Araniko or Anige was one of the key figures in the arts of Nepal

Nepal

Nepal , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked sovereign state located in South Asia. It is located in the Himalayas and bordered to the north by the People's Republic of China, and to the south, east, and west by the Republic of India...

, Tibet

Tibet

Tibet is a plateau region in Asia, north-east of the Himalayas. It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people as well as some other ethnic groups such as Monpas, Qiang, and Lhobas, and is now also inhabited by considerable numbers of Han and Hui people...

, and Yuan China

China

Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

, and the artistic exchanges in these areas. He was born in Kathmandu Valley

Kathmandu Valley

The Kathmandu Valley , located in Nepal, lies at the crossroads of ancient civilizations of Asia, and has at least 130 important monuments, including several places of pilgrimage for the Hindus and the Buddhists. There are seven UNESCO World Heritage Sites within this valley.-Etymology:The city of...

, Nepal, during the reign of Jaya Bhim Dev Malla. He was sent on a mission to Tibet and China to work in the courts of the Mongol emperor Kublai Khan

Kublai Khan

Kublai Khan , born Kublai and also known by the temple name Shizu , was the fifth Great Khan of the Mongol Empire from 1260 to 1294 and the founder of the Yuan Dynasty in China...

, the founder of Yuan dynasty

Yuan Dynasty

The Yuan Dynasty , or Great Yuan Empire was a ruling dynasty founded by the Mongol leader Kublai Khan, who ruled most of present-day China, all of modern Mongolia and its surrounding areas, lasting officially from 1271 to 1368. It is considered both as a division of the Mongol Empire and as an...

 (1279-1368). It was in China that he got his name "Araniko" or "Anige". The literal meaning of his name in Chinese is "ara" meaning "woman" and "niko" meaning "face like", possibly implying that he had a womanly face. Alternatively, it is also possible that his name could mean Aa Ni Ka, meaning "respectable brother from Nepal".

Early Years

While Nepalese history does not have any record of Arniko and everything that is known of him comes from Chinese accounts, historian Satya Mohan Joshi opines that Arniko could possibly be from Patan

Patan

Patan may refer to places in Afghanistan, India and Nepal:Afghanistan*Patan, AfghanistanIndia*Patan district, in the state of Gujarat**Patan, Gujarat, the main city of the same district*Patan, Rajasthan, an historical city in Rajputana...

, a place famous for sculptures and fine arts. However, it is known that Arniko lived in Kathmandu Valley during the reign of Jaya Bhim Dev Malla . As such, he would have been from the Newar clan and a Buddhist.

His grandfather was Mi di er and grandmother was Kun di la qi mei. His father's name was La ke na while his mother's name was Shu ma ke tai.

As is often told in stories about professional artists, Arniko was an artistic prodigy even in his early childhood. An anecdote from his epitaph relates that when he was three years old, his parents in took the child to a temple to pay homage to the Buddha. Looking up at a stupa, he asked "who made its wooden stambha, bhumis, anda?" Greatly surprised, the people around realized that he was a born artist. When he was about seven, his temperament was sober like an adult. At school, he mastered his textbooks and became a good calligrapher in such a short time that even the venerable elders acknowledged their inferiority. He could memorize treatises on art as soon as he heard them read. Before he left Nepal for Tibet, he was already an expert in painting, modeling, and casting images.

Historical Background

The event that brought Arniko to Tibet, and eventually to the Mongol court, was Kublai Khan's decree of 1260 A.D. to Drogön Chögyal Phagpa

Drogön Chögyal Phagpa

Zhogön Qögyä Pagba, Zhogoin Qoigyai Phagspa or Drogön Chögyal Phagpa , born Lochö Gyäcän or Lochoi Gyaicain , was the fifth leader of the Sakya school of Tibetan Buddhism. He became the first vice-king of Tibet and played an important political role...

, the fifth patriarch of Sakya

Sakya

The Sakya school is one of four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism, the others being the Nyingma, Kagyu, and Gelug...

 sect of Tibetan Buddhism, to build a golden stupa

Stupa

A stupa is a mound-like structure containing Buddhist relics, typically the remains of Buddha, used by Buddhists as a place of worship....

 for Suer chi wa (Tibetan "Chos rje pa" or "the Lord of Dharma"), that is the Sakya Pandita Kun dga' rgyal mtshan (1182-1251), the fourth patriarch of the sect . Kublai's order was one of the indicators of his acceptance of Sakya teaching.

The timing of the construction, 1260, is worth noticing. In April 1260, Kublai was elected as the Great Khan by his own supporters, to rival the claim of his younger brother Ariq Böke

Ariq Boke

Ariq Böke , the components of his name also spelled Arigh, Arik, Bukha, Buka , was the youngest son of Tolui , a son of Genghis Khan. After the death of his brother the Great Khan Mongke, Ariq Boke briefly took power while his brothers Kublai and Hulagu were absent...

. Thus was launched a civil war between the brothers for the leadership of the Empire. In the twelfth month of 1260, he appointed Phagpa his Imperial preceptor, and granted him a jade seal and the position of leader of Buddhism. By doing so Kublai officially acknowledged Phagpa as his highest religious authority and was obliged to patronize the Sakya teaching. In return, he expected the Sakya sect to provide religious sanction. The building of the stupa was not only a tribute to the Sakya Pandita, but intended also as a project to win religious blessing in a critical year . Ariq Böke finally submitted to Kublai at Xanadu

Xanadu

-Description of Xanadu by Toghon Temur :The lament of Toghon Temur Khan , concerning the loss of Daidu and Heibun Shanduu in 1368, is recorded in many Mongolian historical chronicles...

 on August 21, 1264.

Lhasa

To build the stupa, Phagpa drafted artisans from Nepal and India. The iconographies and artistic values of the Tibetans had a close affinity with those of the Indian tradition. Therefore it was natural for Phagpa to turn to Nepal and India for gifted artists. He intended to recruit one hundred artists, but Jaya Bhim Dev Malla, the king of Nepal at the time, was able to hand over only eighty. With his appointment as Imperial Preceptor in 1260, it must have been his vision and ambition for the future propagation of his sect throughout the still growing Mongol empire that he tried to scour for more artists .

The artists bound for Tibet were ordered to choose a leader from among themselves. Perhaps due to the uncertainty of their future, nobody was courageous enough to take up the responsibility, except for the confident Arniko. When the king tried to discourage him because of his youth, he replied, "My body is indeed young, but my mind is not ." The king eventually made him the team leader of eighty artisans and sent him to Lhasa. He was only seventeen when he departed from Nepal .

In Tibet, Arniko impressed Phagpa at their first meeting in 1261. Phagpa immediately recognized his exceptional artistic skill and administrative ability, and entrusted him to supervise the construction. The stupa was built within the Main Hall of the Sakya Monastery . Arniko spent two years on this project . After its completion, Phagpa was unwilling to let him leave when he asked for permission to return to Nepal.

By this time, Kublai Khan had defeated Ariq Böke, and both Kublai and Phagpa must have felt that the construction of the stupa in the Sakya monastery had gained religious merit that contributed to Kublai's military victory and other achievements. As Imperial Precepator, Phagpa was ready to go to the court and disseminate his sect's teachings. Since no artist in China could make the bewildering array of Himalayan Tantric deities which would be indispensable for his religious activities, he needed to bring with him someone who could. Arniko was the natural choice. Instead of going back to Nepal, Phagpa encouraged him to go to the Mongol court to present himself to Kublai Khan. Phagpa accpeted Arniko as his disciple and initiated him into secret Buddhist treaties, thus elevating his social status above an ordinary artisan. Thus having discovered Arniko, Phagpa personally prepared and trained Arniko for his future tasks at the court .

Xanadu

Arniko arrived in Xanadu

Xanadu

-Description of Xanadu by Toghon Temur :The lament of Toghon Temur Khan , concerning the loss of Daidu and Heibun Shanduu in 1368, is recorded in many Mongolian historical chronicles...

 by the end of 1262. The following account of the meeting between Arniko and Kublai Khan is recorded by Cheng Jufu :

On hearing his recommendation, the Kublai immediately ordered the envoy to summon him. After he arrived, the Emperor looked at him at length before asking, "Are you afraid to come to the big country?" He answered, "The sage regards people in all directions as his sons. When a son comes to his father, what is there to fear?" "Why do you come?" He replied, "My family has been living in the west for generations. I took the imperial edict to build the stupa in Tibet for two years. I saw constant wars there, and wish Your Majesty could pacify there. I come for sentient beings." "What do you practice?" He said, "I take my mind as my teacher and know roughly painting, casting, and carving."

The Emperor was greatly pleased and asked young Araniko to repair an important bronze idol presented as a gift by a Song emperor. It took him two years to finish the restoration. In the second month of 1265, Arniko finished the restoration and the statue looked so perfect that even the most skilled artists of China greatly admired his work.

In Yuan China, he designed and built many buildings. His most renowned architecture is the White Stupa of Miaoying Temple

Miaoying Temple

The Miaoying Temple , also known as the "White Stupa Temple" , is a Chinese Buddhist temple on the north side of Fuchengmennei Street in Xicheng District of Beijing....

 in Beijing

Beijing

Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...

, which was the largest structure at that time . Taking almost ten years (1279-1288 A.D.) to complete, the Stupa better known as White Dagoba, is still standing today. In 1961, then Chinese Premier Zhou En-lai signed a Proclamation stating that the Temple was to be protected as a National Treasure. This Proclamation kept the White Stupa safe during the Cultural Revolution of the 1960s. In 1976, the temple was seriously damaged by the Tangshan earthquake. The top of stupa tilted to one side, and the bricks and mortar supporting the stupa crumbled off, and many relics were broken. In 1978, the Beijing Department of Cultural Relics undertook the task of repairing and renovating the temple. As of 2010, the Stupa complex is currently undergoing another renovation.

It is summarized in his epitaph that during his lifetime, Arniko completed three stupas, nine great Buddhist temples, two Confucian shrines, one Daoist temple, and countless images and objects used in and out of the court . Arniko was also fine painter, and he executed a number of portraits of the imperial family. The portraits of Kublai Khan and his wife Chabi, now located in the National Palace Museum in Taipei, are believed to be his handiwork .

Arniko was accorded with high honors during his lifetime. He was named Director of All Artisan Classes in 1273 and trained many Chinese craftsmen in the Sakya style . By 1274, he was given a silver plate to wear with an image of tiger on it. The emperor became very fond of him and gave him the title "Duke of Liang" as an honor. Decorated with Ta Sa Thu, equivalent of a minister, he is among the few foreigners whose biography can be found in Chinese imperial history books. The most important source of Arniko's life and career is his official epitaph written by Cheng Jufu (1249-1314) under Ayurbarwada's (Renzong, r. 1311-20) order of 1316, Liangguo Minhui gong shendao bei (The Spirit-way Stele for Minhui, the Duke of State of Liang), in Cheng Jufu, Cheng Xuelou wenji (The Collective Works of Cheng Jufu). Another important source is Arniko's official biography in Song Lian and Wang Yi, Yuanshi (The Yuan History), compiled under the supervision of the early Ming dynasty

Ming Dynasty

The Ming Dynasty, also Empire of the Great Ming, was the ruling dynasty of China from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan Dynasty. The Ming, "one of the greatest eras of orderly government and social stability in human history", was the last dynasty in China ruled by ethnic...

. It is largely based on the epitaph but contains some new information as well.

Death

Arniko re-married and settled in China. Apart from his Nepali wife, he had two Mongolian wives and seven Chinese wives. Together they had six sons and eight daughters. He lived in China until his death in March 1306 A.D at the age of sixty two. Of his death Cheng Jufu writes:

On the eighth of March of 1306, he looked at the people around himself and said, "If I am going, you should set up curtains in the hall and a couch, so that I can pass away in peaceful sleep." The next day, he took a bath and went to court. After returning, he appeared ill. Palace envoys and doctors visited, but he passed away in sleep on the eleventh. The emperor grieved over his death after hearing the news and halted the court session. He ordered palace officials to take care of the family, and reward the family twenty-five thousand taels of silver. The Emperor ordered the authorities concerned to make arrangements for the funeral. That night a star fell into the courtyard. The next day saw icicles on the trees. Seven days after, on the seventeenth of March, his remains were cremated according to Nepali custom. On the fifteenth of July, his ashes were buried in the stupa at Gangziyuan, Xiangshan, Wanping County (near the capital).

The inscription on the stele set up in his memory reads:

When the sage (Kublai) arose,

All could behold.

He knew he should come,

As if to parent's home,

Like all the spokes

that merge in the hub,

Like all the brooks

that flow to the ocean.

With sincere minds

and open arms,

Each of them finds

the other man's heart.

Emperor Kublai

has a natural flair.

Nothing he cannot perceive,

nothing he cannot achieve.

The graceful Duke of Liang

is the essence of the West.

Having joined the Sangha,

He traveled to the East.

Enlightening was the teaching,

Like the shining sun.

His words to the Emperor

were modest and excellent.

"Why have you come?"

"For the people of the West."

Extend your virtue,

and expand your kindness.

In the dialogue emerges

a mutual understanding.

The Emperor is virtuous,

and the subject dutiful.

Their words are clement,

their deeds are beneficent.

To his superb skill

all lands pay tribute.

For every thing it is appropriate

to begin and continue,

So that it can last

for thousands of years.

The artists in the past

were by no means stupid.

(But) some had no chance,

Others were not appreciated.

Only the Duke of Liang

twisted gold and cut jade.

The splendid temples he built,

Are towering and majestic.

Who says he was a guest?

He wore royal robes.

Returned to the laity,

He achieved fame and fortune.

His birth was glorious,

his death was grievous.

His began with care,

he ended with grace.

His sons continue his offices,

Good news never ends.

The plain of Wanping

is the place for the Minister.

Luxuriant trees grow

on the undulating hills;

Limpid ripples flow,

In the meandering brooks.

The glory assembled here,

Will last forever.

Why eulogizing in a poem?

The historian completes the order.

Legacy

Arniko's imperial portraits represent the watershed between pre-Yuan and later imperial portraits. The aim of later portraits was no longer to suggest virtuous conduct, but physiognomy. This approach was followed not only in later Yuan imperial portraits but also in the Ming and Qing imperial portraits which became increasingly frontal and rigid, and eventually more and more realistic under the new influence of European portraiture.

The history of Chinese art, particularly Buddhist art, witnessed three major waves of Indian artistic influences: Gandhāra art before the Tang (618-907), Gupta art during the Tang, and Pāla-Himalayan art during the Yuan. Arniko is the figure representing the third wave. The art works from his institutions, his stupas, and the two Yuan portraits from his hand demonstrate that by drawing inspiration from the artistic traditions of Pāla, Nepal and China, Arniko single-handedly created a new form of court art and promoted it through the huge artisan agencies under his leadership. After the collapse of Mongol rule in China, Arniko's legacy of Himalayan Buddhist art continued to dominate Buddhist art at the Ming and Qing courts.

The Nepalese government, in recognition of his achievements, had issued postal stamps in his name to honor him. A highway in Nepal is also named after him.

Cultural References

• In 1984, Satya Mohan Joshi wrote a book length poem in Nepal Bhasa entitled "Nepal-ya Rastriye Bibhuti Kalakar Arniko-ya Sweta Chaitya," published by Nepal Bhasa Parishad.
• In 2008, Anu Raj Joshi translated Satya Mohan Joshi's book on Arniko into English with the new title "The Lasting Gift", in the form of free verses.
• In 2010, in the "World Expo Park of Shanghai
  Shanghai
  Shanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...
  
  " at Expo 2010
  Expo 2010
  Expo 2010, officially Expo 2010 Shanghai China was held on both banks of the Huangpu River in the city of Shanghai, China, from May 1 to October 31, 2010. It was a major World Expo in the tradition of international fairs and expositions, the first since 1992...
  
  Shanghai, which opened on 1 May, 2010, had a "Nepal Araniko Center" in the Highlight 1 section of Nepal Pavilion. Nepal Pavilion at Expo 2010 Shanghai, which opened on 1 May, 2010, has been visited by a record 750,000 visitors. The number of average visitors per day was 25,000 and the number of visitors was more than 40,000 on weekends and holidays. Leading Chinese language online news site placed Nepal Pavilion within the top ten popular expo pavilions .