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

Bal Krishna Shilpakar, carpenter, age: 48
Together with his family, Bal Krishna Shilpakar lives in
the area of Dudhpati in Bhaktapur. Carpentry has been
his family trade for generations. His father, Krishna
Bhakta Shilpakar, worked as a carpenter for the Bhaktapur
Development Project in the early 1980s. He has been
working at the workshop in Patan since February 2016.
At the time of the interview he was working on joining
two pieces of a broken cornice of South Manimaṇḍapa.
Bal Krishna Shilpakar repairs the
lotus frieze of Harishankara temple.
Prem Shilpakar, Woodcarver, age 32
Prem Shilpakar lives in Nãsaḥmanā, Bhaktapur with
his wife and children. He has been working as a carver
for sixteen years and worked as a carpenter before he
learned carving at a local carving workshop. Carpentry is
his family trade. At the time of the interview, his father
was preparing the chariot for Bisket Jatra, Bhaktapur’s
extensive annual urban ritual celebrating the beginning
of the New Year (Nep. Bikram Samvat). Approximately
one month before the beginning of the festival, the
chariot is assembled on Taumadhi Square in Bhaktapur.
According to Prem Shilpakar, his family isused to be one
of five families making the chariot but now only his family
continues this tradition. His father’s brother, Ramesh
Shilpakar, also works as woodcarver. Prem Shilpakar
feels that the skill of carving and carpentry is not highly
valued and is considered a low level work by Nepalese
society. He joined the workshop under the aegis of
KVPT in December 2015. At the time of the interview
he was copying a window column (Nev. tvalãthã) of
South Manimaṇḍapa in order to replace the damaged
original. The surviving counterpart served as the model
for the new element.
Prem Shilpakar, transferring the
pattern of a window colonnette
(Nev. tvalãthã) for South
Manimaṇḍapa with a pencil onto
a new piece of timber.
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