2009. Renovating Bhairav: Fierce Gods, Divine Agency, and Local Power in Kathmandu. International Journal of Hindu Studies 13 (1): 25-49. (original) (raw)
2009, International Journal of Hindu Studies
In 2003, the extensive renovations being made to the Åkåç Bhairav temple in the Indra Chowk neighborhood of Kathmandu's old city drew to a close. Though the temple had been renovated several times in the twentieth century, this most recent renovation was the most thorough in nearly sixty years. 1 The ultimate goal of this renovation was not simply the replacement of worn-out building materials and the updating of the temple's infrastructure, however, but the returning of the temple to a more traditional appearance. Thus, in addition to replacing rotten and termite-eaten wooden beams and windows, decrepit bricks, and dried-out mortar, and installing electricity and a new water tank for bathing, the temple's aesthetic renovation was most clearly facilitated through the removal of the variously colored glossy ceramic tiles that were added to its façade-and to the façades of many other local temples and shrines nearly a century ago-and their replacement with more traditional red bricks. 2 Upon the completion of the renovation, the Çr⁄ Åkåç Bhairavanåth Mandir J⁄r~oddhår Samiti (Åkåç Bhairavnåth Temple Renovation Committee; hereafter TRC) issued a commemorative volume of essays-a smårikå, or "remembrance"-a sort of Festschrift for the temple, which they distributed to many of the project's donors, whose names and donations fill the final forty pages of the hundred-plus page book. The text focuses on Åkåç Bhairav, the deity who sits on the second floor of this oft-visited temple and on the functional role that both the deity and the temple play in the larger community. Throughout the book, Bhairav's praises are sung in many tongues, his rituals and festivals are recalled, the renovation of his temple is described, and his unique story is narrated.