Archeology of predynastic Nepal: from proto-history to the Kingdom of Lo (15th c.)

Mardi 22 octobre 2019

par Marion Poux, PhD student HTD, EPHE.

The district of Mustang (Nepal), also known as the Kingdom of Lo, now includes an area of ​​3565 m2 which is organized around the valley of Kali Gandaki, rare Himalayan river to flow from North to south. If the written history of the region begins in the eighth century with a mention in the Dunhang texts, the study of archaeological data shows us that the valley has a much older history.

In this paper we shall present the archaeological elements preliminary to the understanding of the history of Mustang. We shall begin by examining the possible presence of a funerary tradition in the south of the valley from the first millennium BC. We shall continue with a brief presentation of the work carried out by the Nepal German Project on High Mountain Archeology in the 90s which will allow us to establish some chronological and cultural bases for the second half of the 1st millennium BC.

Finally, we shall discuss a more recent history, from the 10th century to the 14th century, a period marked by significant architectural development and a more visible religious presence culminating in the establishment of the Lo dynasty in the early 15th century.

LECTURE at 6pm
in the Grand Salon of la Maison de l’Asie, 22 avenue du Président Wilson, 75016 PARIS

01/10/2019 12:55

Poems written by students on medieval Chinese manuscripts from Dunhuang

Jeudi 26 septembre 2019

par Imre Galambos de l’Université de Cambridge.

Among the tens of thousands of Chinese manuscripts recovered from a sealed-off cave in Dunhuang, a group of items carries texts copied by students as part of their schoolwork. These manuscripts invariably come from the period between the second half of the 9th century and the end of the 10th century, the time when the oasis city of Dunhuang operated as a de facto independent state along what is now known as the Silk Road.

The students wrote colophons at the end of the texts, stating their names, affiliation and the date of copying the text. In addition, many of the manuscripts contain (sometimes on the verso) the students' poems, often embedded amidst random scribbles and drawings. A portion of them are thematically related to the business of copying manuscripts. As some poems feature in more than one manuscript, at times decades apart, it is likely that they were not written by the students who wrote them down but represent a shared repertoire of such poetry throughout the region.

This talk will examine students' poems in an attempt to understand how they relate to the students who copied the manuscripts and to shed light on their connections beyond the immediate community of Dunhuang students. I will also discuss the circumstances under which the manuscripts were produced and used.

LECTURE on Thursday 26 September 2019 à 6pm, in the Grand Salon de la Maison de l'Asie, 22 avenue du Président Wilson, 75016 PARIS.

28/08/2019 13:32

Program of Lectures for the Second Semester of 2019

The lectures will be held at 6:00 PM at the Maison de l’Asie

22 avenue du Président Wilson, 75016 PARIS Jeudi 26 septembre 2019 :

Poems written by students on medieval Chinese manuscripts from Dunhuang

by Imre Galambos, from Cambridge University. Tuesday 22 October 2019 :

Archeology of predynastic Nepal: from proto-history to the Kingdom of Lo (15th century)

by Marion Poux, PhD student HTD, EPHE. Friday 22 November 2019 at 2:30 PM :

Round table The reconstruction of monuments and communities in Nepal after the earthquake of 2015.

With the participation of David Andolfatto, Denis Blamont, Michael Hutt, Blandine Ripert and Brigitte Steinmann.
The round table will be held at 2:30 PM. Tuesday 10 December 2019 :

The art of being buchen: "breaking the stone on the stomach", and edifying stories from the Pin Valley, Spiti

by Pascale Dollfus, Ethnologist.

Subject to modification

17/06/2019 08:29

In the land of Khaś: New archaeological data on the art and history of Western Nepal

by David C. Andolfatto, PhD student Paris-Sorbonne IV, consultant for the UNESCO Kathmandu office.

Le «Pays des Khaś» (khaśadeśa) est l’appellation médiévale employée pour désigner le Népal occidental. Les Khaś en question sont une ethnie des piémonts himalayens résidant principalement entre l’ouest du Népal et l’Uttarkhand indien. Entre le 12e et le 14e siècle l’empire des rois Khaś Malla règne sur une majeure partie de la région. Les arts qui se développent avant, pendant et après cette période indiquent une richesse culturelle indéniable, à la croisée de divers horizons culturelles.

À l’issue de plusieurs séjours de terrain, cette communication présentera les différents styles artistiques en présence ainsi que leurs contextes socio-culturels. La présentation se penchera également sur un corpus de représentations médiévales inédit et mettant en scène des pratiques oraculaires médiumiques.

LECTURE at 6pm
in the Grand Salon of the Maison de l’Asie, 22 avenue du Président Wilson, 75016 PARIS

17/06/2019 08:19

Opening the hidden countries (sbas yul) on the three borders of Kanchenjunga

Tuesday 28 May 2019

Opening the hidden countries (sbas yul) on the three borders of Kanchenjunga. Sikkim, Tibet, Nepal: Iconography, history and politics 18th-21st centuries

by Brigitte Steinmann, Professor, Institute of Sociology and Anthropology, University of Lille and CNRS (Clerse UMR 8019 and C.R.C.A.O. Paris).

Between the 17th and 19th centuries, Nepal, Sikkim and Tibet were three independent Hindu and Buddhist kingdoms that shared geographical boundaries and territories around the Kanchenjunga Massif. This sacred mountain, occupied by the Tibetan warrior gods Dzonga and Yabdud, was the scene of great religious and political events from the 17th century: the north-eastern border regions of Nepal (Walungchung gola) and north of Sikkim (Dzongu, Lachen) were marked religiously by the arrival of great gter ston and Tibetan trantrists and by the installation of royal Buddhist lineages; while the successive political events and colonial wars between Tibet, Nepal and Sikkim, between the 18th and 19th centuries, changed profoundly the political and social life of chieftaincies and local indigenous peoples, helping to chart new frontiers. modern states.In this essay on religious and political history, we rely on historical and iconographic documents, as well as on ethnographic surveys (especially between the 1980s and 2014).

LECTURE at 6pm
in the Grand Salon de la Maison de l’Asie, 22 avenue du Président Wilson, 75016 PARIS

29/04/2019 12:55

A Manichean hymnal found in Dunhuang

Tuesday 30 April 2019

by Lucie Rault, ethnomusicologist and sinologist, Lecturer at the National Museum of Natural History.

The translation of the hymns contained in this manuscript allows us to sketch a new vision of the message of the Iranian prophet Mani (216-276), the magnitude of which reached a universal scope. This message, spread by his followers to the West and to the East, emanates from the numerous works written by Mani himself and has benefited from various influences according to its migrations across Asia, along the Silk Roads, land and sea. The various languages ​​that conveyed it enriched it while making it complex in its interpretation. While Mani wanted to be the Seal of the Prophecy by refunding his Gnostic, Zoroastrian and Buddhist heritage, so that his religion could "connect men from around the whole world, regardless of their origin, their language. or their history", its adaptation to the Chinese vision of the Tang era has worked a new syncretism, culminating in China with the Religion of Light.

LECTURE at 6pm
in the Grand Salon de la Maison de l’Asie, 22 avenue du Président Wilson, 75016 PARIS

08/04/2019 13:03

A recent development in discourse on Zhangzhung's Tibetan history

Mardi 26 mars 2019

by Per Kvaerne, Emeritus Professor at the University of Oslo.

The Bon religion, or Yungdrung bön, "eternal bon", was established in the 11th century in central Tibet in opposition to Buddhism. Yungdrung Bön is based on a historical-mythical discourse according to which Tönpa Shenrap, king of the mythical country Wölmo Lungring, has spread the bön religion in a large number of countries, including the kingdom of Zhangzhung in what is nowadays western Tibet. According to the sources, bon, this religion would have spread from Zhangzhung in Tibet, where it would have remained the religion of Tibetans and especially kings until the end of the 8th century. According to Bönpos, Zhangzhung would have played an important role as intermediary in the history of bön and Tibet.

We are now witnessing a transformation of this discourse, as Zhangzhung is appropriating the place formerly occupied by Wölmo Lungring. The Bönpos, in the Tibetan diaspora as well as in Tibet, now claim that Zhangzhung was "the land of Tönpa Shenrap", and therefore the source of Tibetan culture, including Tibetan writing. At the same time, the archaeological excavations carried out in western Tibet by the Bönpos - and by the archaeologists themselves - seem to provide irrefutable evidence of the existence of a Zhangzhung "civilization". However, the problem remains: there is no reliable link between the very few written sources of the Tibetan kingdom period and the Zhangzhung as it is described in the bön texts.

Recently, the Chinese government has set up an ambitious project to translate Chinese sacred texts into Chinese, 178 volumes in total. The goal is to 'find' Zhangzhung as the source of Tibetan culture and thus contribute to enriching China's national culture. This is an entirely secular project - the bön religion does not seem to matter.

Thus, an ancient Tibetan historical discourse is being diversified before our eyes for very different purposes.

LECTURE at 6pm

02/03/2019 02:51