Sanskritic civilization · Tantric studies · Newar & Nusantaran Buddhism
Axel Michaels. 2018. Nepal in the World. South Asia Institute, Heidelberg University (xasia repository). 27 pp. [DOI:10.11588/xarep.00004115] [PDF]
From the Abstract: This paper is an English version of the author’s farewell lecture held on the 20th of July, 2016, in the old lecture hall (“Alte Aula”) of Heidelberg University.
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 Studies in Historical Documents from Nepal and India.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Continue reading “Cubelic et al (2018), Historical Documents from Nepal and India”
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”
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]
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”
Dr Dina Bangdel (5.12.1965–25?.7.2017) is well known among Nepal specialists as a historian of religious art. Her 1999 dissertation, Manifesting the Mandala, and co-authored 2003 exhibition catalogue, Circle of Bliss, emphasised the visual culture of the Cakrasamvara cycle in Newar Buddhism, which is traditionally kept secret. Dr Bangdel had been planning to show a selection of this and related art on a world-travelling exhibition and was scheduled to speak at the “New Research on Newar Buddhism” panel at IABS. This week Dr Bangdel passed away, reportedly after complications following surgery. She is survived by her husband Bibhakar Shakya and two children.
(Added 2018/1/20:) ‘Remembering scholars of Nepalese Art Mary Slusser and Dina Bangdel’ (Rubin Museum of Art)
Continue reading “Dina Bangdel (1965–2017)”
Sinclair, Iain (traduction Caroline Riberaigua). 2017. Nepālamaṇḍalābhyantaragata-buddhavihāra-nāmāni = Noms des monastères bouddhiques de la région du Népal. Salamandre, Collège de France. [PDF (en Français, ébauche, 5 mai)]
Extract: This unique manuscript provides a list of ‘Names of Buddhist Monasteries situated within the domain of Nepal’, as its title states. Eighty-five sites are documented, written in Devanagari script in three columns: Sanskrit name – identity of main image – Newar name. […] The manuscript was written for Sylvain Lévi by the Newar Buddhist pundit Siddhiharṣa Vajrācārya (1879–1952), according to its colophon. Most likely it was produced in 1922, a year when Lévi mentions meeting with Siddhiharṣa [1929:37] as he gathered manuscripts and visited monasteries on his second trip to Nepal. […]
Chudal, Alaka Atreya. 2015. ‘Rahul Sankrityayan and the Buddhism of Nepal’. European Bulletin of Himalayan Research 46, pp. 62–87. [PDF]
Related: Chudal, Alaka Atreya. 2016. A Freethinking Cultural Nationalist: A Life History of Rahul Sankrityayan. Delhi: OUP. 340 pp. ISBN 9780199466870. ₹950. [official site]
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
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, 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]
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]”