Pushpa Sundar Tuladhar (; 1885-1935) was a prominent merchant of

Kathmandu Kathmandu () is the capital and largest city of Nepal, situated in the central part of the country within the Kathmandu Valley. As per the 2021 Nepal census, it has a population of 845,767 residing in 105,649 households, with approximately 4 mi ...

and one of the chief donors to the restoration of the

Swayambhu Svayambhu () is a Sanskrit word that means "self-born", "self-manifested", "self-existing", or "that that is created by its own accord". Various deities and entities featured in Hindu literature and tradition are regarded to be svayambhu, such as ...

stupa In Buddhism, a stupa (, ) is a domed hemispherical structure containing several types of sacred relics, including images, statues, metals, and '' śarīra''—the remains of Buddhist monks or nuns. It is used as a place of pilgrimage and m ...

in 1918. Swayambhu, a

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

World Heritage Site World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...

, is one of the holiest

Buddhist Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

shrines in Nepal and the center of

Newar Buddhism Newar Buddhism is a form of Vajrayana Buddhism practiced by the Newar people of the Kathmandu Valley, Nepal. It has developed unique socio-religious elements, which include a non-monastic Buddhist society based on the Newar caste system and pa ...

. The renovation project was headed by his father-in-law Dharma Man Tuladhar and completed in 1921.

Early life

Tuladhar Tulādhar (Devanagari: तुलाधर) is a Nepali/Nepalese caste from the Newar community of the Kathmandu Valley in Nepal. The name Tuladhar is derived from the Sanskrit words "tula" (weighing scale) and "dhar" (possessor), thus meaning scal ...

was born at

Asan Asan (; ) is a Administrative divisions of South Korea, city in South Chungcheong Province, South Korea. It borders the Seoul Capital Area to the north. Asan has a population of approximately 400,000. Asan is known for its many hot springs an ...

Dhalasikwa in Kathmandu, the eldest among two sons and three daughters of father Shubha Sundar and mother Mohan Maya Tuladhar. The Tuladhars were hereditary merchants and owned a business house in

Lhasa Lhasa, officially the Chengguan District of Lhasa City, is the inner urban district of Lhasa (city), Lhasa City, Tibet Autonomous Region, Southwestern China. Lhasa is the second most populous urban area on the Tibetan Plateau after Xining ...

known as Ghorasyar. They conducted trade between

Nepal Nepal, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mainly situated in the Himalayas, but also includes parts of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China Ch ...

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ), or Greater Tibet, is a region in the western part of East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are other ethnic groups s ...

and

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

, transporting merchandise over the

Himalaya The Himalayas, or Himalaya ( ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the Earth's highest peaks, including the highest, Mount Everest. More than 100 pea ...

by mule caravan. This trade route forms part of the

Silk Road The Silk Road was a network of Asian trade routes active from the second century BCE until the mid-15th century. Spanning over , it played a central role in facilitating economic, cultural, political, and religious interactions between the ...

. The family also maintained a business office in

Kolkata Kolkata, also known as Calcutta ( its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River, west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary ...

, India. The firm was named Pushpa Sundar Kula Ratna and it was located at 401/1 Upper

Chitpur Chitpur (or Chitpore) is a neighbourhood in North Kolkata in Kolkata district in the Indian state of West Bengal. Sometimes, the entire area along Chitpur Road is referred to as Chitpur, although the various localities have distinctive names. ...

Road. Tuladhar divided his time between Kathmandu, Lhasa and Kolkata. He married Dhan Maya Tuladhar around 1916 who bore him three sons.

Contributions

Tuladhar was a devout Buddhist and made large donations to renovate Buddhist places of worship. The renovation of 1918 was the last major project done at Swayambhu until the recent one which was completed in 2010. Pushpa Sundar and his cousin brothers Harsha Sundar and Ram Sundar Tuladhar financed the improvement of the lower portion of the stupa. Under the restoration project, the five Buddha shrines set into the dome were covered with gilt copper, a new statue of

Vairocana Vairocana (from Sanskrit: Vi+rocana, "from the sun" or "belonging to the sun", "Solar", or "Shining"), also known as Mahāvairocana (Great Vairocana), is a major Buddha from Mahayana and Vajrayana Buddhism. Vairocana is often interpreted, in text ...

Buddha was installed on the east side, and four new shrines were built to house statues of Tara. In 1920, the Tuladhar family funded the refurbishment of the roof of the Jana Baha Temple in Kathmandu. The lower tile roofs on three sides of the

pagoda A pagoda is a tiered tower with multiple eaves common to Thailand, Cambodia, Nepal, India, China, Japan, Korea, Myanmar, Vietnam, and other parts of Asia. Most pagodas were built to have a religious function, most often Buddhist, but some ...

were replaced with roofs of gilt copper. The temple houses an image of Jana Baha Dyah, known in

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

as Aryavalokitesvara (Sacred

Avalokiteśvara In Buddhism, Avalokiteśvara (meaning "the lord who looks down", International Phonetic Alphabet, IPA: ), also known as Lokeśvara ("Lord of the World") and Chenrezig (in Tibetan), is a Bodhisattva#Bhūmis (stages), tenth-level bodhisattva associ ...

), a

bodhisattva In Buddhism, a bodhisattva is a person who has attained, or is striving towards, '' bodhi'' ('awakening', 'enlightenment') or Buddhahood. Often, the term specifically refers to a person who forgoes or delays personal nirvana or ''bodhi'' in ...

who embodies

compassion Compassion is a social feeling that motivates people to go out of their way to relieve the physical, mental, or emotional pains of others and themselves. Compassion is sensitivity to the emotional aspects of the suffering of others. When based ...

Later years

Following the restoration of Swayambhu, Tuladhar went to Lhasa again in about 1925. In 1935, he came down with

dropsy Edema (American English), also spelled oedema (British English), and also known as fluid retention, swelling, dropsy and hydropsy, is the build-up of fluid in the body's tissue. Most commonly, the legs or arms are affected. Symptoms may inclu ...

and decided to return home. Tuladhar died on the trade route in Tibet a few days after his caravan departed from Lhasa.Tuladhar, Kamal Ratna (2011) ''

Caravan to Lhasa ''Caravan to Lhasa'' is a travel book and an account of the lives of expatriate Nepalese merchants in Lhasa from the 1920s to the 1960s. Written by Kamal Ratna Tuladhar, the book describes the caravan journey from Kathmandu across the Himalaya, ...

: A Merchant of Kathmandu in Traditional Tibet.'' Kathmandu: Lijala & Tisa. . Page 31.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tuladhar, Pushpa Sundar 1885 births 1935 deaths People from Kathmandu Nepalese merchants Nepalese philanthropists 20th-century philanthropists

Early life

Contributions

Later years

See also

References