Dharma and Puṇya: Buddhist Ritual Art of Nepal

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



1 Introduction

 Jinah Kim and Todd Lewis



 Catalog Section

 1 Vasudhārā Maṇḍala



Part I Foundations



2 Buddhism, Ritual, and the History of Buddhist Ritualism

 Todd Lewis



3 Overview of Newar Buddhism and Its Art: History and Community in the Kathmandu Valley

 Louis Copplestone



Part II Buddhist Rituals and Newar Tradition



4 Understanding Newar Buddhism through Ritual

 Todd Lewis



 Catalog Section

 2 Vajra

 3 Vajrācārya crown

 4 Ritual Skull cup

 5 Ritual dagger

 6 Ritual dagger

 7 Measuring vessel

 8 Sukundā wick lamp



5 Notes on Rituals Depicted in Newar Art

 Todd Lewis and Naresh Bajracharya



 Catalog Section

 9 Uṣṇīṣavijayā paubha

 10 Uṣṇīṣavijayā paubha

 11 Stūpa

 12 Uṣṇīṣavijayā stūpa

 13 Model Svayambhū stūpa

 14 Sketch of Boudhanath stūpa

 15 Donor lamp



6 Popular Images of Bunga-dyaḥ, Compassionate Localized Bodhisattva

 Bruce McCoy Owens



 Catalog Section

 16 Bunga-dyaḥ

 17 Padmapāṇi Avalokiteśvara



Part III Picturing Rituals



7 Performing Texts, Engendering Merits: Manuscripts and Paubhas as Ritual Objects

 Jinah Kim



 Catalog Section

 18 Folios and painted book covers from a Prajñāpāramitā manuscript

 19 Four folios from a dispersed Gaṇḍavyūha sūtra manuscript

 20 Three folios from a dispersed Gaṇḍavyūha sūtra manuscript

 21 Pañcarakṣā manuscript

 22 Dhāraṇī Saṅgraha manuscript

 23 Pañcarakṣā manuscript

 24 Pañcarakṣā manuscript



Part IV Kathmandu Valley Traditions in the Newar Context



8 Hindu-Buddhist Intersections in the Art of Nepal: Images of Avalokiteśvara

 Sonali Dhingra



 Catalog Section

 25 Kāraṇḍavyūha manuscript

 26 Sukhāvatī Lokeśvara with Tārā

 27 Wooden image of Indra

 28 Kāla Bhairava

 29 Bhairava mask

 30 Buddhist sacred thread

 31 Horoscope

 32 Votive stūpa



9 The Tradition of Vajrācārya Storytellers

 Todd Lewis and Naresh Bajracharya



 Catalog Section

 33 Śākyamuni Buddha with avadānas and worshipping donors

 34 Śākyamuni with scenes from the Kinnari Jātaka



10 On the Monumental Scroll of the Svayambhūpurāṇa Now Kept in the VMFA Collection

 Alexander von Rospatt



 Catalog Section

 35 Colossal bilampau of the Svayambhūpurāṇa

 36 Illustrations from the Svayambhūpurāṇa

 37 Five folios and painted wooden covers of a Prajñāpāramitā manuscript

 38 Lakṣacaitya Vrata



Part V The Newar Artist



 Catalog Section

 39 Buddha Amitābha and Eight Bodhisattvas



11 Notes on the Contemporary Practices of the Newar Artisan Traditions

 James A. Giambrone



 Catalog Section

 40 Modern copies of a set of wooden struts and a blind window



 Catalog Section of Some Contemporary Ritual Objects

 41 Buddhist entry paintings

 42 Pikha lakhu stone for preta off erings

 43 Sun God and Navagraha ritual stone

 44 Girl’s symbolic marriage maṇḍala

 45 Uṣṇīṣavijayā caitya plaque for Burā/Buri Jaṃko ritual

 46 Commissioned Vasundhārā Sand Maṇḍala template

 47 Wooden Monastery gong (Gambhā Sim)



Part VI Appendices



Appendix I

 Nepal: Period Overviews and the Time Line of the Kathmandu Valley History

 Louis Copplestone



Appendix II

 The Art of Newar Ritual Vessels, an Inventory of Specialized Objects and Offerings

 Sumon Kamal Tuladhar and Todd Lewis



Bibliography

List of Contributors

Photo Credits

Lenders

Index