Ravi Bahadur Shakya: Nepal’s sculptor exemplifies how age-old craft prospers in the new era

Sitting on his father’s lap, Ravi Bahadur Shakya of Lalitpur learned how to mould the clay and wax into figurines of birds and animals. But as his lap grew wider than his father’s, Shakya started nestling many sculptures of gods, goddesses and other deities and moulded them with his hands, taking over the aeons of history that his family has guarded and continued.

Shakya says his clan moved to the valley from Lumbini some 2,000 years ago. His ancestors brought with them the skill to mould emotions into lifeless clays and the patience to guard the heritage, generation after generation. Today, at 37, Ravi Bahadur Shakya has been the man behind many idols and sculptures of gods and goddesses that adorn the many temples in Nepal, with a majority of them in the valley.