Heidelberg Asian Studies Publishing

The authors – an architectural historian (Niels Gutschow) and an indologist (Axel Michaels) – are presenting the second part of a trilogy of studies of life-cycle rituals in Nepal, carried out under the auspices of the Collaborative Research Centre “Dynamics of Ritual”. The initiation of boys and girls of both Hindus and Buddhists of the ethnic community of Newars in the Kathmandu Valley are documented. The first part of the book presents elements of Newar rituals, the spatial background of Bhaktapur and the hierarchy of ritual specialists – illustrated by 21 maps. The second part documents with detailed descriptions the. rst feeding of solid food, birthday rituals, and pre-puberty rituals like the first shaving of the hair, the boy’s initiation with the loincloth (in Buddhist and Hindu contexts), the girl’s marriage with the bel fruit and the girl’s seclusion. One girl’s marriage (Ihi) and three boy’s initiations (Kaytapuja) are documented on a DVD. The third part presents the textual tradition: local handbooks and manuals used by the Brahmin priest to guide the rituals. Two of these texts are edited and translated to demonstrate the function of such texts in a variety of contexts.

The films, which were originally published on a DVD accompanying the book, are archived in the heidICON multimedia database and can be viewed via the following links:

1. Bel fruit and loincloth - initiations of boys and girls in Bhaktapur, Nepal

2.  Bel-Frucht und Lendentuch - Initiationen von Mädchen und Jungen in Bhaktapur, Nepal

With contributions by Manik Bajracharya, Christiane Brosius, and Tessa Pariyar

Getting Married is the third and final volume on Hindu and Buddhist life-cycle rituals among the Newars of the ancient city of Bhaktapur in Nepal. It combines extensive fieldwork and the edition and translation of relevant ritual handbooks. While Handling Death, the first volume, focussed on the dynamics of death and ancestor rituals, and Growing Up, the second volume, focussed on the rituals of childhood, adolescence and youth (especially the male and female initiation rituals), the present volume deals with a number of rituals related to marriage.
After an introductory overview of studies on marriage rituals in Nepal the authors give some basic marriage rules of Hindu and Buddhist Newars, the social topography and hierarchy, the families of the marriage partners as well as the problems of endogamy and exogamy in Bhaktapur. They present a detailed description of Hindu and Buddhist marriage rituals among Newars (which are partly documented on the DVD included in this book) and come to relevant conclusions regarding life-cycle rituals in general and the place marriage rituals occupy in Newar society and Hinduism. Furthermore the texts used by Brahmin and Buddhist priests during these rituals are edited and translated and complemented by comprehensive Appendices including a list of elements of Newar rituals and mantras as well as a mantra and general index to all three volumes. The richly illustrated books have been highly appreciated by the scholarly community as a unique attempt to provide a comprehensive ethno-indological study of all major life-cycle rituals of a certain Hindu and Buddhist community.

The film, which was originally published on a DVD accompanying the book, is archived in the heidICON multimedia database and can be viewed via the following link:
Getting Married

In a rare combination of competence, an architectural historian (Niels Gutschow) and an indologist (Axel Michaels) have documented death rituals of the ethnic community of Newars in the Kathmandu Valley, Nepal. The first part of the book focusses to a specific setting, the ancient city of Bhaktapur and its calendric rituals of death and renewal. An introduction to the urban fabric with its cremation places, routes of death processions, places of spirits and ancestor deities is followed by a presentation of specialists involved in the death and ancestor rituals – illustrated by 28 maps. The second part presents a detailed description of the union of the deceased with his forefathers, a ritual which is also documented on a DVD. In addition, local handbooks and manuals used by the Brahmin priest during this ritual are edited and translated. This ethno-indological method of combination of textual and contextual approaches aims at understanding both the agency in rituals and the function of the text in contexts. Formalized rituals turn out to be by no means strict, stereotypical and unchangeable. The uniqueness of the actors, places and time has prompted the authors to name places and actors and to date time. The study of death rituals represents the first part of a trilogy of studies of life-cycle rituals in Nepal, carried out under the auspices of the Collaborative Research Centre “Dynamics of Ritual” (Sonderforschungsbereich 619: Ritualdynamik).

The ritual was documented by Christian Bau with a video camera and is included as a film on the DVD.

The films, which were originally published on a DVD accompanying the book, are archived in the heidICON multimedia database and can be viewed via the following links:

1. Handling death – Latyā – a death ritual of the Newars in Bhaktapur, Nepal
2. Den Tod in die Hand nehmen – Latyā - ein Totenritual der Newars in Bhaktapur, Nepal