This large-scale relief of Namasangīti, entirely hand-carved from a single block of magnolia champaka wood, illustrates with rare breadth and remarkable mastery the vitality of contemporary Newar sculpture in the Kathmandu Valley. Through its dimensions, the depth of its carving, and the richness of its iconography, it clearly stands apart from most contemporary works and asserts itself as an exceptional creation.
At the centre of the composition stands Mañjuśrī Namasangīti, the embodiment of transcendent wisdom, represented beneath a finely carved torana. Immediately beside his head appears Hamsa Raja (Hansha Raj), a discreet yet significant figure traditionally associated with discernment and knowledge.
The iconography of Namasangīti occupies a distinctive place within the Buddhist tradition of the Kathmandu Valley. While the Namasangīti text is known throughout the Vajrayāna world, its translation into monumental sculptural reliefs of such complexity remains above all a speciality of Newar sculpture.
The Namasangīti is indeed one of the major texts of Vajrayāna Buddhism. It takes the form of an extended litany of names and epithets of Mañjuśrī, celebrating awakened wisdom in the multiplicity of its manifestations. More than a devotional text, it constitutes a genuine doctrinal synthesis, in which ultimate wisdom is conceived as both unified and infinitely unfolded. Within the Newar tradition, this conceptual density has given rise to particularly elaborate sculptural interpretations, making Namasangīti a privileged subject for compositions intended to be read visually, symbolically, and meditatively.
The central figure of Mañjuśrī Namasangīti is distinguished by a complex and rigorously structured arrangement of arms and hands, which forms one of the principal axes of the composition. The lower hands, resting in the lap, hold a bowl-shaped vessel conceived as a receptacle of ultimate wisdom, a space in which knowledge is gathered, contained, and made available for contemplation.
Just above, another pair of hands is oriented toward this vessel in a gesture of pouring or offering, suggesting wisdom being transmitted, deposited, or continuously nourished. The articulation between these two lower levels expresses a dynamic process: knowledge is not merely preserved, but constantly renewed and actualised.
Along the sides of the body, several hands extend laterally in open and differentiated gestures. Some, with palms facing outward, evoke welcome, protection, and diffusion, while others adopt positions of demonstration and clarification. These lateral gestures translate the active deployment of wisdom in the world, extending the central teaching in all directions of space.
At the level of the chest, the frontal hands adopt a gesture of teaching and exposition, expressing the articulation of the Dharma and the intelligible formulation of doctrine. They form the discursive core of the figure, linking wisdom that has been gathered and contemplated to its concrete modes of transmission.
Finally, at the summit of the composition, a pair of hands is raised and joined above the head in a gesture of veneration directed toward the ultimate principle. This gesture situates Namasangīti within a cosmic and transcendent dimension, recalling that the wisdom taught and disseminated originates from a higher source.
Taken together, this gestural organisation forms a coherent system. The lower hands receive, the intermediate hands nourish, the lateral hands diffuse and enact, the central hands teach, and the upper hands consecrate. This visual structure provides a sculptural translation of Namasangīti as a generative, ordering, and diffusing principle of Buddhist wisdom.
Above the central figure rises Garuda, while the Five Dhyāni Buddhas preside over the entire composition from the summit of the relief.
Directly beneath the central figure stands Avalokiteśvara. This arrangement establishes a fundamental dialogue between wisdom (prajñā) and compassion (karuṇā), a structuring principle of Mahāyāna and Vajrayāna Buddhism. The vertical alignment—from Avalokiteśvara at the base, to Namasangīti at the centre, and onward to Garuda and the Five Dhyāni Buddhas at the summit—articulates a highly coherent spiritual hierarchy.
In the lower register, on the left side, Mañjuśrī appears in an active and controlled posture, embodying wisdom in action. On the right side, Maitreya, the Buddha of the future, is represented standing within a vertical niche, introducing an essential temporal dimension and linking present wisdom to future awakening.
The relief finally unfolds a profusion of figures— secondary deities, celestial musicians, guardians, and mythological beings—arranged with remarkable spatial clarity despite the density of the iconographic programme.
Reaching a depth of approximately 30 cm, the carving allows for an elaborate play of successive planes and contrasts of light and shadow, conferring a truly monumental presence on the work. Magnolia champaka wood, prized for the fineness of its grain and its durability, is here exploited at an exceptional level, its natural warmth enhancing both the delicacy of the details and the architectural strength of the composition.
Through the scale of its conception, the rigour of its iconography, and the level of execution achieved, this relief stands as a major work of contemporary Newar sculpture. Carved over a period of nearly six months by a master sculptor, it bears witness to a level of craftsmanship of the highest order.
