Preserving Sacred Knowledge: Celebrating the Completion of the Navadurgā Mask-Making Documentation Project in Nepal

Congratulations to our colleagues Dr Emily Pott, Dr Renuka Gurung as well as Prof Dr Purushottam Lochan Shrestha for completing their project for the Arcadia Endangered Material Knowledge Programme at the British Museum. The King’s Foundation School of Traditional Arts hosted this project, which documented the knowledge of once-in-a-generation knowledge holder, mask maker Purna Chitrakar in Bhaktapur, Nepal.

The dances of the Navadurgā (nine goddesses, forms of Durga) and associated deities are at the centre of an annual cycle of festivals celebrated by the Newar community in Bhaktapur, Nepal. After a short absence, the return of the physical presence of the deities to Bhaktapur coincides with the delivery of the mask of each deity to the dancers, who will embody them in a series of ritual dances. This project documented the knowledge associated with the recurring, annual making process whereby the masks are created through the transformation of dark lumps of soil into the bright, recognisable faces of each deity. In any generation, this knowledge is only held by one individual and ideally passed on from father to son through mainly silent demonstration and experience.

We are particularly grateful to the mask maker, Purna Chitrakar, his son, Rajesh, and his wife, Chet Kumārī. We would also like to thank the rest of the family for their hospitality. In addition, the project would not have been possible without local co-investigators, Dr Renuka Gurung and Professor Dr Purushottam Lochan Shrestha, and local research assistant Rajesh Gaiju. We are greatly indebted to research assistant Jonathan Eeles for his many hours of dedicated work, and to Alma Aleksejeviene for stepping in on such short notice. Finally, we would like to mention the crucial importance of the local patrons of the mask-making process. Without them, it would not be possible for the work of the mask maker to continue.

Learn more about the project: https://www.emkp.org/mask-deities-navadurga-bhaktapur-nepal/

Enter the repository https://drs.britishmuseum.org/projects/Masks_of_the_Navadurg_in_Bhaktapur_Nepal_documenting_the_annual_process_of_making_the_deities_from_raw_soil_to_cremation/276678