THE STATUS OF CULTURAL HERITAGE IN NEPAL
Introduction
Culture is a factor that influences a man right from his/her
childhood. It does not matter in whichever family, community or
even country he/she is born. The cultural life of a person
depends on his/her family background. A country’s prestige
depends on its cultural and cultural heritage. They resemble the
past and the present of a country. The culture and the cultural
heritages are the precious property of a country. The culture of
any country can bring many about positive change in the country.
Culture is our life-related practice. It is in practice from a
long period as a human culture. Culture in-fact is a broad term.
It is also interrelated to the various human activities. Based
on the past experiences people develop their own belief value
system, attitude, opinion etc. They indicate steps and process
of human civilization. Culture influences people of each
locality. This makes difference in their behavior, thinking,
opinion and social customs. On the basis of cultural influence,
people develop their own life-system. It means human
civilization is also a part of culture. Culture includes a
number of things like traditional practices, religious
activities, festivals, folk songs, dresses, dances, cultural
activities, means of entertainment etc.
Since ancient time our ancestors have preserved our religion and
culture that is called religious and cultural heritage.
Knowledge, spiritual experience, aspiration, values and other
culture related things develop our culture. So culture reflects
special aspects of individual, society, ethnic group and nation
as a whole. We can learn different aspects and phenomena of our
society. Gradual development of cultural aspects is the basis of
cultural development.
Situation
2001 has not been an easy year for Nepal. The country has
witnessed much turmoil, suffering from a royal tragedy and also
from enormous political problems. It seems not only the Nepalese
people but also the country’s cultural heritage is suffering in
these times. The monuments and the ancient sites naturally
remain silent - but if they could speak the valleys and
hillsides would be full of their lamentations. Every year Nepal
is losing a significant portion of its incredibly rich and
diverse cultural heritage. The alarming condition of the most
important sites - and countless equally precious sites that are
afforded far less protection - give cause for serious concern.
The dismantling and scarring of historic buildings is
regrettably common. Several important buildings and monuments
that were not under the protection of the UNESCO World Heritage
list have been dismantled, or collapsed through lack of
maintenance. In their place the desire to build quickly and
above all cheaply is producing a modern architecture that is ad
hoc and chaotic, characterized by the poorly constructed
concrete pillar buildings that are so detrimental to the fabric
of the historic areas - and an increasing blot upon the
beautiful Nepalese landscape.
Although these threats to the country’s cultural heritage are
largely confined to private property, many of the more
prestigious national sites and monuments are also in danger.
Uncontrolled new buildings and roads at many historic sites -
even in the midst of some of the most important ancient sites -
are springing up quickly. Nor are some UNESCO listed sites left
untouched by such developments.
There are a few notable examples of communities beginning to
take an active part in the conservation of their heritage. This
cultural awareness is most obvious where particular sites are
used directly to generate income. But even the financial
incentives of tourism cannot totally relieve the pressures on a
great many monuments. Ironically these are sometimes threatened
by the very attempts to save them. Many of the so-called
conservation and restoration projects in Nepal are, in reality,
often large-scale renovations, or complete reconstructions.
These can damage or obliterate the original fabric that they set
out to preserve. Perhaps this is due in part to wider
international uncertainties over definitions of conservation.
But greater sensitivity is undoubtedly called for. Even if the
most sophisticated and cutting edge conservation techniques,
pioneered in Europe and elsewhere, might not always be
transferable to Nepal, a minimum care of authenticity should be
expected after all the national and international efforts in the
country.
While we should acknowledge that there would always be
conflicting pressures between preserving the ancient and yet
creating an environment suitable for modern life, greater
efforts need to be made to avoid the many wrong turnings. In
Katmandu, for instance, the proliferation of slavish modern
copies of ancient design in new buildings, such as hotels and
shopping malls - yet in a totally different context, use and
scale - is not conducive to a living, vibrant architecture.
There are young architects of vision and talent in Nepal, but
they are not being given the opportunity to express themselves.
Instead, there is a very real danger that new urban development
will come to resemble an idealized, sterile Disneyland that
fails to reflect the society that surrounds it. This is scarcely
in harmony with the officially adopted slogan: ‘Nepal, a land
with living cultural heritage’. It is a tragic irony that this
should be happening just as many ‘genuine’ examples of remaining
architectural heritage are collapsing into rubble.
Why is it that the responsible departments and organizations are
not able to change this depressing situation? A lack of
financial resources and investments? This can hardly be deemed
the case, given the huge amount of aid pumped into Nepal on a
yearly basis. The necessary skills can still be found, labor
costs remain (by Western standards) low and materials are
available at a reasonable price. Under these conditions,
conservation and preservation work should not be difficult to
undertake. So why is this not happening on a more significant
scale, and in a more sympathetic way? Consider the various
strategies that have thus far sought to defend a fragile and
fast-shrinking heritage. Workshops, symposiums, training
initiatives, awareness campaigns - Nepal has seen many of these.
But an honest evaluation of their results would have to conclude
that talking has not always led to action. Rules and
regulations, government legislation - there is no shortage of
these. It is the implementation that is lacking. The enforcement
of necessary conservation measures, often unpopular with owners,
seldom takes place. At present it seems there are many higher
priorities than heritage conservation.
Among the wider population, the prevailing indifference and
disregard for the country’s physical heritage suggests that only
a minority is interested in its preservation. This can be
attributed, in part, to a lack of popular awareness concerning
the importance of many aspects of the country’s heritage. This,
in turn, stems from a failure to provide education on this
subject for school children and students. Although there are
some welcome education initiatives now taking place, the
official support for them remains fragmented and weak. At
present there is a clear shortage of ‘home-grown’ skills in the
field of cultural heritage in Nepal - whether in teachers,
lecturers or technical experts. At an academic level, there is
an obvious dearth of scientific studies, inventories and
documentation. Where these have been carried out, it has often
been at the instigation of foreign organizations. The
responsible government departments have not created a public
documentation center, or developed user-friendly systems that
might enable municipalities to support the urgent tasks of
surveying and documentation at a non-academic level. Rectifying
this will need to be a dedicated and long-term strategy. But the
time for commencing these actions must be now. Traditional
buildings, temples and monuments are disappearing daily. The
living witnesses of the country’s past heritage are also dying
out. And the absence of documentation makes it almost impossible
to help preserve the immeasurable value of both - for the next
generation of Nepalese, as well as the world at large.
Factors deteriorating cultural heritage
The culture of our country is deteriorating day by day at a very
high rate. The following can be some of the possible causes for
its deterioration:
1. Carelessness of the people towards its bad effects.
2. Ignorance of the people
3. Out of reach of concerned department
4. Various foreign languages especially English has
influenced the Nepali language
5. The influence of foreign culture among the youngsters
6. Selfishness of the people, which leads them to steal our
valuable cultural assets of the country like idols, artistic
things etc. They then sell it for high price in foreign country.
This makes the future generation unknown about our culture and
they will be forced to visit foreign museums for the knowledge
of our culture.
Peoples Opinion
Q. Who do you think is responsible for the deterioration of
Nepalese culture?
Ans. Nepalese themselves.
Q. What can be done for preventing deterioration of culture?
Ans. Make the people aware of importance and significance of
their culture.
Q. How can we preserve our culture?
Ans. i. Following the cultural rituals
ii. Encouraging the new generation to continue the
cultural practices
Conclusion
In conclusion, it is clear that it is high time to act. If the
Nepalese really want to keep their rich cultural heritage they
have to work hard for that objective, and also to fight against
fatalism. Aid organizations can provide many valuable tools and
resources, but it cannot be their responsibility to create an
impetus for heritage conservation among the Nepalese themselves.
Hopefully for the remaining heritage of Nepal, there will be a
positive ending - just as there is in a fine story about a
difficult and much-discussed restoration of a holy idol, which
concludes with the happy sentiments of an old man from the
mountains: ‘Now, the gods can smile again’.
(some datas have benn added from various sources)
