Nerw book by Documenta Nepalica Vol. 9, Heidelberg University Publishing.
Each spring in Nepal’s Kathmandu Valley, the deity Buṅgadyaḥ—said to be a rain-maker, Buddhist savior, tantric master—travels through Patan on a towering wooden chariot, transforming streets and crossroads into sacred space. This interdisciplinary volume assembles eight scholars to examine this procession across more than a millennium: from the earliest medieval inscriptions to post-earthquake revivalism, from royal patronage and guthi resilience to caste politics and photographic representation. Drawing on unique sources that range from epigraphy, legal and administrative records, ethnography, architecture, and material culture, the contributors discuss how ritual, urban form, and distributed agency converge in a festival that continues to negotiate identity, authority, and belonging in contemporary South Asia.