INGENIEUR
On my recent trip to Nepal, my team was introduced
to a home stay with a good view of the Himalayas
as well as to experience life in a forgotten, once
thriving trade route ancient town. To my surprise,
this ancient town called Bandipur which is 143 km
west of Kathmandu is a living museum with well
preserved ancient buildings, town square, ancient
shop houses , library, hill side cooling fountain,
rest areas and old lodging houses for traders and
travellers who once popularized this township.
Bandipur is an ancient town built around
1800s that enjoyed its heyday between 1846
to 1950 as a transit point for trading activities
between Nepal, India, Tibet and beyond. The town
at 1,030 meter above sea level is close to the
Himalaya range with clear view of some of the
highest peaks of the Himalaya. The trade route
passing Bandipur then was also called the salt
trading route as salt was transported from Tibet
through the Himalaya range to Nepal and moved
on as far as the northern part of India. Spices and
grains were in turn transported from Nepal to Tibet
as barter trade.
In the 1800s, the Gurkhas kingdom from
Kathmandu sent the Newar tribe who were skilled
traders to develop Bandipur as a thriving trading
centre. They built houses of brick and timber
of Newari architecture. Roads were paved with
cobbles and slates. Agricultural activities in the
surrounding areas thrived with the cultivation of
main crops such as rice, millets, corns, fruits etc.
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VOL 61 JANUARY – MARCH 2015
VOL 55 JUNE 2013
The building construction resembles that of
Newari architecture with cantilevered balconies,
double columns and beams at the front wall,
neoclassical facades and shuttered windows.
Roof tiles were made of slates that were available
abundantly in this hilly area. Main roads in the
township were paved with slates in neatly cut
rectangle or square shapes.
A cooling fountain with horizontal water jets
from a hill slope was built together with a resting
hut for travellers as well as for villagers during the
drought period.
During the thriving period around the late
1800s, a central library was built. However, the
town soon lost its prominence when the Pokhara
–Kathmandu Highway was built in 1970 and
trade declined sharply. With the more direct route
linkage and better road condition and facilities
along the new highway, transportation of goods
and movement of people between Tibet (gateway
of goods from China) and Nepal no longer choose
to go through Bandipur. It soon became deserted
with only the agricultural sector remaining the
mainstay of the economy.
Today, it has been gradually redeveloped
into a tourist destination taking advantage of
the high point view of the Himalayas, the well
preserved remains of rich heritage buildings,
old town square, cool environment and car-free
environment as vehicles cannot access into the
town proper. Visitors’ luggage will have to be
manually transported by local porters as there
are only stone steps and no ramps from place to
place. Apart from small hotels and lodging houses,
there are numerous home stays for those who
want to experience the Nepalese houses formerly
used by traders or farmers of Bandipur.
For the heritage interest group including
the engineering fraternity interested in the old
methods of construction and the durability of
timber structure, this is an ideal place to explore
and admire the engineering nostalgia of a once
thriving trade route town.