The Nepala Mahatmya

Description

he Nepala-Mahatmya of the Skandapurana is the first full length translation of the Sanskrit text, the Nepala-mahatmya, translated by Dr. Jayaraj Acharya, an internationally known Nepalese scholar The original text, written around mid-ninth century A.D. is a religious ‘Glory of Nepal’. It is an independent Nepalese contribution to the existing body of the Puranas. It is about the importance of the sacred places and deities in and around the Kathmandu valley, narrating the stories related to Changu-Narayana, Ganesa, Visnu, Krishna, Chandrama, goddess Chandeshwari, demon king Kansa, poet Valmiki and many others. It is an attempt by ancient Nepalese scholars to explain the origin of the religion and to interpret their cultural background in their own way. The legends on the Kathmandu Valley reflect man’s perception of space and time, explaining how landscape shapes the literary imagination of human mind. The Nepala-mahatmya exhibits a kind of religious syncretism, an inescapable phenomenon observed in daily life of Nepalese people, by putting Shiva, Vishnu and Buddha not only at the same level but as one and the same. The book is a mine of riches about Nepalese history, geography, culture, art and architecture.