Dharma and PunÌ£ya: Buddhist Ritual Art of Nepal explores the centrality of ritual practices and the agency of people â patrons, ritual specialists, devotees â in creating and amplifying the efficacy of Buddhist art. Jinah Kim and Todd Lewis highlight the unparalleled contributions of Nepalâs artisans, patrons, and ritualists in engendering artistic heritage that is an endearing continuation of Indic Buddhist traditions. The publication presents paintings, illuminated texts, statues, and ritual implements from the Newar tradition in the Kathmandu Valley. Richly illustrated with photographs of contemporary rituals, religious observances, and historical examples, the essays provide cultural, historical and ritual contexts in which objects collected in art museums were used, and animate them. By recentering the historical imagination on communities, their rituals, and popular narrative traditions, Dharma and PunÌ£ya challenges prevailing misconceptions about Buddhism in the West and expand our understanding of Buddhism as a lived world religion. Contributors include: Naresh Bajracharya, Louis Coppleston, Sonali Dhingra, James Giambrone, Jinah Kim, Todd Lewis, Bruce McCoy Owens, Alexander von Rospatt and Sumon Tuladhar.
Jinah Kim, Ph.D. (2006), UC Berkeley, is Gardner Colwes Professor of History of Art & Architecture at Harvard University. Her list of publications includes Receptacle of the Sacred: Illustrated Manuscripts and the Buddhist Book Cult in South Asia (2013).
Todd Lewis, Ph.D. (1984), Columbia University, is Distinguished Professor of Asian Religions at the College of the Holy Cross. He has published monographs, translations, textbooks, and studies of Newar Buddhism in the Kathmandu Valley, including The Epic of the Buddha by Chittadhar Hridaya (2019).
Acknowledgements
Notes on Transliteration
1âIntroduction
âJinah Kim and Todd Lewis
âCatalog Section
â1âVasudhÄrÄ Maá¹á¸ala
Part I Foundations
2âBuddhism, Ritual, and the History of Buddhist Ritualism
âTodd Lewis
3âOverview of Newar Buddhism and Its Art: History and Community in the Kathmandu Valley
âLouis Copplestone
Part II Buddhist Rituals and Newar Tradition
4âUnderstanding Newar Buddhism through Ritual
âTodd Lewis
7âPerforming Texts, Engendering Merits: Manuscripts and Paubhas as Ritual Objects
âJinah Kim
âCatalog Section
â18âFolios and painted book covers from a PrajñÄpÄramitÄ manuscript
â19âFour folios from a dispersed Gaá¹á¸avyÅ«ha sÅ«tra manuscript
â20âThree folios from a dispersed Gaá¹á¸avyÅ«ha sÅ«tra manuscript
â21âPañcaraká¹£Ä manuscript
â22âDhÄraá¹Ä« Saá¹ graha manuscript
â23âPañcaraká¹£Ä manuscript
â24âPañcaraká¹£Ä manuscript
Part IV Kathmandu Valley Traditions in the Newar Context
8âHindu-Buddhist Intersections in the Art of Nepal: Images of AvalokiteÅvara
âSonali Dhingra
9âThe Tradition of VajrÄcÄrya Storytellers
âTodd Lewis and Naresh Bajracharya
âCatalog Section
â33âÅÄkyamuni Buddha with avadÄnas and worshipping donors
â34âÅÄkyamuni with scenes from the Kinnari JÄtaka
10âOn the Monumental Scroll of the SvayambhÅ«purÄá¹a Now Kept in the VMFA Collection
âAlexander von Rospatt
âCatalog Section
â35âColossal bilampau of the SvayambhÅ«purÄá¹a
â36âIllustrations from the SvayambhÅ«purÄá¹a
â37âFive folios and painted wooden covers of a PrajñÄpÄramitÄ manuscript
â38âLaká¹£acaitya Vrata
Part V The Newar Artist
âCatalog Section
â39âBuddha AmitÄbha and Eight Bodhisattvas
11âNotes on the Contemporary Practices of the Newar Artisan Traditions
âJames A. Giambrone
âCatalog Section
â40âModern copies of a set of wooden struts and a blind window
âCatalog Section of Some Contemporary Ritual Objects
â41âBuddhist entry paintings
â42âPikha lakhu stone for preta off erings
â43âSun God and Navagraha ritual stone
â44âGirlâs symbolic marriage maá¹á¸ala
â45âUá¹£á¹Ä«á¹£avijayÄ caitya plaque for BurÄ/Buri Jaá¹ko ritual
â46âCommissioned VasundhÄrÄ Sand Maá¹á¸ala template
â47âWooden Monastery gong (GambhÄ Sim)
Part VI Appendices
Appendix I
âNepal: Period Overviews and the Time Line of the Kathmandu Valley History
âLouis Copplestone
Appendix II
âThe Art of Newar Ritual Vessels, an Inventory of Specialized Objects and Offerings
âSumon Kamal Tuladhar and Todd Lewis
Bibliography
List of Contributors
Photo Credits
Lenders
Index
Anyone interested in Himalayan art, Nepal, Buddhist Art, ritual and anthropology of religion, educated public (intro courses on Buddhism and Buddhist art), specialists (art history, Buddhist studies).