Bhupatindra Malla

Jitamitra Malla formally abdicated the throne and crowned Bhupatindra Malla on 21 September 1696.[19] In order to give his son the experience and training of reigning, Jitamitra Malla had temporarily given Bhupatindra the throne numerous times, five years prior to the formal coronation.[19] Under the direction of his father, Bhupatindra Malla had renovated a stone spout (hiti) and a resting place (phalcā) in Thimi.[19] When Bhupatindra Malla became sufficiently skilled to rule on his own, Jitamitra Malla abdicated the throne. He lived in the Thanthu Lyākū palace which was built by himself and spent the rest of his life in pilgrimage and other religious activities.[10][18] Jitamitra Malla died 14 years after leaving the throne.[10]

Bhupatindra Malla in prayer, Paubha wall painting inside the Taleju temple complex, Bhaktapur Durbar Square, c. 18th century.[30]

Yog Narendra Malla was the king of the Kingdom of Lalitpur (presentday Patan, Nepal) who was politically active since the reign of his grandfather Jagat Prakasha Malla.[2] Bhupatindra Malla with the help of Gorkha, Makwanpur and Tanahun forced Yog Narendra Malla to sign a treaty in 1701 according to which the Kingdom of Patan had to pay a hefty amount to Bhaktapur and Gorkha, Makwanpur and Tanahun if an alliance was made with Kantipur without their consent.[2][31] This treaty greatly angered Yog Narendra Malla and in 1705 he attacked a fort called "Obhu" that belonged to Bhaktapur.[32] However, due to the fort's strength Yog Narendra Malla's force were not able to capture it.[2] His forces continued to attack the fort while Yog Narendra himself was operating from Changu. When Bhupatindra Malla found out about his whereabouts, he used his spies to poison Yog Narendra Malla.[33] As a result of the poisoning, Yog Narendra Malla died on Wednesday, 28th October 1705.[2]

Portrait of King Bhupatindra Malla on the walls of the Jana bahal temple complex, Kathmandu.

After the death of Yog Naréndra Malla, the throne of Patan became empty. Bhupatindra Malla helped in the crowning of Lokaprakāsha Malla, the son of Yogamati who herself was the daughter of Yoga Naréndra Malla.[33] However, the people of Kantipur did not like the new king of Patan and they kidnapped Lokaprakāsha.[2] Bhupatindra Malla rescued Lokaprakāsha from Kantipur and made Patan a protectorate of Bhaktapur.[2] However, Patan secretly made an alliance with Kantipur and in 1708 the combined forces of Kantipur and Patan attacked the "Obhu" fort of Bhaktapur again four times but they were not able to break the defence of the fort.[2]

Ranajit Malla was born to Vishva Lakshmi on 26 January 1703.

Gaurivivāha (lit. 'marriage of Gauri') was a Nepal Bhasa play detailing the marriage of Parvati to Shiva.[29] The play written by Bhupatindra Malla himself which was shown in the Kingdom of Patan in early January 1707.[29] The money collected from the play was used by Bhupatindra Malla to offer a bell to the lord of dance, Nrityasvara.[29]

Many historians and authors have wrongly written that Jitamitra Malla died around the same time Bhupatindra Malla was crowned.[18] But there are many chronicles (Thyāsāfu in Newari) that say that Jitamitra Malla after leaving the throne once his son became capable of reigning, lived in Thanthu Lyākū, a palace constructed by Jitamitra himself and spent the rest of the life in religious activities.[18] One of the Thyāsāfu mention that Jitamitra Malla died sometime around 1708.[34] The same chronicle also mention the death of Jitamitra's younger brother, Ugra Malla and the sight of a comet.[34]

Paubha of Vétāla on a stone platform in front of the Nyatapola temple.

Vira Vétāla (Nepal Bhasa: 𑐰𑐷𑐬 𑐰𑐾𑐟𑐵𑐮‎), also commonly called Vétadyah (Nepal Bhasa: 𑐰𑐾𑐟 𑐡𑑂𑐫𑑅‎) is considered the vahana of Bhairava in Bhaktapur and is a popular deity in Bhaktapur. Although he is depicted with a moustache, Vétāla is believed to be a mischievous child.[48] Vétāla is worshipped as the protector of Bhaktapur and of Bhairava.[48] A statue of Vétāla is installed in front of the chariot of Biska Jatra. He is also believed to appear frequently in locales around the Nyatapola temple as a child during the time of the Biska Jatra festival.[48] A folklore prevalent in Bhaktapur tell the tale of a worker who attended the construction of the Nyatapola temple daily, but did no work but ate the most lunch.[49] When the other workers noticed him, they quickly reported to King Bhupatindra Malla but the king told the workers that "he will of some use, some day".[49] Eventually, when the time came to install the golden pinnacle on the top of the temple, the same worker who did no work before, quickly grabbed the heavy pinnacle and installed it on the top with ease.[49] The man is then said to have disappeared and was never seen again. So, he was believed to be Vétāla himself.[49][48]

Similarly, a child is said to have warned Bhupatindra Malla of an approaching attack on Bhaktapur, which eventually turned out to be true.[48] Therefore, the forces of Bhaktapur easily repelled it. The child was then revealed to be Vétāla himself and for saving his kingdom from foreign attack, Bhupatindra Malla is said to have gifted Vira Vétāla a golden jewellery.[48] Vétāla then happy with his gift, is said to have given the kingdom a golden statue of Bhairava which was kept in the Bhairava temple located near the Nyatapola.[48] Unfortunately, the statue was stolen from the temple in 1947.[48]

The front face of the palace of 55 windows at the Durbar square of Bhaktapur.

The palace of 55 windows (Nepal bhasa: 𑐒𑐾𑐒𑐵𑐥𑐵𑐗𑑂𑐫 𑐮𑑂𑐫𑐵𑐎𑐹‎, ngé ngāpā jhya lyākū) was the remodeling of a palace first constructed by King Jayayakshya Malla which was damaged in the earthquake of 1681.[52] Bhupatindra later remodeled the palace with fifty-five windows and today is considered a great example of Nepalese woodcarving.[52] There is one misconception that Bhupatindra Malla built the palace with fifty-five windows to provide one for each of his fifty-five wives.[53] However, there isn't much evidence to support this as Bhupatindra likely only had a single queen. Moreover, the palace was likely made for musical purposes as supported by the recent discoveries of 147 carvings of musical rāgas and their names on the cornice separating the ground floor and the first floor of the palace.[54][55]

The construction of this palace was completed in 1708 after which Bhupatindra Malla had a Chitrakar paint frescoes on the second floor.[55] The walls on the second floor of the palace are painted with Paubha paintings depicting various religious scenes and the portraits of the royal figures.[56][57] The important paintings include one of a young Ranajit Malla riding a horse along with Bhupatindra himself on an elephant back, painting of a princess, probably Bhupatindra's daughter, a portrait of Bhupatindra Malla and a king of Makwanpur hunting in the Terai forest and a large painting of a Vishvarupa embracing a female figure, with the faces of Bhupatindra and his queen Vishva Lakshmi.[56][57] Besides these there are still more unrecognisable paintings of royal figures and many more depicting religious scenes from the Mahabharata, Ramayana and the Krishna Leelā.[57]

There is also a small inscription among the frescoes which details the artist who painted them.[55] Unfortunately, the part where the artist's name is written has worn off and the only readable part of the inscription tells that the artist was a Chitrakar from Yāché tole (name of a locale), Bhaktapur.[55]

This palace was damaged by the earthquake of 1934; the top floor was entirely destroyed.[52][57] Like most reconstruction at that time, the palace of fifty-five windows was reconstructed haphazardly. As a result, the windows on the top floor lost their traditional look and European style roof tiles were used instead.[57] In the 20th century, the palace was used as for administrative purposes including a post office[52] and as such the frescoes in the second floor were greatly damaged and became unrecognisable.[57][58] In the late 20th century after the removal of administrative offices, the frescoes were cleaned, although some of the damage was irreversible.[58] Similarly, in 2006 the palace was restored to its former appearance.[57]

Sketch of the Simhādhwākhā palace in its traditional look, dated 1844 by local artist Raj Man Singh Chitrakar.

The Simhādhwākhā Durbar in its present form.

This palace was the main residence of the royals of Bhaktapur and is attributed to Bhupatindra Malla.[59][60] The construction of the palace was completed in Nepal Sambat 818 and was named as 'Mālatichok Durbar'.[54][61] However, the locals referred to the palace Simhādhwākhā Lyākū [note 3] (Nepal Bhasa: 𑐳𑐶𑑄𑐴𑐢𑑂𑐰𑐵𑐏𑐵 𑐮𑑂𑐫𑐵𑐎𑐸‎, lit. 'lion gated palace') after the two large stone images of guardian lions which were installed by Bhupatindra Malla as well.[54] In the principal latticed window of this palace called Bhupatindra Malla kept a glass pane which he received as a gift from a Mughal emperor and so the palace was also called Nhēkanjhya Lyākū (Nepal Bhasa: 𑐴𑑂𑐣𑐾𑐎𑐒𑐗𑑂𑐫 𑐮𑑂𑐫𑐵𑐎𑐸‎, lit. 'palace with glassed window').[60] It is very likely that this palace was a remodeled version of a previously existing palace which was probably damaged by a earthquake in 1681.[61][60] The southern façade of Simhādhwākhā Lyākū palace was adorned with tympanumed latticed windows.[62] The palace also featured a glassed lattice window right above the main portal on the second floor.[62] Glass was extremely rare in Nepal until the 20th century[note 4] and the glass kept by Bhupatindra Malla became an object of wonder for the people.[62]

There are two large stone images of Narasimha and Hanuman beside the two large stone lions on the either side of the main portal to the interior of the palace.[15][63] An inscription in the pedestal of these statues dates them to 9 February 1698 and attributes them to Bhupatindra Malla and his uncle Ugra Malla.[64] Bhupatindra Malla and Ugra Malla set up Guthi and gave it the job of washing these statues with Ghee six times a year on the dates mentioned in the inscription.[64]

This palace also serves as an entrance to the Mālati Chōka courtyard. The courtyard is located behind the palace and is also credited to Bhupatindra Malla and is one of the few remaining of the 99 courtyards of the royal palace.[59] The courtyard houses an important stone inscription, made by both Bhupatindra Malla and his father Jitamitra Malla which contains short descriptions of the festivals celebrated in Bhaktapur.[59] The courtyard once housed a golden water spout (hiti in Newari) as well but it has been stolen.[59] This hiti was also placed by Bhupatindra Malla along with gilt copper statues of Hindu deities.[29][59] Unfortunately, the sculpture decorating the courtyard has been stolen as well.[29] Bhupatindra Malla also built a single-storey temple with a gold-plated roof in the courtyard which was destroyed during the earthquake of 1934 and was not reconstructed.[29]

Unfortunately, this palace no longer retains its original appearance.[65] The palace was completely demolished by Dhir Shumsher Rana and inspired by his brother's trip to Britain remodeled it in British style and he named it "Lāl Baithak".[65][66] The eastern half of the palace was completely remodeled while the western half retained some level of traditional look as some of the Newar latticed windows from the old palace were reused but the façade and the interiors were completely altered.[note 5][65] The earthquake of 1934 destroyed the western half of the palace and was haphazardly reconstructed in its present form.[66]

Detail of the mirrored lattice window, Nhēkanjhya on the front façade of Simhādhwākhā Durbar in 1853 by Oldfield.

Above the main entrance to the palace, there was a glassed lattice window which was locally known as "Nhékanjhya" (lit. 'glassed window').[60] Hence, the palace was also called "Nhékanjhya Lyākū". Bhupatindra Malla had received the pane of glass as a gift from a Mughal emperor.[67][68] The glass was considered rare and valuable in Nepal at the time and was an object of wonder for the people and thus Bhupatindra Malla placed the glass pane on the principal latticed window of his palace for everyone to see.[62] This window has often been dubbed as the first use of glass pane on a window in Nepal.[67] Both the glass piece and the window itself were lost after the earthquake of 1934 destroyed the palace.

Watercolour of the Bhairava temple by Henry Ambrose Oldfield, 1853. This temple is of a great cultural and religious importance to the locals and its current appearance can be credited to Bhupatindra Malla.

The Bhairava temple, also referred as the Akasha Bhairava temple[69] or the temple of Kashi Vishwanath Bhairava,[69] next to the Nyatapola Temple is one of the most important buildings in Bhaktapur in terms of religion and culture.[70] Its history dates to the 11th century and it was founded by Nirvayadéva, a Licchavi king, in 1005.[71] Later, this temple was renovated by both Jagajjyoti Malla and Jagat Prakasha Malla, who also installed a statue of himself and his minister inside the temple.[71]

Today, it is a three-storey edifice with a gilt roof on the top and it's modern day look can be credited to Bhupatindra Malla who with the help of this eldest son, Ranajit Malla enlarged the temple by adding two storeys to the initially single-storey temple and gilted the top roof with gold between 1716 and 1717.[71] He also added seven golden pinnacles on the roof.[71]

The Nyatapola temple is a pagoda-style temple commissioned by King Bhupatindra Malla and was constructed under a period of six months of the year 822 of Nepalese era(late 1702 to early 1703).[28][72] Often considered the finest example of Nepalese architecture and cratsmanship, the Nyatapola temple is the tallest in Nepal.[73] Dedicated to the Tantric goddess Siddhi Lakshmi, the inner parts of the temple is forbidden to everyone but the Karmāchārya priests that once served the Malla kings.[74][75]

Bronze portrait of Bhupatindra Malla and his queen, Art Gallery of New South Wales, 18th century.[76]

The main courtyard of the palace square of Bhaktapur houses the shrine of Taleju, the tutelary goddess of the Malla kings.[77] The courtyard is extremely secretive and is forbidden to foreigners. Similarly, the locals also have very limited access as they are also forbidden to enter any buildings inside the courtyard and photography is prohibited. Almost all the Malla kings were great devotee of the Devi and all the kings had installed at least one thing in the courtyard.

On 24 May 1705, Bhupatindra Malla offered Goddess Taleju a big metallic bell.[29] In 1706 Bhupatindra Malla commissioned the renovation of the Taleju temple and also had the roof of the temple plated with gold.[29] Similarly, he installed gilt-copper statues of Hanuman, dragons and other mythical creatures on the roof.[78] He also installed eleven golden pinnacles on the roof of the temple.[78] For the occasion of installing the golden pinnacles on the Taleju temple, a Nepal Bhasa play named "Vikram Charita", which he wrote himself was shown in the courtyard.[79] Similarly, he offered Goddess Taleju a rare herb brought from Makwanpur that he referred to as Māhādeva vāsha (Nepal Bhasa: 𑐩𑐴𑐵𑐡𑐾𑐰 𑐰𑐵𑐳‎, lit. 'Shiva's Medicine') in an inscription.[78] Bhupatindra Malla also offered his gold-plated statue to Goddesses Taleju which is taken out once a year during Vijayadashami along with the statutes of his queen and his parents.[26]

In the walls of the northern building of the courtyard, he also commissioned a genealogical painting of his ancestors along with the painting of the sun and a hymn to the sun god.[80] The Mallas and the Licchavis, who ruled before claimed to be the members of the solar dynasty and hence the painting features kings from both of these dynasties as devotees of the sun god.[80] Unfortunately, many parts of the painting have been damaged irreversibly because of the smoke caused by cooking done by the soldiers who are housed inside the complex.[80] Historian Tulasi Rāma Vaidya, who was the among the few to have entered the buildings of the courtyard and is the one who reported about these paintings, wrote that:

the frescoes of the walls have been damaged due to the lapse of time, the negligence of ignorant people and smoke caused by foolish people.[80]

Apart from the genealogical painting, there are wall paintings in almost all the buildings of the Taleju temple complex which mostly show royal and religious figures.[81][82] Vaidya was also unable to recognise most of the royal figures and the few he was able to recognise belonged to Bhupatindra Malla and Ranajit Malla.[82] Most of the paintings as Vaidya reported, has been heavily damaged.[82]

Stone images of Ugrachandi (right) and Ugrabhairava (left) on the either side of the entrance gate to the now destroyed Basantapur palace.

The nine-storey[60] Basantapur Lyākū palace was once located on the western end of the Durbar Square of Bhaktapur. According to the chronicles gathered by historian Daniel Wright, Basantapur Lyākū was first constructed by King Jagat Prakasha Malla, the grandfather of Bhupatindra Malla, and was named "nakhachhe tavagola kwatha", meaning "a large fort meant for festivals".[83] This palace is sometimes cited as the inspiration for the Basantapur palace of Kathmandu that was built by King Prithivi Narayan Shah following the conquest of the Kathmandu Valley.[60][83]

This palace seems to have been damaged due to an earthquake in 1681 but the renovation work is not credited to the then king, Jitamitra Malla. Instead, the damaged palace was renovated and repaired by Bhupatindra Malla.[83] Although, Jitamitra Malla had started the renovation of other damaged buildings like the Chaukot Lyākū palace and the courtyard of the Kumari Chwōka, the later of which took 14 years to renovate.[84] Bhupatindra Malla also added two large stone statues of Ugrachandi (a fierce manifestation of Dévi) and Ugrabhairava (a fierce form of Bhairava) on the either sides of the entrance to the palace in a similar manner to Simhadhwakha Lyākū.[85][83] There is a common belief among the locals that Bhupatindra Malla found the statues of Ugrachandi and Ugrabhairava so artistic that he had the arms of the artisan, who made them cut off so that he wouldn't replicate the statues anywhere.[85] Although, there was a fierce competition between the three kingdoms of the Kathmandu Valley in the field of arts, there is no real evidence to support that the artisan's hands were cut off.[83] The inscriptions carved on the pedestal of these statues credit them to Bhupatindra Malla and date them to around May 1706, suggesting the renovation of Basantapur Lyākū was completed around the same time as well.[83] Today, only these statues and two large stone images of guardian lions remain as the palace couldn't survive the lack of maintenance following the end of the Malla dynasty and the repeated earthquakes of 1833 and 1934.[83] One of the only few visual depictions of this palace is a watercolour done by Oldfield which shows this palace in an extremely damaged condition.

Basantapur Lyākū was reported to be 51.3 hats[note 6] tall (2 hats=1 yard and 1 yard=0.914 m) or roughly 23.3 m tall (76.4 ft).[86]

Nritya Vatsālā is one of five Vatsālā temples located in Bhaktapur.[87] All five of these Vatsalā temple are dedicated to Vatsalā Devi, a mother goddess. Two of the Vatsalā temples are made with stone and of Granthakuta style of architecture, similar to that of the Krishna Mandir in Lalitpur.[87] The two temples, Nritya Vatsalā and Siddhi Vatsalā are locally referred as Lohan Déga, meaning "stone temple" in Newari and have plinths with sculpture of various animals as guardians.[88] The other three were terracotta temples in the Granthakuta style of architecture as well but now all except one of these temples have lost their original style due to the earthquake of 1934.[87]

Unlike the other four Vatsālā temples which were commissioned by Jitamitra Malla, the original builder of Nritya Vatsalā is uncertain, but most historians attribute it to Bhupatindra's grandfather, Jagat Prakasha Malla.[87] The date at which the temple was built is also not known.[88] What is known is that Bhupatindra Malla gifted goddess Vatsālā a bell on the second day of Mārga suklapaskha in Nepal Sambat 820 (early December 1700).[87][88] The writings on the bell mention that Bhupatindra Malla had this bell repaired on the sixth day of Fālguna Vudi of Nepal Sambat 841 (= March 1722).[87] The bell is locally known as Khicākhogāṅ (= barking dog bell in English), since it is believed that the bell's noise makes the surrounding dogs bark.[89] The bell was damaged in the great earthquake of 1934 and does not produce its original sound anymore.[89] Similarly, a rock inscription found in the eastern outskirts of Bhaktapur mentions that Bhupatindra Malla, in order to build a stone temple in his father's name, gathered rock on the seventh day of Fālguna sudi of Nepal Sambat 835 (= March 1718).[87] Moreover, Bhupatindra Malla also installed a Thā pujā (a type of ritual done on the Taleju temple in Bhaktapur after the completion of a special event) for the completion of a stone temple.[87] So, the Nritya Vatsālā temple probably existed before the reign of Bhupatindra Malla and was renovated to its present form sometime between Nepal Sambat 835 and 841 (= 1718 and 1722).[87]

Bhupatindra Malla was a great devotee of Shiva. All of his paintings and statues depict him with a Tripundra, the Tilaka of Shiva. A Shiva temple that he erected in the royal palace complex contains the following inscription:

O thou whose lotus-feet are worshipped by gods and the king of gods, thou who art the husband of Gauri, the destroyer of Manmatha, and whose forehead is adorned with the moon! I dedicate the faculties of my mind to thy two lotus-feet. Be thou propitious to thy humble devotee Bhupatindra. On Saturday the 10th of Bhadon Sudi, Nepal Sambat 828, Bhupatindra Malla, to please his patron-goddess, placed Siva in this temple. May Sadasiva be gracious to him.[90]

Bisket Jatra, known locally as Biskā Jātrā (Nepal bhasa:𑐧𑐶𑐳𑑂𑐎𑐵𑑅 𑐖𑐵𑐟𑑂𑐬𑐵‎) is the main festival of the people of Bhaktapur which involves the erection of a long pole and tug of war of two chariots carrying Bhairava and his consort.[91] This annual festival which is also celebrated in smaller towns near Bhaktapur was celebrated since the time of the Licchavis and was improvised during the reign of Queen Gangā Dévi (colloquially Gangā Māhārāni) and her grandson Jagajyoti Malla.[92][93]

For the construction of the Nyatapola Temple, many people's homes were demolished and lands were seized to provide space for the large temple. As a result, the Tamārhi square which houses the Nyatapola became a large area. So, in order to compensate for it, the chariot of Bhairava was enlarged significantly.[93] Along with that, Bhupatindra Malla is also credited for making this festival more systematic and it was from his reign that this festival began to be celebrated for eight nights and nine days.[93] Hence is festival is also referred as Chyāchā Gunhuyā Jātrā, meaning a festival with eight nights and nine days.[91][94]

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