3363, 3410 ITALY - Talking hands

3363 The cover of the photo album "Mani che Scalano il Cielo"

It is known, the hands of people, seemingly simple anatomical attributes, but precious tools that allow work, communication, art and, ultimately, survival, are extremely expressive and reflect the way of life and the occupation of the owners. The postcard 3363 is a reproduction of the cover of the photo album Mani che Scalano il Cielo (Hands Which Reach the Sky), published by Terra Ferma in 2009 and belonging to the well-known Italian photographer-mountaineer Fausto De Stefani, the sixth man to have climbed the 14 highest peaks of the world, all exceeding 8000 meters.

3410

This fascinating photo album contains truly unique portraits in which the hands are the protagonists: hands marked by deep furrows; calloused hands, black with earth, wise hands of ordinary people, mostly Nepalese and Tibetan, that De Stefani wanted to capture with brightly colored shots during his travels. The images, evocative and high quality compositions, are a celebration of the natural spirituality that these people, guests of the mountains closest to the sky, also seem to express through their hands. I don't know if the photo in postcard 3410 is from the same photo album, but it could be.

1501 NEPAL - Sunrise over Mount Machhapuchhre, in the Annapurna Sanctuary

The Mount Machhapuchhre (literally "Fish Tail" in English) is located at the end of a long spur ridge, coming south out of the main backbone of the Annapurna Himal, that forms the eastern boundary of the Annapurna Sanctuary. The Sanctuary is a favorite trekking destination, and the site of the base camps for the South Face of Annapurna and for numerous smaller objectives. The peak (6,993m) is about 25 km north of Pokhara, the main town of the region. It is revered by the local population as particularly sacred to the god Shiva, and hence off limits to climbing. The only attempt was in 1957 by a British team, which stopped at 150m of the summit, because had promised not to set foot on it.

1324 NEPAL - Manaslu, Mountain of the Spirit

Manaslu, which means "Mountain of the Spirit", also known as Kutang, or Pung-Gyen (The Bracelet), the eighth highest mountain in the world (8,156m), is located in the Mansiri Himal, in the northern Himalayan range, in the west-central part of Nepal. The mountain's long ridges and valley glaciers offer feasible approaches from all directions, and culminate in a peak that towers steeply above its surrounding landscape, and is a dominant feature when viewed from afar. It was first climbed on May 9, 1956 by Toshio Imanishi and Gyalzen Norbu, members of a Japanese expedition. It is said that "just as the British consider Everest their mountain, Manaslu has always been a Japanese mountain". Until May 2008, the mountain has been climbed 297 times with 53 fatalities.

1059, 1123 NEPAL - Faces of Nepal

Posted on 14.04.2014, 29.06.2014
Nepali society is multiethnic and multilingual, Nepalese people (or Nepali or Gurkha) being the descendants of three major migrations from India, Tibet, and North Burma and the Chinese province of Yunnan via Assam. Even though Indo-Nepalese migrants were latecomers to Nepal relative to the migrants from the north, they have come to dominate the country not only numerically, but also socially, politically, and economically. Nepal's 2001 census enumerated 102 castes and ethnic groups. There are three main ethnicities: Khas (Bahun, Chhetri, Damai, Kami etc.), Mongoloid (Tamang, Gurung, Magar, Sherpa, Thakali and Kirat) and mixed (Newar). Nepali, a derivative of Sanskrit, is the official language; Newari, a language of the Tibeto-Burman family, and numerous other languages are spoken. About 90% of the population is Hindu, and the remaining Buddhist.

0338, 0474, 0593 & 0728 NEPAL - Kathmandu Valley (UNESCO WHS)

Posted on 21.09.2012 and completed on 10.04.2013
Only two UNESCO World Heritage Sites are located in Nepal, but if we consider the fact that one of them, Kathmandu Valley, has at least 130 important monuments, and occupies the entire region considered Nepal Proper by the people who live outside the valley, is not at all less. The site is composed of seven different Monument Zones: the centers of the three primary cities (Kathmandu, Patan and Bhaktapur), the two most important Buddhist stupas (Swayambhunath and Boudhanath), and two famous Hindu shrines (Pashupatinath Temple and Changu Narayan). The centers of the three primary cities are actually the Durbar Squares of these cities, belonging to the three kingdoms situated there before the Unification of Nepal, made by King Prithvi Narayan Shah in the mid-18th century. Durbar Square is the generic name used to describe plazas opposite old royal palaces in Nepal, durbar being a Persian term, which initial mean the Shah's noble court.

On the first postcard appears Bhaktapur Durbar Square, located, of course, in the town of Bhaktapur (literally meaning "The Town of Devotees", also known as Khwopa or Bhadgaon), which lies 13 km east of Kathmandu, on the old trade route to Tibet, and was the capital of Nepal during the Malla Kingdom, until the second half of the 15th century. The complex consists of four distinct square (Durbar Square, Taumadhi Square, Dattatreya Square and Pottery Square), but is known as the Bhaktapur Durbar Square. The actual Durbar Square houses the 55 Windows Palace, begun by King Jitamitra Malla and completed by his son, King Bhupatindra Malla. Home to royalty until 1769, now it is the National Gallery (in the first postcard) and hosts ancient and medieval paintings belonging to Hindu and Buddhist schools and depicting Tantrism of various periods and descriptions.

In right of the first postcard can be seen the Golden Gate (Sun Dhoka), actually made of brass, which is the entrance to the main courtyard of the palace and is considered one of the most important pieces of art in the whole Kathmandu Valley. Named Mulchok Court, the main courtyard is home of a temple dedicated to the goddess Taleju Bhawani and includes shrines to both the Taleju Bhawani and Kumari. Entrance to the temple is restricted to Hindus and the living goddess can’t be photographed. On the left, in shadow, on the top of a stone pillar standing on a lotus pedestal, is a golden statue of Bhupatindra Malla under the shade of Chudamani, a golden umbrella, in a praying position and facing the Taleju Temple.

In Bhaktapur Durbar Square are many other beautiful buildings, erected during three generations of kings. And what is seen today is just what remained after the earthquake of 1934, which destroyed or damaged almost all the palaces and temples in Durbar Square. Originally, there were 99 courtyards attached to this place, but now only 6 remained.

In the second postcard is the temple of Dattatraya, as old as the 55 Windows Palace. Consecrated by King Yakshya Malla in 1427 and subsequently repaired and renovated by King Vishwa Malla in 1458, this three-storey temple was built out of the trunk of a single tree. It is raised well above the ground on its base, the sides of which are carved with erotic scenes. The front section, which was a later addition to the temple, stands almost separate, the entrance being guarded by two Malla wrestlers.

Added on 17.01.2013

Known also as Basantapur Durbar Square, Kathmandu Durbar Square is named in present Hanuman Dhoka, due to the statue of Hanuman, the monkey devotee of Lord Ram. The first royal palaces were built here in the 3rd century, but they undergone repeated renovations so nothing remained from that period. Gunakamadev build also in the 8th century his palaces in this Durbar Square and from here ruled the Malla and Shah kings until 1896. Even today the square is the center of important royal events, like the coronation of King Birendra Bir Bikram Shah in 1975 and King Gyanendra Bir Bikram Shah in 2001.

This complex of palaces, temples, shrines, statues and courtyards, built between the 15th and 18th centuries, is a queer assortment of the old and the new. To try to write about each building, would be a risky endeavor, so I will specify only two things. Here is located the Kasthamandap temple, the Valley's oldest building, which gave the name of the city and is said that was created from the wood of a single tree. Into the Old Royal Palace's wall is a 17th-century stone inscription written in 15 languages; it is believed that milk will flow from the spout below if anyone deciphers the entire inscription.

Added on 09.07.2013

Located on the banks of the Bagmati River, Pashupatinath Temple is one of the most significant Hindu temples of Lord Shiva in the world, serving as the seat of the national deity, Lord Pashupatinath. It is one of the 275 Paadal Petra Sthalams (Holy Abodes of Shiva on the continent), and over the past times, only born Hindus were allowed to enter the temple. Kotirudra Samhita, Chapter 11 on the Shivalingas of the North, in Shiva Purana mentions this Shivalinga as the bestower of all wishes. The priests of Pashaputinath are called Bhattas and the chief priest is called Mool Bhatt or Raval.

0395 NEPAL - Cave architecture of Muktinath Valley of Mustang (UNESCO WHS - Tentative List)

"The tale begins with a demon. Centuries ago, it destroyed the foundations of a Buddhist monastery under construction in central Tibet. Then Guru Rinpoche, who had brought Buddhism to the kingdom, pursued the demon west, deep into Mustang. The two fought among Mustang’s snow peaks, desert canyons and grasslands. Guru Rinpoche prevailed, and he scattered the demon’s body parts across Mustang: its blood formed towering red cliffs, and its intestines tumbled to the wind-scoured earth east of the cliffs. Later, people would build a wall of prayer stones, the longest in Nepal, atop the intestines."

0280 NEPAL - Annapurna South view from Ghandrung

It seems to me a bit strange that the country in which were born Sita Devi (of the Ramayana), and Siddhartha Gautama (who, as Buddha Gautama, gave birth to the Buddhist tradition), is now headed by a Maoist party. It's true that in quite many countries in Asia and the Arab world the communism and the religion coexist peacefully, but I don't cease to wonder at this, because in Europe, among the main goals of communism (essentially atheist), there were to minimize the religious institutions and to destroy the religious sentiment, according to one of the famous sayings of Marx, that "Religion is opium for the people". A proof that the religion don't disturb on the current rulers is that, although they transformed Nepal from a Hindu state (the last in the world) into a secular one, they inaugurated in 2010 the tallest statue of lord Shiva in the world.