Publication New edited volume by Christiane Brosius et al. on Placemaking in Nepal
Christiane Brosius, Rajan Khatiwoda, Simon Cubelic and Manik Bhajracharya - all (former) members of the HCTS - have co-edited a volume on one of the largest processions in Nepal, based on historical, philological, anthropological and architectural research. The book is available free and open access in the Documenta Nepalica Book Series with heiUP, and is titled When a God Moves the City. Placemaking in the Buṅgadyaḥ Procession of Nepal.
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.
