“Cycles of Water” by Ina Schmidbauer
Ina Schmidbauer is pursuing an MA at University of Heidelberg in the program ‘Development, Environment, Societies, and History in South Asia’ (MA South Asian Studies) with a research emphasis on identity and everyday life in Nepal.
The steps leading to Mangah Hiti, with a bicycle in the foreground. Photo by Ina Schmidbauer (graphically modified)
Patan Durbar Square, when understood as space, offers a canvas for many different dynamics throughout the day. A whole range of people occupy the space at different times and shape it to be a particular place. While trying to observe this cycle, I noticed that people in the early morning and late evening come to fill up their water canisters. Many of them push an – oftentimes rather old and rusty – bicycle and have their own elaborate system on how to pack as many water canisters as possible onto their bicycle and still keep the vehicle steady while pushing it.
The people come to Mangah Hiti (मङ्ग: हिति), a square on a lower ground level with three water spouts. Mangah Hiti was built in 570 CE and is today used both for religious and everyday practices. The architectural structure holds the oldest preserved inscription around Patan Durbar Square and is in itself quite clearly tangible cultural heritage (NHDP, n.d.).
But what about the routinised coming to Mangah Hiti to bring home water? Through that, people – consciously or unconsciously – connect themselves with the place and contribute to its continuously re-evaluated meaning and thus place making. From this perspective, the bicycles and water canisters become threads which move throughout the neighbourhood, connecting public spaces and private homes, building a network of intangible cultural heritage.