Traditional dance expert Beena Rajbhandari and Heritage activist Er. Badan Lal Nyachyon bag awards

The Kadam Award and the Hari Ram Joshi Culture Award were distributed during a function held on Sunday at the Joshi Research Institute in Lalitpur. The awards were established by Culture Laureate Hari Ram Joshi.

Beena Joshi Rajbhandari has been honoured with the Kadam Award 2082 in the memory of late Kadam Baba Joshi, the founder of Joshi Research Institute established in 2024. Similarly, Hari Ram Joshi Culture Award was given to Er. Badan Lal Nyachhyon.

In appreciation of the honoured personalities at the event, Hari Ram Joshi, the founding president of the institution, recalled that the Kadam Award was established to put the role of women in Nepali society at the forefront. He also remarked contemporary relevancy of contribution of the female prime minister not only in the mythological period but also in recognizing the critical situation in Nepal after the Gen Z movement.

Those who put efforts the nation and society dynamic are the great human beings. So as, it has been decided this time to honour with prize to Beena Joshi, a scholar of Nepali traditional dance art. Moreover, it is to be noted that she would be further recognised for the book on traditional Mukundo Dances (masked dances) of the Newar community while teaching and studies in this fieldis in a pipeline.

Similarly, In recognition of the contribution of Badan Lal Nyachhyon, the Hariram Joshi Culture Award 2082 was given realizing the importance of traditional music within Nepali culture, Lalitpur metropolis has been re-established as the city of music, and Jestha Purnaima (the Full Moon day in the month of May or June) as the National Music Day for the continuation of the presentation of 36 ragas of the Malla period.

Former Vice-Chancellor of Tribhuvan University Prof. Dr. Kedar Bhakta  Mathema openly appreciated the Joshi Research Center. “Just as the state seems to be trying to preserve the material aspects of culture through works like reconstruction, it is necessary to establish a scholarship scheme at all levels for those who do proper and research studies on this subject,” he said. “

On the occasion, Beena Joshi Rajbhandari, recalled that since she was in the field of dance, her guru Hariram Joshi had always been pushing to get the book published soon as he had been studying the Mukundo dances (masked dances) within Newa community for at least four decades with the intention of writing the book.

“Starting from the year 1967, sometimes a housewife, a daughter-in-law, playing the role of a mother, sometimes a mother-in-law and sometimes a grandmother, the authoring the book was still incomplete,“ she said.

The other award winner Er. Nyanchhyon said that although he was from a provincial area, he was attracted to the preservation of culture by his passion for archival work. He also recalled that he had achieved more success in his works after the proximity of Hari Ram Joshi, including his guidance, and felt more responsible for receiving the Culture Award from him.

“It is the responsibility of all of us to do our best to preserve as much as possible of both the ancient material and immaterial heritage, but if not, at least not to allow them to deteriorate from its original form “he said. “It is a matter of pride that the reconstruction of the basement of Mangal Bazar has been completed successfully, but the installation of an antenna tower on it, no matter what the rational reason, must not be allowed to spoil that form. We do not want to erode international recognition of cultural heritage with efforts to establish intangible heritage in UNESCO”. On the contrary, it seems to be more powerful to correct the shortcomings towards the responsibility of the state seen in the National Heritage Policy BS 2067 in the construction of the heritage, “ he added.

The guest of the programme, Mayor of Lalitpur Metropolitan City Chiribabu Maharjan, discussed the achievement of successfully establishing the specialty of Yomari in the cataloguing of intangible heritage of Nepal, registering Lalitpur as the Creative City of Music and getting the recognition. He vowed to establish the longest day of the year as at least the National Music Day.

Prof. Dr. Beena Paudel presided over the function as the chief guest. Culture expert Prakash darnel and Subrat Joshi also spoke on various aspects related to the award and the organising institution.