Araniko

Who is Araniko?

Araniko was a Newar artist and architect from the Kathmandu Valley who became one of the most influential craftsmen of the Yuan-dynasty imperial court in China. Born in 1245, he was recognized as an artistic prodigy in his youth; at sixteen he volunteered to lead a group of Nepali artisans sent to Tibet to build a golden stupa for the Sakya sect of Tibetan Buddhism. His skill drew the attention of Tibetan religious leaders, who recommended him to the Mongol emperor Kublai Khan, founder of the Yuan dynasty, and he was brought to the imperial court in Beijing. There he introduced trans-Himalayan Buddhist artistic and architectural traditions to China, most famously designing the White Stupa of the Miaoying Temple in Beijing, which still stands today. Over his career he is credited with three stupas, nine major Buddhist temples, two Confucian shrines, and a Daoist temple, along with paintings, including portraits of Kublai Khan and his empress Chabi now held in Taiwan's National Palace Museum. He later left monastic life, married, and remained in China until his death on 11 March 1306.

Sources: Araniko — Wikipedia · Nepali Times, "The life and times of Arniko" · South China Morning Post, "China's cultural debt to a Nepalese artist in the 13th-century court of Kublai Khan"