| Username |
Post |
| sparsha |
Posted
on 24-May-01 04:37 PM
The following news is from "nepal news".
"Kathmandu, May 23: King Birendra witnessed the traditional Bhoto Jatra of Rato Machindranath at Jawalakhel Wednesday afternoon. The King later received prasad from Machindranath, Minnath and
Kumari. For the first time, government offices were open Wednesday in government efforts to curb public holidays. The festival heralds the beginning of the rainy season. The bhoto is a replica of the original on display at a museum in California in the USA. nepalnews.com br"
How did the Bhoto ended up at a museum in California? I have heared different stories on the topic but I am not sure how authentic those stories are. I would appreciate if someone could shed some light on the matter.
sparsha
|
| Gandhi |
Posted
on 24-May-01 05:22 PM
I felt my heart pinched to hear that the original of the BHOTO is in USA and we Nepali are continuing our tradition with the duplicate. If the news is authentic, what do we celebrate that festival for with so much hue and cry? What will the devotiees feel when they know that the central object of their belief, even the king officially attending the ceremony, has been stolen and is on display on foreign land. Cann't the Ministry of Education and Culture do something to bring it back to the country? I remeber reading in one of the issues of Himal Khabarpatrika that many of stolen idols have been returned to Nepal from different countries in the past.
Gandhi
|
| ashu |
Posted
on 25-May-01 12:15 AM
This is really shocking news.
The "bhoto" is a big part of Patan's LIVE cultural heritage.
Live, in the sense that the Bhoto is shown to the King and the public, amidst elaborate rituals, once every year. It's really shocking that the King and the public have been watching the "nakkali" bhoto.
If the original Bhoto exists in a museum somewhere (and this
fact needs to be verified), then it must be brought back to
Nepal and put in Patan's own excellently managed, stunningly beautiful museum (which I recommend all of you to visit!)
http://www.asianart.com/patan-museum
I also take heart from a movement in the contemporary
art/museum world in the West.
The movement is about sending/giving back STOLEN images/idols/cultural artifacts to their places of origins.
Three years ago, Harvard's Peabody Museum handed a number
of native American artifacts from its collections back to
the rightful owners: a native American tribe in Arizona, I
think.
On the Nepali front, thanks to the tireless efforts/research of Lain Singh Bangdel, a number of stolen-from-Nepal images/idols have been identified and brought/sent back to Nepal in the last few years. There's this Uma-Maheswor idol -- from the Malla
era and originally at a temple of Dhulikhel -- that was brought back from a museum in Berlin, Germany two years ago and is now at Patan Museum.
Can anyone verify where in California (is it at the Getty?)
this bhoto is now? Kanak Dixit just gave me an email address of
of a retired museum curator -- Mr. Pratapdiptya Pal -- in California to write to, and let's see what response, if any,
I get.
If the bhoto INDEED exists at a museum (and NOT in a private
collection) in America, then getting it back to Kathmandu shouldn't be that big a problem. Let's see.
oohi
ashu
|
| ashu |
Posted
on 25-May-01 12:56 AM
Here's a copy of the email I sent to Mr. Pal in California.
Wonder whether he'll reply.
Am not posting his email address because I don't want his
inbox flooded with pornographic emails :-)
Will keep you informed if anyting comes out of this.
oohi
ashu
> Date: Thu, 24 May 2001 22:03:36 -0700 (PDT)
> From: ashutosh tiwari
> Reply-to:
> Subject: From Kathmandu, Nepal
> To: Mr. Pratapaditya Pal
>
> Dear Mr. Pal,
>
> Greetings from Kathmandu, Nepal.
>
> I have known you for some years as the author of
> "Art
> of the Himalayas: Treasures from Nepal and Tibet".
> Recently, Mr. Kanak Mani Dixit, editor of Himal
> magazine, gave me your email address, and I thought
> I'd write to you to seek your help.
>
> Recent news reports (see one below) in Kathmandu say
> that the original vest of Patan's Red Machindranath
> is
> in a museum in the West.
>
> I wonder if that is true.
>
> And if so, is there any possibility of looking into
> doing the necessary work so that this culturally
> significant vest can be brought back to Nepal,
> and kept at Patan's own museum?
>
> Mr. Pal, I know you must have many demands on your
> time. I'd appreciate a reply at your convenience.
>
> namaste
> ashutosh tiwari
> *********************
>
> The news item:
>
> "Kathmandu, May 23: King Birendra witnessed the
> traditional Bhoto Jatra of Rato Machindranath at
> Jawalakhel Wednesday afternoon. The King later
> received prasad from Machindranath, Minnath and
> Kumari. For the first time, government offices were
> open Wednesday in government efforts to curb public
> holidays. The festival heralds the beginning of the
> rainy season. The bhoto is a replica of the original
> on display at a museum in California in the USA."
>
> nepalnews.com "
|
| sparsha |
Posted
on 25-May-01 12:45 PM
How does the source (nepalnews.com) know where the BHOTO is (at a museum in California)?
That bhoto belongs to Rato Matseindranath (Machhendranath), I guess. So, if the bhoto is somewhere else then I see two possibilities either someone stole that bhoto or the Machhendranath sold it to someone. It's highly unlikely that the latter is true. I don't think anyone(except Machhendranath) can sell that bhoto to anyone. If someone did just that then the transaction should be revoked.
We deserve to watch the "real" bhoto. We were watching a nakkali bhoto jatra? shame on us.
let's hope ashu's initiative brings in some positive outcome.
sparsha
|
| Biswo |
Posted
on 25-May-01 01:51 PM
There are a few more points:
1. nepalnews.com has bad record about its English writing. May
be it didn't intend to write what it wrote. I ,for one, don't
know if the bhoto is nakkali or sakkali.
2. One copy of the same letter should be sent to some body in
royal family also. A lot of our idols and statues were sold
with the consent of some members of that family in the past.
May be they have any clue.
3. One copy of the same letter should be sent to nepalnews.com,
so that they impart us the whereabout of the bhoto. Are they
writing about bhoto with any knowledge or not?
4. Ashu deserves kudos. I hope something will be found out soon.
|
| Anil Tuladhar |
Posted
on 25-May-01 02:36 PM
I have been following threads here for about a week now. Thought I'd write few line on this one. My history teacher in AVM back in Kathmandu, told us in 8th grade that the bhoto was not real! Though he had a lot of information on history and culture of Nepal, we didn't know whether to believe him or not. Now this news asserts that statement I heard years ago. BTW, he is from Patan and I think a lot of people have been knowing that the bhoto is "nakkali".
I know not a whole lot of information to add, but I tried...
|
| Trailokya Aryal |
Posted
on 25-May-01 03:59 PM
Dear all,
As far as I know, the original Bhoto is in some museum in London. I don't think the LA county museum of Art of which Mr pal is the curator for Asian/Himalayan collection, or De Young Museum in San Francisco have it as I don't remeber seeing the bhoto in either museum.
Trailokya Aryal
|
| ashu |
Posted
on 26-May-01 03:50 AM
Could Rabindra Mishra, a journalist at the BBC Nepali Sewa in London and an occasional poster here, please check/look into -- time-permitting -- whether the original bhoto is, as Trai says, at a museum in London?
On another note, I'll be meeting Mr. Lain Singh Bangdel
again later next week regarding Kathmandu Theater Initiative (some extracurricular I'm involved with that needs Bangdel's guidance), and will certainly use the chance to seek his
advice on -- to borrow a typical title from a Hardy Boys
story -- "The Mystery of the Missing Bhoto".
Welcome to Anil Tuladhar to the site.
oohi
ashu
|
| Mangal |
Posted
on 27-May-01 09:17 PM
That the bhoto is Nakkali is probably true. I have heard this since I was a small kid! And I am from Patan.
|
| PURU |
Posted
on 29-May-01 06:46 PM
I was at Getty last year and don't recall seeing it there. Then again, I was there late afternoon and rushing to go through all the materials before the museum closing time. And, as others, I have heard the same things as this BHOTO being nakalli. Rumor was that it is sold somewhere in Germany by some royal family.
|
| ashu |
Posted
on 29-May-01 11:13 PM
Hi all,
This is the reply I got from Mr. Pal in California.
Any idea what we should do next?
oohi
ashu
_____________
> From: @aol.com
> Date: Tue, 29 May 2001 16:53:40 EDT
> Subject: (no subject)
> To: Ashutosh Tiwari
>
> Dear Mr. Tiwari,
>
> I am afraid I know nothing about the vest of Red
> Machindranath being in
> the United States.
>
> Sincerely yours,
> Pratap Pal
|
