Video seriesWritten Artefacts of Nepal

15 October 2024

Nepal is home to exceptionally diverse manuscript collections, both in terms of scripts and languages as well as materials used. In the new episode of his video series, Bidur Bhattarai shows us an exceptionally large Kuṇḍalinī Yogapuruṣa manuscript.

This video, which is the 14th episode of a series on the ‘Written Artefacts of Nepal – Preservation and Documentation’, presents a unique manuscript in the form of a vertical accordion, a thyāsaphū (‘folded book/manuscript’ in Newari/Nepalbhasa). The manuscript is in the possession of Dinesh Ram Shrestha and his family from Bhotahiti, Kathmandu. Comprising 19 folios, it is 466 cm long (when unfolded), 26.4 cm high (when closed), 64 cm wide, and 2.1 cm thick, making it one of the largest artefacts of its with such a writing support, written in Devanāgarī script, to be found in the Kathmandu Valley. Although the manuscript itself is not dated, the age of its present and previous owners – it has been kept in the family for three generations –, the handwriting, and other evidence suggest that it was produced in the 19th century.

It contains a drawing of a naked human figure in the centre representing Puruṣa, which could be understood as an individual soul or the ‘subtle body’. The drawing is inscribed with, and surrounded by, various smaller pictorial elements, symbols, and text relating to Hindu tantrism as well as to the yogic tradition. Based on these features, the manuscript can be associated with the Śaiva tantric aspect of yoga, which encompasses the worship of goddesses (Śakti) as well. Śiva is one of the primary deities of Hinduism and holds a central position within the Śaiva traditions. For this reason, in the past, only initiated individuals were allowed to see this manuscript. Now, however, such objects are increasingly being made available to the general public.

In the preservation process, each folio is first cleaned with a soft brush with bamboo handles (‘Hake type’). After that folios are cleaned in a HEPA (High-Efficiency Particulate) vacuum. The manuscript is then wrapped up in a piece of acid-free lokta paper. Then the manuscript is wrapped up again in a plain unbleached cotton cover matching the size of the manuscript. Finally, the manuscript is put into an acid-free customised E-Flute phase box (‘archival box’).

If you want learn more about the current research on this spectacular manuscript, have a look at Bidur’s ‘Preliminary Notes on one of the Largest Known Puruṣa Leporello Manuscripts Produced in Nineteenth Century Nepal’, an open-access article that has recently been published in manuscript cultures, volume 20.