Thimi’s urban tissue
A
new book describes the Kathmandu Valley town that was a planned settlement
since ancient times
Mark Turin
In this impressively detailed and visually
arresting study, Mohan Pant makes a convincing scholarly case for why social
and cultural traditions should be considered fundamental structures in shaping Thimi, a historic
Newar settlement situated in the central-eastern segment of the Kathmandu
Valley that dates to the early medieval period. In addition, the reader is
shown both why and how Newar towns like Thimi should be appraised as planned
settlements of historical consequence.
Part ethnography, part archaeology, geography,
history, architecture and planning, Thimi: Community and Structure of a
Town is an updated and refashioned version of Pant’s 2002
doctoral dissertation, whose stated objective was to provide a developmental
account of Thimi in service of the conservation of the settlement’s heritage.
Pant integrates ancient inscriptions and
chronicles with contemporary oral histories, observations of ritual, household
surveys, meticulous maps and elegant floor plans to create a complex and
composite understanding of Thimi, one of 31 significant Newar settlements in the Valley.
Thimi is also the 15th publication in the
Himalayan Traditions and Culture Series by the Saraf Foundation that
supports the Taragaon Museum, the Nepal
Architecture Archive (NAA) and associated heritage activities of profound
consequence and value to our understanding of the cultural history of the Kathmandu Valley.
A central message that comes across loud and
clear from Pant’s study is that in the case of Thimi, the nani — a Newar term
to describe the socio-spatial unit of clan clusters — is the ‘urban tissue’
that bound the town together. Only by appreciation of the roles of desha, tole,
nani and chhen can the configuration of dwellings and development of Thimi be
properly understood.
Pant argues that while the 2015 earthquake didn’t
substantially damage the historical parts of Thimi, the reconstruction that
followed has rapidly changed the ‘medieval townscape’. This rebuilding, together
with the settlement’s changed status from village development committee to
municipality, is resulting in a great transformation.
The deliberate
and ritually-circumscribed planning of ancient Thimi stands in stark contrast
to the haphazard and mostly unregulated construction of roads across the nation.
When you next find yourself in a traffic jam in Madhyapur Municipality, in that
ever-expanding urban strip that links Kathmandu to Bhaktapur with barely a
field in between, spare a thought for the intentional town of Thimi and it
historic importance to the diverse and creative communities that have lived
there for centuries.
Thimi:
Community and Structure of a Town (Kathmandu Valley)
by Mohan Pant
Saraf Foundation for Himalayan Traditions and Culture 2019
Distributed by Himal Books
181 pages Rs2,000
by Mohan Pant
Saraf Foundation for Himalayan Traditions and Culture 2019
Distributed by Himal Books
181 pages Rs2,000
Mark Turin teaches at the
University of British Columbia in Vancouver. He has lived and worked in Nepal
for many years.
