“We’ve followed all the religious canons to make this Mandala, and we also started out with a ritual prayer,” proudly apprise the two coordinating artists of the Mandala made on the ground floor of the United World Trade Center (UWTC) at Tripureshwor in Kathmandu. The Mandala was inaugurated with much fanfare amidst shoppers on Monday, October 12.
Ujay Bajracharya, 27, and Binod Kumar Bajracharya, 40, were approached by the director of the Direction Nepal Private Limited, Ajay Bajracharya, to build a Mandala on the occasion of Tihar at UWTC. The Bajracharyas visited the site and worked on the layout of a Mandala, after which they created a master plan. A total of 20 local artists from Patan were brought together for 10 days to create the 27.5-square-feet Mandala under the supervision of the two, both of whom are veterans in the field of Buddhist art.
Ujay completed his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the Lalit Kala Campus and obtained another Bachelor of Arts degree in Buddhist Studies from Patan Campus. A professional Thangka painter for the past 11 years, Ujay has held art exhibitions Nepal, India, and Thailand. Binod, also a professional artist, works on embossing of metal sheets, technically known as repoussé.
Prior to the UWTC Mandala, Ujay had worked on 10 Mandalas, and Binod had worked on five. The difference about their latest venture is that it is indoors while all their previous works were outdoors. “If we had created this outside, it would have lasted no more than a day,” says Binod.
Mandalas are an integral part of Buddhist architecture and consist of symmetrical layers of concentric squares and circles which represent various stages that a person has to go through in life in order to achieve wholeness. The duo chose to recreate a Pancha Budhha Mandala for this combined project, which comprises the five Dhyani (meditating) Buddhas.
“The outermost circle in red represents fire, within it is a circle of Vajras, and then lotuses,” explains Binod, and goes on, “After that, you arrive at the four gates guarded by protectors; within these gates lie sacred objects.” The gates are divided by four different colors—red, yellow, blue and green, which symbolize fire, earth, sky, and air respectively.
“The circular center of the Mandala also represents the top views of stupas such as Boudhanath and Swayambhu,” elaborates Ujay. At the white center lies Vairochana, the senior most of the Dhyani Buddhas, and is surrounded by Akshobhya in the east, Ratna Sambhava in the south, Amitabha in the west, and Amoghsidhi to the north.
“A preliminary outline of the Mandala was made on the floor with markers,” says Ujay. “A lot of geometric calculations were involved because it’s crucial to get the measurements correct.” Paper stencils were made to fill in the designs of the Mandala in order to maintain uniformity, given that there were 20 artists working on it, and each has his own styles. The workmanship of the artists involved hence deserves a resounding round of applause.
However, the claim of the organizers’ that it is ‘Nepal’s Largest Sand Mandala’ is misleading, and needs to be addressed. The material used by the artists is not colored sand but regular colored powders found in the market, which are widely used during Tihar. Sand and gravel is often used in making Mandalas, but since sand has not been used in this instance, the title is inappropriate. Coloring sand is a difficult ordeal and buying it readymade is costly.
Perhaps, such a grand title was not necessary, after all, because the hard work and expertise of Ujay and Binod Bajracharya is evident in the beauty of the Mandala itself.
The Mandala will be up on show at UWTC at Tripureshwor in Kathmandu till October 31.
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