Body
(Re)colonizing Tradition
A Pedestrian Guide to a "Traditional" City
Welcome to Bhaktapur
[1] The Tea Stall at Guhepukhu
[2] Nava Durga Chitra Mandir
[3] Khauma Square
[4] Tourist Motor Park
[5] Indrani Pitha
[6]Lasku Dhwakha Gate
[7]Char Dham
[8]Cafe de Temple
[9]Batsala Temple
[10] Batsala Temple
[11] City Hall
[12] The Procession Route
[13] Pujari Math
[14] The Peacock Restaurant
[15] Sewage Collection Ponds
[16] Bhairavanath Temple
|
Newar Living Space
These traditional homes are also spatially "porous," to borrow a term from Benjamin. Building and actions interpenetrate in the chowk (a courtyard surrounded by buildings on all sides),  fall out of the sata (a public rest house in which three sides are usually open), and revolve around the hiti: (a deep-set watering place with a flight of steps).
In the chowk, people dry and thresh grain, pound pungent chili peppers in old wooden pestles, shape clay pots, spin thread and weave cloth, draw water, bathe, massage their babies with oil, and just sit and chat in the sun. Satas spill into street. They are a place where women can do laundry, men can play cards and music, people can dry peppers, children and dogs can romp. They are places for public conflict and resolution, and at least for one "heroic" ethnographer, a place to get out of the rain.
Living quarters in the old houses may be cramped and unenviable, but the residents are rich in public space. There is always gossip going on, and the possibility to become a theater of new, unforeseen constellations. Major pujas are usually done in the morning by the senior women of a family.Evening time is also a big social event. Farmers come in from the fields. People play chess and musical instruments,  hawk their wares, or just "watch the street."
Bhaktapur's spaces have not been completely coded for specific purposes, but can be used for both "secular" (tourism or agricultural) and "religious" (Jatras and other forms of pujas) purposes depending on the time of year and the time of day.
  
|
Maps
Mandala Map
Tourist Map
Government
Map
Pedestrian
Tour Map
Bhaktapur
Durbar Square
Tacapa Map
Satellite
Photograph
Kathmandu
Valley
Goddesses
|