Video seriesFinal Episode: Written Artefacts of Nepal

22 November 2024

Nepal is home to exceptionally diverse manuscript collections, both in terms of scripts and languages as well as materials used. In the final episode of his video series, Bidur Bhattarai introduces the manuscript collection of the Bhatta family at Changu Narayan, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Nepal is home to a wealth of historical manuscripts. The aim of the project ‘Preserving the Written Cultural Heritage of Nepal’, which has been based at the CSMC since 2018 and will come to an end at the end of this year, is to contribute to their long-term protection. In his video series on the ‘Written Artefacts of Nepal’, project leader Bidur Bhattarai has extensively documented the work he and his colleagues have done in this project. 14 episodes have been released since the summer of 2022, covering specific conservation techniques such as the correct cleaning and storage of manuscripts, the significance of individual collections, and some spectacular objects, including, for example, a tantric miniature manuscript, a written artefact in which a piece of snakeskin has been incorporated, or, more recently, a Kuṇḍalinī Yoga Purusha manuscript almost five metres long.

The 15th and final episode of the series now presents the manuscript collection of the Bhatta family at Changu Narayan, an ancient Hindu temple that is recognised as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The oldest manuscripts of this collection date back to approximately the 17th century, others date from the period up to the 20th century. The Bhatta Family Manuscript Collection is of great value not only in the context of Nepalese history and culture, but also for Central Asian and South Asian culture at large. In the course of the project, more than 140 manuscripts containing both religious and non-religious texts and more than 50 handwritten paper artefacts have been cleaned and are now kept in customised acid-free E-Flute phase boxes.

The preservation works are a collaborative effort of CSMC and the Bhatta family in Changunarayan, Bhaktapur. ‘Preserving the Written Cultural Heritage of Nepal’ was generously supported by the German Foreign Office (2018–2021) and the Gerda Henkel Foundation (2018–2022).