“As the Dew Is Dried Up by the Morning Sun, So Are Mankind’s Sins at the Sight of Himalaya”

T Himalaya, “abode of snow,” dominates the landscape of Nepal. Home of the highest peaks in the world, including Mount Everest, the country is traversed and bound by the massive range. “In a hundred ages of the gods, I could not tell thee of the glories of the Himalaya,” elegize Hindu texts. A barrier to the movement of people for thousands of years, the slopes, glaciers, rivers, and lakes associated with the range discouraged outside interference and military adventures. In the remote gorges, valleys, and high plateaus, fl ourished instead the individual and unique cultures of a diverse population. Landlocked in the south by India, the north by Tibet, present-day Nepal historically comprised the kingdoms of the Kathmandu Valley. At the crossroads of trade and multiple religious traditions (Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism), the valley became a shared sacred site, a focus of social and cultural exchange, and the creative locus of much Himalayan art. The symbiosis of Hinduism and Buddhism is refl ected in the art of the indigenous Newar. When famed Chinese envoy Wang Hsüan-tse visited Nepal in the 7th century, he wrote with admiration of the metalwork in King Narendradeva’s palace in Kathmandu and mentioned the king’s elaborate belt decorated with golden images of Buddha (1). He also noted many architectural marvels and houses embellished with sculptures and paintings. Around the same time, with Mahayana Buddhism new to Tibet having been introduced through Nepal during the reign of Angshuvarma, demand was high for icons and sacred texts. Many, including scriptures referred to as the Prajñāpāramitā, were copied in the Kathmandu Valley. Surviving texts contain images of religious fi gures. Gifting manuscripts to monasteries or temples was valued as high virtue, so manuscript illumination persisted for centuries (2). The same colorful, theatrical, and detailed style perfected in manuscripts is also found in larger paintings on