A Jewel-Themed Introductory Workshop to Newar Buddhist Language and Literature

THIS EVENT HAS BEEN CANCELLED

Dr Christoph Emmrich (Toronto)

Abstract

The workshop linked to the lecture will walk participants through select passages from Buddhist literature in Old and Contemporary Newar, such as the Newar version of the Maṇicūḍāvadāna, which famously features the jewel in the head of a prince, 19th century bhajans dedicated to the decorations of Buddhist deities of the Kathmandu Valley, and Cittadhar Hṛdaya’s 20th century mahākāvya Sugata Saurabha, in which jewellery helps rearticulate Newar Buddhist modernity between the ostentatious and the austere. The directed readings will be prefaced by a brief introduction to the phonology, morphology, and syntax of literary Newar to facilitate the access to the original sources.

Bio

Christoph Emmrich is a Newarologist, Burmologist, Indologist, and Associate Professor of Buddhist Studies at the University of Toronto, where he has been teaching Newar, Burmese, Pali, Buddhist, and Jain Studies since 2006. When he does not teach, he divides his time between Lalitpur, Mawlamyine, Mandalay, and Pondicherry conducting research on rites and ritual literature, shop-keeping, and list-making, as well as poetry, textual practice, and temple management. His latest monograph Writing Rites for Newar Girls. Marriage, Mimesis, and Memory in the Kathmandu Valley is forthcoming with Brill.