Stunning Nepal Buddha Art Find

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'Stunning' Nepal Buddha art find

Paintings of Buddha dating back at least to the 12th century have been discovered in a cave in a remote area of Nepal's north-central region.

Researchers made the find after being tipped off by a local sheep herder. They discovered a mural with 55 panels showing the story of Buddha's life.

The mural was uncovered in March, with the team using ice axes to break through a snow path to reach the cave.

The find was in the Mustang area, 250km (160 miles) north-west of Kathmandu.

Sheer cliffs

"What we found is fantastically rich in culture and heritage and goes to the 12th century or earlier," American writer and conservationist Broughton Coburn told the AP news agency.

Mr Coburn said the main mural measured around 8m (25ft) wide, and each panel was about 35cm (14in) by 43cm (17in).

It was set in sheer 14,000ft (4,300m) cliffs in Nepal's remote Himalayan north.

The team of international researchers - including film makers, climbers and archaeologists - from Nepal, Italy and the US were told of the works of art by a sheep herder.

In passing conversation he said that he had seen a cave with old paintings in it several years ago as he took shelter from the rain.

It turned out to be a treasure trove of Buddhist art, consisting of a complex of caves several hours walking distance apart.

The team says that there are around 20 openings in each complex, with multiple floors connected by vertical passages with rudimentary hand and footholds, requiring some climbing skill to negotiate.

'Marvellous mystery'

Besides the main mural, other paintings were discovered which the team believes are marginally older.

A nearby cave had manuscripts written in the Tibetan language, which were photographed by the team to be translated later by experts, along with pre-Christian era pottery shards.

"Who lived in those caves? When were they there, when were (the caves) first excavated and how did the residents access them, perched as they are on vertical cliffs?" asked Mr Coburn.

"It's a compelling, marvellous mystery."

Mr Coburn said that his team would try and find answers by performing limited excavations, in addition to collecting and cataloguing the manuscripts.

The team has refused to divulge the exact location of the caves to prevent the possibility of visitors disturbing the centuries-old art.

The expedition spent three weeks in the remote mountainous area, which for centuries has been used as a major transit route between Nepal and Tibet.

Mr Coburn said that there were other mounds which may hide further treasures.

He said the artefacts had remained unpillaged partly because the area north of Mount Annapurna has, until recently, been inaccessible.

Source: BBC.

[chownah]

Is that the Budda with the feminine figure? (remember the other thread?)

[sabaijai]

Is that the Budda with the feminine figure? (remember the other thread?)

A look at the full figure suggest it's a character from a Jataka (life story of the Buddha), possibly a follower presenting an offering.

[camerata]

The article mentions that the mural is of scenes from the Buddha's life, so the female could be anyone. Perhaps she's one of the women from the palace where Sakyamuni was raised.

[sabaijai]

Shepherd leads experts to ancient Buddha cave paintings

by Maseeh Rahman, The Guardian, May 4, 2007

Kathmandu, Nepal -- A shepherd in a remote region of Nepal near the border with Tibet has been instrumental in the discovery of an extraordinary art treasure that lay hidden from the world for centuries - a collection of 55 exquisite cave paintings depicting the life of Buddha.

A partially collapsed cave containing the 12th to 14th century depictions of scenes from Buddha's life was unearthed last month by a team of Italian, US and Nepalese conservators and archaeologists in Mustang, a lost kingdom long forbidden to foreigners in the high Himalayas, 250-km north-west of Kathmandu.

"Finding the cave was almost like a miracle," said Luigi Fieni, a member of the team that used ice axes to cut its way into the inaccessible 3,400m-high cave in a region that for centuries was part of greater Tibet before being taken over by Nepal.

Foreigners were only permitted to enter Mustang in 1992, and Mr Fieni's team began work nine years ago, restoring the spectacular wall paintings in a 15th century Tibetan monastery.

When they inquired about other art treasures in the region, a villager remembered that as a boy he had seen a cave full of colourful paintings.

"Unlike the murals in the monastery, the Mustang cave paintings do not reveal a Tibetan but a strong Indian influence, including the animals they depict - leopard, tiger, monkey and deer," Mr Fieni said. "In fact, the style evokes the fabulous cave paintings of Ajanta, which predate the Mustang caves by several centuries."

The location of the cave has been kept secret to deter art smugglers, but the team call it "the snow leopard cave" as the animal's footprints were found inside.

"The cave paintings have been affected by wind and rain and really need restoration," Mr Fieni said. "It's a long process, and we're hoping now to raise funds for the project."

The simultaneous discovery of ancient Tibetan manuscripts in nearby caves has led to speculation that the caves might have been a teaching retreat on the lines of the Buddhist university in Nalanda.

Mustang is of special significance to Buddhist experts because it is perhaps the only region where Tibetan culture and religion have survived over the centuries virtually untouched by time and modern Chinese colonisation.

"The Mustang people are Tibetans. They speak the Tibetan language; their origin is in the Tibetan culture," said Lama Guru Gyaltsen.

The opening up of the region has brought inevitable challenges to Mustang way of life. Young men are leaving the tiny kingdom in search of work, and a modern road through the capital, Lo Manthang, is certain to affect the tradition of rearing horses for transport and agriculture. Building techniques using mud are likely to be abandoned in favour of modern construction methods.

[sabaijai]

This article sheds some light on the subject matter of the cave murals.

'We found the cave by a miracle'

Sudeshna Sarkar

[3 May, 2007 l 0041 hrs ISTlTIMES NEWS NETWORK]

KATHMANDU: The wall paintings found in the cave in Nepal depict animals like the deer, leopard and tiger which are not found in Mustang, giving rise to the theory that either the painters were Indian or people familiar with Indian techniques and life in sub-tropical regions.

The enclave could have been another Nalanda. American author and climber Broughton Coburn, who was part of the expedition, says that probably one high cave in the enclave was reserved for Buddhist teachings.

The paintings show various figures, both male and female, making offerings to high lamas and teachers. Other nearby caves have mounds of manuscripts in ancient Tibetan script, which when deciphered could yield a wealth of knowledge on Tibetan forms of Buddhism and probably on the history of Tibet, Mustang and even Nepal and India.

‘‘We discovered the cave by a miracle,’’ says Fieni. And it must have been nothing less than a miracle that the expedition happened to catch up with a shepherd who had been inside the cave as a boy of eight.

To mark his discovery, he had scratched his name on the wall and then forgotten all about it. For nearly two decades after that, probably no one else found the cave.

‘‘When we arrived in the area and told the villagers what we were looking for, the boy, now a young man, remembered his cave. It was a miracle that he could still find his way to it,’’ said Coburn.

The royal family of Mustang, descendants of the powerful kings, is still around and the expedition and its findings have been blessed by its former king, Jigme Bista.

‘‘We are glad the caves are in an inaccessible place and unlikely to be discovered (by marauders),’’ says Coburn. The plan now is to conduct further research and documentation and ask authorities in Nepal to protect and preserve them.

That could be a difficult task. Cash-strapped Nepal lacks funds and has not been able to protect the national treasures that have already been unearthed.

There has been a spate of thefts at Nepal’s temples, including the famed Pashupatinath.

[cm-happy]

Is that the Budda with the feminine figure? (remember the other thread?)

YES, I REMEMBER THAT THREAD. Many Buddhas of the sukothai period also portray The Buddha with feminine characteristics.