Trần, Võ & Sharrock eds. (2018), Vibrancy in Stone

Vibrancy in StoneTrần Kỳ Phương, Võ Văn Thắng, Peter D. Sharrock (eds), Paisarn Piemmettawat (photographs). Vibrancy in Stone: Masterpieces of the Đà Nẵng Museum of Cham Sculpture. Bangkok: River Books. 288 pp. + 324 photographs. ISBN 978 616 7339 99 3. 2,000.00 ฿ (within Thailand). [official site] [official launch] [co-editor Peter D. Sharrock: academia.edu]

Description
The collection of the Đà Nẵng Museum of Cham Sculpture, mostly in sandstone, was gathered from the Champa monuments that were collapsed covered by dense tropical flora for centuries. Only in the late 19th century did the ruined mounds began to attract collectors of antiquities and researchers of cultural heritage. The large undertaking of surveying, recording, clearing and scientifically excavating them took place in the first thirty years of the 20th century, when sculptures from this hitherto little studied culture began to be transferred to the Đà Nẵng Museum of Cham Sculpture, then referred to as the ‘Musée Čam’ or ‘Musée de Tourane’. Continue reading “Trần, Võ & Sharrock eds. (2018), Vibrancy in Stone”

Yang (2018), Bukong 不空 aka. Amoghavajra

Yang, Zeng. 2018. ‘A biographical study on Bukong 不空 (aka. Amoghavajra, 705-774): networks, institutions, and identities’. PhD diss., University of British Columbia. DOI:10.14288/1.0363332. URI: hdl.handle.net/2429/64506

Note: This dissertation is distinguished by its use of Japanese scholarship and secular historical sources in Chinese. However, the back-Sanskritization of Chinese jingang ding 金剛頂 as Vajroṣṇīṣa adopted here (p. 4, n.1) is doubtful. Continue reading “Yang (2018), Bukong 不空 aka. Amoghavajra”

Wollein (2017), The Mūl Dīpaṅkara shrine

Andrea Wollein. 2017. ‘An ethnographic study of the Mūl Dīpaṅkara shrine in Bhaktapur (Nepal): the relationship between people and place’. University of Vienna: M.A. thesis (Masterstudium Kultur u. Gesellschaft des neuzeitlichen Südasiens). 189 pp., 87 figures. URN: nbn:at:at-ubw:1-20536.38953.228466-1 [official notice] [author: facebook]

Mul Dipankara
Wollein (2017:165) fig.74: The tilted face of the Mūl Dīpaṅkara. Photo by the author (August 2016).

Abstract: This thesis presents locality specific research in the form of an ethnography that draws both from fieldwork and published scholarly literature. The inter-disciplinary research is contextualized within the wider field of South Asian Studies and pertains to Himalayan, Buddhist and Newar Studies as well as to Tibetology. It is specifically concerned with the socioreligious dimension of Newar Buddhist monasteries (Skrt. vihāra, New. bāhā and bahī), the Buddhist deity Dīpaṅkara and the configuration of the relationship between the two of them as found in the setting of the Mūl Dīpaṅkara shrine in Bhaktapur. Continue reading “Wollein (2017), The Mūl Dīpaṅkara shrine”

Gutschow (2016), Bhaktapur–Nepal

Niels Gutschow. 2016. Bhaktapur–Nepal: Stadt und Ritual – Urban Space and Ritual. Berlin: DOM publishers. 331 × 255 mm. 2 vols. 540 pp. ISBN 978-3-86922-522-7 [English & German text; unseen]

Official site: http://dom-publishers.com/products/bhaktapur-nepal

Gutschow 2016

From the Abstract: Among the many festivals of the year, ten occasions are selected. Of these, the celebration of the New Year – Bisketjātrā – in April, the Farewell to the Dead – Gāījātrā – in August and the Victory of the goddess Durgā – Dasāīn – in October are of significant meaning for the well-being of the community. Moreover, the ritual of the Navadurgā Deities leaves an imprint on the spatial and temporal integrity of the urban realm over a period of nine months. Continue reading “Gutschow (2016), Bhaktapur–Nepal”

Feichtinger (2011), Rituelle Pluralität und Performanz [Nyakū Jātrā Matayā]

Feichtinger, Walter. 2011. Rituelle Pluralität und Performanz. Das Newar Festival Nyakū Jātrā Matayā in Pāṭan, Nepal. Diplomarbeit (Mag. Phil.), University of Vienna. Fakultät für Sozialwissenschaften. URN: urn:nbn:at:at-ubw:1-29510.85611.848460-1. [PDF]

Abbildung 6.28: Gesellschaftskritik und die Einflüsse einer globalisierten Welt, Matayā 18.08.2008

Abstract: This diploma thesis is about the plural ritual praxis of a religious festival of the Newars in the city of Pāṭan, within the Kathmandu Valley in Nepal. The Nyakū Jātrā Matayā serves as a stage for the living and dead, gods and demons, as well as the beliefs of two religious systems and a globalized society that is at the same time deep-rooted in tradition. Continue reading “Feichtinger (2011), Rituelle Pluralität und Performanz [Nyakū Jātrā Matayā]”

Vajrācārya & Baké (1931), mudrā & caryā

Siddhiharṣa Vajrācārya, performer; A. A. Baké, photographer. [Mudrā & caryā poses]. 16mm film digitally archived at Salamandre, Collège de France. Kathmandu: 1931.

Comment: Newly emerged film of Surataśrī Mahāvihāra’s pundit Siddhiharṣa Vajrācārya (1879–1952) demonstrating mudrā and caryā poses, now digitised from 16mm reels, may be the earliest documentary footage of Newar Buddhism in existence. The film was shot in Kathmandu in 1931 by A. A. Baké at the request of Sylvain Lévi (1863–1935). (Thanks to confreres at the Collège de France for the notification and some details.)

Tanemura, Śūnyasamādhivajra’s Mṛtasugatiniyojana (2013)

種村 隆元 「Śūnyasamādhivajra 著作の葬儀マニュアル Mṛtasugatiniyojana: サンスクリット語校訂テキストおよび註」 『東洋文化研究所紀要』 163 (127)–(101).

Tanemura, Ryūgen. ‘Śūnyasamādhivajra’s Mṛtasugatiniyojana: A Critical Edition and Notes’. The memoirs of Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia 163, 2013, pp.110–136. [in Japanese; PDF]

Continue reading “Tanemura, Śūnyasamādhivajra’s Mṛtasugatiniyojana (2013)”