Sanskritic civilization · Tantric studies · Newar & Nusantaran Buddhism
Alex R. Furger. 2017. The gilded Buddha: The traditional art of the Newar metal casters in Nepal, with a contribution by Ratna Jyoti Shakya. Basel/Frankfurt a. M.: LIBRUM Publishers & Editors. ISBN: 978-3-906897-06-6. DOI:10.19218/3906897066. [official] [PDF 🔓]
Note: This extraordinary book covers almost every conceivable aspect of metalworked image production in the Newar Buddhist community.
Simon Cubelic, Axel Michaels, Astrid Zotter (eds). 2018. Studies in Historical Documents from Nepal and India. Documenta Nepalica – Book Series 1. Heidelberg: Heidelberg University Publishing. ISBN 978-3-946054-70-2 (PDF), 978-3-946054-71-9. 535 pp. (Hardcover) DOI:10.17885/heiup.331.454 [PDF 🔓]
Continue reading “Cubelic et al (2018), Historical Documents from Nepal and India”
Frédéric Moronval. 2017. Vitalités linguistique et religieuse chez les Néwar bouddhistes de la vallée de Kathmandu. Thèse de doctorat en Sciences du langage – linguistique, Normandie Université. Français. NNT: 2017NORMR055. <tel-01697607> [PDF]
From the English abstract: Newari, the indigenous language of the Kathmandu valley, is considered by the UNESCO as an endangered language, […] why and to which extent both the mother tongue and Buddhism are decreasing among Newars, and what, if any, is the causal relationship linking the evolution of these two cultural features. […] Continue reading “Moronval (2017), Vitalités chez les Néwar bouddhistes”
Iain Sinclair. 2016. ‘The appearance of tantric monasticism in Nepal: a history of the public image and fasting ritual of Newar Buddhism, 980-1380’. Monash University, Melbourne: PhD diss. 418 pp., 90 illustrations, 27 tables. DOI:10.4225/03/58ab8cadcf152
Contents
Continue reading “Sinclair (2016), The appearance of tantric monasticism in Nepal”
Bühnemann, Gudrun. 2015. Śākyamuni’s Return Journey to Lumbinī ( lumbinīyātrā ): A Study of a Popular Theme in Newar Buddhist Art and Literature. Bhairawaha, Nepal: Lumbini International Research Institute. 108 pp. ISBN: 978-9937-2-9462-1
OCLC: 922971246. Vendor: amazon.com.
Continue reading “Bühnemann (2015), Śākyamuni’s Return Journey to Lumbinī (lumbinīyātrā)”
Richard Widdess. Dāphā: Sacred Singing in a South Asian City. Music, Performance and Meaning in Bhaktapur, Nepal. SOAS Musicology Series. Ashgate, December 2013 [official site]. 378 pages (w/ “50 b&w illustrations, 50 music examples and 1 map”). ISBN 978-1-4094-6601-7.
Dāphā, or dāphā bhajan, is a genre of Hindu-Buddhist devotional singing, performed by male, non-professional musicians of the farmer and other castes belonging to the Newar ethnic group, in the towns and villages of the Kathmandu Valley, Nepal. The songs, their texts, and their characteristic responsorial performance-style represent an extension of pan-South Asian traditions of rāga- and tāla-based devotional song, but at the same time embody distinctive characteristics of Newar culture.
Which of the nineteenth-century Kulamāna Vajrācāryas was the confrere of Ekai Kawaguchi (and of Sylvain Lévi,* et al)? Mr. Kazumi Yoshizaki digs into his Index of Personal Names in Newari Historical Materials (forthcoming) to find out:
吉崎 一美 (Yoshizaki, Kazumi). 「河口慧海に梵語文法を教授したクルマン博士」 (Dr. Kulman who Taught Sanskrit Grammar to Rev. Kawaguchi Ekai in Nepal). 『印度學佛教學研究』 第六十一巻第一号 (Journal of Indian and Buddhist studies vol.61 no.1), pp.508–504/(11)–(15), 2012-12-20. [PDF at CiNii]
* “Le vieux pandit Kulamâna, de Patan, gagne sa vie à enseigner des rudiments de catéchisme et à copier des manuscrits” (Lévi, Le Népal: étude historique d’un royaume hindou, 1905 II:27).
Niraj Dangol. ‘Sana Guthi and the Newars: impacts of modernization on traditional social organizations’. Universitetet i Tromsø: Mastergradsoppgave, 2010. [URI / PDF]
“Guthi, the traditional social organization, can be classified into various categories according to their functionalities among which, Sana Guthi is regarded most popular and the important one. Among the various functions performed by the Sana Guthi, death rituals are regarded extremely important from religious as well as social point of view. […] In this study, two of such festivals conducted by Shree Bhairabnath Ta: Guthi of Panga have been studied in details.”
Paṇḍita Kavirāja Saddharmarāja Bajrācārya Śāstrī (tr.) Ārya Mañjuśrī Nāmasaṅgīti: advayaparamārtha nāmasaṅgīti. Ācārya Vilāsavajra kṛta Nāmamantrārthaavalokinī Ārya Mañjuśrī Nāmasaṅgītiyāgu ṭīkāyā lidhaṃsāy, ṭippaṇī va bhāvārthasahita Nepālabhāṣāy saṅkṣipta anuvāda. Lalitapura: Rāmeśa Maharjana saparivāra, VS 2068 [2011 CE]. na+320 pp.
Tulasīlāla Siṃha. Tantrākhyāna: Ne saṃ. 638 yā mūlapāṭhayā sampādana, anuvāda va vivecanā. Yala: Nepālabhāṣā Kendrīya Vibhāga, Pāṭana Saṃyukta Kyāmpasa, 2009.
This is a transcription and translation into contemporary Newar of the earliest dated manuscript of the Tantrākhyāna(kathā) kept in Nepal. An older manuscript of this Newar Buddhist Pañcatantra remake — if we could call it that — ended up in the hands of Cecil Bendall and is kept in the United Kingdom, presumably unavailable to Mr. Siṃha.
