Picturesque Nepal . that the pilgrims to distant Gosainthanfancy they can trace in the great unhewn rocklying in its centre the shape of the god recliningfull length upon a bed of serpents. In con-tinuation of this idea, the believers in themyth have constructed at least two muchreduced representations of the lake and itsdeity in different parts of the Valley. One ofthese reproductions is smaller than the other,and is called the Bala (little) Nila-kent, which,having been abbreviated to Balaji, now givesthe name to the garden wherein it the complete story of this legend continuesri
Picturesque Nepal . that the pilgrims to distant Gosainthanfancy they can trace in the great unhewn rocklying in its centre the shape of the god recliningfull length upon a bed of serpents. In con-tinuation of this idea, the believers in themyth have constructed at least two muchreduced representations of the lake and itsdeity in different parts of the Valley. One ofthese reproductions is smaller than the other,and is called the Bala (little) Nila-kent, which,having been abbreviated to Balaji, now givesthe name to the garden wherein it the complete story of this legend continuesright up to almost recent times, for it appearsthat tradition has ruled that if the reigningmonarch of Nepal should ever visit thegreater Nila-kent his death will follow almostimmediately. Balaji was therefore builtsubsequently to the larger representation,and to this statue of Narain in its beautifulterraced garden the kings of Nepal may paytheir devotions with impunity. For obvious reasons there is a close associa-. ; , IN THE DURBAR SQUARE AT BHAli.\N. THE NEWAR AND LAMAISTIC ART 185 tion between Tibet and the Valley, and theintercourse between that country and Nepal,commercially, religiously, and also artistic-ally, has been constant for many obtained much of its Buddhism fromNepal, when its king in the sixth century a marriage with a Newar princess,and how much of the beautiful Lamaisticart of that country has been produced byNepalese craftsmen, specially retained atLhassa for this purpose, is a subject opento considerable discussion. One authority hasgone so far as to state that the best metalfigures produced in Tibet are the work ofNewar artisans who have emigrated fromNepal in view of the inducements held outto them by the heads of the great religiousorder at Lhassa. In these circumstances itis not strange that a certain amount ofLamaistic influence is observable in theBuddhist buildings of the Valley, and theritual in some of its
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, bookidpicturesquen, bookyear1912
