Binod (Bhim) Shakya, a repousse artist, abandons his hammer and chisel and goes to sleep on the floor, propping his head against a wooden block when he can’t make sense of work. The 41-year-old artist says it’s his thing to do when he becomes muddled in his head and doesn’t know how to proceed.

Shakya began his work as a repousse artist 28 years ago, recently turning his focus to the reconstruction of the temples and monuments destroyed by the earthquake.

“With lost work, sometimes there’s just so much confusion, I get stuck and feel lost myself. And then I decide it’s time for a nap,” says Shakya, who actually picked the hammer and nails at the age of eight, in his father’s workshop: Jyasaa. Although he learnt carpentry from his father’s workshop, by the time he was 12, he had offered himself as an apprentice to repousse artist, Lumbini Raj Shakya, learning to emboss and carve designs on metal, copper, silver, and gold plates.

“The thing about reviving lost art is that you don’t usually have a blueprint of the original work and that’s the hardest part for me. So be it at night or during the day, the moment I feel like I’ve lost my way, I go to sleep and work my way though it in my dreams,” explains Shakya. And sleep becomes a form of meditation for him, during which he navigates designs and tries to figure out how to complete his work. “It doesn’t matter that there’s so much noise in Jyasaa. I don’t even need a mattress. It’s that moment when I could fall asleep anywhere. Anywhere.”

And the formula has worked like magic for Shakya. When he was working on the Bhairav Mahalaxmi temple in Patan, destroyed by the earthquake, he found himself stuck in the moment. He knew the statue of Bhairav had to emote anger, but didn’t know the way forward. It was a nap that became the pathfinder. During the construction of stolen parts at the Dolakha Bhimsen temple eight years ago, Shakya experienced the same difficulty.

“I’d never seen the lost design, and had to work on the basis of vague photos and narrative produced by the locals. How do I do it? I literally shut my eyes and let my conscience guide me. And while I shut my eyes, I felt like I was in communication with the deity, and was being guided. The locals said I’d managed to reproduce what had been stolen!”

When it comes to dealing with the deities, there are also strong local beliefs that Shakya has to traverse. During the redesigning of the Chepu, the snake-biting dragon that appears on the awnings, the locals predicted anyone who looked at the figurine would die. But Shakya says he survived and it has made him stronger, and made his will to contribute to the upkeep of the traditional art, greater. Secretary of the Sumeru Kala Gram, Shakya, along with friends have initiated the renovation of a number of temples destroyed by the earthquakes. The first of them was the restoration of an ancient statue in the Karmaraja Mahavihar in Swayambu. The statue had fallen off the cliff following the earthquake and was successfully restored. And although the area is still a mix of rubble and fallen gods, the government suspended restoration work, citing archaeological reasons.

“The government asked for six months so that the archaeological values of the monuments could be assessed before they are restored. Seven months have passed already. I guess the political disturbance has taken a toll and we will have to wait.”

The political imbroglio has also dented Shakya’s business. The raw material comes from India, so due to the lack of metal and chemicals, work has been suspended. However, in parts of Patan, the reconstruction has continued.

“In Patan, we believe that when temples fall, they have to be rebuilt right away. So, even with the government suspension, we decided to continue with work like dismantling damaged structures in Guitole. If the dilapidated monuments collapse and hit passersby, it could be dangerous.” Luckily, the authorities haven’t intervened. Shakya says that given the government permission and the availability of raw material, the restoration process could go ahead, as people have offered their faith to the task. “Monuments were built by families for dharma and often the work was dedicated to the ancestors. After the earthquakes,

there’s been a keen interest among people to contribute to rebuilding the temples.”

When Shakya visited the Manakamana temple in Gorkha a couple of months ago, the temple committee told him they had gathered enough donations to rebuild it, but the work had to be stalled due to lack of construction material owing to the embargo.

At the heels of the earthquake, Shakya found himself steeped in calls for restoration.

“We were always seen as labourers, who toiled away in workshops. But after the earthquake people seemed to suddenly realise that the rebuilding of Kathmandu’s monuments would depend on people like us, who were familiar with the art work of the Valley. ”

There are around 3,000 other artists like Shakya in Patan. But he laments that their skills have gone largely undermined by the government.

“When we go to the department of archaeology to register new statues, it’s usually a long process and we are often treated like we’re statue thieves. But if they

came and looked at the work we do, they would treat us differently. Our craft is valued abroad and the government could actually earn more revenue by promoting our work.”

Up to 15 apprentices, mostly college students from Nepal and some American students intern at Shakya’s workshop every year, and his children was beginning to follow in the father’s footsteps. The statues, ranging from a few inches to ten feet, priced between thousands to millions of rupees, have been exported to Germany, Tibet, Hong Kong, Canada from Shakya’s workshop, while some of his apprentices were exported to Bhutan to build statues.

“The problem I have with exporting artists is that there will always be foreign interference in style and technicalities. This is our legacy and it would be better to create artwork here and export them. Besides the mountains, it’s the monuments that draw tourists to Nepal and we need to take immediate steps to restore them,” reiterates Shakya about his dream to see the temples return to their original form.