- Saturday, 23 August 2025
Binu Shrestha
A plea to save one of Kathmandu’s last open spaces
Conservationists and heritage lovers are up in arms about Kathmandu Metropolitan City’s decision to build a triple basement underground parking under the Khulla Manch.
Gundu blossoming with floriculture
Farmers in Gundu of Suryabinayak Municipality-7, Bhaktapur, are currently busy plucking flowers and threading garlands for the fast-approaching Tihar festival. But not just any flower, mind you. Gundu is famous for growing Makhamali (Globe amaranth) flowers.
Mahakali dance being rehearsed for Indra Jatra
With Indra Jatra around the corner, seven crews of Mahakali dancers of Bhaktapur have started their training to perform the dance during Indra Jatra festival of Kathmandu. An ethnic community from Bhaktapur has come together to perform the age-old dance in an effort to preserve the intangible heritage. The Jyappu community of Bhaktapur is the lead performer of the street dance. The dancers are selected on the basis of their body figure and dancing skills, said Tulsi Narayan Dandeksya, head of the Mahakali Dance Management Committee.
Nil Barahi and Mahakali dance come alive in Thimi
The narrow alley of Bode and Digu Tole of Madhyapur Thimi will now be covered by the colourful mask dancers for three days from Saturday. An ancient masked dance of Nil Barahi and Mahakali dance are performed by Newar community of Madhyapur Thimi to preserve the ancient traditional culture. Every year, the streets of the ancient city of Bhakatpur are flooded with dances of different kinds with the starting of Gai Jatra. The dancers (Devgan) of the Tha Shrestha of Bode have started rehearsing Nil Barahi Dance, which is performed for four days after the Gai Jatra from Krishna Dwitiya to Panchami.
Instruments housed at rickety Music Museum unsafe
It has been seven years since the Gorkha earthquake struck Nepal, but the Nepali folk music instruments housed at Nepali Folk Musical Instrument Museum, also known as Music Museum of Nepal, Tripureshwor, have not yet found a safe shelter. The rare and historically important Nepali folk music instruments in the museum are still lying in the derelict building.
Thimi to see Mahakali dance after 80 years
The Prajapati community of Madhyapur Thimi will be performing the historically and religiously significant Mahakali Dance this year – for the first time in 80 years. The community will be staging the masked dance for six days, beginning the
Necklace of Taleju traced in Chicago
A new evidence relating to the necklace belonging to Taleju Bhawani of Hanumandhoka, which was found a year ago at the Art Institute of Chicago, USA, was traced paving a way for its homecoming.
Sora Hiti spout regaining lost splendour
The long neglected and forgotten stone spouts Sora Hiti, which lies on the way to Kamalpokhari from Durbarmarg, may now return to its former glory, thanks to the efforts of heritage campaigners. Under their initiative to preserve the culturally and archaeologically important water conduits of the Kathmandu Valley, a team led by activist Yadav Lal Kayastha began clearing and repairing the hitis, which had been covered by overgrown bushes and garbage, in July of 2019. After three years of work, partially disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, the fountains are now on their way to regaining their lost splendour.
Tara’s idol arrives in Nepal from USA
The idol of Buddhist goddess Tara stolen from Bhaktapur 45 years ago arrived in Kathmandu from Yale University Art Gallery of New York, USA, on Thursday. The argillite-stone sculpture of Tara that dates back to the late ninth to early 10th century was donated to the gallery by a donor in 2015. Organising a press meet at the Department of Archaeology (DoA) on Thgursday, Manual P Micaller, deputy chief of mission of the US Embassy in Kathmandu, handed over the cultural artefact to the DoA.
Machhindranath’s Dewali Puja performed
Pujas are rituals generally associated with people. Worship ceremonies, by their nature, are rites performed by mortals to appease higher powers and gain blessings. Lineage worships are even more particular and are performed by specific families and clans in specific ways to pay homage to their ancestors and pray to the guardian gods and goddesses. Known as Dewali Puja in Nepali and Digu Puja in Nepal Bhasa, lineage worships are an inherently human affair – a way for people to feel a connection with their deceased ancestors.
Five stolen idols of deities arrive from USA
Five sculptures stolen from Kathmandu Valley from the 1950s to 1980s have been returned home. The sculptures arrived in the capital from Washington DC, USA on Tuesday. Manual P Micaller, deputy chief of mission of the US Embassy in Kathmandu, handed over the artefacts to the Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Prem Bahadur Ale and the Department of Archaeology (DoA) amid a press meet at the Department. Receiving the objects, Minister Ale said that such repatriation of Nepal’s heritage was helping USA and Nepal build a strong cultural relationship.
