Torture scenes are not a widespread topic in the Newar art of the Kathmandu valley. While painted depictions of tortures can be found in the hell division of the Wheel of Life (Skt. saṃsāracakra) or in paintings of the Bardo, these images are related to Tibetan Buddhism. Nevertheless, two monuments of the valley contain carved wooden struts with representations of tortures. Interestingly, one of these monuments is a multi-tiered Hindu temple and the other one a Buddhist monastery (New. bāhā). The Tadhicheñ Bāhā of Bhaktapur is a Buddhist monastic compound established in the 15th- 16th century. Six of the courtyard’s twenty-eight struts were installed in 1654 (NS 775). They are decorated with large carvings of the four Tathāgatas, of Vairocana and Vajrasattva. In the lower register, are representations of individuals submitted to all kinds of tortures. The scenes are explained by inscriptions engraved in Newari below them. The second monument is the Hariśaṅ- kara temple. Located on the Patan Durbar Square, this Hindu temple was consecrated in 1706. Twenty-eight struts support its lower overhanging roof. As in Tadhicheñ Bāhā, the main register is occupied by large images of deities, in this case Hanumān, Viṣṇu and Ganeśa, and torture scenes explained by inscriptions in the lower register. Both sets of struts illustrate the specific punishments imposed on people who committed sins (New. pāpa). The struts were first mentioned by Aldabert Gail (1984), who published a translation of the inscriptions. This was followed by more recent mentions authored by Niels Gutschow (2011 and 2019). Despite these works’ valuable contributions, little has been said about these images’ contexts of production and the iconography of torture in the Newar context of the Kathmandu valley. This paper will thus focus on two aspects of the struts: what they represent (the carvings) and what they say (the inscriptions). It will present edited readings of the inscriptions and compare their contents with punishments described in texts such as the Manusmṛti and the Arthaśāstra. Furthermore, the iconographies will be contextualised with their architectural location and in the broader context of Himalayan arts in order to investigate their precedents and their continuity.