Posted on

‘Cambridge to study ancient Sanskrit texts’ (2011/11/08)

Someone in England is studying the sources of the South Asian Buddhist mainstream?

“The project, which is led by Sanskrit-specialists Dr Vincenzo Vergiani and Dr Eivind Kahrs, will study and catalogue each of the manuscripts, placing them in their broader historical context, a university release said.

So far, so good.

“In the 1870s, Dr Daniel Wright, surgeon of the British Residency in Kathmandu, rescued the now-priceless cultural and historical artefacts from a disused temple, where they had survived largely by chance.”

Oh dear. Still, this sounds better:

“Most of the holdings will also be digitised by the library and made available through the library’s new online digital library (http://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/).”

Let’s hope the cameras get to those masterpieces of Nepal and the Pāla Dynasty before the local twits [see final sentence], eh?

(‘Cambridge to study ancient Sanskrit texts.’ Deccan Herald, Nov 8, 2011.)

Posted on

Mozaffari-Falarti, ‘Kedah: foundations of Malay kingship’ (2009)

Mozaffari-Falarti, Maziar. ‘Kedah: the foundations and durability of Malay kingship’. PhD thesis, Queensland University of Technology, 2009. 343 pp. [official site/PDF]

Mozaffari-Falarti’s thesis treats the conversion of Kedah, an important part of the premodern Southeast Asian world, and briefly treats vague (but nonetheless worthy of investigation) references to Buddhism and tantrism in the rulership of the pre-Islamic era.

Kedah, incidentally, has been proposed as the possible site of Dīpaṅkaraśrījñāna’s extended stay of study in the region in an article in the Journal of the Siam Society — the full reference eludes me — by Peter Skilling. (I have no opinion on that proposition — yet.)

From the Abstract

The thesis examines traditional sources of power, control and indigenous socio-political systems in the Malay world. In doing so, it looks at the north-western Malaysian kingdom of Kedah, acknowledged as the oldest unbroken Malay royal line and one of the oldest in the Muslim world. The study explores Kedah’s unique geopolitical, spiritual and environmental features. It argues that Kedah does not follow, and in fact, often seems to contradict what has been commonly accepted as the “typical model” of the traditional Malay state.

From the Introduction (pp.6–7)

The Kedah sultanate is one of the oldest unbroken independent kingship lines in the ‘Malay world’ with 1,000 years of history, and arguably one of the oldest in the Islamic world. In this study I examine key geopolitical and spiritual attributes of Malay kingship that have traditionally cemented the ruler, the peoples, and the environment. […]
I also examine issues related to religion — particularly the coming of Islam […]

Posted on

Meinert, ‘Buddha in der Jurte’, forthcoming (2011)

Meinert (2011), Buddha in der JurteCarmen Meinert (ed.) with contributions from Andrey Terentyev. Buddha in der Jurte: Buddhistische Kunst aus der Mongolei (Buddha in the Yurt: Buddhist Art from Mongolia). Hirmer Verlag, forthcoming (October 2011). “~750” pp., ~550 Illus. ISBN: 978-3-7774-4231-0.

Official Description
As Buddhist art reached 17th Century Mongolia, it became an established element in the life of believers. These volumes show a representative selection of exquisite objects from a singular private collection and reflect the range of influences from Tibet to the Manchurian Qing dynasty.

[Multi-volume set; to be published in English/Russian and German/Mongolian]

Posted on

Bühnemann, ‘The Buddha’s Journey to Lumbinī’ (2011/06/11)

Gudrun Bühnemann. ‘The Buddha’s (Return) Journey to Lumbinī (lumbinīyātrā).’ Wiener Zeitschrift für die Kunde Südasiens vol. 54 (in press; to appear in November 2011).

Prof. Bühnemann’s upcoming presentation of selected findings in Nepal was announced today on sanskritbuddhism:

Date: June 11, 2011
Time: 3 pm
Venue: Kholcha Pokhary, Manimarga, Chakupat 22 (NIEM Library Building), Lalitpur

According to Newar Buddhists, Śākyamuni Buddha visited his birthplace Lumbinī after his enlightenment. Depictions of this journey became popular in nineteenth- and twentieth-century Nepal. They show the Buddha riding standing up on a snake while being attended by Hindu deities in service to him. The scene, known as the lumbinīyātrā, is represented in numerous paintings and in wood and metal work, and is also described in texts. This strand of the Buddha legend is specific to Newar Buddhism and not attested in Indian biographic or hagiographic accounts of the Buddha’s life. In this paper I will trace the history of the lumbinīyātrā theme by examining descriptions in texts and artistic representations. I will then discuss elements of the yātrā which are also found independently in other contexts. In conclusion, I will offer some thoughts on the significance of the lumbinīyātrā theme.

Nrityamandalavihara-Lumbiniyatrapaubha
Gautamavajra Vajrācārya, Lumbinīyātrā paubhā (Nṛtyamaṇḍala-Mahāvihāra, Portland), NS 1125