Abstract
From at least the fifth century CE, distinct architectural styles developed in the Kathmandu Valley, Nepal. Buddhist monasteries (Nep. bahī/bāhā), votive structures (Skt. stūpas/Nep. caityas), tiered temples (Nep. degaḥ), towering stone temples (Skt. śikhara), arcaded platforms (Skt. maṇḍapa/Nep. phalcā), and palaces characterised the squares and courtyards of a dense urban fabric. Structural and decorative details were borrowed from the Gangetic plains and the Tibetan plateau, and subsequently domesticated and transformed. The urban culture of the valley shared a common set of celestial spirits which dwelt in the atmosphere. These spirits guarded the celestial rain or may have represented the rain cloud itself. Wisdom bearers (Skt. vidyādhara) in particular, appeared flying, albeit without wings, as guardians of doors, windows, and thresholds for 1,000 years. In the middle of the seventeenth century, to conform to established images of angel-like spirits (Pers. pari) of Mughal-Iranian provenance, they were equipped with wings and clad in outlandish dress, successfully replacing the earlier spirits.
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Notes
- 1.
Hans Belting in a talk at the Karl Jaspers Centre, Heidelberg, on 29 April 2009.
- 2.
See also Luschey-Schmeisser (1978, Fig. 67).
- 3.
In January 2009, the Institut für Umweltphysik of the University of Heidelberg tested a larger sample that included the outer 10 tree rings of altogether 51 identified rings including heart wood to 906–1014 CE. As the outer rings were possibly near the sap wood, the tree was certainly cut before 1030 CE.
- 4.
See the Viṣṇu-maṇḍala commemorating the completion of an ananta vrata by King Jitāmitramalla of Bhaktapur in 1681, in Slusser, Nepal Mandala, Vol. II, Pl. 383.
- 5.
See also Weiler (2010).
- 6.
Koch’s article “Jahangir and the Angels: Recently Discovered Wall Paintings under European Influence in the Fort of Lahore” is a reprint from her earlier paper with the same title, published in Deppert (1983, 173–195). More angels carrying rosaries, cups, and flasks are presented in water-colored plates by Vogel (1911a, Fig. 31) and Vogel (1911b, Fig. 80).
- 7.
See the painting of the Safawid period (early sixteenth century) with 25 angels and 5 demons among Chinese type of clouds, accompanying Solomon on his flying throne under a canopy, in Koch (2001, 30).
- 8.
See also Koch (2001, 12–37).
- 9.
- 10.
Koch refers to Luschey-Schmeisser (1978, 47–55).
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Gutschow, N. (2015). How Celestial Spirits Became Winged in the Architecture of the Kathmandu Valley, Nepal (Sixth to Nineteenth Century). In: Gutschow, N., Weiler, K. (eds) Spirits in Transcultural Skies. Transcultural Research – Heidelberg Studies on Asia and Europe in a Global Context. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-11632-7_6
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