The Hunt!

Friedhelm Nunnemann is a retired quality management specialist from Germany, and is a fan of Kathmandu's cultural and architectural heritage. He recently found us via this blog, and has single-handedly delivered the results that we have been trying to achieve for a long time now -- locating the floor plan of Janabahaa created by a Janapese research team more than two decades ago. As it turns out, the research was specifically about the Nitya Puja -- the daily rituals conducted by the priest caretaker (dyo pala) of the Janabahaa Dyo temple. We now know, thanks to our new German friend, that the research was conducted at Janabahaa by a team from Kanazawa University of Japan.

Given below is the email trail that led to this discovery.

From: F. Nunnemann
Sent: Sunday, November 08, 2009 5:15 PM
To: info@janabahaa.org.np
Subject: Please help me !

Namaakar,
my name is Friedhelm Nunnemann, 67 years old and living in Germany.
I visited Nepal seven times and I´m very interested in the culture
and architecture of Kathmandu Valley.
During my studies I found a plan of Janabahaa (Attachment 1) but didn´t
find the author of this googling in the net. The author must be a japanese
scholar conducting a project about Janabahaa some years ago.
Do you know this group or some sources of information about the results ?
It would be very kind, if you could help me.
Waiting for your answer
with best regards
Friedhelm Nunnemann

From: Alok Tuladhar
Sent: Sunday, November 08, 2009 6:02 PM
To: 'F. Nunnemann'
Cc: 'Sampurna Tuladhar'; 'Jai Rajbhandari'
Subject: RE: Please help me !

Dear F. Nunnemann,

Thank you for your mail, and for your interest in our cultural heritage. We do not know the author of this plan, nor do we have any information about it. In fact, I was just talking to a college group yesterday at Janabahaa, and I had mentioned this very plan to them. We do have two other plans of Janabahaa with us, but I had told the students yesterday that we need to hunt down a plan that a Japanese team had developed. What a coincidence!

Well, let me ask you – where did you get this plan?

Are you a scholar of eastern culture? An architect? How did you find out about us? We are very interested to hear from you.

Regards,

Alok Tuladhar

for Janabahaa Society

http://janabahaa.blogspot.com

From: F. Nunnemann
Sent: Sunday, November 08, 2009 7:49 PM
To: Alok Tuladhar
Subject: RE: Please help me ! (2)

Namaskar Alok Tuladhar,
thank you for your quick and surprising answer. I´m happy to have this contact with you and Nepal.
Here my answers :
1. I found this literature in the internet by googling (Bahal, Bahil, Vihara etc.) and at that time I have
copied only this one page I sent to you. Later on I didn´t find the same page, because I don´t know the name
of the author or other tag words.
2. I found your address in your very informing and nice Blog (Janabahaa.blogspot.com).
3. I´m retiered. Before that I was at Mercedes responsible for exhaust emission and later for quality management. Nepals heritage is my time consuming hobby.
My last visit was september / october last year.
My next visit will be october next year.
I wonder who of us will find the origin of the plan.
Best Regards
F. Nunnemann

From: F. Nunnemann
Sent: Wednesday, November 18, 2009 10:03 PM
To: Alok Tuladhar
Subject: RE: Please help me ! (3)

Namaste Alok Tuladhar,
now I found the literature I asked for - quite by chance - in the web :
http://web.kanazawa-u.ac.jp/~hikaku/mori/works/article_pdf/4_01nityapuja_SAMBHASA.pdf
Perhaps you are interested in it.
With best regards
Friedhelm Nunnemann

From: Alok Tuladhar
Sent: Wednesday, November 18, 2009 11:03 PM
To: 'F. Nunnemann'
Subject: RE: Please help me ! (3)

Wow! This is quite a discovery. I have dreamt for finding this document for a long time, and had inquired with lots of people about it. Many elders knew about the research project that the Japanese team had conducted, but no one could give me any concrete links on how to trace the researchers. Now you have achieved the results on your own!

Thank you very much indeed.

I will share information about this discovery with my blog readers, of course, with due credit to you. I will hide your email address, unless you desire otherwise.

PS: I am sure we will be able to meet when you come to Kathmandu next.

Regards,

Alok Tuladhar

for Janabahaa Society