Publications

Documenta Nepalica – Book Series                                                            

The research project publishes the printed publication series "Documenta Nepalica – Book Series" in Open Access (CC BY-SA 4.0). The volumes are also available as print-on-demand.

Vol. 1

Simon Cubelic, Axel Michaels, Astrid Zotter (edd.), Studies in Historical Documents from Nepal and India, Heidelberg: Heidelberg University Publishing, 2018 (Documenta Nepalica – Book Series, Vol. 1), DOI: 10.17885/heiup.331.454.

"This volume is the outcome of the conference “Studying Documents in Premodern South Asia and Beyond: Problems and Perspective”, held in October 2015 in Heidelberg. In bringing together experts from different fields—including Indology, Tibetology, History, Anthropology, Religious Studies, and Digital Humanties—it aims at exploring and rethinking issues of diplomatics and typology, the place of documents in relation to other texts and literary genres, methods of archiving and editing documents, as well as their “social life”, i.e. the role they play in social, religious and political constellations, the agents and practices of their use, and the norms and institutions they embody and constitute", 10.17885/heiup.331.454.

Vol. 2

Rajan Khatiwoda, Simon Cubelic and Axel Michaels (edd.), The Mulukī Ain of 1854: Nepal's First Legal Code, Heidelberg: Heidelberg University Publishing, 2021 (Documenta Nepalica – Book Series, Vol. 2), DOI: 10.17885/heiup.769.

"The Mulukī Ain of 1854—the law code with constitutional features drafted at the initiative of Prime Minister Jaṅga Bahādura Rāṇā—is the foundational legal text for modern Nepal. It covers almost every aspect of public, criminal, private and religious law, ranging from the organisation of the state and courts to murder and other delicts, the workings of the caste system and the joint family, matters of purity and penance, customary law, widow-burning and witchcraft. As such, the Mulukī Ain is a unique source not only for the political, social and economic life of 19th-century Nepal, but also for the place of traditional Hindu jurisprudence in South Asian legal cultures", 10.17885/heiup.769.
Picture of the Cover withe the title "The Muluki Ain of 1853. Nepal's First Legal Code"
HAdW

Vol. 3

Bajracharya, Manik (Ed.), Slavery and Unfree Labour in Nepal: Documents from the 18th to Early 20th Century, Heidelberg: Heidelberg University Publishing, 2022 (Documenta Nepalica – Book Series, Vol. 3), DOI: 10.17885/heiup.1003.

"The topic of slavery is largely under-represented in the historiography of Nepal. This source book, aware of this disparity and wishing to encourage future studies on the topic, provides the reader with editions, translations and a study of selected documents and legal texts of Nepal from the period of the eighteenth to the early twentieth century. These sources are concerned with such different aspects of slavery as donations, transactions, bondservitude, forced labour, emancipation, and law.", 10.17885/heiup.1003.

Vol. 5

Bijay Basukala, Niels Gutschow, Nutandhar Sharma, Patan-Vãbāhā : History and Inventory of a Newar Buddhist Monastery, Heidelberg: Heidelberg University Publishing, 2022 (Documenta Nepalica – Book Series, Band 5), DOI: 10.17885/heiup.1116.

"This volume presents the religious, architectural, and textual background of Vãbāhā, one of the 16 main monasteries of Patan, located in one of the three royal cities of the Kathmandu Valley in Nepal. The history of the Buddhist monastic courtyard and its objects is presented along with 42 inscriptions, dating from 1596 CE to 2021.", 10.17885/heiup.1116.

 

E-Publications                                                                                                          

The digitally edited documents are published on the editions’ platform of the research unit. The data is subject to the license CC BY-SA 4.0; for more information, see Terms of Use.

Since February 2017 they have also been obtainable in open access through the Heidelberg University Library; see 'Editions published with DOI'.

 

Publications by Team Members                                                                      

2022

Bajracharya, Manik und Axel Michaels. 2022. „Introduction“. In Slavery and Unfree Labour in Nepal: Documents from the 18th to Early 20th Century, edited by Manik Bajracharya. Heidelberg: Heidelberg University Publishing.

Cubelic, Simon, Rajan Khatiwoda und Axel Michaels. 2022. „Introduction: Slavery and Unfree Labour in the Ain of 1854“. In Slavery and Unfree Labour in Nepal: Documents from the 18th to Early 20th Century, edited by Manik Bajracharya. Heidelberg: Heidelberg University Publishing.

Timalsina, Ramhari. 2022. The Sumatipañjikā: A Commentary on the Cāndravyākaraṇavṛtti 1.1 and 1.4. Pondichéry: Institut Français de Pondichéry / Ecole française d’Extrême-Orient.

Tittel, Sabine. 2022. „Towards an Ontology for Toponyms in Nepalese Historical Documents“. In Proceedings of the Workshop on Resources and Technologies for Indigenous, Endangered and Lesser-resourced Languages in Eurasia within the 13th Language Resources and Evaluation Conference. Marseille: European Language Resources Association, 7–16.

Zotter, Christof. 2022. „Shades of Power: The Nāth Yogīs in Nepal“. In The Power of the Nāth Yogīs, edited by D. Bevilacqua und E. Stuparich. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 197–226.

2021

Cubelic, Simon. 2021. „Die koloniale Restauration des Dharmaśāstra. Das Obligationenrecht in Sarvoru Śarmans Vivādasārārṇava. Edition, kommentierte Übersetzung und Studie der Kapitel ṛṇādānanirūpaṇa und upanidhyādinirūpaṇa“. Dissertation, Heidelberg: Univ. Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.11588/heidok.00029448.

Michaels, Axel. 2021. (Hrsg. mit Christoph Wulf). Science and Scientification in South Asia and Europe. London and New York: Routledge.

Id. 2021. „Kann weltflüchtige Askese innovative Kräfte auslösen? Drei Thesen“. In Kreative Impulse und Innovationsleistungen religiöser Gemeinschaften im mittelalterlichen Europa, edited by Julia Becker and Julia Burkhardt. Regensburg: Schnell & Steiner, 151–165.

Id. 2021 „The place of historical Nepal in the history of South Asian religions“. In Routledge Handbook of South Asian Religions, edited by Knut A. Jacobson. London und New York: Routledge, 139–150.

Id. with Christiane Brosius, Rajan Khatiwoda, Astrid Zotter, Manik Bajracharya, Simon Cubelic and Arunava Dasgupta. 2021. „Studying, Documenting, and Teaching Nepal’s Cultural Heritage“ International Institute for Asian Studies. The Newsletter 90: 25–26. https://www.iias.asia/the-newsletter/newsletter-90-autumn-2021.

Zotter, Astrid. 2021. „Who Kills the Buffalo? Authority and Agency in the Ritual Logistics of the Nepalese Dasaĩ Festival“. In Nine Nights of Power: Durgā, Dolls and Darbārs, edited by U. Hüsken, V. Narayanan and A. Zotter. New York: State University of New York Press, 193–220.

Id. with Ute Hüsken, Vasudha Narayanan. 2021. Nine Nights of Power: Durgā, Dolls, and Darbārs. New York: State University of New York Press.

Id. with Ute Hüsken, Vasudha Narayanan. 2021. „Nine Nights of Power: Durgā, Dolls, and Darbārs: An Introduction.“ In Nine Nights of Power: Durgā, Dolls and Darbārs, edited by U. Hüsken, V. Narayanan und A. Zotter. New York: State University of New York Press, 1–13.

2020

Michaels, Axel. 2020. “Mathematics and Vedic mathematics”. In Science and Scientification in South Asia and Europe, edited by A. Michaels and C. Wulf. London and New York: Routledge, 57–68.

Id. 2020. „South Asia and South East Asia“. In Making Civilizations: The World before 600, edited by H.-J. Gehrke. Cambridge, MA and London: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 867-1023.

Id. (with Christiane Brosius). 2020.  „Vernacular Heritage as Urban Place-Making. Activities and Positions in the Reconstruction of Monuments after the Gorkha Earthquake in Nepal, 2015–2020: The Case of Patan“, Sustainability 2020 12(20).

Id. (edited together with Christoph Wulf). 2020. Science and Scientification in South Asia and Europe. London and New York: Routledge.

Zotter, Astrid. 2020. „Bells, Auspiciousness and the God of Music: Reflections on Sound in Ritual Space in Nepalese Hindu Traditions.“ In Worship Sound Spaces: Architecture, Acoustics and Anthropology, edited by C. Guillebaud and C. Lavandier. London/New York: Routledge, 122–139.

Zotter, Christof. 2020. „The Pragmatic End of Scholasticism: Ritualists and their Textual Tradition.” In Les scolastiques indiennes: Genèses, développements, interactions, edited by G. Colas and É. Aussant. Paris/Pondicherry: École française d’Extrême-Orient, 239–250.

2019

Cubelic, Simon. 2019. „Sarvoru Śarman’s Vivādasārārṇava (1789) and the Formation of Sanskritic Legal Knowledge in Early Colonial Bengal.“ Reinterpreting Indology and Indian History: Institutions, Intentions, Sources and Issues, edited by Radha Madhav Bharadwaj,  102-119. Delhi: Pratibha Prakashan.

Michaels, Axel. 2019 (edited together with Margareta Pavaloi). The Scholar’s Choice: Lieblingsstücke Heidelberger Wissenschaftler aus dem Völkerkundemuseum der J. und E. von Portheim-Stiftung. Heidelberg: heiUP.

Id. 2019. „Lost in Transhimalayan Transculturality: Opium, Horses and an Englishman between China, Tibet and Nepal.“ In: B. Mittler et al. (Edd.), China and the World – the World and China: Essays in Honor of Rudolf G. Wagner. Gossenberg: Ostasien Verlag, 79-88.

Id. 2019. „Sklaverei in Nepal.“ In: Heidelberger Akademie der Wissenschaften: Jahrbuch 2018, Heidelberg: Heidelberger Akademie der Wissenschaften, 38-40.

Id. 2019. „Repetition and Reenactments in Rituals.“ In: J. R. Resina and C. Wulf (Hrsg.), Repetition, Recurrence, Returns: How Cultural Renewal Works. Lanham et al.: Lexington Books, 19-31.

Id. 2019. „Cultural Hybrity and Transculturality.“ In: L. Abu-Er-Rub et al. (Edd.), Engaging Transculturality: Concepts, Key terms, Case Studies. London/New York: Routledge, 3-14.

Plachta, Nadine and Subas Tamang. 2019. “Labor Geographies: Uneven Infrastructures in Nepal’s Rana Period.” Roadsides 002 (Special Issue: Labor). DOI 10.26034/roadsides-2019008.

Zotter, Astrid. 2019. „Papier ist geduldig.“ In: Jahrbuch der Heidelberger Akademie der Wissenschaften, 95-100.

Id. 2019. Book Review: „Demoting Vishnu: Ritual, Politics, and the Unraveling of Nepal’s Hindu Monarchy. By Anne T. Mocko.“ Journal of the American Oriental Society 139(3): 770–772.

2018

Bajracharya, Manik. 2018. „Munsīs in the Courts of Early Śāha and Rāṇā Rulers: The Career of Lakṣmīdāsa Pradhāna.“ In: Simon Cubelic, Axel Michaels and Astrid Zotter (Edd.), Studies in Historical Documents from Nepal and India. Heidelberg: Heidelberg University Publishing, 377-398.

Cubelic, Simon. 2018. „Governing Economic Life in Rāṇā Nepal: The Tender Process for the Gambling License at the Market Square of Asan in 1902.“ In: Simon Cubelic, Axel Michaels and Astrid Zotter (Edd.), Studies in Historical Documents from Nepal and India. Heidelberg: Heidelberg University Publishing, 293-327.

Id. 2018. „Rezension zu: Otter, Felix: Die Revitalisierung von Vāstuvidyā im kolonialen und nachkolonialen Indien. Heidelberg 2016“. In H-Soz-Kult, 06.07.2018, <www.hsozkult.de/publicationreview/id/rezbuecher-26996>.

Cubelic, Simon, Axel Michaels and Astrid Zotter (Hrsg.). 2018. Studies in Historical Documents from Nepal and India. Heidelberg: Heidelberg University Publishing.

Id. Nepalese Edition: 2018. Kathmandu: National Archives, Nepal.

Cubelic, Simon, Axel Michaels and Astrid Zotter. 2018. „Studying Documents of South Asia: An Introduction.“ In: Simon Cubelic, Axel Michaels and Astrid Zotter (Edd.), Studies in Historical Documents from Nepal and India. Heidelberg: Heidelberg University Publishing, 1-33.

Khatiwoda, Rajan. 2018. „Documented Evidence Relating to the Implementation of the Mulukī Ain in Mid-19th Century Nepal.“ In: Simon Cubelic, Axel Michaels and Astrid Zotter (Edd.), Studies in Historical Documents from Nepal and India. Heidelberg: Heidelberg University Publishing, 243-269.

Michaels, Axel. 2018. „Are Hindu Women Allowed to Establish a Śivaliṅga? A Question Asked in a Letter to Jaṅga Bahādura Rāṇā, Dated 1843 CE.“ In: Simon Cubelic, Axel Michaels and Astrid Zotter (Edd.), Studies in Historical Documents from Nepal and India. Heidelberg: Heidelberg University Publishing.

Id. 2018. Kultur und Geschichte Nepals. Kröner Verlag.

Id. 2018. “Rites of Passage: saṃskāras.” In: Patrick Olivelle and Donald R. Davis (Edd.), The Oxford History of Hinduism: Hindu Law. New York: Oxford University Press, 86-97.

Id. (edited together with Christoph Wulf). 2018. Images of the Body in India, London: Routledge (Nachdruck).

Zotter, Astrid. 2018. „What Durgā, Which Navarātra? Remarks on Reconfigurations of Royal Rituals in the Kathmandu Valley.” In: M. Sen, C. Simmons and H.P. Rodrigues (Edd.), Nine Nights of the Goddess: Navarātri in South Asia and Beyond. New York: SUNY, 39-62.

Dies. 2018. „Conquering Navarātra: Documents on the Reorganisation of a State Festival.” In: Simon Cubelic, Axel Michaels and Astrid Zotter (Edd.), Studies in Historical Documents from Nepal and India. Heidelberg: Heidelberg University Publishing, 493-531.

Zotter, Christof. 2018. Asketen auf Zeit: Das brahmanische Initiationsritual der Bāhun und Chetrī im Kathmandu-Tal. Heidelberg: CrossAsia.

Id. 2018. „Ascetics in Administrative Affairs: Documents on the Mahantamaṇḍalāī.“ In: Simon Cubelic, Axel Michaels and Astrid Zotter (Edd.), Studies in Historical Documents from Nepal and India. Heidelberg: Heidelberg University Publishing, 446-491.

Id. 2018. „Vedisches Übungswissen. Schülerschaft und Ritual in der brahmanischen Tradition.” In: Almut-Barbara Renger and Alexandra Stellmacher (Edd.), Übungswissen in Religion und Philosophie. Produktion, Weitergabe, Wandel. Berlin u.a.: Lit Verlag, 225-239.

2017

Bajracharya, Manik, Simon Cubelic and Rajan Khatiwoda. 2017. „Reporting across Borders in a Time of Turmoil: Eight Reports from Lokaramaṇa Upādhyāya from the Years 1837–1844.” Abhilekha 34: 138–172.

Bajracharya, Manik and Axel Michaels. 2017. „Religious Approaches to Heritage Restoration in Post-Earthquake Kathmandu.” Material Religion 13 (3): 379-381, DOI: 10.1080/17432200.2017.1335085.

Cubelic, Simon and Rajan Khatiwoda. 2017. „Nepalese Monarchy in an Age of Codification: Kingship, Patriotism, and Legality in the Nepalese Code of 1854.“ In: Milinda Banerjee, Charlotte Backerra and Cathleen Sarti (Edd.), Transnational Histories of the 'Royal Nation'. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, 67-86.

Michaels, Axel. 2017. „Ritual in Hinduism.” In: Tracy Coleman (Ed.), Oxford Bibliographies in "Hinduism" New York: Oxford University Press, Nov 29, 2017.

Id. 2017. „Rituals.” In: Greg Bailey (Ed.), Hinduism in India: The Early Period, Los Angeles u. a.: Sage, 27-59.

Id. 2017. „Macht und Autorität in der hinduistischen Priestersukzession. Das Beispiel des Pasupatinatha-Tempel in Nepal.“ In: Almut-Barbara Renger and Markus Witte (Edd.), Sukzession in Religionen. Autorisierung, Legitimierung, Wissenstransfer. Berlin/Boston, De Gruyter, 535-549.

Id. 2017. (with Govinda Tandon) Paśupatikṣetra – A Historical Inventory. Kathmandu: Himal Books.

Zotter, Astrid. 2017. „Königliche Rituale ohne König: Zur Selbstrepräsentation des nepalischen Staates zwischen Monarchie und Demokratie.“ Religionen unterwegs 23.1: 4-9, 16.

Id. 2017. Rezension: „Roots of Wisdom, Branches of Devotion: Plant Life in South Asian Traditions, edited by Fabrizio M. Ferrari and Thomas Dähnhardt.“ South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies, DOI: 10.1080/00856401.2017.1379235.

2016

Bajracharya, Manik, Simon Cubelic and Rajan Khatiwoda. 2016. “Reporting across Borders: Four Reports of Lokaramaṇa Upādhyāya from the years 1831-1837,” in: Abhilekha 33: 120-133.

Bajracharya, Manik and Axel Michaels. 2016. Nepālikabhūpa-Vaṃśāvalī / History of the Kings of Nepal – A Buddhist Chronicle. Kathmandu: Himal Books. – vol. 1: Introduction and Translation; vol. 2: Edition; vol. 3: (by Niels Gutschow) Maps and Illustrations.

Cubelic, Simon and Astrid Zotter. 2016. “Report on the International Conference ‘Studying Documents in Pre-modern South Asia and Beyond: Problems and Perspectives’,” in: European Bulletin of Himalayan Research 47: 96-98.

Michaels, Axel. 2016. Homo ritualis. Hindu Rituals and its Significance for Ritual Theory. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press.

Id. 2016. “Blood Sacrifice in Nepal: Transformations and Criticism”, in: David N. Gellner, Sondra Hausner, Chiara Letizia (Edd.), Religion, Secularism, and Ethnicity in Contemporary Nepal. Delhi: Oxford University Press, 192-225.

Id., 2016. „Kulturelles Erbe in Katastrophen: Nepal und seine Erdbeben“, in: Heidelberger Akademie der Wissenschaften, Jahrbuch 2015, Heidelberg: Akademie der Wissenschaften, 78-80.

Michaels, Axel; Manik Bajracharya, Niels Gutschow, Madeleine Herren, Bernd Schneidmüller, Gerald Schwedler and Astrid Zotter. 2016. “Nepalese History in a European Experience: A Case Study In Transcultural Historiography,“ in: History and Theory 55 (2): 210–32.

Zotter, Astrid. 2016. “The Making and Unmaking of Rulers. On Denial of Ritual in Nepal,” in: Ute Hüsken, Udo Simon (Edd.), The Ambivalence of Denial. Danger and Appeal of Rituals. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 221-55.

Id. 2016. “State Rituals in a Secular State? Replacing the Nepalese King in the Pacali Bhairava Sword Procession and Other Rituals”, in: David N. Gellner, Sondra Hausner, Chiara Letizia (Edd.), Religion, Secularism, and Ethnicity in Contemporary Nepal. Delhi: Oxford University Press, 265-301.

Id. 2016. “Sag mir, wo die Blumen sind. Zur Identifikation von Pflanzennamen in nepalischen Ritualtexten,” in: Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft 166(2): 397-424.

Zotter, Christof. 2016. “The Cremation Ground and the Denial of Ritual. The Case of the Aghorīs and Their Forerunner”, in: Ute Hüsken and Udo Simon (Edd.), The Ambivalence of Denial. Danger and Appeal of Rituals. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 43-79.

Id. 2016. “The Bonds of the Liberated: On Community among Hindu Ascetics”, in: Gert Melville and Carlos Ruta (Edd.), Potency of the Common: Intercultural Perspectives about Community and Individuality. Boston / Berlin: De Gruyter, 239-254.

2015

Bajracharya, Manik, Rajan Khatiwoda and Axel Michaels. 2015. “Six 19th-20th Century Documents on Elephants from the National Archives of Nepal”, in: Abhilekha 32, 96-105.

Bajracharya, Manik, Niels Gutschow and Axel Michaels. 2015/16. Nepālikabhūpa-Vaṃśāvalī: History of the Kings of Nepal – A Buddhist Chronicle. Kathmandu: Himal Books. – vol. 1: Manik Bajracharya und Axel Michaels, Introduction and Translation; vol. 2: Manik Bajracharya und Axel Michaels, Edition; vol. 3: Niels Gutschow, Maps and Illustrations.

Michaels, Axel. 2015. „Perspektiven und Probleme der deutschsprachigen Indologie“, in: D. Lamping (Ed.), Geisteswissenschaften heute: Die Sicht der Fächer. Stuttgart: Kröner, 282-306.

Zotter, Christof. 2015. „Ritual Text in Hindu Initiation“, in: H. Schulze (Ed.), Musical Text as Ritual Object, Brüssel: Brepols, 25-37.

2014

Michaels, Axel. 2014 (edited together with Christoph Wulf). Exploring the Senses. London, New York & New Delhi: Routledge.

Michaels, Axel. 2014a. “Untouchability and Tactility in Hindu Death Rituals”, in: Axel Michaels and Christoph Wulf (Edd.), Exploring the Senses. London, New York & New Delhi: Routledge, 206-220.

Id. 2014b. „Heilige Ehefrauen und gefährliche Witwen – Der Status von Frauen im vormodernen Hindu-Recht“, in: Juliane Kokott and Ute Mager (Edd.), Religionsfreiheit und Gleichberechtigung der Geschlechter. Spannungen und Konflikte. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 91-102.

Zotter, Astrid (with Lars Bednorz). 2014. Hinduismus. Arbeitsheft mit CD-Rom. Stuttgart: Klett.

Zotter, Astrid. 2014. “Scent of a Flower: Notes on Olfaction in Hindu Worship”, in: Axel Michaels and Christoph Wulf (Edd.), Exploring the Senses. Delhi: Routledge, 187-205.