private collectors</a>, pressure is building for their return, as well as to find the identity of international smuggling networks with their Nepali accomplices responsible for the thefts three to four decades ago.In April, Nepal welcomed back a stolen <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/the-homecoming-of-nepals-gods/">12th-century stone sculpture of Laxmi-Narayan from the Dallas Art Museum</a>, where it had been exhibited after being stolen in 1984 and last sighted at a Sotheby’s auction 30 years ago (below). <img width="1500" height="1002" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109121140/636b92519c7e80680e06f13fjpeg.jpg" alt="">The necklace itself is studded with semi-precious stones and inlaid with smaller depictions of the eight astamatrika goddesses. And inscription at the front proves that it once belonged to King Pratap Malla who ruled Kathmandu from 1641-74 -- one hundred years before the Valley was conquered by Prithvi Narayan Shah.In 1970, the necklace was among the treasures that were ordered by the Panchayat government at the time to be moved to the nearby Hanuman Dhoka Museum which was deemed to be safer since it was guarded by the Royal Nepal Army. It disappeared in 1976.“The government wanted to move the treasures for safe-keeping, but it got stolen anyway. The high priests at the time had warned officials that this would anger the powerful Taleju god. Sure enough, within a year, King Mahendra died,” says Uddhab Karmacharya, the eighth generation high priest of the Taleju Temple from the family <figure><img width="640" height="960" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109121140/636b92549c7e80680e06f140jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>“How was it possible that such a sacred item could be stolen from such a highly secure place?” asks Karmacharya, whose father was the head priest when the treasures were ordered to be transferred. Art historians say that the Taleju necklace and other religious objects in Nepal could not have been smuggled out without collusion between international art dealers, criminal networks and their accomplices on the ground in Kathmandu. “The inscription at the front of the necklace leaves no doubt not only about when and where it was made, but also where it was intended to stay,” explains American art crime professor, Erin Thompson.  The Art Institute of Chicago exhibit includes details of the necklace, and says that it was among items gifted by the US-based Alsdorf Foundation. Interestingly, this the same foundation that used to also own the stone sculpture of the 13th century Chaturmukhi Shivalinga (below) that the museum handed over to the Nepal Embassy in Washington in April for restitution to Nepal. <figure><img width="397" height="463" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109121140/636b92569c7e80680e06f141jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure><a href="https://www.artic.edu/artworks/130700/necklace-inscribed-with-the-name-of-king-pratapamalladeva">The provenance of the necklace</a> also mentions that it was sold by Bruce Miller Antiquities of Sausalito in California on 22 June, 1976 to the Alsdorf Foundation — the very year that the necklace was believed to have been stolen in Kathmandu.  The information is contained in an invoice in a curatorial file given to the Art Institute Chicago in 2010 that notes: ‘Receipt of Object #26939 … on loan to the museum since July 8, 1976’.  “The Art speaks for itself … it is a masterpiece, one of a kind, it was a royal commission for the clan deity, Taleju Bhawani,” said the administrator of the site Lost Arts of Nepal which had also traced and posted information of the object in the Chicago Museum in March. The post contains the transliteration of the inscription. “कन्थि।। श्री श्री श्री भगवती देवी जननी जयति:। स्वस्ति महाराजाधिराज श्री श्री राज राजेन्द्र कवीन्द्र जय प्रताप मल्ल देव स कथि जुरो शुभ।।"“Victory to the Mother-Goddess [Bhagavati devi Janani]. Hail! [This] is the necklace of the king of kings, lord of kings, lord of the poets, the victorious Pratapamalladeva (may it be) auspicious.”The Alsdorfs, through their foundation or individually gave as many as 14 Asian antiquities in their collection to the Art Institute. Noted Chicago collector and philanthropist couple James and Marilyn Alsdorf were especially interested in sacred art, and there are even photographs of some of these stolen objects adorning their swimming pool (below). <a href="https://twitter.com/artcrimeprof/status/1386639539725344768">Art crime professor Erin Thompson writes on Twitter</a>: ‘Totally culturally disrespectful and all. Some of their collections have problematic provenances, to say the least. ”The Aldorfs also had many other stolen religious objects from India and tibet in their collection. <a href="https://twitter.com/poetryinstone">Vijay Kumar</a>, the co-founder of the India Pride Project and author of The Idol Thief told Nepali Times: “The Alsdorfs have been a part of many high profile repatriations in the past, it is high time that the US government also start investigating the provenances of the Alsdorf collection.”Some of the objects from the Alsdorfs collection have been put up in auctions at <a href="https://www.christies.com/features/The-Collection-of-James-and-Marilynn-Alsdorf-10107-3.aspx?fbclid=IwAR1xe3CUvqICJmwa_US8CaQDlmU-Jega_aQZegCb4WYDbm0Bfa5zMWDo5gg">Christie’s</a> in the past. The Taleju necklace appears to have been a gift from Marylinn B Alsdorf to the Art Institute of Chicago, according to Lost Arts of Nepal which has all been trying to trace the provenance of the two stone sculptures from the Alsdorf collection that the Art Institute Chicago sent back to Nepal in April. <figure><img width="1080" height="695" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109121140/636b92579c7e80680e06f142jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Says Sangeeta Thapa of Siddhartha Art Gallery in Kathmandu: “Why haven’t we looked out for antiquities that went south before being re-exported in the late 70s, 80s. The Nepal government needs to be more proactive on this, it is time to look at our own backyard and the region.”  <img width="640" height="322" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109121140/636b925a9c7e80680e06f143jpeg.jpg" alt=""><img width="640" height="360" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109121140/636b925e9c7e80680e06f144jpeg.jpg" alt="">While the Taleju necklace has been located and the Nepal government says it will start working on its repatriation, Lost Arts of Nepal has also started investigating the provenance of two other Nepali deities at the Art Institute of Chicago that were also gifted by Marylinn B Alsdorf (above). One is a <a href="https://www.artic.edu/artworks/148392/buddha-sheltered-by-the-serpent-king-muchalinda">Muchalinda </a>Buddha statue from Guita Tole in Patan, where the first photo of the figure in the shrine was taken by the Department of Archaeology. The second is of a <a style="font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.artic.edu/artworks/148371/dancing-bhairava-a-horrific-form-of-god-shiva">dancing Bhairava</a> which was documented in a book by art historian Jurgen Schick.

How Nepali antiquities got to Chicago museum

<figure><img width="1500" height="1272" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110131148/636cf31b9c7e80680e09d94cjpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>The 400-year-old necklace once worn by the Taleju Bhawani goddess in Kathmandu that is now in a museum in the United States. Photo: ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO</figcaption></figure>Two months after the <a href="https://www.artic.edu/">Art Institute of Chicago</a> returned a stolen 800-year-old stone sculpture, many more of Nepal’s religious antiquities have been located at the museum, raising questions also about the identity of the international criminal networks and their accomplices in Kathmandu responsible for the thefts.An America-based Nepali posted photographs on Friday of a whole section of the Art Institute of Chicago that is dedicated to religious objects from Nepal and other South Asian countries. Sweta Gyanu Baniya, an assistant professor at Virginia Tech University, recently visited the Art Institute of Chicago and was appalled by what she saw. Among them was an intricate <a href="https://www.artic.edu/artworks/130700/necklace-inscribed-with-the-name-of-king-pratapamalladeva">gilt-copper necklace stolen from Kathmandu’s Taleju Temple</a> 45 years ago, and her <a href="https://twitter.com/Sunkesharee/status/1403467078443622401">Twitter post</a> about it was widely shared. “I had heard about the Nepal section at the Art Institute, and sure enough there was the necklace and other deities from Nepal on display,” Baniya says. “I felt like bowing down to pray.”Besides the necklace, there were also other Hindu and Buddhist gods and goddesses on display, alongside antiquities from India and Pakistan. But it was the necklace that emotionally moved Baniya the most, since the Taleju Temple is open to the public only once a year back in Kathmandu.“And here it was on show all year round. I knelt before the display and was overcome with tears. I knew the necklace was not where it was supposed to be, it belonged back in the Taleju Temple in Kathmandu,” she said. “I was emotionally moved, and could not move away from it.” <figure><img width="640" height="853" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110131148/636cf31f9c7e80680e09d94djpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>As more and more Nepali antiquities are traced to <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/the-homecoming-of-nepals-gods/">Western museums and private collectors</a>, pressure is building for their return, as well as to find the identity of international smuggling networks with their Nepali accomplices responsible for the thefts three to four decades ago.In April, Nepal welcomed back a stolen <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/the-homecoming-of-nepals-gods/">12th-century stone sculpture of Laxmi-Narayan from the Dallas Art Museum</a>, where it had been exhibited after being stolen in 1984 and last sighted at a Sotheby’s auction 30 years ago (below). <img width="1500" height="1002" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110131148/636cf3229c7e80680e09d94ejpeg.jpg" alt="">The necklace itself is studded with semi-precious stones and inlaid with smaller depictions of the eight astamatrika goddesses. And inscription at the front proves that it once belonged to King Pratap Malla who ruled Kathmandu from 1641-74 -- one hundred years before the Valley was conquered by Prithvi Narayan Shah.In 1970, the necklace was among the treasures that were ordered by the Panchayat government at the time to be moved to the nearby Hanuman Dhoka Museum which was deemed to be safer since it was guarded by the Royal Nepal Army. It disappeared in 1976.“The government wanted to move the treasures for safe-keeping, but it got stolen anyway. The high priests at the time had warned officials that this would anger the powerful Taleju god. Sure enough, within a year, King Mahendra died,” says Uddhab Karmacharya, the eighth generation high priest of the Taleju Temple from the family <figure><img width="640" height="960" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110131148/636cf3259c7e80680e09d94fjpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>“How was it possible that such a sacred item could be stolen from such a highly secure place?” asks Karmacharya, whose father was the head priest when the treasures were ordered to be transferred. Art historians say that the Taleju necklace and other religious objects in Nepal could not have been smuggled out without collusion between international art dealers, criminal networks and their accomplices on the ground in Kathmandu. “The inscription at the front of the necklace leaves no doubt not only about when and where it was made, but also where it was intended to stay,” explains American art crime professor, Erin Thompson.  The Art Institute of Chicago exhibit includes details of the necklace, and says that it was among items gifted by the US-based Alsdorf Foundation. Interestingly, this the same foundation that used to also own the stone sculpture of the 13th century Chaturmukhi Shivalinga (below) that the museum handed over to the Nepal Embassy in Washington in April for restitution to Nepal. <figure><img width="397" height="463" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110131148/636cf3279c7e80680e09d950jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure><a href="https://www.artic.edu/artworks/130700/necklace-inscribed-with-the-name-of-king-pratapamalladeva">The provenance of the necklace</a> also mentions that it was sold by Bruce Miller Antiquities of Sausalito in California on 22 June, 1976 to the Alsdorf Foundation — the very year that the necklace was believed to have been stolen in Kathmandu.  The information is contained in an invoice in a curatorial file given to the Art Institute Chicago in 2010 that notes: ‘Receipt of Object #26939 … on loan to the museum since July 8, 1976’.  “The Art speaks for itself … it is a masterpiece, one of a kind, it was a royal commission for the clan deity, Taleju Bhawani,” said the administrator of the site Lost Arts of Nepal which had also traced and posted information of the object in the Chicago Museum in March. The post contains the transliteration of the inscription. “कन्थि।। श्री श्री श्री भगवती देवी जननी जयति:। स्वस्ति महाराजाधिराज श्री श्री राज राजेन्द्र कवीन्द्र जय प्रताप मल्ल देव स कथि जुरो शुभ।।"“Victory to the Mother-Goddess [Bhagavati devi Janani]. Hail! [This] is the necklace of the king of kings, lord of kings, lord of the poets, the victorious Pratapamalladeva (may it be) auspicious.”The Alsdorfs, through their foundation or individually gave as many as 14 Asian antiquities in their collection to the Art Institute. Noted Chicago collector and philanthropist couple James and Marilyn Alsdorf were especially interested in sacred art, and there are even photographs of some of these stolen objects adorning their swimming pool (below). <a href="https://twitter.com/artcrimeprof/status/1386639539725344768">Art crime professor Erin Thompson writes on Twitter</a>: ‘Totally culturally disrespectful and all. Some of their collections have problematic provenances, to say the least. ”The Aldorfs also had many other stolen religious objects from India and tibet in their collection. <a href="https://twitter.com/poetryinstone">Vijay Kumar</a>, the co-founder of the India Pride Project and author of The Idol Thief told Nepali Times: “The Alsdorfs have been a part of many high profile repatriations in the past, it is high time that the US government also start investigating the provenances of the Alsdorf collection.”Some of the objects from the Alsdorfs collection have been put up in auctions at <a href="https://www.christies.com/features/The-Collection-of-James-and-Marilynn-Alsdorf-10107-3.aspx?fbclid=IwAR1xe3CUvqICJmwa_US8CaQDlmU-Jega_aQZegCb4WYDbm0Bfa5zMWDo5gg">Christie’s</a> in the past. The Taleju necklace appears to have been a gift from Marylinn B Alsdorf to the Art Institute of Chicago, according to Lost Arts of Nepal which has all been trying to trace the provenance of the two stone sculptures from the Alsdorf collection that the Art Institute Chicago sent back to Nepal in April. <figure><img width="1080" height="695" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110131148/636cf3289c7e80680e09d951jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Says Sangeeta Thapa of Siddhartha Art Gallery in Kathmandu: “Why haven’t we looked out for antiquities that went south before being re-exported in the late 70s, 80s. The Nepal government needs to be more proactive on this, it is time to look at our own backyard and the region.”  <img width="640" height="322" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110131148/636cf32b9c7e80680e09d952jpeg.jpg" alt=""><img width="640" height="360" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110131148/636cf32e9c7e80680e09d953jpeg.jpg" alt="">While the Taleju necklace has been located and the Nepal government says it will start working on its repatriation, Lost Arts of Nepal has also started investigating the provenance of two other Nepali deities at the Art Institute of Chicago that were also gifted by Marylinn B Alsdorf (above). One is a <a href="https://www.artic.edu/artworks/148392/buddha-sheltered-by-the-serpent-king-muchalinda">Muchalinda </a>Buddha statue from Guita Tole in Patan, where the first photo of the figure in the shrine was taken by the Department of Archaeology. The second is of a <a style="font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.artic.edu/artworks/148371/dancing-bhairava-a-horrific-form-of-god-shiva">dancing Bhairava</a> which was documented in a book by art historian Jurgen Schick.

<figure><img width="4916" height="1673" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110131140/636cf1f89c7e80680e09d8dajpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>The original torona over a door in Mulchok of Patan Darbar Square in early 70s. Photo: ARCHAEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF INDIA. And after the 12 gilded bronze figures were stolen from the frieze in 1984. Photo: ELFRIEDE MOELLER.</figcaption></figure>Even though smuggled Nepali religious objects are starting to be returned to the country from museums and collectors in the West, gilded figures stolen from a temple in Patan 40 years ago are going up for auction in Paris this week.The five gilded copper-bronze images of <a href="https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/27185/lot/8/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/27185/lot/8/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1622807155775000&amp;usg=AFQjCNF7mJbqkuTE9UN6m-7_0LYaiYQ8XQ">Nrityanath</a>, <a href="https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/27185/lot/10/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/27185/lot/10/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1622807155775000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEz4FY3QxYWX-ajjca-us3O2ZFiVg">Mahalaxmi</a>, <a href="https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/27185/lot/11/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/27185/lot/11/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1622807155775000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGPHer28HHdclqxzcTf223rrLInSA">Chamunda</a>, <a href="https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/27185/lot/12/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/27185/lot/12/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1622807155775000&amp;usg=AFQjCNH-qYDQhec_Y8GefnPJ4YemWm0ugA">Shiva Gana (Bhairab)</a>, and <a href="https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/27185/lot/9/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/27185/lot/9/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1622807155775000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGzMdQX7qDVXKuuW0LieGbwkItrrQ">Panchmukhi Hanuman (Hanu Bhairab</a>) that were among 12 on a 16th century frieze at the south door of the Mulchok of the Taleju Bhavani Temple in Patan.The objects which were individually wrenched out of the torana in the 1970s and 1980s are now going under the gavel at the<a href="https://www.bonhams.com/search/?q=nepal&amp;main_index_key=lot&amp;fbclid=IwAR08FrLJGybL4CN9zmFKI1jHZhMFs1DHIegVeWPfDBRRsaJOy0u0NbO66H0#/ah0_0=lot&amp;q0=nepal&amp;c0_0=FR&amp;MR0_display=search&amp;m0=0?q=nepal"> Art Bouddhiste et Hindou de l'Himalaya in Bonhams, Paris from 1-10 June through Himalayan Art Online</a>. The asking price is from 3,000 to 5,000 euros.The original gilded bronzes from the torana were first recorded in the early 1970s by Indian art historian BN Banerjee in his book, Architecture of Nepal for the Archaeological Survey of India. Art historian Mary Slusser had also documented pictures of the original statues before they were stolen one by one.  The thefts were documented in German scholar Jurgen Schick’s book, Gods are Leaving the Country: Art Theft from Nepal, in which he writes, ‘One of the most odious cases of art theft in Nepal was the plundering of the torona of the Taleju Bhavani temple in the royal palace of Patan.’ The auction was first spotted  by <a href="https://www.facebook.com/lostartsofnepal">Lost Arts of Nepal </a>who tracked the ongoing auction at Bonhams, Paris  on its Facebook page on Thursday.  <figure><img width="1080" height="810" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110131140/636cf1fb9c7e80680e09d8dbjpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Altogether 12 precious bronzes of the goddess Durga and her retinue dating to the 16th century were stolen from this site alone, and the torana was stripped bare. Later these bronzes were put up for sale by an auction house in Stuttgart in Germany.  “Of 12 statues that were torn out of the torana, thankfully five have now surfaced at the auction in Paris, so we now know where they are. I hope in the near future we will find the other seven as well, and they will be returned to Nepal,” says Rohit Ranjitkar of Kathmandu Valley Preservation Trust (KVPT) who is involved in the restoration of temples and monuments in Patan.<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/replicating-nepals-stolen-gods/#:~:text=A%20museum%20of%20copies&amp;text=Bhaktapur%20architect%20Rabindra%20Puri,many%20of%20its%20religious%20objects.">Replicating Nepal's stolen gods</a>, Alisha SijapatiOn 15 April, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/the-homecoming-of-nepals-gods/">Nepal welcomed back an 800-year-old Laxmi-Narayan figure from the US</a>, which was stolen nearly 40 years ago from Patan’s Patko Tole. The statue was first located in 1990 at a Sotheby’s auction and was later spotted at the Dallas Museum of Art. Since then, four other statues have been returned to Nepal from collectors and museums in the United States: a 13th century carved temple eave depicting an Apsara, a 14th-century gold seated Buddha in Bhumisparsa Mudra, a 15th century seated Ganesh, and a 13th-century Chaturmukhi Shivalinga from Art Institute of Chicago. <a href="https://www.gla.ac.uk/schools/socialpolitical/staff/emilinesmith/">Emiline Smith</a>, lecturer of Criminology at the University of Glasgow says, "Many countries around the world have been deprived of their rich cultural heritage for centuries through the exploitative and colonial looting and trafficking of cultural objects. Those countries have requested their cultural heritage back for decades, and now it finally seems like the 'repatriation debate' is gaining momentum.""While museums have attempted to work with claimants to return heritage as part of their decolonisation efforts, much more work needs to be done in this area - and not only by museums, but also by private collectors, auction houses and other stakeholders. Much like museums, auction houses including Bonhams should hold the objects they trade to the highest level of scrutiny," Smith says. <figure><img width="2048" height="1722" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110131140/636cf1fd9c7e80680e09d8dcjpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>In 2010, a bronze Garuda water spout, the centrepiece of the Sundari Chok in Patan Darbar Square, was also stolen. However, it was retrieved by police a year later in Kathmandu before it could be smuggled out of the country.The exquisitely carved original figure is now on display at the National Museum in Kathmandu, while the Sundari Chok has a replica bronze created by artisans at the KVPT. In 2013, the Department of Archaeology had also approached the KVPT team to make replicas of the 12 figures from the Mulchok of Taleju Temple torana. “The torana had been stripped bare, and we had to refer to the original photographs to make replicas when we restored the Mulchok,” Ranjitkar told Nepali Times. There is now moral and diplomatic pressure being brought to bear on Bonhams to stop the auction. Roshan Mishra, director of Taragaon Museum in Kathmandu has reached out to the auction house in Paris with evidence of the origin of the statues, and that the stolen items should be returned to Nepal.“This is groundbreaking news for us that five of the 12 stolen antiquities have been located, we have to bring them back like the other statues from American museums,” says Mishra.<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/us-museum-returns-stolen-nepal-god/">US museum returns stolen Nepal god</a>, Alisha Sijapati <figure><img width="974" height="1299" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110131140/636cf2009c7e80680e09d8ddjpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure><figure><img width="974" height="1299" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110131140/636cf2039c7e80680e09d8dejpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure><figure><img width="974" height="1299" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110131140/636cf2059c7e80680e09d8dfjpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure><figure><img width="640" height="854" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110131140/636cf2079c7e80680e09d8e0jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure><figure><img width="974" height="1299" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110131140/636cf20a9c7e80680e09d8e1jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>The Department of Archaeology in Kathmandu, the Ministry of Culture, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Nepal Embassy in France have already started the process to halt the auction immediately. Sanjay Adhikari, a heritage activist and lawyer says, “Nepal’s religious objects were being actively worshipped, they are not decorative art to be auctioned or kept in museums. They are not just metal or stone objects but our gods and goddesses we have been worshiping for generations and need to revere for generations to come.” Adhikari has already filed an application at the Department of Archaeology and UNESCO Kathmandu office for the return of the Mulchok figures. He says since France has always been a pioneer advocate for heritage conservation and where the UNESCO headquarters is located, its government should realise that its global reputation is at stake. He says, “This is a moral as well as a legal obligation of the government of France and  I hope there will be positive intervention from it and from UNESCO to bring our gods home.” Suresh Lakhe of Patan Museum says, “I knew that they were stolen in the 1970s, and just like the Laxmi-Narayan statue that was returned from the US will be restored to its original shrine in Patkotole these figures also belong in Mulchok. These are our gods."<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/nepals-gods-return-from-exile/">Nepal's gods return from exile</a>, Alisha Sijapati <figure><img width="1662" height="968" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110131140/636cf20d9c7e80680e09d8e2jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Even while effort is on to suspend the Bonhams auction, there are two other stolen religious objects from Patan that are in a warehouse of the Musée National des Arts Asiatiques Guimet in France (a 12th-century Vishnu with Laxmi and Garuda, which was stolen from Chyasal in Patan in late 1970s and another 12th-century statue of Uma-Mahesvar stolen on the night of 23 May, 1984 from Nasmanatol in Bhaktapur) which also need to be returned.  <figure><img width="640" height="853" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110131144/636cf2109c7e80680e09d8e3jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure><figure><img width="640" height="853" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110131144/636cf2139c7e80680e09d8e4jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Art historian Lain Singh Bangdel had documented these two stolen figures in his book Stolen Images of Nepal. Bangdel's late daughter Dina was working with the curator at the Guimet to get the statues back to Nepal before she died in 2017. American art crime professor Erin Thompson says, “Museums have started to wake up to the reality that stolen Nepali art needs to go back to Nepal. But dealers, auction houses, and many collectors are still ignoring the continuing crime of depriving Nepal of its heritage. The only way to stop the market in stolen cultural heritage is to stop the demand. No one should be buying cultural artifacts from Nepal because ever example of ancient or sacred artifacts from Nepal whether in a museum or on the market, was stolen.”

Nepal wants stolen antiquities returned from France

<figure><img width="4916" height="1673" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109121136/636b91189c7e80680e06f0cbjpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>The original torona over a door in Mulchok of Patan Darbar Square in early 70s. Photo: ARCHAEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF INDIA. And after the 12 gilded bronze figures were stolen from the frieze in 1984. Photo: ELFRIEDE MOELLER.</figcaption></figure>Even though smuggled Nepali religious objects are starting to be returned to the country from museums and collectors in the West, gilded figures stolen from a temple in Patan 40 years ago are going up for auction in Paris this week.The five gilded copper-bronze images of <a href="https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/27185/lot/8/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/27185/lot/8/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1622807155775000&amp;usg=AFQjCNF7mJbqkuTE9UN6m-7_0LYaiYQ8XQ">Nrityanath</a>, <a href="https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/27185/lot/10/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/27185/lot/10/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1622807155775000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEz4FY3QxYWX-ajjca-us3O2ZFiVg">Mahalaxmi</a>, <a href="https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/27185/lot/11/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/27185/lot/11/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1622807155775000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGPHer28HHdclqxzcTf223rrLInSA">Chamunda</a>, <a href="https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/27185/lot/12/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/27185/lot/12/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1622807155775000&amp;usg=AFQjCNH-qYDQhec_Y8GefnPJ4YemWm0ugA">Shiva Gana (Bhairab)</a>, and <a href="https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/27185/lot/9/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/27185/lot/9/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1622807155775000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGzMdQX7qDVXKuuW0LieGbwkItrrQ">Panchmukhi Hanuman (Hanu Bhairab</a>) that were among 12 on a 16th century frieze at the south door of the Mulchok of the Taleju Bhavani Temple in Patan.The objects which were individually wrenched out of the torana in the 1970s and 1980s are now going under the gavel at the<a href="https://www.bonhams.com/search/?q=nepal&amp;main_index_key=lot&amp;fbclid=IwAR08FrLJGybL4CN9zmFKI1jHZhMFs1DHIegVeWPfDBRRsaJOy0u0NbO66H0#/ah0_0=lot&amp;q0=nepal&amp;c0_0=FR&amp;MR0_display=search&amp;m0=0?q=nepal"> Art Bouddhiste et Hindou de l'Himalaya in Bonhams, Paris from 1-10 June through Himalayan Art Online</a>. The asking price is from 3,000 to 5,000 euros.The original gilded bronzes from the torana were first recorded in the early 1970s by Indian art historian BN Banerjee in his book, Architecture of Nepal for the Archaeological Survey of India. Art historian Mary Slusser had also documented pictures of the original statues before they were stolen one by one.  The thefts were documented in German scholar Jurgen Schick’s book, Gods are Leaving the Country: Art Theft from Nepal, in which he writes, ‘One of the most odious cases of art theft in Nepal was the plundering of the torona of the Taleju Bhavani temple in the royal palace of Patan.’ The auction was first spotted  by <a href="https://www.facebook.com/lostartsofnepal">Lost Arts of Nepal </a>who tracked the ongoing auction at Bonhams, Paris  on its Facebook page on Thursday.  <figure><img width="1080" height="810" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109121136/636b911b9c7e80680e06f0ccjpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Altogether 12 precious bronzes of the goddess Durga and her retinue dating to the 16th century were stolen from this site alone, and the torana was stripped bare. Later these bronzes were put up for sale by an auction house in Stuttgart in Germany.  “Of 12 statues that were torn out of the torana, thankfully five have now surfaced at the auction in Paris, so we now know where they are. I hope in the near future we will find the other seven as well, and they will be returned to Nepal,” says Rohit Ranjitkar of Kathmandu Valley Preservation Trust (KVPT) who is involved in the restoration of temples and monuments in Patan.<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/replicating-nepals-stolen-gods/#:~:text=A%20museum%20of%20copies&amp;text=Bhaktapur%20architect%20Rabindra%20Puri,many%20of%20its%20religious%20objects.">Replicating Nepal's stolen gods</a>, Alisha SijapatiOn 15 April, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/the-homecoming-of-nepals-gods/">Nepal welcomed back an 800-year-old Laxmi-Narayan figure from the US</a>, which was stolen nearly 40 years ago from Patan’s Patko Tole. The statue was first located in 1990 at a Sotheby’s auction and was later spotted at the Dallas Museum of Art. Since then, four other statues have been returned to Nepal from collectors and museums in the United States: a 13th century carved temple eave depicting an Apsara, a 14th-century gold seated Buddha in Bhumisparsa Mudra, a 15th century seated Ganesh, and a 13th-century Chaturmukhi Shivalinga from Art Institute of Chicago. <a href="https://www.gla.ac.uk/schools/socialpolitical/staff/emilinesmith/">Emiline Smith</a>, lecturer of Criminology at the University of Glasgow says, "Many countries around the world have been deprived of their rich cultural heritage for centuries through the exploitative and colonial looting and trafficking of cultural objects. Those countries have requested their cultural heritage back for decades, and now it finally seems like the 'repatriation debate' is gaining momentum.""While museums have attempted to work with claimants to return heritage as part of their decolonisation efforts, much more work needs to be done in this area - and not only by museums, but also by private collectors, auction houses and other stakeholders. Much like museums, auction houses including Bonhams should hold the objects they trade to the highest level of scrutiny," Smith says. <figure><img width="2048" height="1722" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109121136/636b911e9c7e80680e06f0cdjpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>In 2010, a bronze Garuda water spout, the centrepiece of the Sundari Chok in Patan Darbar Square, was also stolen. However, it was retrieved by police a year later in Kathmandu before it could be smuggled out of the country.The exquisitely carved original figure is now on display at the National Museum in Kathmandu, while the Sundari Chok has a replica bronze created by artisans at the KVPT. In 2013, the Department of Archaeology had also approached the KVPT team to make replicas of the 12 figures from the Mulchok of Taleju Temple torana. “The torana had been stripped bare, and we had to refer to the original photographs to make replicas when we restored the Mulchok,” Ranjitkar told Nepali Times. There is now moral and diplomatic pressure being brought to bear on Bonhams to stop the auction. Roshan Mishra, director of Taragaon Museum in Kathmandu has reached out to the auction house in Paris with evidence of the origin of the statues, and that the stolen items should be returned to Nepal.“This is groundbreaking news for us that five of the 12 stolen antiquities have been located, we have to bring them back like the other statues from American museums,” says Mishra.<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/us-museum-returns-stolen-nepal-god/">US museum returns stolen Nepal god</a>, Alisha Sijapati <figure><img width="974" height="1299" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109121136/636b91229c7e80680e06f0cejpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure><figure><img width="974" height="1299" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109121136/636b91249c7e80680e06f0cfjpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure><figure><img width="974" height="1299" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109121136/636b91279c7e80680e06f0d0jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure><figure><img width="640" height="854" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109121136/636b91299c7e80680e06f0d1jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure><figure><img width="974" height="1299" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109121136/636b912c9c7e80680e06f0d2jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>The Department of Archaeology in Kathmandu, the Ministry of Culture, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Nepal Embassy in France have already started the process to halt the auction immediately. Sanjay Adhikari, a heritage activist and lawyer says, “Nepal’s religious objects were being actively worshipped, they are not decorative art to be auctioned or kept in museums. They are not just metal or stone objects but our gods and goddesses we have been worshiping for generations and need to revere for generations to come.” Adhikari has already filed an application at the Department of Archaeology and UNESCO Kathmandu office for the return of the Mulchok figures. He says since France has always been a pioneer advocate for heritage conservation and where the UNESCO headquarters is located, its government should realise that its global reputation is at stake. He says, “This is a moral as well as a legal obligation of the government of France and  I hope there will be positive intervention from it and from UNESCO to bring our gods home.” Suresh Lakhe of Patan Museum says, “I knew that they were stolen in the 1970s, and just like the Laxmi-Narayan statue that was returned from the US will be restored to its original shrine in Patkotole these figures also belong in Mulchok. These are our gods."<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/nepals-gods-return-from-exile/">Nepal's gods return from exile</a>, Alisha Sijapati <figure><img width="1662" height="968" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109121136/636b912f9c7e80680e06f0d3jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Even while effort is on to suspend the Bonhams auction, there are two other stolen religious objects from Patan that are in a warehouse of the Musée National des Arts Asiatiques Guimet in France (a 12th-century Vishnu with Laxmi and Garuda, which was stolen from Chyasal in Patan in late 1970s and another 12th-century statue of Uma-Mahesvar stolen on the night of 23 May, 1984 from Nasmanatol in Bhaktapur) which also need to be returned.  <figure><img width="640" height="853" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109121136/636b91329c7e80680e06f0d4jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure><figure><img width="640" height="853" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109121136/636b91359c7e80680e06f0d5jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Art historian Lain Singh Bangdel had documented these two stolen figures in his book Stolen Images of Nepal. Bangdel's late daughter Dina was working with the curator at the Guimet to get the statues back to Nepal before she died in 2017. American art crime professor Erin Thompson says, “Museums have started to wake up to the reality that stolen Nepali art needs to go back to Nepal. But dealers, auction houses, and many collectors are still ignoring the continuing crime of depriving Nepal of its heritage. The only way to stop the market in stolen cultural heritage is to stop the demand. No one should be buying cultural artifacts from Nepal because ever example of ancient or sacred artifacts from Nepal whether in a museum or on the market, was stolen.”

Architecture can be a powerful agent of change, shaping not just spaces but the way people live, connect, and experience the world.&nbsp; For Nepal, which is <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/natures-fragile-gift-to-nepal">gifted by nature</a> and rich in <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/ambassador-fund-cultural-preservation-nepal,2092">cultural heritage</a>, &nbsp;reviving rural architecture with modern amenities could hold the key to more <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/what-sustainable-tourism-means-in-practice">sustainable tourism </a>that benefits local people more. “<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/bayalpata-hospital-in-nepal-wins-global-design-award">Design and architecture</a> are amazing tools to create a unique experience for visitors,” says Spanish architect Tomeu Esteva of Esteva i Esteva Architecture Studio. “Difficult destinations have beautiful hotels with design and comfort.” Esteva was in Kathmandu with his colleagues at an event organised by the Spanish Honorary Consulate at Dwarika’s Hotel last week to showcase buildings which Nepali architects can adapt with local material and design inputs.&nbsp; Rural architecture holds a unique significance: it is more than a shelter and must reflect <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/inking-an-idenity">local identity, culture</a> and <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/saving-humla-from-heritage-loss">heritage</a>. An area’s natural and cultural harmony can be upset by <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/protecting-protected-areas-from-infrastructure?fbclid=IwAR1wK0MDFlFST_2EYb3f54LS4-fPt6rYfLG1DJ1JaQsU3w8-ezyXIxGOqzk">poorly planned development</a>, speakers at the event said, but the environment can be improved and revitalised by well-integrated structures.&nbsp; Another Spanish architect, Belen Moneo, has designed hotels at elevations of 3,700m in her home country Spain that supply natural spring water spas. “<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/lost-in-reconstruction">Creativity in construction</a> must be encouraged. Rural architecture always shows possibilities of what we can do better,” Moneo explains, adding that designs must enhance <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/the-healing-power-of-nature">the beauty of nature</a> and give a natural feel at a time when steel, glass and cement dominate <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/rebuilding-kathmandu-after-the-1934-quake">urban design</a>.&nbsp; This is why the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/weaving-nature-into-craft">use of natural products</a> such as bamboo, local timber, straw and rammed earth are in demand from customers who want a fresh eco-friendly look encouraged in construction of rural architectural structures. The demand for boutique hotels has increased world over, with &nbsp;more and more tourists favouring aesthetics, experience and comfort over price. While creativity is an important part of <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/architecture-for-mountains">construction and architecture</a>, incentives to build and use <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/Building,370">rural construction materials</a> still remain minimal, and Moneo emphasises the significance of design and execution.&nbsp; Esteva helped design the Vana Retreat in Dehradun that kept the natural environment in focus, with the structure giving an elaborate aesthetic experience to visitors. Another example is Hotel Las Mercedes in the Dominican Republic which was designed and constructed by Moneo and the company she co-founded Moneo Brock, respecting and revaluing the traditional architecture of the area. Hotels providing such experience could attract tourists and revenue. The Spanish ambassador to Nepal Juan Antonio March Pujol said, “The role of architecture and architects in developing tourism is crucial, not only in urban areas but rural settings as well.”&nbsp; The concept of rural boutique hotels gained traction in Spain during the 1990s, particularly in regions like Majorca with economic and environmental sustainability as the main focus. In Nepal <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/12-full-opinion/guiding-nepal-s-tourism-industry">the tourism industry</a> directly employs about 1 million people, and makes up about 8% of the country’s GDP. In Nepal, the stone homes of <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/reviving-himalayan-vulture-and-culture">Mustang and Manang</a>, bamboo and mud structures of <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/the-tarai-s-shrinking-forests">the Tarai</a>, and the Kathmandu Valley’s terra cotta tile skylines, graceful temples, and tranquil bahal courtyards are all examples of <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-s-traditional-seismic-resistant-designs">Nepal’s traditional architecture</a>.&nbsp; Nepali architect Sarosh Pradhan has been working for the past eight years on the Brakka Village project in Manang Valley north of <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/municipalities-want-to-manage-annapurna">the Annapurnas</a>. Other examples of this kind of rural architecture for high-end tourism are the Shinta Mani Hotel in Mustang and Khumbu Lodge below <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/mt-everest-pvt-ltd">Mt Everest</a>. Says Pradhan, “There are places in Nepal that radiate purity and embrace simplicity. Creating projects in such settings require deep reflection and thoughtful planning.”  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250421030444_a07a23f6b60fa89c0f35b9dc1aaf19937da4881e6bfb2e1858f3c27dff91729f.jpg" data-media-id="editor_19" data-image-id="20250421030444_a07a23f6b60fa89c0f35b9dc1aaf19937da4881e6bfb2e1858f3c27dff91729f" data-rendition-name="original" width="4608" height="2184" loading="lazy" alt="A new architecture for Nepal's tourism"> </figure>  Rural architecture is not easy, and sometimes more expensive. Inflation, energy efficiency, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/those-who-stay">the climate crisis</a>, and <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/cost-of-living-in-a-big-city">increased costs of living</a> pose obstacles to sustainable rural architecture. Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/forgotten-international-starchitects-in-nepal">Forgotten international starchitects in Nepal</a>, Anne Feenstra and Varun S Bapu Esteva says faith and trust between client and architect is necessary for any project to be successful. He adds that architects must practice being humble, the process of designing always involves learning and not imposing their ideas on clients. Nepal is uniquely positioned for the growth of <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/hiking-up-the-benefits-of-tourism">rural tourism</a> because of its stunning countryside as well as its internationally renowned traditions in holistic wellness. Creating infrastructure that is small, thoughtfully planned and that respects both tradition and contemporary hospitality standards is crucial. “Projects in Nepal can be made cost effective by using materials from houses that have been brought down,” says Esteva. “Pilot projects involving <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/local-government-by-the-people-for-the-people-of-the-people">local people </a>and simple designing also helps the process.” <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/vacant-homes-become-homestays-in-nepal">The growth of homestays in Nepal</a> is a step in the right direction, but they are still a bit too rustic for the international traveller who also wants comfort and is willing to pay extra for it. Upgrading the facilities in homestays and ensuring that the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/an-archive-of-nepali-heritage">architectural heritage</a> of the locality is preserved using locally sourced building material could allow owners to charge more. Says Sangita Shrestha of Dwarika’s Hotel, “Our effort is to build upon rural architecture by empowering local communities and using what is available locally. We can fine tune and encourage indigenous design and training.” The vision goes beyond just boosting the economy, it is about building a future where tourism helps villages grow in a healthy and lasting way. Instead of using up resources, it gives back to the land and the people. It supports local communities by<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/staying-in-nepal-to-create-jobs"> creating jobs</a>, improving infrastructure, and protecting natural beauty. When done right, tourism can be a tool for <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/progress-and-or-preservation">preserving culture and nature</a>, not harming them. Architects must therefore see their work as more than just designing buildings, they also need to care deeply about people and places, especially in rural areas that can benefit the most.&nbsp; With global interest in sustainable and off-the-beaten-path travel increasing, Nepal stands at the cusp of a <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/missing-out-on-nepal-s-tourism-potential">tourism transformation</a> that values community-driven, eco-conscious hospitality. A mix of modern ideas and traditional knowledge could transform rural tourism in Nepal. Says Shrestha, “Young architects should spend time with <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/latest/the-unsung-heroes-of-conservation">local and indigenous communities</a>, listen to their stories, and learn from their <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/life-and-livelihood-in-remote-nepal">ways of living</a>. These communities have deep knowledge about the land, materials, and climate. If this wisdom is used in new designs, it can help create tourism spaces that truly benefit everyone.” &nbsp;

A new architecture for Nepal's tourism

Extract from an addendum to Nepal's Two Wars, Chapter 2 in the updated edition of Essays on Nepal: Past and Present by Sam Cowan, a retired British Army general with a long association with the Gurkhas. The book was first published in 2018, and republished earlier this month by FinePrint exclusively on Amazon. The addendum details a one-to-one conversation the author had in the <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=8884">Royal Palace </a>with the <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=8371">King Gyanendra</a> in November 2002 just after he had taken his initial steps on the road that ultimately led to <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=14681">the abolition of the monarchy</a> in Nepal in 2008. In the early evening of September 16, 2002, in my role as Colonel Commandant of the Brigade of Gurkhas, I had my second and last official audience with King Gyanendra to give him an update on the Brigade’s activities over the previous 12 months. I had some 6 or 7 such audiences with <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/preserving-king-birendra-s-family-home">King Birendra</a>.&nbsp; These were official affairs with the British ambassador of the day present, along with key <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=12233">palace officials</a> and a representative from Nepal's Foreign Ministry. The two monarchs were very different in character and temperament, but both treated me with the utmost civility and made the audiences as relaxed and easy for me as possible.&nbsp; It is, however, worth recording that when the official business had been covered, King Birendra, with a twinkle in his eye, often ended by asking, “Now General, what’s the gossip in London?” The second audience with <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=8026">King Gyanendra </a>was my last official act in uniform. We came back to Kathmandu in the first week of November (after treks) to stay for a few nights with our Defence Attaché before heading back to the UK. Waiting for me was a message from the Palace saying that King Gyanendra would like to meet me informally: <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=6933">no uniform</a> and no ambassador.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250421080420_f9046f9882d4481781d14f2b64f18c7fbbea62562e1d74e3465de6d01fb43750.jpg" data-media-id="editor_7" data-image-id="20250421080420_f9046f9882d4481781d14f2b64f18c7fbbea62562e1d74e3465de6d01fb43750" data-rendition-name="original" width="1750" height="2406" loading="lazy" alt="Gyanendra crowned page 1"> <figcaption>Nepali Times Special Edition of 6-14 June 2001 with enthronement of Gyanendra. </figcaption> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250421080424_21333d6ae21828eb47fe3f849438d215fe2804460d47bb2896ef4aee4e895ad2.jpg" data-media-id="editor_8" data-image-id="20250421080424_21333d6ae21828eb47fe3f849438d215fe2804460d47bb2896ef4aee4e895ad2" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1857" loading="lazy" alt="Royal massacre"> <figcaption>Nepali Times 22-29 June 2001 covering the royal massacre after which Gyanendra became king. </figcaption> </figure>  Although I had no idea what the purpose of the meeting might be, events in Kathmandu since I last saw the king put me on edge. On October 4, 2002, Gyanendra had dismissed Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, allegedly for failing to hold <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/what-goes-on-in-nepal-s-elections">elections</a>. He had put in place a new prime minister and a cabinet personally selected by him. When I heard the news on my travels, the people I met were generally supportive of the king’s actions. There was a general view that something had to be done, the country was going nowhere, and the king deserved his chance, not least to solve<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/latest/14-years-after-conflict-no-closure-in-nepal"> the Maoist </a>problem. Back in Kathmandu, views were not so sanguine. The chosen prime minister, Lokendra Bahadur Chand, was a relic from <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/mob-movement-and-mayhem">the Panchayat period</a> whose party had failed to win a single seat in the last elections held in 1999. Some of the chosen cabinet ministers had, to put it mildly, dubious reputations, and others had no record of proven competence in any field. There was a fear that the king’s real motive in dismissing <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/deubas-denouement">Deuba</a> was to start to reverse the democratic gains made since 1990. I informed <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/nepal-britain-mark-centenary-of-1923-treaty">the British ambassador</a> about the invitation. He was strongly against accepting it, which was probably the clinching reason for my decision to do the polite thing and accept it. On the evening of November 7, 2002, I presented myself at the royal palace, alone and in civilian attire.&nbsp; As in the past, the Military Secretary, Major General Vivek Shah, met and escorted me into the presence of the monarch. This time, however, he was politely asked to leave the room and shut the door behind him. King Gyanendra greeted me warmly and invited me to sit down.&nbsp; Read also:<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/the-ghost-of-monarchy-returns-to-haunt-nepal"> The ghost of monarchy returns to haunt Nepal</a>, Shristi Karki  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250421080424_e382af945d0ad2a04ae41fabe5393f793dd10f54cb1220f111c7c9e7423eb558.jpg" data-media-id="editor_15" data-image-id="20250421080424_e382af945d0ad2a04ae41fabe5393f793dd10f54cb1220f111c7c9e7423eb558" data-rendition-name="original" width="1000" height="993" loading="lazy" alt="Gyanendra coup"> <figcaption>Nepali Times 4-10 February 2005 after king Gyanendra's coup imposed media censorship. anendra became king. </figcaption> </figure>  I had wondered, and to be truthful, had worried, not just about the purpose of the meeting, but about how the conversation might start and develop. I reduced my resolve to two points: be polite but speak candidly. The latter resolve was quickly put to the test with the king’s opening words: “Sam, [in previous meetings it had been ‘General’, you walk the highways and byways of this land more than most, tell me what the common man is thinking?” &nbsp;“Your Majesty, I have no idea what they are thinking, but they are waiting.” “Waiting?” “Yes, Your Majesty, they are waiting to see whether what you did some weeks ago in appointing your own prime minister and cabinet ministers is going to make any difference to their lives or whether it is just going to be more Kathmandu hot air.” “Everything is going to be difficult and is going to take time, a lot of time.” “Your Majesty, time is the one thing you don’t have. You must act quickly and decisively to take advantage of the opportunity you have created. Everyone knows that you have appointed these new ministers. Why don’t you get them in here one by one and tell them that they have three months to deliver a programme in their area of responsibility that is going to make a difference to people’s lives? Most will fail to do so. Sack them! It will be a powerful signal of your strong intent to deliver real change.” I can express the opening of our conversation in this way because just about every word is still etched in my mind. The king’s response to my last quoted words was to challenge me to give an example of something that could be delivered quickly. I can give a verbatim record of what I said in response to this unexpected challenge: “Health posts, Your Majesty, there is no shortage of them throughout the country as building them has been one of the sources of local corruption, but very few have any medicine to issue at present or have skilled people to assess and meet medical needs. Your Majesty, children are dying for lack of a few pills. Given the right priority, over a period, say of six months, every health post could be fully stocked with medicine and manned with trained people. This is something I could help to lead for you as I know it would have strong international backing. At last, people would know that you mean business.” As I warmed to the theme, I could see no sign of the king having any enthusiasm for the idea, and I quickly disengaged as it dawned on me, as it had clearly dawned on the king, that the reason for the deficiencies in health posts was to prevent any Maoist combatant from gaining access to any <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/tech-away/nepal-s-health-tech-industry-is-here-to-stay">medical support</a>, and if this meant people suffering, so be it. The subject of the Maoist insurgency inevitably came up, and I took the opportunity to elaborate on what is written in the final four paragraphs of the article above. I advised King Gyanendra that, self-evidently, since there were three parties in the conflict—him, the Maoists, and the political parties—it was imperative that he form an alliance with one of them, preferably the political parties; otherwise, he would find himself isolated, as the other two parties would inevitably, at some stage, form their own alliance. However, it quickly became apparent that the king’s mind was on a totally different track. On the Maoists, he told me that he had channels open to them, but he was scathing about the political party leaders. He made it clear that they would be waiting for a very long time before he gave any power back to them, and that is a polite way of expressing the actual words he used, but “crawling through the door” is a phrase which has stuck in my mind.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250421080424_5403455ff6168f0d202a96cb53edea69136d74d59b989cfcc7cc4a1d57672cb5.jpg" data-media-id="editor_17" data-image-id="20250421080424_5403455ff6168f0d202a96cb53edea69136d74d59b989cfcc7cc4a1d57672cb5" data-rendition-name="original" width="2000" height="1317" loading="lazy" alt="fall of monarchy"> <figcaption>Nepali Times 28 April-3 May 2005 with cover image by Ajay Joshi of jubilant protesters after street demonstrations sidelined king Gyanendra, paving the way for a ceasfire and restoration of democracy. </figcaption> </figure>  As the conversation developed, it became ever clearer that King Gyanendra had decided to go in alone, relying on the misleading assurances he was constantly receiving from <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=14954">the army</a>, and no doubt his close advisers, that the Maoists could and would be quickly defeated militarily, and taken out of the equation. This would obviate the need for him to do any deal with the political parties.&nbsp; Thus, the way would be clear for him to establish a version of his father’s Panchayat system, under a constitution that would be granted to the people by him, their sovereign, as his father and brother had done in 1962 and 1990. As in those constitutions, ultimate power would have remained in the sovereign’s hands. This proposed direction of travel was very clear from what the king said to me. In sum, King Gyanendra was motivated by a desire to emulate his immediate predecessors by granting his people a constitution that would restore his father’s Panchayat system in a modern form and give him a central role in decision-making. What was particularly dispiriting was that beyond this single objective he had no plan worthy of the name, nor demonstrably did he have the people with the skills to implement an appropriate plan even if one had existed. Crucially and depressingly, there was little or no indication from the king that he realised that such a course of action could put Nepal’s monarchy into serious jeopardy, as indeed proved to be the case. <h2>King Twice</h2>  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250420110436_315d519fe3d68d2406ebe1480fed54720fbf21b8907a4da5cde751fdc623d445.jpg" data-media-id="editor_19" data-image-id="20250420110436_315d519fe3d68d2406ebe1480fed54720fbf21b8907a4da5cde751fdc623d445" data-rendition-name="original" width="1302" height="632" loading="lazy" alt="“Tell me what the common man is thinking!”"> </figure>  <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=8371">Gyanendra Bir Bikram Shah has been king twice</a>. In 1950 he was enthroned briefly as a child king (left, above) by the Rana Prime Minister Mohan Shumsher when his grandfather, King Tribhuvan, fled to exile in India. In 2001 he was crowned king again after the massacre in the royal palace in which his brother King Birendra and nine other members of his family were killed by Crown Prince Dipendra.&nbsp; During his second reign, Gyanendra gradually asserted power by sacking Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba in 2002, and then taking full control after the 1 February 2005 coup. He was sidelined after the ceasefire in April 2006, and became a commoner after the Constituent Assembly finally <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/from-nepali-press/Ftnp-abolishing,624">abolished the monarchy in 2008</a>. In the past year, Gyanendra has tried to exploit public dissatisfaction with the political parties to restore the monarchy.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250421080432_26ef4a4b0e3cee9fdc6794446702efe16550d293904b4f6dd46fe35d4d10c788.jpg" data-media-id="editor_22" data-image-id="20250421080432_26ef4a4b0e3cee9fdc6794446702efe16550d293904b4f6dd46fe35d4d10c788" data-rendition-name="original" width="1136" height="702" loading="lazy" alt="Essays on Nepal by Sam Cowen"> </figure>

“Tell me what the common man is thinking!”

“It's Kathmandu.” Just as the family was sitting down for one of its extended lunches, that jubilant cry was from François Driard’s grandfather announcing the next posting for his diplomat parents.&nbsp; Driard (pictured) was 18 in the summer of 1996,<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/suburban-tales/chasing-a-nomad"> a bit of a hippie</a> already, and his life was about to change forever with the magical word “<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/time-capsule-of-kathmandu">Kathmandu</a>”. “I was awed with that information from my grandfather, nothing else mattered … In France <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/tales-of-courage-and-suffering-cx95f89e">in the 1990s</a>, Kathmandu had a mythical aura,” Driard recalls. He came to Kathmandu for Christmas that year to visit his stepfather, the French Ambassador Michel Lummaux. It was to be the first of many visits during school holidays, before he decided to permanently settle down in Nepal. “Kathmandu, and Nepal, were very different then, it was magical, I liked the nature, the people, civilisation, temples, trees,” says Driard, who explored the country sitting on the top of buses. “Visitors talk about the crazy <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/cost-of-living-in-a-big-city">urbanisation</a>, traffic jams today, and all that is true. But Kathmandu has not <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/loss-of-soul-and-soil">lost its soul</a>.” After his stepfather’s tenure in Nepal ended, Driard worked as a business reporter for international publications but decided he did not want to be anyone’s employee anymore. In 2007 he landed in Kathmandu with €20,000 in savings to invest.&nbsp; He knew a few crucial things about himself: he liked food and nature, which is very much tied up with his upbringing--full of lively conversations during lunch and dinner at the family table between <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepals-yak-cheese-is-on-world-map">abundant cheese, wine and cigars</a>. So he decided it would be cheese, and registered Himalayan French Cheese and went to the French Alps for a month to learn how to make Tomme de Savoie. “<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/the-story-of-langtang-cheese">Cheese making is such an ancient craft </a>and so I thought I won’t need much money or studying which I hated and indeed, if you have a tamako bhado and fire you are set,” explains Driard. But Nepal’s temperature and humidity were not ideal, even at higher altitudes. The first customers for his cheese were the Hyatt Regency and Nina and Hager. But he needed to create a market for cheese in a country which only knew hard churpi in the north and soft paneer in the south. He started selling his cheeses at the Summit Hotel weekend market, expanding to his own 1905 Farmer’s Market which later moved to Le Sherpa in Maharajganj, where it is now, and also a market at Labim Mall in Pulchok. He had cow dairies in Nuwakot and Dhulikhel, and finally a yak cheese unit at 3,379m in Ramechhap. It was the yak blue cheese from here that went on to win a Gold Medal in France, putting Nepal’s French cheese on the world map. “People come and try our cheese at the market, they ask questions. There is a lot of education to be done about cheese,” adds Driard, who also has three cheese shops in the Valley. Driard now makes 25 types of cheese. The products are being noticed and every year he has French students coming to Nepal to learn the art of yak cheese making. “In France, one family or company makes one kind of cheese for generations. In that I’m very unique as a cheese artisan,” he says. “The students come in to learn but I tell them to also teach us something too, add another cheese to my collection.” Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/langtang-after-10-years">Langtang after 10 years</a>, Sonia Awale Being a foodie, Driard is now also dabbling in meat with his own charcuterie at Meatini with bacon, ham, sausage and pâtés. All of this is now served at his Emilio’s Pizza, a leafy hideaway in Lazimpat. His South Side in Moksh is probably the smallest wine bar in the world. “I call the process sublime,” says Driard of his ventures, which have grown organically. “You need the same temperature and humidity of 12°C and 80% for cheese, meat and wine.” Emilio’s speciality is the eight-cheese pizza (which has eight types of cheeses), and a pizza with bhutan topping (not the country but fried intestines and organs Nepali-style). He has opened a small branch at Courtyard in Pokhara.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250426070456_bacae302c040dc18eeecdeafda72ddf06a6d2cec138ea9be7e45fe94cdf8b5b3.jpg" data-media-id="editor_8" data-image-id="20250426070456_bacae302c040dc18eeecdeafda72ddf06a6d2cec138ea9be7e45fe94cdf8b5b3" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1125" loading="lazy" alt="8 cheese pizza"> <figcaption>Eight-cheese pizza</figcaption> </figure>  With two artisanal cheese units, two farmers’ markets, a <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/the-meat-of-the-story">meat processing unit</a>, a bakery, and wine bar he now envisions a vineyard so he can add Nepali wine to his repertoire. Another future plan is to start up an agri-tourism business where customers can drink, eat and work in peace. In the past 20 years in Nepal, Driard has not always succeeded in his ventures but this hasn’t curbed his enthusiasm. He is learning as he goes, and like an old wine, Nepal is growing on him. Its slowness suits his French art de vivre with eating slowly outdoors, having conversation, importing less.&nbsp; “I have proven that with even a little money you can do a lot of things in Nepal,” adds Driard. “In the West, they easily invest half a million euros on a cheese factory, I invested 10 times less.”&nbsp;

Fromage, vin et charcuterie Népalais

Bhuthan भुठान starts with Bishnu Bahadur KC played by <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/dhuwa-smoke-telefilm,2671">Hari Bansha Acharya</a> on a call, requesting to speak to the visa officer. By this point, he had <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-should-now-allow-visa-on-arrival">applied for a visa </a>to Bhutan 10 times, but was denied each time. KC was a <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-s-women-excel-in-sports-in-2024-z9ramyct">national football player </a>in Bhutan in 1988 before he and other Nepali-speaking Lhotsampa people were forced out of the country in the 1990s as part of the Druk regime’s ‘One Nation One People’ campaign. Over 100,000 Bhutanese Nepalis were forced out, driven across India and dumped in Nepal where they lived in seven<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/elderly-left-in-bhutan-refugee-camp"> refugee camps</a> supervised by the United Nations and other charities until they were resettled in the United States, Australia, New Zealand and some European countries starting in 2007. In the fictional movie with the satirical English title The World’s Happiest Man, KC has resettled in the state of Ohio in the US but wishes to visit his home country once before he dies. Between flashbacks, we learn KC has died without having fulfilled his wish. &nbsp; The drama then focuses on KC’s two families from two marriages as they debate whether to cremate him as per <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/from-nepali-press/muslim-hindu,2996">Hindu rites </a>or give him a Christian burial. A mediator played by Hollywood actor Bruce Dern urges them to take a firm decision before it is too long.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250430140420_b398a08091b866da2b0b8f6c1e6e26781609749aba896bfd2c68a10a519295c3.jpg" data-media-id="editor_5" data-image-id="20250430140420_b398a08091b866da2b0b8f6c1e6e26781609749aba896bfd2c68a10a519295c3" data-rendition-name="original" width="945" height="945" loading="lazy" alt="Bhutan, the movie"> </figure>  There are drawn out scenes of KC being baptised and when he is confronted by his first wife from Darjeeling played by Anuradha Majumdar, he says he changed his religion in the hope that he will be <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/comment/bhutan-s-refugees-between-hope-and-despair">allowed back in Bhutan</a>.&nbsp; We find out KC has a second wife, a Christian Nepali played by Puja Chand. Dayahang Rai as the younger son doesn’t have much screen time to flex his acting chops. &nbsp; Acharya competently portrays a man that is equal parts haunted by the memories of and longing for his home country. KC’s pain and loss is acute when he is teaching football to Gungun but between mid-scene, he freezes, perhaps lost in memories of being in Bhutan’s national team. &nbsp; In another scene, KC recalls his mother singing a lullaby in Dzongkha. He also has a box filled with medals, photographs and a football which he deflates with a knife in a powerful depiction of his <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/searching-for-a-homeland-away-from-home?fb_comment_id=1506516030025634">complicated emotions about his homeland</a>. KC keeps checking his mailbox in the hopes that his <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=4977">visa application</a> has been accepted. He says in Nepali: “If a tree that has already struck roots in one place is shifted to another, it will not survive.”  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250430140420_4a9c27410326489576c04dedf40016bda3825e8f9663317f54fbfec4cbda6d34.jpg" data-media-id="editor_9" data-image-id="20250430140420_4a9c27410326489576c04dedf40016bda3825e8f9663317f54fbfec4cbda6d34" data-rendition-name="original" width="1422" height="2048" loading="lazy" alt="Bhutan, the movie"> </figure>  Dern’s character says that the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/comment/nepal-s-transitional-justice-and-the-west-s-recalibration">western world</a> has become “lonely in pursuit of happiness”, another reference to Bhutan’s obsession with its Gross National Happiness index. Scenes shift quickly throughout making the story difficult to follow at times. The use of symbolism is a trite overdone. Nonetheless, भुठान is a nuanced depiction of raw pain and agony of losing one’s homeland. But one cannot help but leave the theatre feeling deflated. KC dies without having visited <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/small-bhutan-dreams-big">Bhutan</a>, but perhaps he does in his afterlife. It is up to the audience to create its own ending to this sad story of exile. भुठान Mad Monkey Films, 2025 Directed by Binod Paudel 102 minutes In cinemas in Nepal

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