Growing Up

Gutschow, Niels / Michaels, Axel:
Growing up : Hindu and Buddhist Initiation Rituals among Newar Children in Bhaktapur (Nepal) / Niels Gutschow ; Axel Michaels. With a film on DVD by Christian Bau. - Wiesbaden : Harrassowitz, 2008. - 332 S. : Ill. + DVD. - (Ethno-Indology ; 6)
ISBN 978-3-447-05752-3 / 3-447-05752-1
EUR 64,00

Beschreibung
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. [Verlagsinformation]

Inhalt
Foreword. 1
Introduction. 7
PART 1: BHAKTAPUR - THE CITY AND ITS RITUAL SPECIALISTS
- The Urban Realm. 16
- Spatial Purity. 17
- Locative Aspects of the Life-Cycle Rituals. 19
- Social Topography. 19
- Social Hierarchy. 22
- Ritual Specialists. 25
- Ritual Agency. 31
- Status and Purity. 33
PART 2: THE RITUALS
- Introduction. 38
- Pregnancy and Birth Rituals. 39
- The First Feeding of Solid Food. Macā jākva or Annaprāśana. 40
- The Birthday Ritual. 52
- The First Shaving of a Boy's Head: Busā khāyegu (cūḍākaraṇa). 54
- The Boy's Hindu Initiation: Kaytāpūjā or Mekhalābandhana. 59
- The Boy's Buddhist Inititation: Kaytāpūjā. 84
- The Boy's Buddhist Monastic Intitation: Bāre chuyegu (pravrajyā). 87
- The Girl's Hindu Marriage to the Bel Fruit. Ihi. 93
- The Girl's Buddhist Marriage to the Bel Fruit: Ihi. 165
- The Girl's Seclusion: Bārhā tayegu. 173
PART 3: CONCLUSION - THE DYNAMICS OF NEWAR CHILDHOOD RITUALS
- Introduction. 190
- Childhood and adolescence. 190
- Purity and impurity, auspiciousness and inauscipiciousness. 194
- The Individual and the Social. 195
- Aspects of Space and Time. 196
- The Contruction of Immortality. 198
PART 4: THE TEXTS
- Introduction. 202
- Daśakarmavidhi. 204
- Translation. 216
- Daśakarmavidhi. 227
- Translation. 230
- Kaytābiya-Mekhalābandhana[-Vidhi]. 235
- Translation. 237
- Ihipūjāvidhi. 240
- Translation. 241
- Suvarṇakumāravivāhavidhi. 244
- Translation. 251
- Pāṇigrahaṇavidhi. 258
- Translation. 260
APPENDICES
- Mantras. 266
- Newar Rituals of Passage. 288
References. 291
I. Texts. 291
II. Monographs, Articles, etc. 292
Glossary. 298
DVD: Growing Up (Ihi and Kaytāpūjā / Mekhalābandhana)

Autoren

AXEL MICHAELS, Professor für Klassische Indologie am Südasien-Institut der Universität Heidelberg. Profil-Seite.
NIELS GUTSCHOW ist Bauhistoriker mit zwei gleichwiegenden Schwerpunkten: zum einen die Architekturgeschichte Asiens, vornehmlich Indiens und Nepals, zum anderen Architektur und Stadtplanung während des Zweiten Weltkrieges und in der Nachkriegszeit in Mitteleuropa. Seine Publikationen umfassen ca. 100 überwiegend in wissenschaftlichen Zeitschriften veröffentlichte Artikel sowie 24, teilweise mit anderen Autoren verfaßte Bücher; darunter mehrere Standardwerke: "Stadtraum und Ritual der newarischen Städte im Kathmandu-Tal", "Newar Towns and Buildings. An illustrated Dictionary" (mit B. Kölver und I. Shresthacarya), "The Nepalese Caitya", "Träume in Trümmern" (mit W. Durth), "Architektur und Städtebau der DDR" (mit W.Durth und J. Düwel). Profil-Seite.
CHRISTIAN BAU (*1942), Dokumentarfilmer. Profil-Seite und Filmografie (Die Thede).

Quellen: Harrassowitz Verlag; Buchhandel.de; WorldCat.
Schlagwörter: Nepal; Hinduismus; Buddhismus; Initiationsrituale; Übergangsriten; Bhaktapur

Rückschau
Von Axel Michaels haben wir in Indologica bereits die folgenden Werke erfaßt:
1. [31.07.2004] Michaels: Die Kunst des einfachen Lebens
2. [12.10.2005] Assmann / Maciejewski / Michaels: Der Abschied von den Toten
3. [21.04.2008] Michaels: Siva in Trouble