Temples of the Nepal Valley

by Sudarshan Raj Tiwari

Temples are dominant in the ensemble of Kathmandu Valley ’s traditional architecture. The image and visual appeal of the architecture of the Nepal Valley (as Kathmandu Valley used to be known in the past) and the skyline it composed are registered most by the multi-roofed temples. A significant number of these temples follow the Vastushastra, the classical Hindu ritual design principles as handed down from ancient times through oral tradition. But a philosophically and ritually different group of temples, the dyochhen, also line the streets of the Valley, literally merging with the style of the street-side residential architecture. This book presents, for the first time, a thoroughly researched account of the origins, development and detailing of temples of the Nepal Valley from the ancient Kirat period to the times of the Shah, showing how and why the Nepali temple came to be so different from the nagara and dravida styles popular in India, and became the varata style and design mentioned in the Vastushastra.

The book is presented in three sections: the first deals with the background to the uniqueness of the Nepali temple, the second discusses the towns and the sites of the temples, and the last with the development of temple architecture in various historical periods. The tiered temple has been most elaborated in terms of their rituals and symbolism, design principles, materials and methods of construction.

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Born in Kathmandu in 1950, Sudarshan Raj Tiwari completed his schooling in Kathmandu, passing his School Leaving Certificate examination from Juddhodaya Public High School in 1966. He finished his ISc from Amrit Science College and passed at the top of Tribhuvan University list in 1968. He studied architecture and earned a bachelor’s degree from the School of Planning and Architecture, University of Delhi , in 1973 with a first class and a gold medal. He earned his master’s degree in architecture from the University of Hawaii in 1977, specialising on housing in tropical countries. His interest drew him to the study of Nepali historical architecture, urbanism and culture, which led to a PhD from Tribhuvan University in 1995 for his dissertation on ancient settlements of the Kathmandu Valley .

Prof Tiwari has been part of the faculty of Tribhuvan University ’s Institute of Engineering for more than thirty years, and was Dean of the Institute of Engineering between 1988 and 1992. He has worked at several world heritage sites, including Lumbini, Swoyambhu, Changunarayan and Bhaktapur Durbar Square . He has also consulted on infrastructure for health and education sector projects of the World Bank in Nepal and Afghanistan .

His previous publications include Tiered Temples of Nepal (1988), The Ancient Settlements of the Kathmandu Valley (2001) and The Brick and the Bull (2002).