Dharma Man Tuladhar

Tuladhar belonged to the Nyata ({{Langx|new|न्यत}}) branch of Tuladhars. He was born in Nyata in the western part of Kathmandu and moved to Tanlachhi ({{Langx|new|तंलाछि}}) in the early 1900s. His wife was Hera Laxmi Tuladhar. His father Buddha Bir Singh Tuladhar owned a business house in Lhasa, Tibet known as Chhusingsyar with branches in Gyantse and Phari and in Ladakh and Kolkata in India.{{cite web| last = Tuladhar| first = Sidhartha Man| url = http://himalaya.socanth.cam.ac.uk/collections/journals/postalhimal/pdf/PH_1999_003.pdf| title = Dharma Man Tuladhar and Pratek Man Tuladhar: Nepalese Traders in Tibet| work = Postal Himal: Quarterly of the Nepal and Tibet Philatelic Study Circle| publisher = Nepal and Tibet Philatelic Study Circle| year = 1999| accessdate = 11 November 2011| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120406015108/http://himalaya.socanth.cam.ac.uk/collections/journals/postalhimal/pdf/PH_1999_003.pdf| archive-date = 6 April 2012| url-status = dead}} Page 23.{{cite news|last=Tuladhar|first=Kamal Ratna|title=Long ago in Ladakh|url=http://www.ekantipur.com/the-kathmandu-post/2012/03/09/features/the-first-word--long-ago-in-ladakh/232460.html|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130102223504/http://www.ekantipur.com/the-kathmandu-post/2012/03/09/features/the-first-word--long-ago-in-ladakh/232460.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=January 2, 2013|accessdate=14 March 2012|newspaper=The Kathmandu Post|date=10 March 2012}} Tuladhar traveled to Lhasa and lived there many years engaged as a trader.LeVine, Sarah and Gellner, David N. (2005) Rebuilding Buddhism: The Theravada Movement in Twentieth-Century Nepal. Harvard University Press. {{ISBN|978-0-674-01908-9}}. Page 102.

Following his return to Kathmandu in 1898, he devoted himself to supporting Buddhist causes.{{cite news|last=Mahasthavir|first=Bhikshu Sudarshan|title=Role of Theravada in the Preservation of Newar Buddhism|url=http://www.aioiyama.net/lrc/papers/cbhnm-ppr-13.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100609095410/http://www.aioiyama.net/lrc/papers/cbhnm-ppr-13.htm|url-status=usurped|archive-date=June 9, 2010|accessdate=2 February 2011|year=1998}} He also hosted Tibetan lamas coming to Kathmandu on pilgrimage and made arrangements for them to give religious discourses, most notably Kyangtse Lama who arrived in Kathmandu in 1924.{{cite web| last =Gellner| first =David N.| authorlink =| url =http://www.lumbini.org.uk/r_d.html| title =Gyanmala Bhajan (Devotional songs)| publisher =Lumbini Nepalese Buddha Dharma Society (UK)| year =2004| accessdate =1 February 2011| archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20120319163020/http://www.lumbini.org.uk/r_d.html| archive-date =19 March 2012| url-status =dead}}

A Tibetan lama Sarvasri (Tokden) Sakyasri provided the inspiration to undertake the restoration of Swayambhu which Tuladhar began in 1918 after obtaining permission from the king and the prime minister. Tuladhar was one of the major donors to the project. Lamas and devotees from Nepal, Tibet, Bhutan and Sikkim also made large contributions.{{cite book |last=Gutschow |first=Niels |date=1997 |title=The Nepalese Caitya: 1500 Years of Buddhist Votive Architecture in the Kathmandu Valley |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IQp_957RRtAC&q=92 |publisher=Edition Axel Menges |page=92 |isbn=9783930698752 |accessdate=8 April 2014}}

The entire stupa was refurbished. The spire was dismantled and redone. The central shaft was renewed.{{cite news|last=Chitrakar|first=Anil|title=Celebrating Swayambhu Restoration|url=http://www.ecs.com.np/feature_detail.php?f_id=205|accessdate=2 February 2011|newspaper=ECS|date=August 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101022172635/http://www.ecs.com.np/feature_detail.php?f_id=205|archive-date=22 October 2010|url-status=dead}} Tuladhar sponsored the renovation of the upper portion of the stupa while brothers Harsha Sundar, Ram Sundar and Pushpa Sundar Tuladhar of Asan Dhalasikwa, Kathmandu bore the expenses of the nine shrines around its base.

The five Buddha shrines set into the dome were covered with gilt copper, a new statue of Vairocana Buddha was installed, and four new shrines were built to house statues of Tara. A row of prayer wheels were also installed all around the stupa.Shakya, Hem Raj. (2004) Sri Svayambhu Mahacaitya. Kathmandu: Svayambhu Vikash Mandala. {{ISBN|99933-864-0-5}}. Page 320.

The chief engineer of the project was Jogbir Sthapit. The restoration lasted three years. Newar Buddhist priests and Tibetan lamas conducted separate religious ceremonies at Swayambhu before work began and after it was completed.Shakya, Hem Raj. (2004) Sri Svayambhu Mahacaitya. Kathmandu: Svayambhu Vikash Mandala. {{ISBN|99933-864-0-5}}. Pages 315-319.

In 1926, Tuladhar sponsored the renovation of Kindo Baha, a 17th-century monastic courtyard located at the foot of Swayambhu hill, which was in near ruins. The monastery became a major center of Theravada Buddhism in the subsequent years. The movement to revive Theravada Buddhism in Nepal began here. The government cracked down by expelling the resident monks out of the country.{{cite book |last1=LeVine |first1=Sarah |last2=Gellner |first2=David N. |year=2005 |title=Rebuilding Buddhism: The Theravada Movement in Twentieth-Century Nepal |url=https://archive.org/details/rebuildingbuddhi0000levi |url-access=registration |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=0-674-01908-3}} Page 103.{{cite news|last=Dietrich|first=Angela|title=Buddhist Monks and Rana Rulers: A History of Persecution|url=http://ccbs.ntu.edu.tw/FULLTEXT/JR-BH/bh117536.htm|accessdate=9 November 2012|newspaper=Buddhist Himalaya: A Journal of Nagarjuna Institute of Exact Methods|year=1996|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131001124156/http://ccbs.ntu.edu.tw/FULLTEXT/JR-BH/bh117536.htm|archive-date=1 October 2013|url-status=dead}}

Tuladhar's contribution to the revival of Theravada Buddhism angered the government. In 1931, he was fined with 11 other people including Buddhist teacher Dhammalok Mahasthavir and poets Chittadhar Hridaya and Yogbir Singh Kansakar for spreading an "unorthodox religion".LeVine, Sarah and Gellner, David N. (2005). Rebuilding Buddhism: The Theravada Movement in Twentieth-Century Nepal. Harvard University Press. {{ISBN|0-674-01908-3}}, {{ISBN|978-0-674-01908-9}}. Pages 40-41.

Dharma Man Tuladhar died at his home in Kathmandu in 1938. A stone stupa dedicated to his memory was built and consecrated in 1941 on the east side of the Shantipur Temple at Swayambhu.

• Buddhism in Nepal
• Lhasa Newar (trans-Himalayan traders)

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Category:1862 births

Category:1938 deaths

Category:People from Kathmandu

Category:Nepalese merchants

Category:Nepalese philanthropists

Category:Nepalese Buddhists