Keshar La wrote
Laxmi Krishna was a Kasa, or Kansakar, who followed the traditional handicraft of making copper and brass pots. He lived in a lane called Masangalli off the main street of Kel Tol in central Kathmandu. He had four sons – Laxmi Bir Singh, Heera Kaji, Ratna Man Singh and Moti Kaji. When the oldest son, Laxmi Bir Singh, grew up, he was sent to work at the Kothi or shop of his maternal uncle in Lhasa, where he had the usual experience of a Banja – great hardship.
Later, Laxmi Bir left his uncle’s shop and began to trade on his own with money borrowed from some other people. He bought and sold nabu cloth in the streets and gradually over the years, he made good.
By the time the second son, Heera Kaji, had a son, born at Talabi, the particular section at Masangalli where he lived, the family was able to buy a part of a house called Bhansachhen in the main street in the name of one-year-old Dhana Kaji. The house was repeatedly haunted but an astrologer said it would be all right if it was bought in the name of the child.
Bhansachhen is an old building, the only example of Newar architecture with red bricks, ornamental windows and sloping red tile roof in the locality. It boasted a history of its own as the customhouse, for that is what Bhansachhen meant.
In 1918 when a great fire raged at Kel Tol, Laxmi Krishna and his oldest son, Laxmi Bir took the sleeping baby, Dhana Kaji, in their arms to their newly bought Bhansachhen and placed him in a corner on the ground floor in the hope that the fire would spare the property, as the astrologer had told them.
The fire turned to the north and burnt a whole lane called Suchikagalli. Bhansachhen across the street to the east was saved. Later, Laxmi Krishna bought the remaining portion of the house- and the whole courtyard became his. The old house at Talabi was sold - and the family moved to Bhansachhen.
In Lhasa , the oldest son who later became famous as Lama Sahu had established his own Kothi in a building belonging to Chusimsyapala, one of the ten guthis or associations of the Newar merchants in the city. His brothers Heera Kaji and Ratna Man went to Lhasa by turn. The youngest of the brothers, Moti Kaji, managed their shop at home, where he sold clothes to Tibetans from Keyrung and the border areas who came to Kathmandu during winter, bringing with them goats, sheep and blankets for sale in Kathmandu. For several months, these people were lodged in the ground flour of Bhansachhen.
The grandson, Dhana Kaji, at the age of 20 went to Lhasa and stayed a year. There were five Banjas in the kothi – Bijuliman Kansakar, Gajaratna Tuladhar, Dan Man, Dhirendra Bajracharya and Gyan Ratna Bajracharya.
Ratna Man Singh was attacked by a gang of people while travelling (one month) back from Lhasa in the jungle, robbed, thrown in a jute bag. A team of three Newar merchants while travelling back on the way discovered the bag with light movement. When they opened the bag they discovered Ratna Man Singh. Luckily one of the three knew minor treatment and tried his best to save him. The three took turn to carry this diseased body by foot, traveled back walking for two days and came across a Tibetan monastery. They handed over the body to the monks and the three returned back the Kathmandu. Ratna Man Singh returned back to Kathmandu after he covered from his illness.
The family had become quite rich by the time Heera Kaji had a daughter, Heera Devi, in 1924.
During 1934 earthquake of 8.4 RS the Kathmandu valley was physically badly damaged earthquake No resources were available to save people who got crushed due to building and infrastructure damages. Cries were heard every where with limited support from government. Heera Devi's family (joint family) was performing well in business in Lhasa (Tibet) during that period. Her family had contributed a lot in relief operation of the disaster of those days. These houses were rebuilt after 1934 earthquake. The people around Jana Baha had well established livelihood and had financial capability to rebuild the damaged building with seismic proof structure using traditional knowledge. The status of these old buildings after April 25th 2015 Earthquake should be analyzed by the experts regarding the knowledge of old expert builders in those days.
Years later, Laxmi Bir Singh ( also known as) Lama Sahu’s wife, Lani Maya, made a golden image of the Bodhisattwa Maitri at a cost of Rs.60,000/- for a monastery at Swayambhu Hill in Kathmandu .bi
the name of the monastery on Swoyambhu hill is " श्रि सुमति मैत्रि शासन महाबिहार" in short "मैत्रि गुम्बा". It is just below the vehicle parking at Swoyambhu. This Gomba was consecrated on 1954 AD, २०१४ B.S.
The founder and chief of the Maitri Gomba is भिक्षु सुमति शिल ( ज्ञानमानसिं तुलाधर, ङत). Other founding monks are भिक्षु सुमति सासन (देबकुलसिं तुलाधर, ङत), भिक्षु मुनि भद्र (महाचन्द्र शाक्य), भिक्षु मुनि सासन ( न्हुक्षे शाक्य), भिक्षु सुमति धर्मबृद्धि ( केश रत्न तुलाधर), भिक्षु .....(ज्ञानेन्द्र श्रेष्ठ), भिक्षु .....(गजानन्द शाक्य) ।
TIMILA WROTE after taking interviews from relatives:
During the 1934 earthquake of 8.4 Richter Scale the Kathmandu valley was physically badly damaged. No resources were available to save people who got crushed due to building and infrastructure damages. Cries were heard everywhere with limited support from the government. Heera Devi's family (joint family) was performing well in business in Lhasa (Tibet) during that period. Her family had contributed a lot in the relief operation of the disaster of those days. These houses were rebuilt after the 1934 earthquake. The people around Jana Baha had a well-established livelihood and had financial capability to rebuild the damaged building with seismic proof structure using traditional knowledge. The status of these old buildings after the April 25th 2015 Earthquake should be analyzed by the experts regarding the knowledge of old expert builders in those days.
The industrialist Mani Harsha Jyoti's (eldest son of Bhaju Ratna ) marriage venue was in Bhanssa Chhen. The daughter, Prem Devi Tuladhar (86 years old ) of Moti Kaji still recalls the preparation of Newari aila( traditional homemade wine ) in the courtyard of Bhansa Chhen during that marriage time.
Mani harsha later became a renowned Industrialist & Businessman of Nepal, Social Worker, Proponent of Newari Language and Buddha Dharma, Committed follower of Buddha, Vipassana Mediator, Dhamma Worker.
The first Tea industry was established in Sankhu by the shareholders which included members from Bhansa Chhen. The head office of that business was in Bhurungh Khel. This property belonged to Bal Bhadra Ranjitkar which was transferred partially to the Bhansachhen family. This property then was transferred to Heera Devi, the daughter of Heera Kaji.
Heera Devi used to be critically ill due to tuberculosis in her early days. It was Moti Kaji, her youngest uncle who used to secretly supply boiled eggs at night in order to give her nutrition. Healthcare system was not accessible those days. She used to have a tough time disposing off the outer shells of the egg secretly from the conservative joint family members. If any chicken accidentally entered through the top windows or ground floor from the neighborhood, the entire house had to be cleansed engagging pujari pandits and the entire family had to purify by taking bath in the river and praying in front of the temples. Some neighbouring houses belonged to communities from so called "untouchable communities" of those days and used to have small scale chicken.
In AD 1951 when Heera Devi's husband Dharma Heera became minister. People used to call him head of "Khha Khaun Mantri" minister meaning "head of chicken" minister. Eating flesh and eggs of chicken used to be banned in the her community. Even today, older conservative generations do not eat chicken egg. They eat duck meat and eggs. Touching chicken used to be banned those days.During the 1950s she had 200 chicken farms on the top 5th floor of her residence making them visible to neighbors and pedestrians of the road. People from different localities used to gather in the front house of the building and used to criticize. She understood the nutritional value of the chicken, which helped her gain strength from the egg. This must have been the reason why she demonstrated opening chicken farming on the fiftt floor of her building going totally against the norms of the society then which is not easy to face. There was even a movement among Tuladhar and Kansakar communities to outcast her family from the community.
However, today people have changed and all those communities including Bajracharyas also eat chicken and egg. He even made us cook a feast for political leaders and relatives in A D 1851 when he was holding the portfolio of Minister. After the party he introduced my grand auntie and his friends to the people. The next day they all were seen taking bath at the river in Pashupati temple, sprinkling water dipped in gold and doing pooja through the pandit of that temple.
Late Gyan Maya Kansakar is the second wife of Late Bhauju Ratna Kansakar. Gyan Maya looked after Heera Devi Yami (Kansakar) at Calcutta and Kalingpong while undergoing treatment of Tuberculosis under a German doctor at Calcutta and a Bengali doctor at Kalimpong, India. In the year 1970 January on the day before Hera Devi died, she told her children how Gyan Maya gave her new life by taking care of her when she was critically ill due to Tuberculosis at such a tender age.