Itumbaha Complex
The Itumbahal complex is full of many bahas, nanies & chukas (the typical Newari names for narrow lanes connecting rows of household compounds and other compounds). Every compound is dotted with many votive stupas, sacred shrines, wells and sacred objects of worships. The proper shrine of Itumbahal is flanked by two big rectangular compounds of Tahanani in the west and Itumbahal courtyard in the east. The main entrance of Itumbahal shrine is from eastern courtyard of Itumbahal. The courtyard is connected by two narrow gullies of Chokachen Gulli in the south and Kilagul in the north. The eastern courtyard of Itumbahal is divided into two halves, northern half is known as Baha cho (top end of baha) and the southern Baha ko (lower end of baha). The northern border of proper Itumbahal shrine is shared with Taranani (The shrine of Goddess Tara) and Baku nani– a small shrine housing a votive chaitya in the south. There is no inter-connecting doorways opening towards those shrine of north and south. The proper Itumbahal is perfectly square shape with two-storey structure made of wood, bricks and clay. The area of proper Itumbahal shrine is – 7893.14 sq ft and it is located at ward No 26 of kathmandu metropolitan city.
De-Puja Agam Ghar
The De-paju Agam Ghar is located at the southern half (Baha ko) of the Itumbahal courtyard. It is the Agam Ghar of the deity of lineage, which opens for a month during month of Baisakh. The secret deity of lineage is believed to be brought from the gum-vihar at sankhu, by Keshchandra. The old looking shrine has been robbed by thieves several times. Many sacred deities have been stolen. A pair of stone lion is guarding the shrine. The beautifully carved windows and wooden tympanum grace the entrance of Agam Ghar. The old looking structure of two storeys is facing north. A beautifully carved Tympanum can be seen just above the entrance. A couple of blind window is located at both side of entrance. The 2nd floor is almost ruined structure with sloping roof, and a short varandha, without pinnacles. The old people in Itumbahal used to say that earlier there was a sloping lattice window, supporting the sloping tiled roof of 2nd floor, and from this lattice window an oil lamp (Dalucha) is hanged upto the entrance of Agam Ghar, at ground floor. The three gold polished pinnacle grace top of the sloping roof, but, its empty now. Looking back at the history of this structure; it was widely repaired around 1985 B.S. by Chakreswar Hiranya Vajra Bajracharya by raising funds and donations among sangha members. However, during the 1990 earthquake the entire top floor collapsed, the rain water trickled inside the Agam Ghar. Once again, the fund raised among sangha members for reparing, roof top, and save the Agam from destruction, still today it remained as partially repaired. The overall charge of De-Puja Agam ghar is given to Chakreswar of Itumbahal. The term expires as soon as he dies and charge is given to next Chakreswar, appointed by Itumbahal Sangha.
Sangha Tradition of Itumbaha
The sangha of Itumbahal consists of Shakya and Bajracharya family’s one of the largest sangha of Kathmandu valley, is destined to perform the numerous socio-religion activities: like guthi celebration, yearly and monthly festivals, daily ritual etc. Guthi is the socially organized people with common objectives of celebration of festivals, rituals, as well as to help unprivileged and bereaved families. SARVA SANGHA OF ITUMBAHA Itumbahal is one of the fully active Mahayana Buddhist Vihara (monastery), with vast Sangha, from the earliest days of its foundations in history. Unlike other Buddhist monastery, the newar Buddhist monasticism has a characteristic feature of non celibate monks, who live in their own homes near monastery, with married wife and children. The male issues of every family is ordained as monks in the monastery for a short period of four days, there after they give up celibate monkhood by disrobing, and they continue to be a member of monastic community for rest of their life. The membership of monastic community is known as sangha. The community of all the initiated members is called as sarva sangha .There are about 450 sarva sangha members from 118 families in Itumbahal. Once initiated person will automatically became a member of any other guthi or pucha, within Itumbahal, and he must fulfill the mandatory responsibilities entrusted as a Guthi member. THAYAPAS OF ITUMBAHA Thayapas are the senior most top position in Itumbahal, both from religious and social point of view. Thayapas have had an overall access to all social, religious and economic affairs of vihara. Thayapas are the short form of Thakalis, meaning ‘senior most one’ they are also known as Sthaviras or brave disciples. The tradition of Thayapas is believed to have been started by Keshchandra the founder himself, to run the affairs of vihara. There are altogether eleven Thayapas headed by main priest Muthayapa and his assistant Chakreswar. Both Muthayapa and Chakreswar are selected from family lineage with adequate qualifications like, top initiation (Dekha), seniority and perfect puja performer. Rests of the nine Thayapas are selected from the senior most brother of the descendent of nine families, provided he is ready to accept the position and act accordingly. Once selected, the official ritual process will run for about a week before enthroned on a appropriate, auspicious day as a ‘Sthavira’ of vihara. The process of enthronement of Sthaviras also known as Sthaviravisekh, particularly because they have had received the higher qualification like Kalasabhisekh, Bajrabhisekh, Ghantabhisekh, Muktabhisekh, Chatrabhisekh, Bastrabhisekh and Namabhisekh. The ten Thayapas represents the Dasa paramita, the tenfold wisdom of Buddhist teaching and Chakreswar as the central god. According to vajrayana Buddhism the eleven Thayapas represent the master of ten direction (dasadicacharya), and Chakreswar as a central one. The Thayapas have had separate seating (Asan) arrangement in the secret chamber of Agam Ghar. While performing puja they have had to sit on personal seating inside Agam. The Thayapas are venerated and respected by all and his orders are observed by all. The Thayapas are bound by vows to protect and defend the Itumbahal and sangha physically, verbally and mindfully (kaya, vaka, chitta,). The first among the equals of Thayapas is venerated as Muthayapa. Chakreswar, is the head of religious activities and leads all kinds of puja performance in Itumbahal, while Muthayapa is the head of sarva sangha, and he is responsible for social activities. The overall affairs of Itumbahal are carried on by that group of eleven Thayapas, mutual consultancy and discussion is necessary before taking any decision. The current names of enthroned Thayapas are as follows: Tri Ratna Shakya (Mu thayapa) Najar Man Shakya Mimlal Bajracharya Mani Kaji Shakya Gyan Kaji Shakya Hem Purna Nanda Bajracharya (Chakreswari) Krisna Shakya Surendra Shakya Siddhi Bahadur Shakya Vacant Sanuman Shakya GUTHIS OF ITUMBAHAL Ever since the foundation of Itumbahal by Keshchandra in eleventh century, the number of guthi’s have become active in maintaining and running the day-to-day affairs of Vihara. Keshchandra had founded the trusts to look after the maintenance and smooth functioning of monastic affairs. The trusts are known as ‘Guthis’ in local terminology. It contains a group of person organized to fulfill a common objective, and combined celebration, which ultimately leads to uplift people’s living standards. Keshchandra has brought about 360 ropanis of land in the Kathmandu Valley, the income from these lands financed the activities of Itumbahal. There are several land donation, in much later years, all the donation were entrusted to the ‘Trusts’ or ‘Guthis’. The Guthis were responsible for running all kinds of socio-religious activities of Itumbahal. Swancha Guthi Swancha Guthi is performed every year on the 5th day of Chaitra sukla paksha, After Ba-pa the new members are allowed into Swancha guthi. The term will probably come once in a lifetime around 40 years of age. Four persons are allowed to perform puja at the Agam and to organize a feast inviting all sangha members. During the Swancha Guthi the contribution fees are collected and each and every members of sangha will be offered 5 pieces of meat chue-la equally to everybody present at the feast. The 2nd Swancha Guthi of Ba-Sangha group is performed seperately on Luthi Punhi, the full moon day of chaitra. Sasu Puja Guthi The initiated members of Itumbahal families (barring a few families) according to list of initiation are given the term of organizing sasu puja guthi, saraswati is the goddess of learning. The special deity of saraswati is worshiped exclusively by families of Itumbahal, is located at just below Bijeswari. The legends tells us that many centuries ago, an idol of lord Saraswati was lying idle at the bank of river Bishnumati near Tamsipakha. No body came to own this idol, therefore the sangha members from Itumbahal took this Idol and respectfully established a shrine near Bijeswari. Every four members are given term to organize puja and feast on the spot of Saraswatisthan, on a particular day before Pahancharey. A repoussee figure of head of lord saraswati is brought on the spot for worship. This guthi is often called as Bal saraswati Guthi. During the guthi celebration about 90% of expenditure in incurred by trust, rests have to be collected from invitees. For unknown reasons, a group of 13 sangha members founded a separate Sarswati guthi known as Panchami Sewa guthi. A separate repoussee figure of gold coated lord Saraswati (about 2 ft tall) is brought on the spot for worship. This figure has been donated by group of sangha members in NS
Itumbahal Museum
Itumabaha Museum Itumbahal is one of the oldest Buddhist monasteries of Kathmandu Valley. It has a history dating back to more than one thousand years. Now this monastery turned into a museum with a collection of more than one hundred artefacts related to the rich Buddhist heritage of Kathmandu Valley. Inaugurated jointly by MP Bagmati Pradesh Sailendra Bajracharya and former mayor KMC Bidhyasundar Shakya on 29 July 2023. On the auspicious day a Satto puja performed by Ven guru Nareshman Bajracharya. The seed money for opening the museum was provided by Rubin Museum of Art based in New York USA. The Keshchandra Maha Vihar conservation society, an ad hoc body of Itumbahal, is currently operating the management of Itumbahal museum. The idea of creating a museum was conceived nearly15 years ago, when the culturally and archaeologically significant materials / artefacts were left unattended during the restoration and renovation process in between 2005 – 2017. All the unused heritage material once located in dusty storerooms were meticulously taken care of, repaired and maintained properly for display at Itumbahal Museum. The display of cultural and religiously significant artefacts displayed during the festival of Gunla is an age-old tradition still practiced in Itumbahal. It’s a traditional museum with displays of old artefacts for viewing to common citizens for fifteen days. There is even an organized tour to view such displays all around the city. The living goddess Kumari pays a visit to Itumbahal to view such historically important artefact. Now with the opening of the museum, it’s open to all locals, pilgrims, travelers, students and scholars, and has the opportunity to witness the artefacts any time around the year. The VIPs who have visited Itumbahal museum after inauguration – MP Prakashman Singh, MP Biraj bhakta Shrestha , Education Ministers Sumana Shrestha , Dinanath Sharma former MP Jivan Ram Shrestha , Deputy mayor KMC Sunita Dangol , Diplomats from French and Bhutan embassy , similarly , respected guru Sridhar Rana Rinpoche , President of Newa dey daboo Mr. Pabitra Bajracharya , VC of Nepal Bhasa academy Mr. Malla K. Sundar , Historians Mr. Kasinath Tamoth, Dr Shyam Sundar Rajbanshi, Mr. Nutan Sharma, Dr Keshabman Shakya, Representatives from Handicraft association of Nepal, Rotary club Thamel, Traditional Buddhist association Kathmandu also paid visit to Itumbahal museum. After the establishment, the glory of the Bhashkardev Sanskarit Kesh Chandra Krit Paravat Mahavihar, Itumbahal is familiar in Nepal and the international circles. All the entities under associations linked with Mahavihar are proud and satisfied. Cultural, historical researchers as well as heritage and cultural enthusiast are happy with this project, special thanks to Madam Swosti Rajbhandari, curator, museologist, and his team including Architect Kriti Shakya for actively participating to make this museum a successful venture.