Kansakar

Kansakar Gunla Bajan band performing at Kathmandu Durbar Square.
Kel Tol road sign

Kansakār (Nepali: कंसाकार) or Kasāh (कसाः) is a Nepalese caste group belonging to the Newar community of the Kathmandu Valley in Nepal. In Sanskrit, Kansakar means bronze worker, and their traditional occupation has been metal working and trading.[1][2] Today, they are merchants, industrialists and professionals.

They are part of the Urāy (उराय्) group which includes Tuladhar, Tamrakar, Sthapit, Bania, Sindurakar, Selalik and other castes.[3] The Urāy are a community of high-caste Buddhist merchants, and their family names indicate artisan and mercantile specialists.[4] Their religion is Newar Buddhism[5] and mother tongue Nepal Bhasa.[6]

Kansakars have been traditionally based in Kel Tol in the historical section of Kathmandu where they play a major cultural role. The neighborhood is famed for the sacred courtyard of Jana Baha (Machhendra Bahal) where the central temple houses an image of Aryavalokitesvara (Sacred Avalokiteśvara), a Buddhist deity popularly known as Jana Baha Dyah or White Machhendranath[7] (alternative name: White Karunamaya).[8]

  1. ^ Lewis, Todd T. (1995). "Buddhist Merchants in Kathmandu: The Asan Twah Market and Uray Social Organization" (PDF). Contested Hierarchies. Oxford: Clarendon Press. Retrieved 26 March 2012. Page 47.
  2. ^ Wright, Daniel (1877). "History of Nepal with an Introductory Sketch of the Country and People of Nepal". Cambridge. Retrieved 23 September 2012. Page 86.
  3. ^ Lewis, Todd T. (January 1996). "Notes on the Uray and the Modernization of Newar Buddhism" (PDF). Contributions to Nepalese Studies. Retrieved 25 March 2012. Page 110.
  4. ^ Lewis, Todd T. (1995). "Buddhist Merchants in Kathmandu: The Asan Twah Market and Uray Social Organization" (PDF). Contested Hierarchies. Oxford: Clarendon Press. Retrieved 26 March 2012. Page 47.
  5. ^ Locke, John K. (2008). "Unique Features of Newar Buddhism". Nagarjuna Institute of Exact Methods. Archived from the original on 24 March 2012. Retrieved 25 March 2012.
  6. ^ Lewis, Todd T. "Buddhism, Himalayan Trade, and Newar Merchants". Retrieved 25 March 2012.
  7. ^ Locke, S.J., John K. "Newar Buddhist Initiation Rites". INAS Journal. Retrieved 26 March 2012. Page 2.
  8. ^ Yoshizaki, Kazumi (2006). "The Kathmandu Valley as a Water Pot: Abstracts of research papers on Newar Buddhism in Nepal". Retrieved 29 March 2012. Page 5.