KVPT’s Patan Darbar Earthquake Response Campaign - Work to Date - September 2016

Carpentry and woodcarving-
A Living Heritage
Unlike its southern neighbour India, Nepal has never
been colonized. In India, concepts such as tradition,
originality, and authenticity have figured as contested
notions in a dynamic field of tension ever since the 19th
century when the Archaeological Survey of India was
founded by the British. These concepts were negotiated
by colonial agents (British and Indian), postcolonial Indian
protagonists, and an international community of
conservationists. Recently, postmodern conservation architects
have begun to display an inclination to reflect on
the concept of authenticity in heritage preservation by
focusing on its relation to new understandings of validity
based on, for example, non-physical essence and spirit
(including creative re-creation and craft traditions).
As mentioned earlier, a Department of Archaeology was
established in Kathmandu as early as 1953, modelled on
the Archaeological Survey of India. However, Nepalese
archaeologists and conservation architects have never initiated
discussion on authenticity in architectural heritage
conservation, nor have international experts in the field
of conservation. The authenticity of workmanship and
living traditions, suggested in the Nara Document on
Authenticity (1994), has rarely attracted the attention of
professionals in the field of conservation in Nepal, and
the creative hands behind such craft traditions remain
vaguely delineated. With this in mind, we should have
a closer look onto the relevance of craftsmanship for the
rebuilding of Patan’s architectural heritage in post-earthquake
Nepal not least with a view to foregrounding the
skills of carpenters and wood carvers. In our case, the
living traditional knowledge systems play a major role in
defining the authenticity of cultural heritage, and even
in recreating what is lost.
One of the landmarks in the consultation process in the
framework of the reconstruction of South Manimaṇḍapa
and Manimaṇḍapa is the assembly of master carpenters
(Nev. Silpakār) wood carvers (Nev. Kijyami) from Bhaktapur.
These craftsmen from the ethnic group of Newars
bring the experience and skills in defining solutions to
bear on the problems of the restoration project. Retrofitting
actions are based on traditional technology and
historic materials, in this case Sal wood. “Intangible”
aspects of conservation such as inherited craftsmanship
are given special attention in the present documentation
because these aspects of authenticity have received little
attention in the past.
In the Kathmandu Valley, the Newar Buddhist subgroup
of carpenters, Hastakār (Nev. Sikarmi) – who are named
Shilpakār in Bhaktapur, still inherit their trade. In this
stratified society based on caste membership, a carpenter
is born as such. The majority of the craftsmen occupied
with the rebuilding of the damaged architectural heritage
at Patan Dārbar Square come from Nãsaḥmanā, a
traditional quarter with a cluster of carpenters in Bhaktapur.
They started learning their trade from their fathers
or uncles as children or adolescents. They are representatives
of the Sikarmi caste and take up and perpetuate
an unbroken tradition. This hereditary background is
instrumental in authenticating their creations. Although
the term “hereditary” refers to the fixity of social function
rather than expertise, all of them are highly skilled and
much of the responsibility of repair and restoration falls
to this small number of craftsmen. Their individual skills
may depend upon the financial resources of the respective
project and on whether the budget enables them to
invest the time necessary to achieve the highest possible
quality. The reproduction of meaningful iconographical
details has to be appreciated in terms of the performance
of Newar woodcarvers who are sons of the woodcarvers
whose ancestors created the originals. In fact, by wishing
to escape the narrow boundaries of caste and due to the
average low income of a carpenter, the younger generation
is often refusing to take up the traditional family
trade and is yearning for better-paid jobs. Meanwhile,
other skilled craftsmen have been trained in workshops
where they become familiar with the craft tradition.
Opposite
Top Row (from left)
Machaman Shilpakar, Hari Prasad
Shilpakar, Krishna Sundar Chauguthi
Middle Row(from left)
Bal Krishna Shilpakar, Tirtha Ram
Shilpakar, Pushpa Lal Shilpakar
Bottom Row (from left)
Prem Shilpakar, Pratap Shilpakar,
Shyam Krishna Shilpakar
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