Getting Married : Hindu and Buddhist Marriage Rituals
Among the Newars of Bhaktapur and Patan, Nepal / Niels
Gutschow ; Axel Michaels. - Wiesbaden : Harrassowitz, 2012. -
VI, 404 S. + 1 DVD. - (Ethno-Indology ; 12)
ISBN 978-3-447-06663-1
EUR 78,00
Description
Getting Married is the third and final volume on
Hindu and Buddhist life-cycle rituals among the Newars of the
ancient city of Bhaktapur in Nepal. It combines extensive
fieldwork and the edition and translation of relevant ritual
handbooks. While Handling Death, the first volume,
focussed on the dynamics of death and ancestor rituals, and Growing
Up, the second volume, focussed on the rituals of
childhood, adolescence and youth (especially the male and
female initiation rituals), the present volume deals with a
number of rituals related to marriage. After an introductory
overview of studies on marriage rituals in Nepal the authors
give some basic marriage rules of Hindu and Buddhist Newars,
the social topography and hierarchy, the families of the
marriage partners as well as the problems of endogamy and
exogamy in Bhaktapur. They present a detailed description of
Hindu and Buddhist marriage rituals among Newars (which are
partly documented on the DVD included in this book) and come
to relevant conclusions regarding life-cycle rituals in
general and the place marriage rituals occupy in Newar society
and Hinduism. Furthermore the texts used by Brahmin and
Buddhist priests during these rituals are edited and
translated and complemented by comprehensive Appendices
including a list of elements of Newar rituals and mantras as
well as a mantra and general index to all three volumes. The
richly illustrated books have been highly appreciated by the
scholarly community as a unique attempt to provide a
comprehensive ethno-indological study of all major life-cycle
rituals of a certain Hindu and Buddhist community.