The Nepala-Mahatmya of the Skandapurana- Legends on the Sacred Places and Deities of Nepal

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In recent years there has been a growing interest in Nepalese studies among the anthropologists, cultural geographers, religious historians, economists, ecologists, and development agencies in the West. This interest has resulted in their attempt to make indepth studies of different aspects of Nepalese life- its history, religion, culture, art, architecture, Nepalese perception of space and natural resources, and social behavior in general.

The Nepala-mahatmya (The Glory of Nepal) is one of the most important Sanskrit texts related to Nepal's religious and cultural background. No study of Nepal's history, culture and religion is complete without the study of the Nepala-mahatmya. A full text of the Nepala-mahatmya was first published by Prabhakari Press, Banaras in 1901. The Nepala-mahatmya published by the Prabhakari Press was also published with Nepali translation by the Royal Nepal Academy (RNA), Kathmandu (Khanal 1972). A German translation of the Nepala-mahatmya was published from Munich (Uebach: 1970), but there has been no English translation of this important document available until now. Also, most of the editions of the Nepala-mahatmya are out of print, hence this translation, which benefits from the previously published texts, has been done.

The Sanskrit text of the Nepala-mahatmya published by the Royal Nepal Academy (RNA) has been the basis of this translation. The obvious typos in the RNA edition have been corrected without giving specific footnotes.

Scholars interested in the critical text of the Nepala-mahatmya may consult the text in Uebach (1970), who gives textual variations available in two manuscripts, namely the Levi manuscript in Paris and the Durbar Library manuscript in Kathmandu, but without suggestions for possible correct forms even in cases of the most obvious errors of the scribes. I have freely corrected the most obvious grammatical and type errors, but I have found that the mistakes or corrections did not change much of the meaning of the text. For that reason I did not indicate the corrections in footnotes.

Another reason for not doing so was that the book would be too big, with a load of information a general reader may not be much interested in, A research scholar interested in these details can freely compare my text with the other texts.

This translation of the Nepala-mahatmya was made possible through the generous support of the National Geographic Society (Research grant no. 3877-88). I am very grateful to the NGS for the grant and personally to Dr. Barry C. Bishop, Chairman of the Committee for Research and Exploration of the National Geographic Society, for his interest in this work and for his efforts to support it. I am also very grateful to Dr. Donald A. Messerschmidt for reading a major part of the manuscript and giving me helpful advice. Dr. Messerschmidt has also helped me in numerous other ways--lending valuable books, and providing me with critical information. I would like to thank Mr. Mickey W. Edwards for preparing the Nepala-mahatmya area map, and proof-reading the entire manuscript. My friend Sita Ram Poudyal also deserves my thanks for proofreading the manuscript. My special thanks are due to Mr. Kiran D. Pandey, my friend, for his computer assistance, without which this work could not be done in the way it has been presented.

My special thanks are also due to Prof. Theodore Riccardi, Jr., Director of the Center for South Asian Studies, Columbia University, Prof. Robert H. Stoddard of the Department of Geography at the University of Nebraska, Prof. James D. Reddington, S. J., Theology Department at Georgetown University, and Dr. Mary S. Slusser for their strong support to this work. I am also grateful to Prof. Axel Michaels at Kiel University, Germany for making Uebach's German translation of the Nepāla-mahatmya available to me. Prof. Francis P. Dinneen, S. J., at Georgetown University and my friend Miss Hermine Penz from Austria also deserve thanks for the translation of parts of Ucbach's introduction to the Nepala-mahatmya. Elizabeth R. Manierre and Kate S. Foster, research staffs at the National Geographic Society also deserve my thanks for their help in many.

I would also like to thank my wife Usha Acharya for her sacrifice and struggle to support all of my academic efforts including the present one. ways.

The waves of immigrant Indo-Aryan population from India into the valleys and mountains of Nepal mingled with the original inhabitants of Mongoloid stock over the past 2000 years. First, the Licchavis moved into the valley of Kathmandu toward the end of the third century A.D.; then the Mallas moved in, around 1200 A.D. Finally, the Shahas moved into the Kathmandu valley in 1768. And, with those ruling dynasties, people moved in. Kathmandu's artistic riches and architectural beauty, as seen today, are the results of the accumulated layers of cultural heritage developed by the admixture of the original inhabitants (of Mongoloid stock) of the Kathmandu valley and the Aryan immigrants from India, who developed unique Nepalese characteristics The Nepāla-mahatmya gives us the background information with which we can understand the cultural heritage of Kathmandu from the native perspective.

2. The Origin of the Nepala-mahatmya. The Nepāla-mahatmya (The Glory of Nepal'f, was written in Nepal by Nepalese scholars, thus making an independent Nepali contribution to the existing body of the Puranas. The Nepala-mahsumya is described as a part of Himavatkhapda (the part related to the Himalayan region), which, in turn, claims to be a part of the Skandapurana, as the colophon at the end of each chapter reads: "...iti sriskandapurane himavatkhande nepala-makimye... No editions of the Skandapurāņa available in India or elsewhere, however, contain either the 185 chapters of the Himavatkhapda or the 30 chapters of the Nepāla-mahatmya an evidence that the Himavatkhapda and the Nepala-mahatmya were of Nepalese origin.

As a result of the origin of the Nepala-mahatmya in Nepal, its manuscripts were also available mainly in Nepal. One of the manuscripts of the Nepala-mahatmya was listed in the collection of Durbar Library (now Nepal's National archives) in Kathmandu. Another copy was available at the Institute of Indian Civilization, University of Paris, which was taken from Nepal to France about 90 years ago by French scholars, possibly by Sylvain Levi.

One copy of the Nepala-mahatmya was also listed in the Library of Queen's College, now Sarasavati Bhavan, in Banaras, India (Uebach 1970:13). Whatever the location of the manuscripts, there is no doubt that the Nepala-mahatmya originated in Nepal, and that its copies were taken to different places from there.

Besides the external evidences, there are also internal evidences to the fact that the Nepāla-mahatmya was written in Nepal. Evidently, it was written in the Kathmandu valley itself. The Nepala-mahatmya (1.55) reads: "tripuratah samayata rajarajesvari siva (Goddess Rajarajesvari came from Tripura)." Likewise, the verse 1.57 reads:"saurastradesad agatya... (Coming from Saurastra, the peninsula of Gujrat...)." The verb "come" indicates the location of the speaker.

Why the Nepala-mahatmya claims to be the part of the Skandapurāņa is a question worth investigating. The Skandapurāņa seems to be a basket holding everything that cannot fit elsewhere. According to Rocher (1986: 228-229):