EUROPEAN BULLETIN OF HIMALA VAN RESEARCH

NUMBERZ 1991

CONTENTS EDITORlAL._...... _...... 3

REVIEW ARllCll 'Manyrs for democncy'; a ~yiew of rece nt Kathmandu publications: Manin Gaensz.le and Richard BurShan...... 5

AROIIVES The Cambridge EII:pcrimcntal Videodisc Project: Alan MlCfarlane ...... IS The NepaJ German Manuscript: PrescrYlOOn Project: Franz·KarI Ehrbanl...... 20 TOPICAL REPORTS The study of oral tradition in Nepal: Comeille Jest ...... 25 Wild c:!:! a~e~ {7'~: :M~~~~~':~~~~~.~~.i~.. ~.~~~ . ~~.~.~...... 28 lIHimalayas ...... 36 Oevdopmc:nt Stnltcgics fOf the Remote Mas of Nep&l ...... 31 Indiyidual projects: Anna Schmid ...... , ..... , ...... , ...... 37 Ninnal Man Tuladhar ...... , ..... , ...... , ...... 38

BOOK REVIEWS Dol' Bahadur Bisll's FwaJism and DeW!/cpmLfIl: Annc de Sales ...... 39 NEWS Himalayan Studies at 011:(000: Gl1Iham Clllrke ...... 41 IDS Workshop on lhe May 1991 General Elections in Nepal ...... 44 International Symposium on Environmental & Hormonal Approacl'lcs to OmitholoSY ...... 45 New appointments at TribhuYal\ University ...... , ...... 46

ANNOUNCEMENfS Symposia: The Himalayan Forum at SOAS ...... 46 Sill:th Conference of the International Association of Tibetan Studies ...... " ... ..46 Second International Seminar on the Tibetan bnSuage ...... " ...... 47 The Anthropology of Nepal: Peoples. Problems Ind Processes ...... _ ...... 47 SASON Nadonlll Congress ...... , ...... , ...... ,,, ...... 47 I..adakh: HiStoty and CUntre...... 48 2 3

EDITORIAL Orcanizarions: Association for the Ethnological Research O(TIbellnd the Countries of the Himalaya .... 41\ The first issue of our Bullelin was senllo ship will not have seen, Natural History Satiety ofNcp.I ...... •...... 49 Eu ropean scholars with the request that As for the future, the rubrics that we Courses: Courses in HimaJayln Languages lIthe Campus ofln lemalional I....Mguagcs. Tribhuvon the enclosed questionaire be returned have established in this issue should U nivcrsiry ... _...... •.....•...... •..... __ ...... 49 in order to receive free of charge the become standing features in the Bulle­ second number, The present issue is tin: each issue will contain a commIs­ PUBUCAll0NS: Himal.ya Enviroflment and Development: Twelve years of Rcsc:an:h ...... SO being sent OU,1 10 133 scholars, repre­ sioned review article and an interview, senting 17 diHerent countries. Addi­ plus shorter papers of topical mterest CONTRIBUTORS TO TIllS ISSUE ...... •...... _...... •...... 52 tional copies have been distributed to (sent to us unsolicited by subscribersl researcb institutes in Nepal and India in There will also be reports on archiVes. the hope of (!Slablishing collaborative current research and conferences: book links with the Himalayan countries reviews: and announce menu. Our third themselves. [ n the meantime we have issue has already taken shape along begun to enlis' the support of contribut­ these lines and will contain. among ing editors (see below) to provide us other things, a review article on recent with news an4:i ideas from colleagues in publications on oral tradition and the their respective countries. In short, we first of a major two part report by are well on our way to having a viable Lucette Boulnois on the various Hima ­ bulletin. serving as a network for Euro­ layan archives in Paris. Our fourth num ­ pean scholars active in research on the ber will contain additionally a special land and peoples of the Himalayas. indeJ on cu rrent research and research ­ You will ri n d the present issue some­ ers in Europe. based on the returned what broader in scope than the fir st. We question aires, are grateful to Graham Clarke. Franz­ We present this brief look into the Kar l Ehrhard, Corneille Jest, Alan Mac ­ fu ture as the Bulletin enters a critical farlane. Michael Torsten Much. Ulrike stage in which we must appeal nOt only Muller-Baker, Philippe Ramirez. Anne for your interest but also your support. de Sales and others for having helped in The 'seed money' from the South Asia ilS preparation. Also we wish to thank Institute la pses with this. our second, Jonathan Benthall of the Royal Anthro­ number. We aim to meet the costs of the pological InSlitute for permission to nelltwo issues out or SUbscription fee s, publish a version of AJan Macfarlane's but contingency funds from the Insti­ report that originally appeared in tute will cover any shortfall. In short. Anthropology Today. Allhough our production of the nell two issues is editorial policy is to publish only origi­ guaranteed, but only those persons who nal articles. we intend that our section return the enclosed subscriptI on form on archives become a regular feature will receive them. From Number 5. to be that will eventually. when indexed. pro­ published in Sprinll 1993, we must be vide subscribers with useful informa­ entirely sell-supporting. tion about wheo re materialson the Hima­ As mentioned in our first issue. the layas are Slored. With th is aim in mind, Bullelin will survive only if its existence it seemed justifiable to publish a version is th e COllective intellectual and finan ­ of Alan Macfarlane's report on the Cam ' cial responsibility of all EUropean schol­ bridge archive that mos t of our reader- ars engaaed in Himalayan research. We 4 , are Kra teCul for the interest already shown in the Bulletin an d urge you to REVIEW ARTICLE continue to se nd us your articles. reporu, news and sunestions. Fin ally Martyrs for Democracy : we reiterate that from our next issue the A Review of Recent t.athmandu Publications Bulletin w ill be sent only to bona fide Richard Burghart a.nd Martin Gaenszle . paid-up subscribers. For fUrther infor ­ mation about subscriptions see the leaf­ ,,\jtibi si! Kriintitirr: Jan AndoJan. nessed the events in Spring. 1990 lead­ let enclosed with this issue. Ramesa Gupli. Kalhmandu: Dipak ing to the restoration of multi- party Kumar Rauniyar. 20-17 V.S. 53 pp., illus. democracy in Nepal. No doubt. scholarly Editort: Rs. :S o books and political memoirs will be Richard Burghart written in years to come that w ill Andr h Hofer Dawn of Demrxrilcy: People 's Power in recount these events in greater detail. Martin Gae nszle NepaJIPraj"iLamrako Uday: NepiJma and with the passage of time the Jan Ubhir. FOPHUR IEds.). Kathmandu: VOl umes under review will take on an Contribulinl Editor.: FOPHUR ephemeral character. as they appear Austria: Dr. Michaei TOfUen Much, (Forum for the Protection of Human caught up in the very eventS th ey por­ Institut fur Tibetologie und Buddhis­ Rights), 1990. Preface (rom Ganesh tray. Ye t scholarly books and memoirs muskunde, Universitat Wien, Mafia­ Man Singh and SahaRa Pradhan. 12 8 pp., cannot substitute for these slim Theresien-Slr. 311 1. A- I 090 Wien illus .. n.p.1. volumes and the fading copy of a copy of Fra nce : Dr. Anoe de Sales, 23, rue Mon­ - , - a video-tape. for witness literature torgueiJ, F-75001 Paris jan-Andalan n SahidhartJ. Nirayan wor ks its effect upon the reader dirrer­ Gre at Br itain: Dr. Michaei HuH, De par t­ Pra'ad SlvakatT Kathmandu: Bhisma ently. Its purpose is to tell and show ment Kadariya. 20-47 V.S. 162 pp., illus. Rs. what has been heard and seen. to make of IndolO1Y, School of Oriental &.. African 65 . witnesses of us all lest one forget. Here Stu dies, Thornhaugh Stree t. London remembering serves nOI only to order WC I Nepal: StrtJggle [ar Democracy. Thomas the past. but also to immortaliZe the Pola nd: Or. Krzysuof Deb niclr:i, InSlytut Bank (Ed.). Bangkok: the author, 'martyrs for democracy' and to prOlect Orie ntalistyclny Uniwersytetu Wars­ 1991 . 112 pp., illus., n.p.l. whal they have achieved by sacrifice. zawskiego. Krd:owskie Przedmiescie , The theme of witness per vades the 26/28, Warszawa Ra11riya janandalan: Vivarap n Visle­ politkal language of the popular move­ Sw itzerland: Dr. Joanna Pfarr-Czar­ ~lIn . Dipakrij Pant, Cetaman ment. as recorded in the Nepalese texts necka, ElhnOiogisches Seminar der Uni­ BU dthiipa and Yuvrij Luim~ el IEds.). undu review; in particular, the ropoi of versitat ZuriCh, Freiensteinstr. 35. CH - Kathmandu: Dipakraj Pant, 20-47 seeing and hearing in which conven­ 8032 Zurich V.S. 77 pp. Rs. 15. tional political rhetoric is woven seam­ lessly into astute political practice. Un titled video of police action at indra Those active in the popular movement Chowk on 7th Phalgun 20-46 . continually accused the Panchas of hav ­ Recorder unknown. ing closed their eyes to the suffering of ordinary citizens. Justice in this sense requires vision. the vision of polilical The books, book lets and video-t ape leaders to eStabli sh a ju st order of soci ­ under review belong 10 a ge nre that e ty. Here t he thirty years of panciyul might best be called witness li terature: democracy are referred to as a period of w itness in the sense that they have been darkness, from out of whose shadow the written or reoorded by those who wit- people have only now just emerged 6 7

(hence the lantern procession in broad readers -- help bring into uistence campaigns to restore mult.i-party upon ~ t o counter the evil act ivitIes daylight by Congress activists in Birat­ Indeed, the ambiguous relaLLon democracy, Late winter. 1990. there­ aimed at disrupting the un paralleled nagarl, Vision is also knowledge, To see bet'Ween spokes man and listener I ~ rore, was not so mucb the start of tbe relations between the Crown and the is to know: and the opposite of kno'Wl­ demonstrated by the documents under movement. as its culmination. people 0( Nepal and attacking the party­ edge is confusion, the confusion of the review. The authors range from actors The renewal of purpose began in less democratic Pancayat system, which blind man. Gupta's rendering of house in the dra ma (Gu pta. SlV ak otilto lIS1en ' 1989. as Congress leaders toured the has fulfilled the needs 01 the nation and arrest, for enmple. is aajar band. Just ers 'Who -- as the pOlitical events spread country. soundina out local opinion on has already been endorsed by tbe peo­ bdore the start of the movement the throughout all of society ·- found them ­ the sunainability of political action. ple (Gork hapatra 29.0 1.<.10) . On the 151h government 'shut the eyes' of the Co n­ selves caught up in eventS and trans­ Nepal's pOli tical weakness and economic Maah 20'1 6 (28.1.1 990) popular rallies gress leaders so that they would not formed by them into actors (Pant. Bud ­ v ulnerability , demonstrated during the were held throughout the Kingdo m in know what was happening. Meanwhile thapa and Lu imtelltoforeign observers protracted trade dispute with India. support of the paneiY1J 1 system. Gupta the people also sufrered temporary of human r ig hts violations, incl uding a coupled w ith increasing cynicism about refers 10 this as political theatre and blindness I1 the Panchas thre'W dust in Frankfurt doctoral student (Bonk) who tbe quality of leadership in paticiyar notes that the approximately 25,000 their eyes in order to confuse the m for several days in early April, 19<.10 democracy, encouraged the Nep ali Con­ persons w ho demonstrated in suppon about political realities, Vision also lived in the "free state of Pat an" and pro­ gress Party to sec tbe winter of 1989- or the pa'lieiyal system on the 15th entails testimony, as in the organization duced a photographic chronicle so that 1990 as a propitious moment for rene­ Magh were villagers from outside Kath ­ of vigils by the medica l Slarr at Dir Hos­ persons outside Nepal might also wal. Meanwhile mos t of the leftist par­ mandu who had been offered by th e pital. In these forms and consequences observe, ties agreed to unite in a single Front and Government a free trip to Kathmandu of vision figure also the ones lhat a Euro­ The people's move ment (jan indo­ to combine forces with Congress in their for the day. pean 'Wou ld recognize, such as the send­ Jan) dates from I <.160 when King common goal to shirt the powers of state The renewal of the move ment for the ing of human rights 'observers' to Nepal Mahendra forbid the activities of politi­ from the palace to parliament. Plans for restoration of multi- party democracy u the popular movement gained cal parties. abolished parliament and the movement were announced at a beaao with the theme of contested his ­ strength. provoking its repression by took the steps that led to the establish­ meeting of the Conaress Party ( 18.- tories. The auspicious day chosen for the state. The name or the American­ ment of p1Jneiyaf democracy in 1962. 20.1.19<.10), held at the private resi­ the start of action was the 7th Phalgun based human rights organilllion ' Asia From that moment on both the kina and dence of Ganesa Man Sinba in Kath­ ( 18,2.90).the day on which the Panchas Watch' is in this sense a ppropriate. the underground parties spoke in the mandu. towhich not only party workers ce lebrated King Tribhuvan's birth and Voice is the other theme. as in the name of the people. Their v ision of pub­ but also the leader of a delegation of hi l bestowal of democracy after the co mplaint of K P Bhaltarai. President of lic life. however. was dirrerenl. Indian MPs. Chandra Shelc. har, attended, oven.hrowof the Ranas. On the 7 th the t he Congress Party and Prime Minister Perhaps the memory of the success The conference was recorded on video. Panchas gathered behind the state car­ of the Interim-Government, that under of armed struggle in the overthrow of and copies dispatched tbroughout the riage. in which was propped a picture of the paiieiyat system the people', the Ranas in the winter of 19'19 - 19 50 country. The malc.ina or comm on pur­ Tribhuvan shaded by b.i s royal parasol. mouth, had been shut or in opposition le d party leaders to attempt to over­ pose by all opposition parties encour­ and made their way in proceSSIon 10 the spokesmen aoing on procession in Kath ­ throw the Slate by acts of terroris m and age d them to think that in 1990 tbe parade ground (Tundik hej) w here they mandu and Biratnagar with gagged violence. but by the mid-1970sthe Sl ra­ movement would achieve its aim. aimed to hold a general assembly prais ­ mouths. Voice here does not mean teay had changed, Opposition IClders Prime Minister Marich Man Sing h ing the combined work of the monarchy si mply talking. as the following doggerel returned from uile tocreate and eltend Shrestha immediately denounced the and the paliciya, system, For th e heard in private homes in Nepal during local organiutions that did not orriclally irresponsibility of Co ngress leaders pro­ underground parties the promise of the 1980s makes clear: ~ Plsupatinath Clisl, Increasing nu mbers of citizens led moting democracy 'for private motives' Tribhuvan had been broken. He had listens but does not speak; the King a double life: outwardly observing the and the tre achery of their soliciting sup­ been entrusted to usher in parliamen· speaks but does not llsten", Voice. ilIee laws and constraints of paneiYBI port from the I ndian government. For ta ry democracy during the period of vision, upresses publicly the truth of democracy. inwardly opposing the co n­ the Panchas the move ment for the res­ interim government in the 1950s, but e!perience. It reveals the inner to the stitution or treating the Panchas WIth toration of multi- party democracy was his son Mahendra had violated that outer, And, like the ddinltion of sou nd cy nICISm . As strategies periodically nothing other l han an attack on Nepa­ trust by banning political parties, The in physics, it must be heard to e!ls!. The changed and political hopes were raised. lese sovereignty, the monarchy and the aim of the opposition parties was to cel­ literature under revie'W also gives voice the people·s movement renewed Its nation (rin r avirodhT. ri1!rall llilT). ebrate this day as originally intended: to these ezperiences. w hich we -- as purpose and com mitted itself to further The people w ere accordingly ca Ued the procession of political pa rties. with 8 , unfurled banners converging on the of Tribhuvan, beina forced ofC the road towing day in the village of jadulcuha by human rights organizalions, Appar ­ parade around, followed by an open dis­ by stone-throwing demonstrators, (Ohanusa District) at least five more ently police were searching for a local cussion of political opinion at Khula The contest of histories on the first persons died, joining the victims in activist who was thought to be organlz­ Manc, the ~ ope n forum H originally built day in Kathmandu was a stand-oCf, yet Bhalr:.tapur and Chi twan in martyrdom, ina a proteSlto be held laler that day 10 for that purpose, Wi th the two proces­ the effect of the spectacle was to reveal In Sivakotfs book lhe chronology of the jadukuha, Their search was frUitless, sions conversing at the ume place, the the powerlessness oC the state, Th iS movement is constantly broken by but they did round up a few suspects In twO different orderings of the past ca me co mes through especially in the samil­ accounts of the lives of the martyrs one household, Villagers arrived, into conflict, Only the procession that dal video of events at [ndra Chowk, of (:abidJ. Here he writes about one of arguina for t he release of Ihe suspects, succeeded in reaching its destination whietl the Heidelberg copy, is but a faint, the m (p. 331. The policemen were forced 10 leave could claim to be the heirs of democracy, colour de- natured Impression, In the empty-handed: but in departing, they The police set about suppressing the sequences w hen the deteriorating tape Martyr Jank.i Devl Yadav turned and fired indiscriminately into movement by removing its vision and no longer draws attention to iuel! by Its Mln the h istory of Nepal the oldest Ihe courtyard, Among the dead .... ere voice: by placing the Congress leaders scratchy fl ashes of light, a piclure person to become a martyr in the course three women, a fourteen year old boy under house arrest and the United Lefl emerges of riot police and demonslra- or the people's movement was the 61 and a 35 year old man. Front under detention, arresting count­ 10rs playing ca t-and- mouse al Indra year old jank ! Devi fadav, Born in 1985 Sivakoti's brief, and all 100 conven­ less political workers and confisca ting Chowk with -- in the background -- the ( 1929 A.D.J,lhe aged woman was killed lional hagiography , is short on details, certain opposition newspapers, Gu pta laughter of people watching the display by a bullet in broad daylight on th e 9th but stresses a major theme in the rhe­ li sts the banned papers, Meanw hlle the of state futility from their rooftops, The Phalgun 2016 al Jadukuha near Janak­ loric of the movement: Ihat the victim s Government went ahead with Its own policemen disappear down one alley pur. In the' people's movement that of police firings were martyrs who had public ritual. As in the past. all oCricial s way in pursuit of de monstrators only to began on the 7 th Phalgun si! women lost sacrificed Iheir souls Cor democracy, In were called upon -- at the risk of their return elhausted to the intersection and their priceless lives, Ten year Old Rekha fact, manyor those who died seem not to jobs -- to participate in the procession of to charge IJaplessly oH in another direc­ K.hadka was the younsut, and amongst have been 'politica l aClivists' at all, They Panchas, At the same time riot police, tion. The Bllgmati Zonal Co mmissioner the hundred.s of martyrs the oldesl was were people, who like everyone in clad in protective jackets and armed makes an appearance 10 supervise Martyr janki Devi Yadav, Nepal. were ca uaht up in evenu but who with ltaHs and shields, tried to prevent operations, but he is also rapidly trans­ Resi dent of Ward Nr. 9 in jadukuha, unCor lunately found themselves at the the mise en $ceneof the opposition pro­ formed from a symbol of authority to Dha nusa District, Janki Devi was the wife wrong place at the w rona lime, (One gram me, 80th government and opposi­ one of futility, Violence ceased 10 be a of Sri Narayan Yadav, Her father was martyr mentioned by Sivakoti is 'Ricard tion ai med to hold mass meetings at means of Slate conlrol. Suvai Yadav. Her mother's name is Henari Jon Wiliyam ', an Englishman Tundikhel, and in the event neither did, For t he second day of lhe movement Ramsakhi Devi Yadav, 8eing an ordi­ cauaht up in police Ciring on Darbar The opposition groups, unfurled their a general strike (band) was planned, A nary farmer by occupation, Janki Devi Mara), The theme of sacrifice was criti­ forbidden political banners -- the four general strilce does not mean layi ng was compelle d to spend her time pro­ cai, however, for the rhetorical con­ stars o( Ihe Nepali Congress and the down lools so much as the cessalion of viding for the daily needs of her family struction of events. The Nepalese ham mer and sickle of Ihe ULF -­ public life. No one reports for work, from the income ofl5 ka£f~i of land, A authored tells under review stress the marched in the direction of the Parade Shops d ose. Public tra.nsport is not used, bullet lodged in t.he left side oC her stom ­ idea that theircounlrymenorrered their Grou nd, but were rounded up on the and Ihe slreets remain empty, The ach, and at that place she attained mar­ blood in sacrifice to the motherland for way and carted oCf to prison by the resolve of the opposition had been tyrdom, The police returned later to which democracy was received in police, The ULF le ader Man Mohan shar pened nOlonly by Ihe intractability caplure her corpse, relurn, By etlension, even those clliz­ Adhikarl managed to reach the parade of the King, as revealed in his message 10 So one old woman in the people's ens who donaled blood so I.hal doclors ground (rom New Road , but his forum the nalion on Dem ocracy Da y, but al so movement for the restoration of democ­ might save the lives of their fellow was encircled by the poll ce and also by news of the first deaths in clashes racy sacrifice~d her soul for the country's country men found their blood donation carted off, Nonetheless popular resis­ with police in Chitwan. The resolve of golden CUlur'e, Her renunciation and (nkla din) transformed into sacririce tance was such that the Panchas were the government had also stirfened as sacrifice is a lasting lesson for all we (baJi dan), Sacrifice, of course, is a also prevented from going in procession they forced shopkeepers in Bhalclapur Nepalese. We will always honour Janki willed act. By making Ihe victi ms of (rom the Stadium to the parade pround, to open their shops, The altercalions Devi as an immortal martyr: state oppression inlo martyrs, the The FOPHUR chronicle has a photograph with police led to firing s in which five movement approprialed nOI their of palanquin-bearers, carrying a picture townsmen lost their lives, On the fol - janki Devi's death .... as inveuigaled deaths but the geslure of their dying 10 11 which symbolized the truth or the life but concur in lheir mention of the send­ whether it would be simply supported (2 . ~ . 90 ) :SO.OOO men. women and chil ­ that they had led. Dyina. ho... ever. has ing of prayers for the dead on Siva Ratri by studenLS and the educated elite. In dren of all ages massed at short nOllce iO nothina to do with death. Deilllh . ror 123.2.901. the organization of public his speecbes 10 Ihe nation th~ king Patan and beaan to proceed 10 Ka th­ Janlcl Devl, was senseless, and it proba­ mourning for the manyrs. the obser­ ezpressed clearly hiS intention to relaln mandu. with the idea of encouraGing the bly remains so for her relatives as well. vance of a Bla clc Da y (kilo divU)on the the panciyaf system. Meanwhile the people of "athmandu toset up thel( own Her dyina, ho"'ever. e:nended ils power 1-41 h Phalgun 125.2.901, the burning of jails had long since filled to overfl owlna free slate. They were stopped by pOlice over the Iiv/nl. straw effigies of panciyal leaders (with FOPHUR eSlimates of ) .000 in pri­ on the bridle over the Bagmati. TenSion One of the most damninl moral crlti­ 19.3.90) -- interspersed by aeneral son and 20,000 who had been in and out was great, and matters could h3 ve cismsof a Hindu monarch Is that he must strikes 12 .3.90, 11.3 .901 in which. as of temporary custOdy) so that govern­ turned either way. but eventually the Icill his people, rather than protect them, Gupta notes. the Government,ent their ment warehouses had to be brouabt demonstrators returned to Pa tan. On in order toperpetuillle his rule. The state henchmen to the bazaars, forcing mer­ into service as temporary prisons. the ume day, though. in Kirtipur sev­ did not want the inscription or injustice chants to keep their shop' open. and Many intellectuals and nearly all politi­ eral demonstrators were shot. which led on the hundreds of bodies to be brouaht ordering tui and tempo drivers to keep cal leaders bad been arrested. and I.he lownsmen to put up barricades. pre­ into public lilhl. It became necessary, on the road. afler having l iven them 20 cam puses in Patan and J::athmandu ventina police movement. That eVening therefore, for the lovernment to appro­ lilers of free petrol. Meanwhile the pro­ were shut down. the black-out in the valley was com­ priate the bodies. Over and aaain Siva­ fessions were increasingly drawn in to The course of the movement began plete, showing tbe anger of the people. koti and GU pta rder to the macabre political action. Lawyers of the Nepal to change on the 16th Chaitra (29.3.90) All that was lit up was thal which the pOlice practice of capturina corpses. Bar Association struclc on the 9th Phal­ as the oppOSition called Cor a blaclcout at people had the mselves set alight: tyres, Re latives were thereby prevented from gun (20.2.90) because of the arrest or 7 pm that evening In sign of SO lidarity. police posts and traffic posts. mourninl the dead and healinl family around fifty of their members. Medical Small torch processions ( mlSil jUlus) What. if anYlhing, eXtended the bonds. Mean ... hile publicerpressionsof doctors protested on the 12th Phalgun took place alona the narrow streets of movement's popular base at this time mournina (;ok ubhi), orlanized by 123.2.90) with a strike of two hours the Newar bazaars -- despite the gov­ was the response it provolced in the spokesmen for the movement, were aaainst police brutality and torture: ernment ban on assembly. When Ihe police. Each side in the conClict had its brolcen up by the police. Not all corpses, similar warning strikes were repeated. police arrived. the processions broke up own version oCreal ity which it sought to however. could be captured and hidden. University teachers refused to worlc on and disappeared in different direct.ions reveal.s truth. The Panchas maintained The boolc produced by FOPHUR shows the I ~th , and one day later office-work­ down the side alleys. On the 171h youlhS lhat the opp o~i!icn leaden: ~,'ere trea­ them. The photOKraphs strip away the ers organized Hpen-down- stri kes in Patan attaclced the Pancayal office cherous and anti- nalional. deceivina the religious rhetoric. the social status, the (talam band). Poli tical assemblies and and the district court. In an attempt 10 Nepalese people in lo rebelling against a person. They even strip away the truth discussions were oraanized at the Uni­ protect public property the police fired political system with which they were in the ,ense thlt tbey remove the ideals versity. the protOCOl of one oCwhich (on in to the crowd. killin g at least two dem­ content. The opposition leaders saw the to which the martyrs had been truthful. 16.3.90) is printed in I.he volume edited onstrators. The Collowing day the police kingdom as being dark with injustice leavina them only as men and women, by Pant. Budthapa and Luimtel. Four made arbitrary house searches and shOt perpetrated by unr uly Panchas who and perhaps somethina the lesser days later. on the 7th Chaitra, a areat again al demonstrators. some durina were fattening themselves on t.he ill ­ thereby. The reader must overcome ass~m . bly of around 700 intellectuals -­ the, by now. regular evening blaclc -OUI . aotten aainsoftheir public position. The somelhina in him,eif to loolc It the vio­ comprising university lectUrers, law­ In response. the people of Patan put up violent police response to the move­ lated bodies in the Nepalese edition yers, engineers. doctors. and others -­ barricades at lhe city aates to prevent ment. demonHrated the truth of oppo­ (Dawn of Democracy). For fainter souls. was convened at the University Campus police enlry. Accordingly Pllan was sition claims. In firing on the people. the there Is the international edition at Kinipur. whe r~u pon they were soon declared an autonomous Hate, outside government took on Ihe role scripted Cor (Nepal: Struggle for Democrlcy) in encircled by the polic~ . In reply to the the authority oC the Icing . Right of them by the opposition thereby making which the more revoltinl photographs order to stop the meeting, participants assembly was proclaimed and politi­ the opposition version of reality appear have been withdrawn. observed a minute of silence - before cians addressed the public to motivate true. Street action became political Despite -- and because of -- th e early being carted off to lail in lorries. them for further action. The FOPHUR theatre. Demonstrators were beaten deaths, the movement for the restora ­ Despite countless acts of solidarity. it chronicle shows a photOKraph of a barri­ down in lathi charges and sprayed wilh tion of multi- party democracy persisted remained unlil mid- March unclear cade in flam es at the Patln Gate. The lear las. Sometimes it was enough just with further demonstrations. The whether the basis of the movement was image could have come straight out of a to show the party flag to be shOt I1 volume. under review vary on details, broad enouah to be successful or Newar thanalca. On the 20th Chaitra MeanWhile the shooting of children and " 13 afternoon at Tundhik hel an open forum women (this in • kinldom in .... hich openly held. speeches were made. and aovernm~nt led by Krishna Prasad women w~ re never subject to capil.1 took place with .round 100.000 panicl­ moments of silence observed for the Bh.llarai as Prime Minister was sworn punishment) confirmed the worSl alle­ panU in which party leaders spoke martyrs. Havinl achie ... ed their aim. the in at the palace. In the new cabinet lations .bout the political morality of freely in public. The police held back . At opposition le aders caUed off the move­ th~re were equal members of Congrest the Panchu. The P.nchas .nd police the same time. not more than five hun­ ment. and the ULF. plus two independents and found themselves unwiltinlly actinl in dred yards away in the palace. Loken­ Gupta's booklet is a chronology of the two appointees from the King. The Gov ­ .n opposition drama in which the final dra Bahadur Chand arri ... ed to be sworn movement, and he concludes his story ernment was encharged to work out a .ct became m or~ and more inevitable. in as Prime Minister. After the forum at this point with the OPPOSition leaders new Co nstitution and to hold free elec­ Th~ nnt teneral strike h.d been ",as concluded. a call",as made to So to calling ore the mo"'ement, Si ... akoti·s tions within a year. planned for Frid.y. the 2Radha Krishn. which has e",'er remained independent called on their mandaJe com man dos to would make the work of the Co mmission Mainali (ULF) to the palace for discus­ since lime immemorial (Rising NeplJl spread chaos and lerror throughout the efrective. In short. nothing had sions. At 11 pm a brief message from IPokhara. where a crowd had warlike head-huntina reputation of to were t hose of R.G. Woodthorpe, J. H. whoin the absence of a new constitution aathered protesting against the COO the peoples, deterred outsiders from HuHon .J,P. Mills, C. von Furer-Haimen­ still rem.ined the hiahest aovernmenl harbouring suspected m . !,~ .le arson­ entering the area until very late. The dorf. Ursula Graham Bower and W.G. authority in the land, In the evenina a ists. Sivakotl brings his bOOK to In end period of contact, starting effectively Archer. Between them, they collected curfew was declared, and the army with the death of the last martyr and the in the 181(1s, was unusually aradual, over 5.000 artefacts. took over 7.000 patrolled the city. The rumour mill names and addresses of 1307 persons lasting ovt~r a century unt il Indian black and white photographs. made a starled up again: the Irmy and police wounded in the move ment. The Independence in 1917. The rela tive n umber of sound recordings and made had conflictin8 loyalties, Indian troops FOPHUR book a.150 ends with the unsuc­ lateness of the contact meant that th e over sir hours of moving film . They were massed on the frontler, the water cessful counter- revolution. Gradually second fifty years oC documentallon also kept eltensive diaries and supply of Kathmandu had been poi­ the struggle for democracy shifted from were within the era of easily portab le collected pages of field -noles as well as soned . • military cou p was imminent, the streets to the palace w here political cameras and the last fifty years within published eight books and many anl­ the Kina Ind Ouee n were locked in bitter leaders and the King negotiated the new that of moving film . But how well was deson the Nagas. Th ere w as clearly no disagreement over Nepal's political constitution. 16 17 shortlae of mlterill. But how was this We photographed about 1,200 to be for med into a usable and diSlrib UI ­ Naga artefacts as colour slides and monographs, .... hich liVes alreat deal of they were outside the delimited able archive? transferred these by tele-cine to the one labour, though it "Ill leaves a lood deal leographlcal area; they were outsIde inch master tape from .... hich a videodiSC of cleaning up of the material to be done our time span; or they fell on the SIde of Matm. • videodilc is made. We re- photographed some by hand, 'private eJperience' as opposed to A videodisc or optical disc is I silver 7 ,000 black-and-while negatives with a This data input proceeded along­ 'public ezperience', We did not censor object which looks like a aramophone half-frame camera and 'lIIumitrans side the making of the disc. It will result photographs because their content was record, Information is engraved on its and transferred the strips of films onto rinaHy in the production of a ""A mega­ embarrassins or shocking in anyway,or surface which is then coated with one inch tape. Wc constructed and byte database of materials which might do damaae to the reputation of plastic, The information is read orr each photographed some 200 maps. We provide the COntelt or the visual and indiVIduals, the British, anthropology as separate track by a luer beam, using a CJtracted 150 movina sequences of film sou nd materials. It is obvious that a discipline, or for any other reason, As stl.ndard videodisc player, This and 1,000 still frames from moving pictures and tell reinforce and enrich far as tutual materials are concerned, produces a virtually indestructible films. We re-recorded a number of each ot.her, we limited ourselves mainly to mate­ storage format .... hich is not damaged by sound recordings from early wax rials written before 19--47 and in English dust, normal changes of temperature, cylinders 10 recent missionary sonl5, Principle. of .election If the material was likely to cause electric currents, dlmp, insects, etc, After three years' work we had a muter Elsewhere we have described alarealer personal offence or political e mb arrass ­ A videodisc can hold a very large disc and 100 copies, lensth the principles we used in ment to living pe rsons, or was repetit,ve q uantlty of Infor m ation. A standard disc selecting visual and teUual materials, or trivial and of only personal interest. can play moving film for 36 minutes per Dealing with telts Very briefly, they were as follows, We we omitted il. In all, this meant omitting side in interlcti ve mood or hold 54,000 For a variety of reasons, Jnctudins the reduced the siJ hours of moving film to at the most half a dozen paragraphs as separate pictures per side, or a combi­ need to update and change textual data 30 minutes by trying to include the compared to the twenty thousand we nation of these, It can store at least 300 and the far greater cost of a machine material that was most intellectually included, meaabytes of information per side (the that could (as with the BBC Domesday and academically interesting, and, all entire Encyclopaedia Britannica, .... ith disc) read digital dlla, we decided to else being equal, rejecting those Retrieval SYlteml pictures takes about 200 meaabytes of keep the teuual materials separately, sequences thal were out of focus, badly From very early on, we were aWare that store). We decided therefore to keep these composed, unsteady, from too great a the possibilities of the new media, a A videodisc can hold copies of almost materials on a computer. diSlance, damaged, the colour fadina, combination of computer and optic:!1 all kinds of recordlble infor mation: The main categories of material and so on. disc storage, would mean that we would photographs, slides, moving films, X­ were as follows, There were the equiv­ There are likely to be over 15,000 have very large sets of data which it rays, sound recordings, graphics, The alent of about 500 pages of manuscript Nasa objects in European mu se um s and would be difficult to manage. The mate­ discs are double-sided and once a fieidnotes. There were manuscript field private collections, of which we photo­ rials on the videodisc comprised about master has been created copies cln be diaries, from the earliest in 1872, graphed a little over 1,200. We decided 10,000 'items' (maps, photollraphs, made relatively cheaply, throush the (jeld diaries of Christoph to conrine ourselves 10 British collec­ artefacts, films, etc.). The 40 megabytes This sounded an ideal medium for von Furer-Haimendorf, up to the diary tions. We then sought a representative eqUivalent of teu represented about our pictorial matuials, But ho .... does of Mildred Archer in 19-17; approli­ selection, in ter IDS of the types a.nd func­ 20,000 paragraphs of wntina. one make I master? Here there was mately 1.000 printed pages or equiv­ tions of objects and their origins in Supposins one Wanted to search this, almost no guidlnce, These were early alent i.n all. Over 100 offi cial tour diaries different aroups, We tried to use Nasa finding all the information in Visua l and days and no videodisc of the kind .... e by J.H, HUllon , manuscript letters, and criteria of signiticance rather than our teltual materials relatins to a specific .... ere attempting had been made In other typed and manuscript materials own. We chose well documented pieces person, place, date or SUbject, how could Europe, With the cooperation of the were also available. All these were and those that fitted in with other ma te­ this be done? To search through 1.000 Audio Visual Aids Unit at Cambridge typed into the computer, rials on th e di sc, photographs or 1,0 00 pages of manu­ and th e Open University PrOduction The other main way of getting Only a few hundred of th e roushly script ca n be a long business. Recording Unit at Milton Keynes, .... e therefore materials in was throullh optical char­ 7,000 black-and-white photographs we materials of this diversity and scale, th e invented the methods as .... e .... ent along, acter recog nition, where the published discovered have been omitted. These disc would be unusable without an Ho .... this .... as done can be summarized book can be directly scanned into the were left out on t.he follOWing arounds: appropriate information retrievII u follow., computer. We did this with the eight they were duplicates of, or very similar system, to, other imaaes; their quality was poor; None of the database management 18 19 systems which had been developed for All the marked records can then be witb the kinds of data which anthropol­ can be an 'open' system which reflects commercial or academic applications examined by the machine. The osists produce. Aod it needed simple the growing knowledge of the see med appropriate for this project. so computer provides a list of terms in documentation 00 bow to use and set up compilers. we developed our own. We worked in order of their probab le statistically a syuem. All this has been done and the partnership with Or Martin Porter to significant correlation with t he marked system, re-named the 'Cambridge Data­ Work .till to be done adapt his MUSCA T· (Museum Cat alo­ answer. Any of these terms can then be base System ' is now completed in a The main task remaining is how to make guing System) for these purposes. This added to the query so that it becomes prototype version. the methods and m aterials available to a syste m had been developed for use on 'upanded', that is to say, more It has e'lceeded our upectations. more ge neral public, mainframe and 'midi ' computers and powerful, This is a creative alternative To take ju st lI~e question of speed, Us ing The v ideodisc was used in a special seemed ideal for our use. Among its to a synonym lis t. It is also a w ay of using a normal IBM -PC compatible microco m­ elhibition on tbe Nagas in the Andrews advantages were as follows. co mputer and human intelligence to­ puter, a search of the 20,000 records Ga llery of the Museum or Archaeology It combines 'free teIt' with struc­ gether - combining the mathematical which we currenlly have will lake from and Anthropology when the whole tured (boolean) searching technique. power of the machine with the intuitive one to five seconds. A structured anthropology galleries re-opened in The majority of current databases are knowledge of the human. (boolean) query (or a place name, for Spring 1990. A re-constructed Naga based on 'boolean' retrieval For our data, the MUSCAT system instance, re:trieved the first 1,000 long-house ( morung ) held a videodisc (and/or/ not). Though suitable fo r some had a number of other advantages. il is answers out of 1.775 in two seconds. A and computer.sothat visitors could look purposes, boolean retrieval suffers very fieIib le, both in terms of size and 'free tell' search on three terms, occur­ at films and photographs and listen to from major limitations: the number of structure. The syste m will deal with ring respectively 10(8 . 263 and 0(8 times sounds as a background to the elhibi­ answers is usually too large or too s mall: data sets of any size. I t is possible to hold in the databa,se. assembled the several tion. The videodisc is also being used in users are often required or eIpected to as many datasets as are needed. The hundred answers, in decreasing order of teaching at all levels. For instance, it is compose boolean eIpressions: the number of records per data sets is probability of interest to the user, in ju st being used to give undergraduates a retrieved set of answers is not ranked in unlimited, The number of rields per over a second. simulation of how to ask questions ot any way and soit is necessary to inspect record and of characters per field is It is pos~~ible , using the Naga mate­ anthropological data in a 'practical' the e ntire list in the search for rele­ unlimited. within a single restriction rials as a tesl bed, to find the informa­ elercise in their first year. I n the second vance. The MUSCAT system incorpo­ tbat no single record must elceed tion about any person, any place. any year, it is linked to courses in 'Visual rates boolean retrieval. but overcomes 60(,000 characters (about 20 printed date (day/month/yearl. any archive, AnthrOpology', At postgraduate level. it its weakness by adding 'probabi1istic' pages). any medium (e.g, photograPh) or any is being used to show bow information retrieval. where answers are ranked in There is no need for pre-coding and ethnic group, or a comb ination of these retrieval wor kS on anthropological order of their probable usefulness. the data structure in a record can mirror (combined with any subject) more or materials. Terms are weighted according to the material one is dealing with, Hence less instantaneously. For instance, if one The videoclip itself. as well as the formulae derived from probability we were able to adapt it easily to deal asks to see alJ.lhe photographs taken by telts and computer discs. are to be theory, with the varied structures of records a certain photographer in a certain marketed. Any profiufrom this or oth er In effect, this means that it is very describing artefacts, photographs. month in a. certain village, which parts of the project will go back into a easy to put in a natural language query maps. sketches, film s. sound, manu­ concerns caeved village gales, the university fu nd for future research on such as 'show me all the photographs of scripts and printed tnlS. photographs will be presented almost anthropology, Likewise the Cambridge women wearing black -strap loo ms ' or Our aim was as follows. We wanted Im mediately. Database System software will be whatever, The 'best' answer will be to adapt the very ge neral 'MUSCAT' Of coune, the retrieval depends marketed both for use with optical discs given. then the nelt best. and so on. in system so that it would be useful for very heavily on the care and accuracy of (videodiscs and compact disc) and also decreasing order of probability of historians, an thropologists, mu seums, t he descriptions of the visual and as an advanced database system on matching t he query , etc, To do this it w as necessary to b ring it tellual items: , These are based on the mic ros, The added features of 'relevance down from a mainframe toa micro. This ethnographic and other tells and ou r feedback ' and 'query expansion' turns has been done and it works on a ll IBM accumulating knowledge of the mate­ this into a se mi -intelligent syste m w ith XT I AT compatibles, running in less than rials. If the ethnographer appears to considerable heuristic power. If an 300k of free RAM . It needed a friendly have made a mistake, this is indicated. 'answer' is 'relevant' (the kind of thing icon -driven screen system. which it now Since it is possib le to modify the one was looking for) then it is 'marked' . has. It needed special prosrams to deal descrip tions within the database. this 20 21

The Nepal German Manuscript Preservation Project been preserved in their entirety only in This agree ment. which was initiaJl ~' Frant-Karl Ehrhard Nepal. but also for many Vedic. Brah· planned for five years. stipulated thal manic and Hindu works which are only the entire holdings of the National The Nepal-German Manuscript Preser­ scripts microrilmed to date, one should eJ:tant in later copies in India or Eu rope. Archives. situated on Ramshah Path in vation Project (NGMPP) Is a joint keep in mind that it is not yet possible to Rare samples of Tibetan- language Kathmandu. would be committed to venture between the Department of undertake a syste matic and thorough material (reliaious literature and docu­ microfilm. The National Archives. of ArchaeolOlY, HMG Ministry of Educa­ qualitative evaluation of the collection. ments) are also to be found in Nepal. course. houses the large collection of the tion and Cullure and the German aside from a few isolated instances. The many of which are lost now in Tibet Durbar or Bir l.ibrary. it also looks after Oriental Society. Its principal ob jective vast majority of microfilmed manu ­ proper. a number of smaller but nevertheless is to preserve tne literary. histOrical, scripts are Sanskrit telts. frequently of Thanks to a revision covering the valuable libraries. such as that of the religious and cultural heritage of Nepal Indian provenience. We estimate that extension of the agreement between late Raiguru Hemraj Pandit as well as through the microHlming of manu­ some 80 10 8:5t. of the manuscriplS HMG and the German Oriental Society to the partial collection of the former scr ipts. block prinlS and hi3lorical which have been microrilmed thus far its third five year phase. it became Prime Minister Chandra Shu mshere docu ments. Any manuscript that has a conlain tellS which have been micro­ pOSSib le to microfilm throughout the Jung Bahadur Rana. bearine on Ihis objective can be filmed in the project before. Indeed. entire kingdom except for the restricted The first German representative of included for microfilming if its o'Wner such duplicate texts are occasionally areas. ExploratOry research and micro­ the NGMPP in Nepal was Prof. B. Kolver, so desires. No language or subject area represented in our col lection in as many filming expeditions were Undertaken later coordinator of the Nepal Research is elcluded. as 100 separate microfilms. There is. into the mOUntains and the Terai - to Programme. who led the NGMPP for a To dale, since the project was however. a quite good scholarly reason centres of Nepalese history such as per iOd of two years from 1970 to 1972. launched in 1970 . a total of more Ihan for this practice of microfilming practi­ Gorkha. Janakpur and Kaski. Lamaist He. in turn. was succeeded by Prof.A. 120,000 manuscripts with. around cally every manuscript fragment which monasteries in the far north of the Wezler and Mr. F. Erb in 1972. The neIl "'.SOOO,OOO folios has been micro­ we can locate or which is sub milled to kingdom became a major focus of atlen­ representative was Pror. M. Witzel. who filmed. Two types of microfilm s are the project for filming. even if we tion after 1983. In this new contelt. the directed the activities oC the project as prepared from a given manuscript: one already have many copies of the given quality of a given manuscript was given well as the NRC tor a period or some nve negative copy and two positive copies. leJt: because of such a procedure. it will priority in the criteria for microfilming. years - up to 1977. The negative copy and one of the posi­ be possible for the first time in the Wit h the aid of a short- tiUe list we were DUring the first five years virtually tive copies remain in the National history of research of Hindu and able to determine whether it was in fact all of the manuscripts stored in and Archives in Kathmandu. and the other Buddhist culture in South Asia to put wOrlhwhile microfilming a particular looked after by the National Archives positive copy is sent to Berlin to be kept together a sta tistical overview of the manuscript which we found in the field . were microfilmed. On the basis of these in the collections of the Deu tsche distribution and frequency of certain The careful and thorough preparation of microfilms a tentative catalogue was StaalSbibliothek. the German State tells in a given geographically limited such expeditions in cooperation with the prepared to facilitate the preparation of Library. Copies of individual texts can cultural area. such as the Kathmandu Na tional Archives came to constitute a a more comprehensive catalogue that is be ordered from the National Archives Valley or the nOrlhern parts of Nepal major new and rewarding activity now being compiled at Hamburg in Kathmandu only, and the National that are under the inrluence of Tibetan during the fourth and now fifth phase of University with the aid of a PC (provi­ Archives has the copyright on any culture. the project. sionallitle: Preliminary List of Titles of reproduction of the material. This wealth of manuscriplS is not Manuscripts Microfilmed by the The organization and ongoing busi­ only distinguished by its exceptional History of the NGMPP NGMPP). ness of tne NGMPP is handled joinUy by diversity - nearly all sub fields of Hindu The establiShment of the NGMPP took In 197:5 a new five-year agree­ the National Archives. Kathmandu. and and Buddhist Sanskrit and Tibetan liter­ place in 1970 through an agreement ment was signed which allowed for a the Ger man Orienta I Society . though the ature are represented - but frequently between the Department or Archaeol­ broadening of the scope of the activities responsibility of financing the project also by the rarity and great antiquity of ogy. HM G Ministry of Education and of the NGMPP. Aside from rilming or devolves upon the latter. The photo­ individual pieces. In many cases. the Culture, represented by Mr. R.J. Thapa. retaking manuscripts. palm- leaf rolls graphic section located in the National microfilmed manuscripts represent the and the German Oriental Society. repre­ and inscription rubbings from the Archives undertakes microfilming and oldest available source for a given text . sented by Dr. Dr. h.c. W. Vog t. director­ National Archives. the NGMPPobtained does the developing of aUthe films. and this holds true not just for the general of the NGMPP and th e Nepal permission to film alJlhe eltensive pri­ Given the large number of manu- Buddhist Sanskrit texts which have Research Centre (N RC) . vate and other public libraries of th e 22 2J entire Bagmati zone as well. When Pror. established at t.he Gu\hiulflSlhan in NGMPP. Buddhist literature in the the National Archives (or microfilming Wilzel stepped down In 1977. the Bh.drakali. allowinlllhe NGPP to micro­ Tibetan languase is quite prevalent in Of special interest in this collection of NGMPP witnessed a rapid succession of film the valuable Gu~ hi records. the Himalayan reaions of northern around 500 individ ual bloc!.; prints and representatives who. besides directina Entering the fifth phase (1990 Ne pal. and it is lherdore hardly manuscripts are. among other thmgs. the project itself. also continued to look onwards) has meant conllnulng the surprising that the National Archives the hitherto oldest block print oC the aHer the NRC. Thus Prof. O. van Hinuber work in the National ArchiVes (fi lming has a fairly siZeable collection of Thee mchOfl mdzod of KJong-chen rab­ WIS representative from 1977 to 1976. of new incomins Sanskrit and Tibetan Tibetica o( its own. When these were 'by ams-pa (1308-136-1). a rare manu­ Pror. Wezler aaain in 1976. Prof. M. materiall. filming private collections filmed, however. no Tibetologist was on script copy of ri tual tellS ascribed to the Hahn from 1978 to 1979. Dr. H. Brink ­ and the GU!h i records. as well IS the staff of the NGMPP. and it was only Fifth Dalai Lama 0617-82) and an haus from 1979 to 1981. Or. A. Michaell ezplorins new areas in northern Nepal mUCh later that these were completely unknown biography of Padmasamb­ from 1981 to 1983. Or. H. Brinkhaus and conductins microrilm Clpeditions in catal08ued by Mr. F.K. Ehrhard. whose hava rediscovered in Ya ns-Ie shod again from 1983to 1985. 0r. C. Cuppers those regions. results were published in the "Ith (present-day Parphins) by the from 1985 to 1986. Dr. R. Grunendahl volume of the journ.1 or the Nep.1 "treasure finder" sTag-sham Nus-Idan from 1986to 1987.0r. C. Cuppersasain The MicrorHmed Manu.cript. Rese.rch Center (1980). rdo-rje (17th century). For a report on from 1987 to 1988. and Or .F.K. Ehrhard The largest proportion of Sanskrit tells Given the steady influl of Tibetica these activities see Dr. F.K. Ehrhard. Crom then la the present. co mes from areU of k.rm.kip.,," from 1976 onward. in 1978 a Tib etolo­ ~ New Accessions and Recent Findinss in Within the second phase of the NGMPP. storra and lantrl. though it is so me ­ aist came to figure as a permanent staff the Tibetan Collection oC the National microfilming besan la be done outside what difficult at times to classify the member of the NGMPP. At that time. Mr. Archives", AbhiJekh. no.9 (1990). lhe buildinss of the National Archives to telts as belonging to one fie ld or U. Hartmann joined the NGMPP: he was The legal codes kept in the Nationa l which the preservation activities of the another. In the remainins half of the succeeded by Or. L.W.j . van der Kuijp in ArchiVes were thoroughly e:tamined NGMPP bad been previously confined. manuscripts jYOtil'. puripl and 1980. and from july of 1983 to July and compared by Or.jean Feza! (France) Anotber microfilmins unit WIS set up at m. harmy. constitute a considerable 1988 the Tibeta.n section was led by Dr . durina a study trip in 1990. The resul ts the Ganababll orrice of the NRC. and a portion. Other fields such IS philosoph­ C. Cuppers. Dr. F.K. Ehrhard took over of his research work were presented to series of mobile units were established ical dad.n. telts. Veda. traditional this task in August 1988. the Nepalese public in a preliminary in Banepa. Bhaktapur and Patan so as to scie nces. k.vy. and jlihilu are rela­ During the period when activities article: ""he Nepalese Juridical System ensure mnimum accessibility to the tively rare but nevertheleu of are at were confined to the Baim ali Zone. most and Its Sources: A List of the ain Books project for private owners of manu­ scholarly importance. oflhe Tibet.icafilmed came from several Kept in the National Archives-. Abhi­ scripts. The proportion of palm-leaf manu­ monasteries of Svaya91bhunath and ldh. no. 8 (1990). Only a portion of For the third phase of project activ­ scripts amounts to an estimated 1 to 2\ BOdna th. In addition. however. not an these manuscripts. which comprise ities. Pror. A.Wezler (Hamburg Univer­ of the total. In the reported national inconsiderable number of manuscripts some 29 volumes. have been micro­ sity) was appointed by the German holdings. however. the proportion of and block prints were still and are being filmed by the project up to now. Orie ntal Society as director-general of palm-leaf manuscripts is substantially brought by private individuals to the On the manuscripts presented the NGMPP Ind NRC. Thiscoincided with larser (so me 7 \ ). NGMPP. Once access was Sained to recently by private owners for micro­ the establishment of the new NRC Along with the manuscript collec­ collections of Tibetica lying beyond the filmina 10 the Nepal Research Ce ntre. build ins in New Baneshwar in 1980. The tions there are also rubbings of inscrip­ Bagmati Zone. elpeditons were under· two items may be mentioned: the microfilm unit shifted as well tothe new tions. palm-leaf scrolls contain ins taken to such northern areas as Lang­ collected material of the Reg mi Research house and continued to attract private contracts. and other documents which thang. Helambu. jomosom. jumla and Series and a manuscript collection from manuscript owners. Ourins the third were and are being microfilmed. junbesi. and from 1991 onwards also to GG hYeSvarihhat of Padmanath Paudel). phase el ped it ions of the Tibetan section In addition to manuscripts in remote areas such as Serana (Gor kha Thus the work of the NGMPP continues of the NGMPP were started to the Sanskrit. there are also preserved a District) and Muchu (Humla District). to go on. and tasks still lie ahead to be northern parts of Nepal. considerable number in Nepali. Newari. With the opening of Dolpo future e:tpe­ done. These activities continued durins Maithili and seVeral of the other ditions in this area are planned as well On the 27th of February 1991 the the fourth phase (1986- 1990). during lansuages of Nepal. Mention must also be made of t.he foundation stone (or a microfilm which a total of 10 elpedltions were Manuscripts in the Tibetan Tibetan collection of the National building was la id on the premises of the successfully conducted. From 1986 lansuage constitute the second major Museum (C hauni). which the project National Archives. The house will onwards a microfilm unit was also focus ofthe microfilmed holdings of the was able to have transferred in 1990 to provide adequate maintenance and storage facilities for the mms made Section) TOPICAL REPORTS under the NGMPP. With the completion Source Manual Series No.2. 1988 of this building it is hoped that the GUlhi Records and Accounts O((ice: The The Study of Oral Traditions in Nepal collections of the National Archives can Civil Servanls Record-keeping Omce. Corneille Jest readily be consulted vii microfilm. in Document Section - Charkhal (Atisil surroundings orrering proper research Pha": The National Archives; The On the occasion of the CNRS- DFG confer­ interest in the study of technical and facilities to the interested public and Central Libury - Tribhuvan Univer­ enceon the Hinory and Anthropologyof economic activities have called my Nepalese and foreign scholars. sity; Cen tre of Nepal and Asian Studies; Nepal. held at Arc-et-Senans in June altention to a form of elpression seldom The Madan Punukar Library; The 1990, a number of research themes observed. or rather little described. by PublicatioDs National Library and the Keshar were brought up and al!!-ong them tbe researchers in oral tradition and partic­ The series entitled Publica lions of fbe Library collection and analysis of onl traditions ularly tbose linked to festivities. 10 Nepal-German Manuscript Preserva­ Source Manual Series No.]. J 989 received special anention. The npid merry- making and all actions which lion Projecl is edited by the project's Dadeldhura, Doli, Bajura. Accham, development of communication media accompany work. it is during tbe festive director-general. Prof. A. Wezler. in Bajhang. jumla, Mugu. Kalikol. jajarkot. and social changes in both rural and moments. and often upon the euphoric cooperation with the National Archives. Surkhet, DaiJekh. Sallyan, Rolpa, Dang. urban areas have contributed to a radi­ effect of food and drink when the tongue Kathmandu. The fi rst volume was Piuthan, MU$lang. Myagdi, Baglung. cal tnnsrormation in tbe transmission is loosened. tbat stories are told or that prepared by one of the former repre­ Parval, Argha Khanchi, GUlmi. Palpa, of unwrinen lore and the call for an simple incidents become tales which sentatives: A Concordance of H.P. Sas­ KapilvaslU. Tanahun, Lamjung. urgent recordinB of oral traditions in afterwards will be carried far and wide. triOs Catalogue of the Curbar Library and ShYllngja. Nuwakot, Rasuwa. Dolakha. their widest npression. This urBency is Within each community there are the microfilms of the Nepal-German Udayapur. Bllojpur and Panchlhar dis­ justified by the fact that many forms of individuals who have the girt of story Manuscript Preservation Project I Rein ­ trict. expression which have remained unre­ telling. Are they still numerou $1 I n fact. hold Grunendahl. A catalOlue of palm ­ Source Manual Series No ... . 1991 corded for ponerity are now disappear­ mon of tbose whom we met are old leaf and selected paper mu. belonging ing. enough to remember a period during to the Durbar Library Nepal: vols. I und Our present research effort should which the movement of people was 11 I Hara Prasad Sistri. -Stuttgart: not be narrowly concerned within the quite limited and When means of Steiner VerI. Wie~beden, 1989. (Pub!i ­ purely academic field s of folklore, communication were still unavailable cations of the Nepal-German Manu­ ethnolOlY. linguistics and tbe like but (daily press started in 1960. radio script Preservation Project; I) should also serve as a tool to better transmission in 1954 and television in (Verleichnis der OrientaHschen Hands­ understand the functioning of oral tra­ 19881 dates approximativel. ln the case chriften in Deutschland: Suppl-8d. 3 1) dition in contemporary society. The of a story-teller his information origi­ collection of data should be systematic nates from a member of the family or For general Information on the Na tional without neglecting evidence from non­ from other Slory-tellers of the commu · Archives and document-holding insti­ traditional media such as news articles. nity and sometimes from an itinerant tutions i.n Nepal see: comics and posters. Todate . most of the traveller. Ce rtain opportunities National Hislory Guide Committee research done on oral tradition seems to favoured the trans m ission and the crea­ (Nepal). ed. Dr. S. Amatya have concentrated on well-structured. tion of tales. such as rest periods during His Mlljes'Y's Government. Ministry of easy to define. understandable slories co mmon agricultural activities or the Finance, Department of Revenue (e.B. myths. legends. tales and pro­ occasion of travel linked to commerce or (Record Section) and Office of Ihe verbs). However upon refiexion. it as porters. As an e:umple of the above. Comptroller General Kumari Chowk seems to me that forms of human the father of one of the story- tellers [ Gosara Treasury npression are far more d iverse than met, well known {or his "merry spirit". Source Manual Series No.1. 1988 those which have been classically was caUed to tell stories dUring the His Majesty's Government. Ministry 0/ recorded within an established husking of corn in order to liven the Defence: Royal Nepal Army Headquar­ academic typology. spirit and keep awake the womenfolk ters and His Majesty's Government, . My travels in different ethnic terri­ who reached the end of a day in a Slale Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Record tories in the Himalayan region and my of great fatigue. For his services he was 26 27 compensated with a lood meal and a major national language, Thus these relationship between in-laws of the attacking women. killing them and drinks. stories have been tailored and struc­ same generation, the hierarchy estab­ stealing their golden jewels. To recover Specific ce le brations linked to tured by the compiler and do nOI lend lished between elder and younger human Corm, their partners must throw rituals, such IS death ceremonies, themselves to many variations, To such siblings, thl! institutionalized linle s of three grains of rice in their direCtion represent another important occasion stories one must add an ensemb le of friendship {mid and stories which pronouncing an appropriate spell. involvinl a Ireat number of partici­ tales of variable length which I would reflect the rivalry between ethnic The language utilized by the story­ pants, Stories spontaneously emerle, call 'short stories', the themes of which groups or castes in which the story­ teller is always an everyday language which serve to demystify the occasion originate from evenlS of daily life and In teller tell s the tale to his advantage, with often trivial eIpressions, so me­ and put the principal actors at a more which a simple, unimportant evenl In 1 This lalter category seems to be limes derived [rom weU-Ie.nown relig­ human scale, the beginning. becomes. through th e particularly abundant. Il should be ious tellS in which certain words are By way of elample I recall an occa­ imagination of a facetious story-teller a I, recalled that rather recenUy lower changed and new ones added. The sion in which the story turned around a humorous story which will be perpetu­ castes and ethnic groups of Tibeto­ linguist should thus find here a rich shaman who, in 1987, had fa.iled to ated through repetition and enrich­ Burman language became dominated by material for research. produce the result of his intervention in ment. the Bahun Chetri cutu. The latter have Once the story- teller is identified it a Tamanl villale. The story is as follows: Among the diverse story lines the elploited the former. less educated is convenient to obtain Crom hi m his life "M aHi was sick in the stomach, the Collowing categories could be cited. groups who became dispossessed of history which will help to better Under­ shaman Birbal WIS called in to perform a First. there are stories which deal with their property. Thus, a satyrical short stand his environment and life style as healing ritual, The shaman and his son the marvellous, local history and gcog­ story told by a member of an inferior well as his sources of inspiration. ""entto look for crab s in a rice field . put a raphy linking w ith the domains of the caste becomes a sort of revenge. As the The attention of his listeners is crab in a s mall container and the son gods and demons. Second there are saying indicates: "The Bahun does harm important as every detail is worth leept it under his shirl. His father told stories dealing with life itself. as for but the story- teller delivers it bacle with noting; his vocabulary may be adapted him: "I will heal Maili. who is sicle in the eIample. the need to remain young interest". to his audience according to the circum ­ stomach. The moment I beat the drum I among both women and men (there is a Along the same lines the following true stances. Systematic recording is will pronounce the words 'nu-nu ru­ belief that When a man marries a very story recorded in the Teral tells of a evidently the best means of preserving ru'. At that moment you will discreetly young woman he preserves his youth. If Bahun who enjoyed suint Pahari this information (Jet us recall here that release the crab-. he marries a woman older than him self. migrants from the hills, Approaching certain languages lack a written elpres­ Both father and son went to Maili 's he loses the freshness of hi s face and death. he asked them to come to his side sion), house: the shaman diagnosed the sick­ ages rapidly). Third, there are stories whereupon he told them that he was An aspect which remains unel­ ness as beinl caused by a crab, eatint which concern the family and the struc­ aware he had caused them wrong and plored is that of oral tradition am onl into the entrails and said that he would ture of caste society: e.g, the relationship suggested that they plunge a dagger in women particularly on occasions when eItract it. between different social strata and for­ his heart after his death which would women gather together, such as at mar­ He beat the drum in a trance, bidden relation between a man and give them t.he feeling of having taken riages where through laughter and pronounced words without meaning, woman, such as incest and adultery, For their revenge. joleeswomen see through the claims and adding occasionally 'nu-nu ru-ru': e.umple, there are tales about th e They djd so, but the descendants of pretensions of men in a male-domi­ after a while his son recalled his father's marriage between a very old man and a the Bahun initiated a new case for nated society. Here is a line of research instructions and asked him : "Is this the pre-adolescent woman (the obvious having defiled the dead, a posthumous which would perhaps only be suitable moment of lelling loose the crab we difference between the parties deed of the Bahun from which origi­ for female ethnologists and linguists. caught this morning?"' The shaman was appearing as an unbalanced element of nated the e:rpression that "even a dead The suggestions made here might furious and cried our: "May a tiger society as well as an object of ridicu le ). Bahun could bother a si mple man from appear as "platitUdes": however, it devour you and ma y the devil carry you the privileged role of the maternal uncle the hills", seems to me that they are importanl away ...... responsible for the education of hi s Social stratification can also be enough When wishing 10 understand the Numerous myths. legends, lales, nephews and nieces, the often ambig­ manifested by the fear provoked by psychological framework of specific fables and proverbs, which form part of uous relationship between the son-in­ certain ethnic groups, for e.umple the populations and their interdependence orally trans m ilted folklore. are increas­ law and his mother-in-law (particularly Danuwar caste living in the Terai and and interactions, Il is also important, ingly written in special publications or when there is a notorious difference of Mahabharal range are said to have the before it is too late, to collect in as much school boole s and are thereby adapted to age between the married partners), the power of t.urning into leopards and detail as possib le the different dimen- 28 29 sions of the tales including situation, com ment, They are of great value in populationfr-om c. 1.000 (1953) toc. 100 moval of rhinos to other national parks. e:rpressionallanguage nuanceS, changes portraying personal identity in mulli­ (1966) (Gee, 1959; Spillet, 1967). The The differentiated structure of ecolopes in wording and the portions which pro- ethnic Nepalese society. ever-expanding settlement area - H. in the park supports. besides the rhinos. vide either hUmOur, mockery or social Gurung ( 1986) estimated that between a wide spectrum of mammals (e.g. the 1961 and 197749' of Citawan's forests endangered gaur and the Gansetic were transformed inlofields - led at the dolphin). reptiles (sharial crocodile and Wild Animals and Poor people: Conflicts between same time t.O a constant reduction in marsh mugged, amphibians, birds, Conservation and HUman Needs in Citawan (Nepal) wildlife habitats. fishes and insects. Thirty-five to forty Ulrike Muller-Boker An initial attempt was made in tisers (Panthera tisris tigris) were 1964/65 to bring back the rhinoceros counted in the last year, Edds (1986 ) From the ~Fe Yer Hell" to the from Kalhmandu to In dia goes throush from the bri.nk of extinction. A "Rhino recorded 113 fish species in the waters "Meltina; pot" of Nepal the NiriyaQi and Ripli valleys. This in Sanctuary" was established; 22.000 of the park, and 486 bird species were Citawan. the largest of the broad valleys turn brousht many bazar-settlements squatters a:nd 4.000 long-resident registered in Citawan up until 19 88 within the Siwalik Range was only into being, the most important of which farmers were removed from the terri­ (jefferies &. Mis hra, 1991 :174ff.l. sparsely populated until the middle of is Niriyal).ghit. tory and the area south of the Rapti and Without any doubt, the Royal Cilawan this century. Difficult of access, the In sum, Citawan has developed in between Niriya{li and Lothar Kholiwas National Park is today one of the most region was infested with malaria less than a half century from a sparsely "cleared" from settlers with the excep­ important national parks in all of Asia (Baffner, J 979::5 l ff.). During the period popula ted periphery to an attractive tion of a few old Tharu villases (Spillet, and a great attraction for tourists. of Nepal's political isolation (1816- multi-ethnic center. 1967: 567). The situation. seen from "the other 1950) fhe interests of the government An effective ecotope conservation side of the fence" and protected by were consciously geared to preservins Citawan as Wildlife Heritage management succeeded only in the 1.000 armed soldiers. stands in stark this protective zone of forests, srass­ During the Ripa period (I846 - 1950) beginning or the 70es. IUCN and the contrast, however, with this ecologically lands and swamps, all the more so for Citawan was declared a "private hunting World Wild life Fund launched a tiger positive picture. consti t utins one of the best territories reserve" of the Maharajas due to its project. Erfor'ls to save the tiger, sitting for huntins biS same. It seems that the richness in big same, being the arena of at the ape:r of the food chain and needing Traditional Exploitation in Co nflict autochthonous inhabitants of Citawan. elaborate hUnts, to which the royalties consid erable territory to survive - so with Ecological Co ncerns the majority of whom are Tharus,lived of the world were invited (Kinloch. the idea SOi~S - necessarily required The protected forests and grasslands of relatively undisturbed, in this peri­ 1885; Oldfield. 1880/ 1974: 2 I Off.). preservation of a large habitat (Mishra, Citawan, together with riv~rs and pheral region despite the presence of For example - for the visit of King 1990: 14). In 1973 an area of 541. sq.km strea ms, are not only a potential reserve the state and disposed of sufficient ara­ George V of Great Britain in 1911 600 was declared a national park and put of arable land, but also of pasturage for ble land and forest. elephants were employed. and 39 under strict protection. In 1977 the larse herds of cattle. Additionally this With the eradication of malaria - tisers, 18 rhinos, four bears and several territory was e:rtended to cover 932 area provided hunting, fishing and Citawan havins been larsely free of leopards were shot within eleven days. sq.km . The Parsa Wildlife Reserve, gathering grounds; plus firewood and malaria since 1964 - and the turnabout All records were broken by a hunt in comprising 4.99 sq.km was anne:red by the raw materials necessary for the in Nepal's political orientation to the 1938/39, in which the Viceroy of In dia the Citawan National Park in 1988. In construction of houses and domestic outside world, the situation chansed took part. The bas included 120 tigers. recosnition of its richness in fl ora and tools. drastically. A larse and still continuins 38 rhinos, 27 leopards and 15 bears (K.K. fauna, of which some are considered The Tharus who traditionally set­ flow of immisranl$ from the mountains Gurung,1983:2f.t endangered specie s, the UNESCO tled this area, practised a short fallow (Pahiriyu) entered Citawan. promoted After the downfall of the Ral).ii declared t hE! park a World Heritage shiftins cultivation (2-4 years rice culti­ by planned reseulement prosrammes resime hunting and poaching increased Natural Sit·e (jefferies &. Mishra vation: 3 - 12 years fallow ). After the (Kansal::ar, 1979; Conway &. Shrestha. dramatically. Dealing in particular in 1991 :26). allocation of land titles by the sovern­ 1985), caUsing the population to rhino horn became a lucrative business These c·onservation measures led ment, shifting cultivation was prohib­ increase thirteenfold since 1920. Where (S tracey, 1957; 766 ). Poachers came to a stabiliulion of the Rhinoceros ited and the Tharus had 10 change to in 1953 only 19 people shared one from India and from the hills, but also unicornis population at the level of 350 permanent farming thus necessitating sq.km , there are today about 120. Since new settlers were responsible for the animals: the annual net increase of five regular manurJng. The forest had been the late 19705 the main thorouahfare decimation of the Rhinozeros unicorniI animals allowed meanwhile the re- the most important pasturage for the 31 30

Local Development: Grasses and People Tharu. With the eSlablishmena of t.he izationofthe autochthonous Inhabltanu in Royal Chitwan National Park. Nepal. Nllional Park and the prohibition or and prevent illesalencroachmenton the Oldfield, H.A.. 1880 Sketches from EnviroDmenla/ Conservalion 15: 113- iratins in the forest, the nu mber cat­ protected areas. Nepll. 2 Vols. (Reprint 1971) Delhi. or 118. tle declined drutically, In some villases by 80S. The animals starved to death. References Regmi, M.C. 1976. Landownership 10 Mishra. H.R. 1982. Balancing Human The rarmer now hct-a lack of duns and Conway. D. & Shrestha, N.R. 1985. Issues Nepal. Berkeley and Los Angeles: Uni ­ Needs and Conservation on Nepal's of workins animals. Because of pro­ in Population Pressure. Land Seule­ versity of California Press. Royal Chitwan National Park. A mbio 6: blems in collectins firewood - it has to ment, and Development: The Case of 216-257. be stolen - more and more duni is used Nepal. Studies in Comparafive Internlj­ Regmi. M.C. 1978. Thatched Huts and u fuel , The increase in t.he populllion or lional Development 5 (2): 55-82. Stucco Palaces. Peasants and Landlords Mishra. H.R 1990. A Wild World that is wildlife has caused the Tharu to surrer in 19th Cenlury Nepal. New Delhi. no More. Himal Se pt./Oct.: 11 · 15 . loss 0( barvest and of Ilvestoclc for w hich Edds, D.R. 1986. The fuhes or Royal there Is no compensation. The reiular Chitawan National Park. journal 0/ Spillell, j.J. 1967. A Report on the Wild ­ Muller-Boker. Ulrike 19 91a. Elhnobo­ collection of edible and medicinal Natural Hillory Museum (Kathmandu) life Surveys in Northern India and tanical Studies amoni the Citawan plants. of materials for makins houses 10 (1-'0: 1-12. Southern Nepal. Ja nuary - June 19 66. Tharus. journal of Ihe Nepal Research and household items,has become nearly journal of Bomb;,y Nalural Hislory Ce nter 9. In Press. lm possible (M uller -Boker, I 99 I a). Gee, E.P. 1959. Report on a Survey of the Society 63 (3): <192 -628. h is the Tharus in particular who Rhinoceros Area of Nepal. Ory~ 5 Muller-Boker, U. 199 1b . Knowledge and bave beensreatly affected by the loss of (March/April): 5 1-85, Stracey. P.D. 1957. On the St atus of the Eva luation of the Environ ment in Tradi­ access to land ntensively used in the Great Indian Rhinoceros (R. unicorni,) tional Societies of Nepal. Mountain past. In the race of their immediate Gu rung. H. 1981. Nepal: Dimensions 0/ in Nepal. journal of Bombay Natural ResearcbandDevelopment II (21: 101 - problems 0( survival, one can under­ Deve/opmenl. Kathmandu. Hillory Society 51: 763-766. 111. stand why tbey close their ears to arsu­ menU supportinsthe preservation of a Gurung. K.K. 1983. Heart of Ihe jungle: biotope and the protection of endan­ The Wildlife ofChinvan, Nepal. London. INTERVIEW iered wildHfc. For the Tharut the fOrtst is not only an important economic Haffner. W. 1979. Nepal Hi maJa ya. ReorientaUon at the Royal Nepal Academy: resource, it is also their form of econ­ Unrersuchungen zum verfika/en Land­ An interview with Vice-Chancellor Pro(. Isvar Banl omy, tbelr way of life and cultural iden­ schaflsaufbPanchayat system because of his demo­ Western ecolosists who see the forest fifties , because this would have cratic credentials, but last summer. and savannas as a livins space for wild Jefferies. M. " Mishra. H.R. 1991. Royal committed him to the School of Interna­ after the reSlocation of mull.i-party animahonlY,one inwhich the Tharus no Chilwan N;,rion;,1 Park. Wildlife Heri­ tional Studies (515) in New Delhi, which democracy, when Prof. lsvar Baraicame lonier have a place. lage of Nepal. The Mountaineers. had arransed for the scholarship. for a - as usual-lohis home country forvaca· The ecoloaically sensible decision Seattle , Auckland. fUrther five years · and he intended to tion.he WIS made Vice-Chancellor of the to protect and conserve vast areas of go back toNe pal. The pollticalchangeJ in Royal Nepal Academy. (The post of Citawan contradicts the infrastructural Kansakar. V.S.5. 1979. Effectiveness 0/ 1960, however. put an end to this plan, Chancellor has remained vacant since development and the opening of the Planned Reselllemenl Programme in so he went to London to get his Ph .D. the restructuring of the Academy). region to people from tbe ouuide. Tbe Nepal. 2 Vols. (Tribhuvan Universi ty). from SOAS and eventUall y stayed in When he wrote his doctoral thesis Tharus Ire the victims of a twotold Kathmandu: CEDA . Delhi, where he taught south Asian poli­ on The Life and Writings of Prilhv; Na­ dispossession. On ly a conservation lics and the history of modern Nepal at raran Shah in London under the su per­ management which involves the needs K.inloch. A.A. 1885. Large Game the 515 (jawaharJal Nehru University) vision of the late T.W. Clark. he used the of the local population. providinsthem Shooling in Tibel. Ihe Himalayas. and for what came to be 3<1 years. For a long archiVes of the India Orrice Library and with effective support. can counter the NorlherD India. Calcutta. time he had been in l.he bad books of the became · as he recounted • ~ th e first srowlnS impoverishment and criminal- Sbarma. U.R. 1988. National Parks and 32 33 person in t he world who has seen all the 'The first thing I had lodo here was Slaged. We included two languages this agricultural seasons etc. A sked whether volumes of the Hodgson papers from - how dowe say? - spring cleaning." This year. other than Nepali - Newari and these sonss will also be recorded and cover to cover· and the first Nepali of implied stock - taking of previous com ­ Maithili, Nell year we will include two published later, Pro£. Baral affirmed course." Besides being a distinguished mitments and liabilities. For elample , other languages. So in this way all the that this is intended. Summins up he scholar in the rields of history and polit­ bills for the printins of books had to be languages wilJ be given a chance as best continued: "So we are trying our best at ical science, Isvar Baral is well-known paid, which n o lonser reflected the as possible." new things which previously had nOt as an authority on Nepali li terature (for policy of the Academy. The case of the For this drama festival, which was been taken up, As you asked earlier , enmple as ediLOr of ·]hyilbata'", employees had to be taken up, as there scheduled for 26th September, already certainly 1 thousht there would be very '" Himalcu!i', '"Sayapati", '"Mohan Koi~i­ had been "anomalies" in their appoint · more than 150 scr ipts of non- proCes­ e::rciting things for me, 10 make innova­ laka Kavita'", etc.) - and as a writer, He is ment, stasnation in their salaries and sional drama sroups, literary orsanisa­ tions and to depart from the norm , the also a linguist, well versed in the Sansk­ academic sradins, etc. And thirdly, the tions etc. have been submitted. The best normal activities, and to contribute rit language and literature, and speaks financial situation had to be reviewed: presentations will be awarded prizes. something to the cultural environment fluently Hindi, Maithili, Bengali and as the sovernmenl no longer provided a Another change concerns the of the country. So I thought an opportu­ Bhojpuri, developmental fund of two million and "research fellowships" awarded by the nity had been given to me," Asked for the reasons for taking up the increment of salaries took up one Academy, Previously. these fellowships The "opening up" of the Royal his present post, Prof. Baral replied that million. The Academy faced a decrease were mostly given for creative writing, Academy' s activities la a wider field of it was his long-standing interest in of three million rupees in its budget. to essayists, poets, novelists. But now, interests also creates a bigger ground history on the one hand, and literature We then turned 10 the question of true to their name, they will be strictly for possible coll aboration with foreign on the other, that made the job attrac­ resuuCluring the academic activities. siven for scientific and methodologi­ scholars and institutions. When we tive to him. He went on to elplain that What kind of shift had taken place in the cally sound research only. came to that point towards Ihe end of the Royal Academy is meant primarily orientation of the Academy' s projects? This does not mean, however, that our talk Pror. Baral stressed the neces­ for the development of five branches of "We made certain innovations. creative writing will no longer be sity to keep each other informed and knowledge: language, literature, culture First we included studies regarding promoted. The Vice-Chancellor emp ha ~ initiate "m utual cooperation and an (which includes history), art (painting, different languages in the country, not sized that the Academy will continue to elchange of ideas:' music and drama), and philosophy, only Nepali. Previously, only NepaJi was support the publication of creative writ­ But later on he pointed out that at being encouraged, only stUdies and ing, ... "but they must be of a standard. (Interview held on 19th August, 1991l first he had had reservations: '" I was not books in Nepali were being published. Thus, if somebody wants 10 publish an very enthusiastic in accepting this jOb, And all the activities were rela ted to the anthology of poems, for example, it has primarily because I have leH a few Nepali language. We modified thai, and to be seen what par ticular contribution Current and Projected Language Pro­ things in complete, writings: I have a our activities now are related to other these poems are soing to make to the jects of the Royal Nepal Academy p lan of publishing about 15 books, 7 are languages also:' development of Nepali poetry." in the last stage of completion. My plan Pro!. Baral then went on to elplain Apart from such shirts in the Limbu was to retire early from Jawaharlal the newly started projeclS on four emphasis new projeclS will also be I. Study on Limbu Language, Literature Nehru University and devote the rest of languases (other than Nepali): Limbu, intrOduced. In the beginning of and Culture: The major objective of this life to full time writing. Now I don' t get Mailhili, Bhojpuri and Newari (for February 1992 a Festival of the People project is to collect materials on Limbu the time. So this is a great loss to me, that details see below). Later on, he (Jokotsava) is going to be held. which is oral tradition and publish them in de· is why I was not very enthusiastic. But continued,other languages, such as Ma · meant for the presentation of folk songs, vanagarTscript with Nepali translitera­ secondly there was the challenge - the gar, Tamang, and Guruns, wiiJ be "sonss of the tribal people of different tion, Several books ar e in preparation: challenge to strengthen the foundations included in the programme. languages, not modern songs, only such I) short introduction to the Limbu of democracy in the country through the A similar shift of emphasis has songs which are part and parcel of the language and literature (this is already activities of the Royal Academy." taken place in other activities, like the cU lturallifeof the people." The plan is to completed and is to be published in This challenge was the central performance of dramas. sroup these presentations according to 19 92: 2) collection of folk songs and theme of our talk. When I asked h im '" Every year a drama festival was different genres, such as heroic ballads tales: 3) collection of proverbs and about the major changes in the set-up of held here in which only Nepali dramas (like those of the Gaine), songs pertinent idioms (fieldwork for this will start in the Academy, Prof. Baralfirst elplained were stased for a week or so.Sothis time 10 women (like those sung on Tij), or 1991- 1992: 4) studies on the mund­ some administrative problems he faced: dramas in other languages also will be relatins to certain religious festivals, or hum (one r itual ten. sung by a phe- " dlngm3 Cor the bendit oC a preanant standard Maithili. but a lso van ant RESEARCH REPORTS motber and her npected child , has dialects (like those close to the border been recorded and edited by Vairaai with Bhojpuri speakers) will be Group Pro!ecta a set oC maps displaying the basic Kabila and is presently in press). included. as Iona as diHerent words are geoaraphical features of the districts. 2. Limbu-Nepali-Enalish Dictionary: in usage. (If the diHerence is only In Gulmi " Arlba-t:banci inler- Twelve junior researchers spent This is a reedition or the dictionary spellina. the standard spellina will be disciplinary PrOleam me between 6 and 18 months in field wbich was oriainaUy compiled by I.S. aiven). Since late 1911:5 the Centre National de la surveys and provided the bulk or infor­ Chemjona and published by the Chief editor: Prof. Dr . Haridev a Mlshra Recherche Scientifique and the Institut mation on the area. In addition. they Academy (1961/62). Tbe new edition Commiuee: Pro!. Ramawuar Yadav. National de la Rechercbe Alronomique used these materials for their doctoral will be revised a.nd enlaraed. Dr. A..N. Chaudhari, Dr. Bal {rishna jha have been conductini inter-discipli­ degrees in Ecology (L. Redaud. C. Chier editor: Vairaai hbila 2. Nepali-Mait.hili Dictionary. ThiS nary research in two districts of mid­ Michaudl. Social Anthropoloay (M Commillee: Dr. Subhadra Subba. Dr. dictionary is desilned Cor Nepal! western Nepal: Gulmi and Arlha­ Lecomte-Tilouine, P. Ramirez) a.nd Navet "isor Rai. Bikram Inawaba speakers who want to learn the !Chanci. The program me was under­ Asronomy. Water-management and Ne"ari Maithili lansuage. It will be based on taken under ageneralCultural Coopera­ Asro-economy (j. Assie. O. Aubriol. J.P. History oC Newari Literature (in Nepali). dictionaries which are already tion Agreement between the Nepalese Fontenelle. C. Knepfler. P. de Verdieres. This will be th e first comprehensive published and therefore will not and French governments. Further, the j. Anddeu. N. Sibelet. F. Segala). Fur­ history of Newari writina coverins the involve field-work. Laler it will be CN RS team was affiliated to the Royal thermore seven post-doctoral and various periods and ienres in the lisht supplemented by a gram mar in Nepali. Nepal Academy. The research was senior scholars undertook studies in oC chanaina POlitical contests. The Chief editor: Prof. Dr. Isvar Bar al supposed to help in the preparation of particular fields: J. Smadja (human volume oC approsimately 700-800 Committee: Dr . Yogendra Yadav. Ram B. an EEC development project scheduled atoaraphy I. G. Kraussk.opCr (stUd y of the pages is planned to be published in tapadi. Dr. Ra jendra Vimal in the same area. The decision to choose Kumhal potter-fishermen), C. Panter­ about three years. 3. Representative Collection of Malthili these two particular districts was taken Brick. (tabour relations). Y. Houdard and Chief editor: Krishna Chandra Sinah Writings. An anthology will be by HMG. j. Bonnemaire (agriculture). J.P. Derron­ Pradhan prepared in two volumes,one focusing For the CNRS and INR A. this project taines (land use) and G. Torrin {Oasainl. Com millee: Narmadesvar Prasad on prose, the other on poetry. The was their second inter-disciplinary C. Jest e.ttensively toured t.he districts Pradnan, Dr . Jauk Man Vaidya, Lashi­ coiiection is intended 10 represenllhe endeavour in Nepal, following a joint and monitored the work of junior nath Tamol. Madhav Lal "armacharya. whole history of Maitbili litenlUre programme conducted in 19111-113 in researchers. R.R. Subedi of T.U. History Nepall Crom earliest times up to the present Salme village. Nuwakot District. DepL collected available manuscripts Dictionary or Literary Terms (in Nepali) and will inClude various literary However, Gulmi and Ariha-Khanci was and historical data. The compilation or this dictionary is - genres (also short-stories, essays. the first undertakinlat a relionallevel. Gulmi and Argba-tbanci (600 000 amona ot.her tbinas - intended to Cacili­ literary criticism, narrative poetry The Salme and Gulmi program mes were inhbts., 2500 kmll are situated in the tate the understandina of and commu­ etc'! Use will also be made or manu­ both conducted under the GRECO-Hima­ heavy populated middle hills (1100 - nication with the western tradition of scripts kept by tbe National Archives. laya. an inter-disciplinary structure 2000 m) to the west of the tali Ga ndak i. literary blstory and criticism. The text will be presented with an involving nu merous French researchers inhibited mlinly by Nepali-speakinl Cb ieC editor: Krlsbna Cbandra Sinsh introduction about the authors (u far working on the Himalayas. HindUS: Bahun. Chetri. Thakuri. bmi, Pradhan as possible). A glossary of obsolete Till now. some 30 persons have Sarki. Damai. Gai ne. Tibeto-Burmese M altbili terms is 10 be attached. contributed to the Gu lm i-Argha-Khanci groups, Magar and Gurung. represent I. Maithili-Nepali Dictionary. The plan is Chief editors: Dr. Dhireswar jha (Prose. programme. for various lengths of time. less than 151 of the total population, to first publish a concise dictionary with Parameswar Pr as ad Singh (Poetry) Sil major fields of study were covered: and they generall y use Nepali as their about 3:5 .000 entries. Later this will be Bbojpuri geography. ecology. agronomy. rural mother tonRue. Before 1804. the area enlarged up to 60.000 words or more. Grammar of Bhojpuri. FOr t.his project a economy. history and social anthro­ was divided into sit Thakuri principali­ Three collectors will be deputed to committee has been formed with pology. Moreover. specialists in remote ties. (ounded in the early 16th century three different areas in Nepal: one in Prof.lsvar Baral as president and sensing helped in the collection of dau. and more or less under the suzerainety MahOllari and Sarlahi, the second in Dhanush Chandra Gauum. jagdis h and the Topographical Sur vey Depart­ of neighbouring Patpa. janakpur. the third will be in Siraha and Sbarma, Uma Shankar Dvivedi and Dr. ment (HM G) issued a ~ Baseline survey ~. Saptari (up to Rajbiraj). Thus. not only Dhruba Chandra Gautam as members. 36 J1

Documents dating from the pre­ Nepal-Italian Joint Project on zonga). Individual Projects unification period are very few, but the Higb-Altitude Research in tbe Earth Sciencea: Geodynamics. Geody­ Project: The dynamics of interethnic emphasis put on diachronic studies was Himalayas namic evolution of the highest peaks of relations: the Dom of Hunza particularly fruitful concerning changes The Royal Nepal Academy of Science the Himalayan Chain, Geophysics. (Northern Areas of Pakistan) which occured in the last 150 years in and Technology (RONASn and the EV ­ A broad band seism ic station in the Him ­ certain domains: the tlinduization of the K2-CNR Comittee have agreed on a joint alayas. Sedimentary Geology. Sedimen­ Researcher: Anna Schmid, South Magar, ritual geography, distrib ution of project on high altitude research in Him ­ tarygeology i:n Manang Area Crystalline Asia Institute, Heidelberg University power, internal migration and the a
ayas that is to begin in 1991 . The Geology. Geology and Petrology of the Sponsored by: Gottlieb Daimler- und evolution of land- use. research programme is under the pat­ Crystalline rocks of the Himalayan belt. Karl Benz-Stiftung and South Asia Joint field-work and analysis ronage of the Italian Ministry of Univer­ For fUrther in;ror mation: K2 -CNR Repre­ Institute conducted by small teams of two sity, Scientific and Technological sentative Office: P.O.Box 5109, Kath ­ researchers proved to be quite produc­ Research, the Italian Ministry of Foreign mandu, Nepal When the Dom immigrated from tive. However, the synthesis on a higher Affairs and the Commission of the Euro­ northern India some 300 years ago level, involving numerous disciplines pean Communities. Topics to be investi­ Development. Strategies for the they were given land by the local and people, did not reachoriginalexpec­ gated include: Remote Are:1I of Nepal ruler in the central part of Hunza. tations. The reason lay not only in the Biological Sciences: physiology I : The objective of this project is to delin­ where they form now approximately difficult harmonization of various Cardiovascular and gas elchange read­ eate appropriate short-term and 2 to of the population. In return they methodologies but also in very simple justments 10 elercise at high altitude; medium-teral strategies for develop­ had to perform services as musicans problems: for example to make people physiology 2: - Study on the effect of ment of the al ~ eas classified as "remote" and blacksmiths. As musicans. the meet regularly when they belong to strength training at high altitUde. - M us ­ in Nepal, based on the thorough investi­ Dom were situated at the core of the different intitutions, Jive in different cle strength at fatiguability in chronic gation of somj~ representative localities. local culture; as blacksmiths, they areas and keep commuting between hYPolia. Physiology 3: - HUman muscle Field research! is being conducted in five were set apart from the rest of soci­ Europe and Asia. adaptations at high altitude. An electro­ districts (Tal;llejung, Dolakha. Dolpa. ety and relegated to the lowest social Another disappointment for some myographic and sound myographic Jumla, DarchlJla) and focusses on the stratum. Due to their ambiguous of us is that our work was of little use to study. - Heart rate variability du ring traditional eC1Jnomy and resource utili­ social status and their Ubiquitous zation as well the impact and prQbl~m$ the EEC development Pioject This musculai e"eidse ;n t.igt. allitude. pr~sence at musical peifQmam;eS. project started later than initiall y Physiology 1 : Functional and metabolic of developme:nt programmes. the role of they are frequent mentioned in the planned, so that development experts studies at high altitude. Respiratory the Slate. and 'the specific im plications of literature on the Northern Are,as of and researchers were not in the field at Physiology: Measurement of respira­ "remoteness". Pakistan - scientific and others, Yet the same lime. On the other hand, it tory work at high altitude. Physiology: The research group consists of five so far they have not been investi­ must be confessed that, when they are Respiratory function tests and broncllial senior resean:hers (one anthropologist, gated in any detail. not part of a codified agreement, hyperreactivity in asth matic sub jecLs at one sociologist, one geographer, one Fieldwork was conducted from exchanges between the two parties high allitude. Zoology: Reproductive economist and one cultural historian) March to October 1988 and from generally seem not to take place. behaviour of the Himalayan that (Her­ and 16 research assistants. For each April to July 1990. It concentrated A number of memoirs on Gu lmi and mitragus Jemlahicus). district one team has been formed only on the Dom village of Momina­ Argha-Khanci are already either in Environment Sciences: Atmosperic headed by a. senior researcher. The bad, and a few dispersed households print or available in the library of the Deposition and Circulation of Pollutants. project started in August 1990 and is in other villages of Hunza. In addi­ "Centre d'Etudes Himalayennes' Environmental assessment of long scheduled tobe completed by JUly 1992. tion, comparative data were collected (Meudon), An edited volume presenting range pollution in high elevation and It is financed by the IORC (Integrated in their v illage in Nagar. the the results of different researches is remote areas. AtMospheric POllution. Development Research Center), Canada. adjOining district and in the urban elpected to be published before the end Evaluation of atmospheric pollutants in Coordinator: [hili Ram Dahal center of the Northern Areas. Gilgit. of 1992. remote areas. HUman Sciences: Ethnography and The aim of tile research is to Philippe Ramirez HUman Geography. Human geography clarify the interethnic relationship and ethnology. Material and spiritual between the Dom minority and the culture of Kanchanjunga (Kanchend- J9 38 wider society, i.e. the sianificance of local mytholoiY and the numerous BOOK REVIEWS storaes about the Oom . ethnic Identity in social interaction DOR BAHADUR 81STA tised by an elite. whereas two other and the structural characteri~tics Since Hunu underwent a dramatiC Faralism and D~v~lopm~nr : N~paJs"s reliRioul currents, Shaivism and (economical conditions, power rela­ change after t.he removal of the loca.1 Struggle/or Mod~r nization. Buddhism, remained independent of tions etc.) of this interaction. To ruler in 1971 the study has to account Calcutta: Oriel,t Longman, 1991. 187 pp. this system. The orRanisation of society elucidate this topic three problems for both, the diachronic and synchronic Rs. ISO into castes was adopted durinR th e are beina e:umined. perspective. It will be arRued that the Middle ARes in the Magar and "has O.B. Bista's 10nR -."aited book presents First, the domains ( re1iaious, analysis of the interethnic relationship kinRdoms in the West. and by the Mallas a picture of the social orianiution and political, economical etc.) in which the shows a specifiC paltern of inleRration in the Kathmandu Valley. 8utthe adop· values that govern Nepalese society Dom act as specialists are beina and seRreiation which varies In histor­ tion or this system was rar from homo­ with a view to assessinR the country's analysed witb reaard to t.he roles ically and situalionally different aeneous in the country. For a 10nR time chances of development. Thi. synthetic they play, the positions they take up, cOntexLS. the Gandaki reRion showed little treatment or the subject has the aRree­ their possibilities to manipulate and The data will be presented as a interest in Brahmanism: moreover, it able Quality of avoidinR diareuion enlarae the scope of their actina, and Ph.D. thesis. was only in recent times that the latter while adoptinil a personal point of view; the space Cor interaction created by penetuted the eastern part of the the relative partiality of the author's themselves. Moreover, the domains country, w here it encountered a fiour ­ position is a necessary feature of a work from which they are excluded (e .g. by Project: SociolinRuistic Survey of the ishinR local religion, Not to mention the that confines within the space of 187 rules of endQiamy) as well as the Jirel Com munlty northern Himalaya.in which the 8ahuns paRes the entire history of a country and implications of the various restric­ themselves showed little interest. Principal InvestiRatOr: Ni rmal Man the analysis of its institutions.The t.ions on their interaction are beina In retracing the history of the Nepa­ Tuladhar. CNAS. Tribhuvan University author addresses his compatriots (the taken into accounL lese caste system. the author is at pains Sponsored by: UNESCO book is dedicaLed to the people or Nepall to emphasise a point that has perhaps Second. the ways by which the in a manner that is simultaneously crit­ been too frequently overlooked. It Since a motorable road reaches up to Oom are qualified to articulate ical and optimistic. The critical aspect is would be misleadinR to imaRine a jiri (Oolakha district), the jirel com mu · central societal and cultural values of levelled at the caste society imported country passively allowinR itself to be nity - in and aroundjiri - is increasingly the wider society are beina investi­ from Hindu India, and at its basically invaded by immiRrants from the plains subject to social chanRC:. The aim of the Rated: namely by their mu sical ap­ falalistic syst,em of values, whereas and their ideoloRY. Il is likely rather project is 10 study the impacl of this on prenticeship. their intimate knowl­ Dista's optimism arises from the coun­ that there was some mutual back " the JirellanRuaRe. This will be done by edR e oC the wider society's requests, try's inherent capacity for work and scrlltchinR between the Nepalese rulers collectinR data on bilinRualism. the the skill to control this knowledRe, endurance, Qualities that are demon­ and the Bahun immigrants, The latter. domains and palterns of lanRuaRe use. etc: and secondly their low status strated by the indiRenous ethnic groups, Bista proposes, created castes of clients attitudes towards the native lanRuaRe and social exclusion, the Matwali. The central ariument is by invitinR the wealthier Khas, Magars and towards the other languaRes clearly stated and provides the the matic Third. the ideas and concepts by and Newars to be initiated into Chetd spoken in the community. rramework of the book, which the Do m are cateiorized and status. The new initiates who took the The diach,ronic perspective that perceived and by which the Dom The projecl is scheduled to be title of Thakuri subsequently got the extends from t.he earliest ti mes up to the perceive themselves are beina ana­ completed within one year. Dahuns to manufacture genealogies that present day hiRhliRhts the Importance lysed. This implies the study of the linked them to the Rajputs of India and of two paSloralaroups, the Kirat and the leRitimated their ambitions to rule, Khas, in the prehistoric area, They These manipulations led to a represent the oriRinal substratum of complete historical confusion, for the Nepal. which had very little connection "has, who moreover spoke an indo­ with the GanR'~tic plain, In the ancient Aryan laDiuaRe. were attributed the historical period. with the first waves of same oriRin as the immiRranu, But for Hindu im miaration, the caste system O.B. Bista appeared beside Vaishnavism. prac- 41

reinforces the rather fisure on which the matter oC foreign aid. Is this because he ~ It is hard to believe lbat Nepalis, to actually work ~ (p. 80). It is also why Nepalese show lbemselves to be depenM considers that a criticism of this nature with their reputation for an indepen· students do not eJpect the educational dent. and to which they abandon all would be unaracious in view of Nepal s dent spirit and martial qualities, could system to provide them with trainmg their responsibilities in the event of effective economic dependence on not produce their own leaders but had to for future work, but rather with the failure. foreign finance? Has he perhaps liken wait for fuaitive nobles to arrive from meaDS 0( acquirina a status · a statuI Dista very clearly sets out his post· his cue from the develop ment literature India and paid homaae to them as soon which will eventually allow them not to tion on this matter; that systematically adopts a tone of as they let foot in the hills, There is work. Moreover, a sense of responsI­ "Nepal cannol look to the cornucopia of dutiful seif·criticism? The impression evidence suaaestina that such Indian bility, individual competence and the foreign a.id for solutions to all its with which ooe is left is that io thiS pediarees for the Thakuri·Chhetri are success t.hat miaht derive from this. as problems and it is no use blamina it for severe but optimistic message, encour· the artifacts or their 0'1110 sycophanlS (p, well as a spirit of competition · in short. the negative fallout of fatalistic belief.... aging his compatriots to gel a 8rip on 37)." all the values of modern Western It would be short-sighted to wish it themselves and 10 change their own This line 0( reasooina does not spare society · are discouraled by fatalism. away ( 1:50 · 1 :511. ~ society, tbe author himself adops the tbe Shah dynasty, who Mhave been aiven The aUI.hor araues that dependance The author briefly mentions I few role of the father· figure, admonishing a Rajput ancestry by a few historians, on the father is a fundamental aspect of studies criticising foreign aid without his children without wasting his time on yet all their clan deities and famliy tute· the Nepalese character, a "nalional endorsing their position. Here the eIplaining to them what only 8rown· lary deities are worshipped and cared trait·. A description of in tra-family reader may be surprised 10 note thlt the ups can understand. the serious busl· for exclusively by Maaars . by Drah· relations in its most concrete aspects acute incisiveness · tinsed with hu mour ne ss of politics. manic standards a polluted low -caste shows that the very free upbringing of . that Bista applies to his own society, ethnic aroup " (p, 38) young children does Dot fa vour the disappears as soon as he mentions the Anne de Sales The neIt Itep in the process, development of their independence. accordina to this scenario, was that the Throuahout his life an individual NEWS system of values which oriainally searches for a father· figure, with his belonaed to an immiarant minority, authority and protection. In association Himalayan Studiu .t Odord Today the Refusee Studies PrOjramme at ended up by rulina Nepalese society. with fatalistic preconceptions this Queen Elizabeth House covered the The analysis of this dominant ~ hierach· dependence produces two institution s Over the lut twenty years, as an history of the Tibetan Refugee relief ica l sub·culture·· in the succeeding that Dista describes with perspicacity: increasins Dumber of scbolars of Nepal programme for which he was largely chapters sho'llll a ruthless clarity on the chakari. w hich consists of play ins and the Himalayan resion have responsible in the 1960s. In 1990 part of an anthropoloaist Observina his oneself under tbe protection of someone progressed through OJford University, Gra ham Clark.e gave a seminar on Poli ­ own culture, more powerful. and to pander to him in many of these have beeD working in tics and Development in Nepal for the The key concept of this analysis is uchange for the advantages that he IS 'Social AnthropolOjY and Ethnology', Contemporary South Asia Seminar fataUsm: the order or the world and then entitled to reCf! ive: a[no manche while others have come from Forestry Series, ala in at Queen Elizabeth House. society is divinely ordained, and the designates a sort of coterie, a network of and Oriental Studies. In the last decade This year at the In stitute oC Social and course of events Is irreversible. This soci al relations in which information these have been joined by Nepalese Cultural Anthropol08Y, David Gellner doctrine has sevenl distinct conse· and favours circulate. The operation of students, studying for degrees at OJford aave a Seminar on the types of quences for the behaviour of individ· official institutions depends on these across a full range of academic subjects approaches ut.ilised in the study of uals, particularly with reaard to work. two unorticial strategies that inevillbly from maritime law to medicine, Newar religion, a complex topic with iu Accordinl to a stratified conception of invite corruption. In the past t.here have been occa­ own lon8 literary history. More activities pbysical labour and material Another feature of this society of sional seminars on Nepal at Oxford. In recently, in the wake of Nepal's ejection preoccupations are the province of the privileges, rather than rights, is its 1989 t.hese included two presenlltions a panel discussion was convened to low castes, while the higher castes who conception of time, which accords lillle by the Swiss geologist and development debate the future of Nepal in the are the eJclusive beneficiariu of reality to the present and sees the specialist. Toni Hagen. At the Asia n Co ntemporary South Asia Se ries (by learnina and reliaious speculations future as a subjeCt of religio us specula· StUdie s Ce ntre of SI. Antony 's Co llege he Neville MaJwell and Graham Clarke). essenlially despite all errort. This is why tion rather than a domain to be planned talked from his unparalleled forty This se minar was eJceptionally well· salaried work, preferably in adminis· • which gives some idea of the misun­ year's experience of Nepal; his talk for attended, and ch aired by Tapan tratlon, represents the ideal career for a derstandin8S with which development Dahun: Mln luch jobs one is not eJpected program mu are received. Foreian aid 42

Raychauduri of St. Antony's College. which they are located, At the same Administration), who was formerly entation concerned to what degree Andrew Hall (Foreign &. Com monwealth time most of the presentations origi­ attached to the Forestry Department at environment. as much as any other Office) in troduced the election and the nated frOm village-level studies and Olford, Swiss Development Co-opera­ concept, was culturally defined, His Results: Graham Clarke (Queen Elizabeth were backed by a history of direct, long­ lion in Nepal, orrered a paper on conclusion was that. at least in Danda­ House) discussed the wider social and term participant-observation. With the "Projects &. Communities: a Forestry gaon, environment as understood by economic conte:rt: Michael Hutt (SO AS) exception of Melvyn Goldstein's bfll­ Case -Study in the mid-hills of Nepal-, local people them selves is as important, talked on politics and culture. and Tom liant presentation on Tibet (alongside Much of his material. liJc.e that of the if not more so. than the Himalaya ~ envi ­ Januui. a political scientist from the Catriona Bass and Tsering Shakya for subsequent presentations of jane Carter ronment" of crisis theory. University of Texas al Austin, discussed the Refugee StUdies Programme), the and Graham Clarke, came from the jane Carter (Olford) gave a paper Indian parallel and influence. H.E. Bha­ seminars all concerned Nepal. This was hinterland! of Sindhu-Palchok and on "VillageCom munitie! and the Private rat "esher Simha, the Royal Nepalese not just in the sense that they happened DolaJc.ha Districts to the north-east of Ownership of Trees in Nepal: a Case­ Ambassador in the Ut::. played a to be village studies conducted in Nepal. Kathmandu. He discussed the history of StUdY '". She moved down a level from vigorous role in the debate and discus­ but in that they placed the village in a land tenure and rights to the products of the long-term concerns of crisis theo­ sion that followed. A number of ideas broader national. cultural and ecological the forest in Nepal: secure communal rists with environmental/population were expressed. One was that populist contelt. and private right! to natural resources link ages to focus in detail on perceptions forces within institutions and society It may be that in Nepal, mor~ than in were placed squarely at the centre of and practices in agriculture at the over the neIl few years will be more most other countries, anthropologists any agenda for environmental conser­ micro-level of the household farm in important than the election itself in have COme to practical terms with the vation in the mid- hills of Nepal. villages in eastern Nepal. The tradi­ deciding the future of Nepal; another institutions of development. A number Melvyn Goldstein (Case- Western tionallocai tuonomy of plants, fodder was that the religiOUS world-view of or serious ethnographers or Nepal from Reserve University) gave a paper on his and food was seen as a major conceptual Nepal was still reflected in a special kind the Anglo-Suon world now have long-term fieldwork in Tibet with t.he framework behind people's everyday of civil order. Few disputed the view moved to pOSitions with one develop­ title 'Traditional Nomadic Pastoralism ideas and behaviour in relation to that India, politically, economically and ment agency or another, and this prac­ and Ecological Conservation on the Tibet nature, and in this contelt of culture and culturally, was becoming ever- more tical rllpprochement was reflected in Plateau". He discussed the ecological community she discussed measures for important in Nepal's affairs. the intellectual convergence of the pressure on the grassland in relation to crop, land and tree protection, A significant development in Hima­ seminar. The vocabulary of culture and live-stock numbers, and gave a detailed Chris McDonaugh (Olford) gave a layan Studies at OJford occured earlier community was combined with historical account of changes in the paper on "Social Aspects of Small -Scale in 1991, in january, when the Hima­ accounts of the state and administrative pastoral practices of the Tibetan Water Mills in Nepal-. He namined the layanSociety and EnvironmentSeminar institutions, of economic changes nomads of Phala. Climate and social varying types of s mall-scale hydro­ was started. This Seminar was held by through markets, and of changes in organisation were among the factors he electricity ("micro-hydro-) projects in the Institute of Social and Cultural culture through ~ modernity ~ and devel­ considered in an elegant consideration the Terai and pointed to the gap Anthropology in conjunction with opment, of theories of progressive or cyclical between the project documents, with QUeen Elizabeth House, a.nd organised Charles Ramble (Woodlands Insti· ecological change, He questioned the their pla.nned technical and financial by Nick Alien, Graham Clarke tute) gave a paper on '"C ultural Consid­ widespread assumption of a current specifications of in puts. budget site, and (convenor) and David Gellner, The erations for Park Management in general degradation of the quality of projections of performance output and seminar originally was conceived of as Eas tern Nepal". Here he described how grassland and wildlife in this area of the broad-based benefits, and the more an open workshop in which those the dirferent social orders and ideolo­ plateau, and concluded that traditional limited and partial effects of these concerned with Himalayan Studies in gies of Rai- Llmbu and Tibetan as practices and peoples were on the side projects in practice, as they were Oxford could come together and discuS! contrasted to Hindu groups resulted in of environmental sustainability. captured by local pre-elisting elites, work in progress, whether the subiect different problems for Park Manage­ Andrew Russell's (Olford) paper was and/or fell into disuse through lack of was ecology, ethnography, history or ment, One important conclusion was entitled "Issues in the Ecology and maintenance. any other subject area. However, in that environmental education needs Demography of Nepal", and concerned Graham Clarke (Oxford) gave a practice, this first series had a more both to talce account of. and to build on, concepts of the environment, both in paper on ~ Local Views or Development well-defined focus, concentrating on the local cooceptions of what is or is not western ideology and in the far eastern and Political Order in Highland Nepal ~, relation of local communities to the natural. hill -village of Dandagaon where he based on fieldwork carried out in the broader civil order and environment in Niclc Roche (Overseas Development recently conducted fieldwork. His pres- mid-seventies, He argued that develop- 44 " ment or bit., often was seen al a kind and InveSlment Activities In Nepal with The InstiLUte (or Intelrated Devel­ mental principles o( biology. An inter­ of" mana (rom heaven-, a lift as much Special Emphasis on the Hllls-. It opment Studies (lDSI. Kathmandu. in national meeting "Was organised In sacred as secular and bellowed rrom derived from his copious study carried collaboration with a team of A medcan Garhwal Himalaya on 27 November - 1 above. which tended to reinforce the out by Environmental Resources Ltd. (or schOlars led by Prot. Leo E. Rose of lhe December 1991. These mountains pre-uiltinl social hierarchy. The tradi­ the World Banle , and lunded by the UK University of Cali(ornia at Berleeley envelope in their fold environmental tional state, which often - bacleed by OVerseas Development Administration. conducted field visits to many districts eltre mes o( tropics to tundra affordlnR reliaio us and military sanction - eucted The study consists or a major literature of Nepal during the election campaign a uniq ue opportunity to study how an alrarian surplus, was contrasted review with a consideration ot the long ­ period to study the evolving multi­ birds adapt to diverse ecosystems - all with the nascent modern state. In this term relations between environment. party political system oC Nepal as within a range of I~O km l second and more populist order in populatjon. energy needs. and migra­ reflected in the first general elections. The: alms of the Symposium: Nepal. political lelitimacy often comes lion in Nepal. The implication here in A wor"shop was organized by liDS - to aive a.n impetus to ornithological from the distribution of materials some ways was similar to that 0( the in Kathmandu on May 17 at which time researches in the Indian subcontinent downwards by the Slate (or immediate earlier Sem.inar on -Nepal after the Elec ­ most ot the election results had just - to highlight t.he contribulion of orni­ consumption. with the benefits o( tions-. One way or another. the linkages been announced. thology to environmental conserva­ development projects beinl handed out between Nepal and In dia were orfunda· The IDS st udy team and thl! Amer­ tion. socio-I!conomic development and in uchanae for votes in return. This mental significance to the tutu re of both ican scholars presented their prelimary biologica' concepts process of distribution was illustrated the country and its people. The ODA assess ment of th e election reults and the - to provide: a platform for In dian orni­ by trackinl one project from the polit­ allended this presenlation. the last of implications for the evolving political tholog ists. specially younger enthu­ ical centre down to the villale, and the current series. which was held at development or Nepal. The workshop siuts.to inleract with leading authori­ showing how the various levels of civil Queen Elizabeth Hou se (International participants included other academi­ ties in lhe field (rom different coun­ society benefilted. The political su pport Development Centre). cians. political observers and activists tries in return was illustrated by an account The (ocus o( this (irst Himalayan and represe-ntatives from other - 10 brinR together researchers. conser­ 0( the pancbaral and jiJI. elections in Society and Environment Seminar research organizations also involved in vationists, managers and policy that same area in 1986" 1987. series at OJtord has been largely on studying the 1991 Nepal General Elec­ maleers to evolve strategies (or effec­ Harald Sklar (Norwelian Institute Nepal. and it may be possible to publish lions. tive management of Himalayan 0( International Affairs) lave a more the proceedinls at some (uture date. A Final Report on the IOS study on avifauna wide-ranlina talk on "Indilenous Peo­ Research at O%ford also is bemg the 1991 Nepal General Elect.ions is The symposium comprised ples ot Nepal". Here the issues ot local conducted on Western China (at the being prepared and will be ready by invited lectures and contributed rights versus those o( the ce ntral state, Institute o( Social and Cultural Anthro­ Oc tober 1991 . papers on applied (game birds. pest and the quellion oC just who is indige­ pOlogy) and Tibet and the north-west birds. habitat At species conservation. nous, came to the tore. The convoluted Himalaya (at Queen Elizabeth House and Prem JunK Th;)pa ca ptive breeding) and basic aspects history or milrations in Nepal. histori­ the PiU-Rivers Museum). The hope is Se nior Research Associate (ecology. physiology. special sessions cally complicated both by the topogra­ that such thematic seminars and work ­ IOS on reproduction. migration. biological phy and the relations to neighbouring shops on the Himalaya a.nd mountain P.O.B. 22:54 rhythms) w ith an emphasis on the polities. and now by a modern lIate relions o( cenlral Asia will continue in Kathmandu. Nepal environment and on adaption to the IIructure. made the inter pretation ot Odord in this and other seminar series environment (hormones). Internaliona.l Symposium on modern international conventions for in years to come. Local organiser: Environmental indigenous people an ellremely " Hormonal Dr. Asha Chandola-S alelani. P.O.B. <4:5 . Approache. to OrnltbololY demandinl tasle . Graham E. Clarke Garhwal University. Srinagar Gar hwal, (Ga rhwal Himalaya) John Horberry (Environmental U.P. 246 17 <4 India: Fu 013:5 28392 Resources Ltd.) (irst studied anthro­ Workshop on the May 1991 (international) 009 1 135 28392. Telu Ge neral Elections in Nepal Birds not only enrich our lives with polOlY at Cambridge before moving to 58~ - H5 EBD IN: 585-232 PAL IN. their aestheti-c and food value but are ecology and development. His seminar Palron: Prof. S.P. Nautiyal (Vice-Chan­ important indicators of environmental had the title -Natural Resource Manage­ The first general election under the new cellorl. degradation and have been instru­ ment Cor Sustainable DeVelopment a constitution of Nepal was held on Ma y Hon. President: Prot. J.P. ThapliyaJ. Study or Feasible Policies. inllitut.ions 12 . 1991. mental in unfolding some of the funda- 47

5. Old Tibetan (Dr. Helga Uebach. tion. The title of the conference has been New Appointment. at Tribbuvan Mishra (Rector), Mr. Sudarshan Risal Utliveraity Kommission fur Zentralasiatische selected to IOdicate that though papers (Registrar). The resianation of the Studien. Bayerische Akademie der on a wide range of anthropologIcal After the former orrice bearers had former Chief of the Research Division, tendered their resianation and these Wiuenschaften, Marstallplatz. 8, 0- topics will be welcome, the conference Or. Krishna Bahadur Thapa. has been 8000 Munchen 22,Germany): 6. Tibetan nevertheless will be distinguished by iu were accepted, tbe fo llowina new accepted in Se ptember. Hi s functions appointments were made in August of grammarians (Or. P.C. Verhagen, concern for some of· the contemporary have. for the time being. been taken Institut Ke rn, State University of problems in social Jiving in Nepal. There this year: Pro£. Kedar Bhakta Mathema over by the Chief of the Planning Divi ­ Le iden. P.O.B. 95 15. NL· 2300 RA Leiden. will therefore be a number of either (Vice·Chancellor), Dr. Devendra Raj sion. Or. Panna Lal Pradhan. Net herlands). half- or fuU · day sessions devoted to th e The conference will take place at following topics: the anthropology of ANNOUNCEMENTS Fagernes. situated in one of the most resource management: women and scenic regions of inland Norway . some development; medical anthropology: Symposia February 20th: Michael HUll: "On the 200 kilo meters north of Oslo. and urban anthropology. Nepali Poet Mohan Koirala." All scholars who have done anthro' The Hi malay an Forum at SOAS March 5th: Dipak Raj Pa nt: "Street­ Second International Seminar on polog ical research in Nepal are invited 1991·1 992 Level Political Action in Nepal:' Tibetan Language, Siena and Arci­ to participate, There will probab ly be a dosso (Italy) August 30th-Sep­ registrat.ion fee of US -S 50 for scholars October 10th - John Bray: "Ladakhi tember "'tb. 1992. employed on a fu ll-time basis in th e Si:rtb Conference of the Interna­ Hinory and Indian NationhOOd ." The seminar is convened jointly by United States. Canada. Eu rope. Japan. tional Association of Tibetan OctOber 17th · Shelby Tucker: "A Shang-Shung I nternationall nslit ute for AUstralia and New Zealand. Other Studiel, Paserneu (Norway) Journey through the Kachin Hills of Tibetan Studies, The University of Siena scholars and pos t-g raduate students northern Burma." AUlust 21 .. za, 1992 and Is.M.E.O of Rome. The aim of the will not have to pay any registration fee. November 21st · Mark Temple: "Popu se minar is to contribute to a variety ol The conference will be held in the Hotel lation Growth and the Labour problems regarding the preservation. Vajra. Kllh mandu. and daily room rates Shoruae in Nepali Asriculture." The conference is to be hosted by the updating and diffusion of the Tibetan range fro m US-S 20 to US -S 30. Schola rs November 28 th - Graham Clarke: Institute for Comparative Research in language (e.g. standardiza tion, prob ­ in terested in attending this conference "Local Views oC De velopment and Human Culture, Dra m mensveien 78. lems of translation and teaching). should write to; Professor Michael AUen . the Political Order in Highland N-027l Os lo 2, Norway. (Tel. 02 - Co ntact adress; Istituto Shana-S hung. Department of Anthropology, Univer­ Nepal." 554207). Wo rkShops have been Istituto Internnionale di Studi Tibe­ sity of Sydney. Sydney. NSW 2006 December 5th · Yoshiro Imaeda: planned on the fo llowing topics tani, Via degli Olmi. 1.5803 1 Arcidosso. Australia. "Bhutan Past and Present." (conveners mentioned in brackets): I. GR. Italy - Tel. 0564·9669 ... 0.9669 ... 1; January 16th - Andrew Russell: 'The Tibetan Canon" (Dr. Helm ut Eim er. FAX OS6 ... - 966846. SASON National Congress: ~S truc ­ "Sansk ritisalion and Identity in the Indologisches Seminar der Universitat ture and Transition. Society , East Nepal Hills.- Bonn. Regina-Pacis-Weg 7, 0-5300 Tbe anthropology of Nepal: Peo­ Poverty and Politics in Nepal." January 23th: Da ve Richards and Bonn I, Germany): 2."Sacred space. ples. problem. and proceues (planned for JUl y or AuSusl 1992) Bijaya Sainju: "Nepal in the 1990.: seography and pilgrimage- (Pror. k.athmandu 7-1'" September 1992 The Sociolog ical I Anthropological Donor-Driven-De mocracy 7" Lawrence Epstein. Dept. of Anthro­ The Ce ntre for Nepal and Asian StUdies. Society of Nepal (SASON), which was January 30th: Tsering W Shaky a: polog;y. DH-05 , University of Wash­ Trib huvan University, Kathmandu. and founded in 1985 "with the twin objec­ 'Tibet and China in 1950: Coe rcion ington, Seattle. W A 98195. U.S.A.): 3. the Department of Anthropology. tives of promotinll the disciplines of or Diplomacy?" TibetoJogy and social anthropology University of Sydney. plan to hold an sociOIOIlY and anthropology in order February 6th: Sonam ChhokipOiogy (D r. Patrick Kaplanian, ... , Rue Ne uve international conference in Kathmandu that they contribute towards the devel­ "Ri tual in a Bbutanese Village: an Popincourl. F-7701 1 Paris. France): ... . on 7-1'" September 1992. . Whilst CNAS opment of the co untry", has in August His torical Perspective." Buddhism and modernity in respect of will act as the host for the Conference. 1991 elected a new Executive Feb ruary 13th: Surya Subedi: Tibetans IOr. M.P.S. Chandel. Cen tral the Department of An thropology. Commiuee with Kailash N. Pyakurel as -Monarchy and the Constitution in Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies, University of Sydney. will assume President and Bihari K. Shrestha as Nepal and Bhutan.- Sarnath. Varanasi 221007 U.P .. lndia): responsibility for the initial organisa- Vice- President. The National Co ngress 49 " planned for nelt $um mer will be the For fUrther infor mat ion contact Mr relations with the environment shall natural history to exchange research first in several years - and the first after Philip Denwood. Far East Departmen L. furnish the basis for a programme information. share knowledge and hold the political changes in Nepal. For details SOAS. Thornhaugh Street, RusseJ! which is directed at using the autoch­ national and international semInars and contact: S ASON, P.O.B. ;(771, Kath mand u. Square. London WCIH OXG. Tel: 071 - thonous population's conceptions of the conferences. Nepal. 6372388 Fax : 071-43638-44. world so that the world might also be For further information. contact Dr . protected on their terms. M. K. . Giri. Ladakb: History and Culture The results of these studies shall be President. NAHSON A Conference to mark tbe 150th put at the disposal of development- pol­ Chief. Natural History Museum. Anniversary of tbe death of Alel­ Organisations icy makers and environmentalists of Manjushree Bazar Swyambhu. Kath ­ and er Csoma de "OrO$ diverse ornganisations. mandu, Nepal. Alennder Csoma de Korbs (178-4-1842) The Association wishes to take up Phone No. 271899 travelled from Europe on foot in search The Auociation for the Ethnolog­ contact with institutions and persons of the origin of the Hungarian people. ical Research of Tibet and the with similar aims and interests. Arriving in Ladakh in 1822, he began Countriel ot tbe Himalaya Courses the study of Tibet.an at the instigation of Natural History ot Nepal an Englishman, William Moorcroft. His Address: Ins tit ut fur Tibetologie & Courses io Himalayan Lan8uages $tudie$ in Ladakh and Zangskar were to Buddhismuskunde, Maria-Theresien­ After initial preparation for creating a at the Campus of International culminate in the publication of a diction­ Strasse 3/26, A- I 090 Vienna, Austria. Natural Hi story Society of Nepal Languages, Tribhuvao Univer ­ ary. grammar and other work$ which (NAHSON) tor about four mounths. it sity. K.atbmandu, Nepal The association was founded in Vienna laid the foundations of the scientific was finally established in July by a Apart trom catering for the needs study of Tibetan in the West. in March 1991. According to its statues general assembly of members and the association serves the following of Nepalese interested in learning A two-day Conference is tobe held at registered with HMG. One hundred foreign langu ages the Ca m pu s of I nter­ the School of Oriental & African Studies aims: founder members are now preparing I. scientific field research in Tibet and national Languages (C IL) offers long ­ (SO AS), University of London on I st and for an inaugural ceremony 10 be held at term courses in Himalayan languages 2nd June 1992. Offers are invited of 20- the countries of the Himalaya; end of this year. 2. ethnological work for the counselling for foreigners. The CIL. an institution minutes papers to be delivered on sub­ The objective of the Society is to of the state run Tribhuvan University jects relating to the history, culture or of projects concerning development study. promote and develop the natural policy and environmentalist aims in the established about 30 years ago, anthropology of Ladakh. and/or the life history of Nepal by encouraging conducts at present language courses and work of Alennder Csoma de l::or05. Himalaya; research and the exchange of informa­ 3. establishment of a special library and for foreigners in Nepali. Sanskrit. and Thiswill be the fifth in a series of confer­ tion on the natural history of Nepal Tibetan. ences on Ladakh starting at Konstanz in data bank; within and outside Nepal. 198 I. I t is hoped to publish the proceed­ 4. scientific: exchange with nalional and To achieve the above objectives. to The courses aim at persons with an ings. international institutions; and popularise and promote NAHSON in interest in in-country language Several distinguished foreign schol­ S. public: information in A ustria for a Nepal and in foreign countries. the le arning. Although Tibetan is region­ ars have been invited to participate, better understanding of the cultures following activities will be carried out ally spoken only in corners of the including Dr. Bethlenfalvy, Chairman of and political situation in Tibet and the on a regular basis: country far away from Kathmandu, the Csoma de Koros Society in Budapest. countries of the Himalaya. -to conduct talks seminars and work­ learners will find ample opportunities Various events are planned to accom ­ The funds for the realization of these shops of outside classroom language pany the conference , including an exhi­ aims will be raised through member­ -to publish a newsletter bulletin, jour­ contacts, be it with some of the bition of relics of Csoma de Kor6s. ship fees, donations and subsidies, nals and books numerous Tibetan refugees or with The Conference is being sponsored contributions. legacies and profits from -to e%tend Natural Conservation Educa­ members of local institutions of by SOAS and organized by a sUb-com­ the association's pub lications and tion in villages, towns and educational Tibetan Buddhism. StUdents of mitlee of the International Association events. ins titutions Sanskrit arc given the chance of famll­ for Ladakh StUdies. with the co-opera­ At present the main research objec­ - to encourage regional and interna­ iarizing themselves with Sanskrit pro­ tion of the HUngarian Embassy in Lon ­ tive is a detailed treatment of environ ­ tional agencies that are interested in sody through the guidance of a tradi- don. mental problems. An analysis of "emic" so " tional Nepali Pandit. This may be useful PUBLICATIONS Mapping of mountain hazards and geomorholog ical damage between in a basic approach to the language or as slope stability (Reprinl). KIENH OLZ. H.. 1979/80 and 1988 and a general a complementary component for Himalaya Environment and De ­ SC HNEIDER, Go, BICH SEL. M.. GRUNDER , in trod Uction to the agricultural syste m advanced learners. A knowledge of velo pment: Twelve Years o( M.. MooL. P.: Mountain hazards map­ of jalkini. BOSSH ART. U.: Lan d use Nep aJi for theoretical or practical Research ping in the Khumbu Himal. Nepal. with changes and soil fertility status In purposes has been feil ever since the prototype map. scale 1:50'000 s mall watershed in the Middle Hi lis of belinning of the interest in the Him a­ The study on Himalay an ecology has a (Reprint). ZIMMERMANN. M.. BICHSEL, Nep al: Signs of pressure. WYMANN. So, layan region. Especially anthropolOgists long project trad ition In the Depart · M.. KIENHOLZ.. H.: The Langmoche The greening of the Siwalik Himalayas working on Nepal are sooner or later mentofGeography at the UniverSity of flas h-flood, Khumbu Himal, Nepal MUKERj I, A.B. (Chandigarh). faced with the necessity of knowing Berne, Switzerland. Since 1979 (Reprint). VUICHARD. D.. ZIMMER­ The volume will be published Nepali. The courses are conducted by numerous projects have been under' MANN. M.: The 1985 cataslrophic early 1992 and can be Obtained from enthusiastic and academically qualified taken on various regions and themes, drainage oC a moraine-dammed lake. Arbeitsgemeinschaft GEOGRAPH ICA native teachers. but always turning around the same Khumbu HimaJ. Nepal: Cause and con­ BERNENS IA. HallerSlrasse 12 ,CH-30 12 The courses in Nepali are of a basic questions: What are the mos t sequences (R{~print) . VUIC HAR D, D. . Bern. Price is apprO!. 30 Sfr. muimum two-year duration, the important natural processes within ZIMMERMANN', M.: Jalkini Area: An Th . Bofer, B. Messerli &,. S. Wymann courses in Tibetan and Sansk.rit of one­ the Himalayan ecological system? analysis of ch anges in land use and year. The introduction of second year What is the human impact on these courses for Tibetan and Sanskrit is processes and what are the ecological currently under consideration . Each consequences for the fUlure planninG year is divided into two semesters at the towards sustainable development, end of which elaminations are held. For especially with regard to the use of successful part.icipation in each one­ natural resources? Many of these year term a ce rtifica te equalling twenty studies took place in collaboration with credit hours is issued. A regular visit of United Nations University as well as the classes. held five times per week (or local partners in the Himalayan states. two hours, is necessary (or formal and A forthcoming volume "Himalaya academic reasons. Environment and Deve lopment"· All adult bona fide learners are edited by B.Messerli. T.Hofer and eligible (or admission. Permission 10 S.Wymann will summarise the results reside in the co untry at personal ris k (or of the Bernese Himalayan research and the period o( the course is granted to the at the same time anticipate future successful applicants by the Nepalese activ it ies. im migration authorities. The present Chapters included: Regionalizatlon visa fee is 60 US Dollar per annum. of the Himalaya, WYSS. M: The Him ­ The nel I ter m starts on A ugust I st. alayan-Lowland interactive syste m: 1992 and will end In june/July 1993. Do land- use changes in the mountains The course (ee for the term 1992193 trfect the plains? LAUTERBURG , A.: amounts to approximately 250 US Dollar Deforestation-changing discharge and or equivalent (oreign exchange. increasing fl oods: Myth or realllY? Requests should be malled to: The HOFER. T.: Forest changes in the Indian Campus Chie(, Campus of International Himalaya. KUSTER . H-J : Mountain hal­ Languages, Tribhuvan University. ards mapping in Nepal's Middle Moun­ Pradarsani Marga, Kathmandu. Nepal. tains. Mapsof land use and geomorphic damage (Reprint). KIENH OLZ. H.. HAF ­ Manfred Treu NER. H. . SCHNEIDER , G. . T AMRAKAR . R.: " Contributora to tbi. Inue Himalaya ~. AI.n Madarl.ne was recent I\' Richard Burlb.rt is ProCeuor 0( Eth­ appointed to a personal Chair In Blstorl nololY at the SUduien-lnSlilut. Unlver­ cal Anthropology at the University Cam ­ sita! Heldelberl. He has recenlly com­ bridge. He has published Widely on The pleted a study 01 the Maithili lanluage Gurwags and on medlevel English hiS­ in the Nepalese Tarai .nd is currently tory. He is author of the monOlraph working on the chanilnl relationship ( Resources .nd Populllllon, 1976) and between lUte and society in NepaL papers on the Guruna of Nepal .4 GUI de Grabam CI.rke IS • social anthropolo­ 10 {be Gurunls, ",hlch he wrot~ "'lIh gin and development consultant based Indrabahadur Gurung, came out In at Queen Elizabeth House, University of 1990. Of Cord. He wu previously Illached to U1rike MOller- Boker is a geographer the Institute Cor Development Studies. and aCriliated with the Geographlsches SusseJ and has conducted Cieldwork in In$litut of Giessen University. Sh~ lists the Helambu reH ion several publications on land utilization. Fr.nz-"'r! Bhrb.rd is a Tibetologist. erosion and related matters. Her mono­ currently serving IS Director oC the graph on Newar rural sett lements In the Nepal-German manuscripl Preserva­ Kathmandu Valley was published In tion Project in Kathmandu. He has pub­ 1984 in the "Giessener GeographLsche lished on BUddhist philosophy and SchriCten" (Hdt 56), a series or which religion. A recent paper oC his deals with she is Chier Editor. the history oC the Slupa of Bodhnu.h Philippe R.mirel recentl y completed ( Ancient Nepal. 120/ 1990). his dissertation in Ethnol<>aV IS part of M. rtin GUDszle is wissenscha.(Uicher the GUlmi and Araha-Khanci interdlScl- ... nt:estellter :t the SUdll5ien-lnstit!.H. pHn:ry Prcgrll.m me Universitat Heidelberl and Director oC Anne de Sales IS .nthropolOllSt and the Institute's branch office in Kath ­ member of the Centre National de la mandu. His mon08raph on kinship and Recherche Scientiflque In Fnnc~ lIer mylh amoni the Mewahang Ra j was monograph on Northern Magar sha­ published last year by Steiner Verlag, manism (Je suu ne de vas Jeuz de lam ­ Wiesbaden. Hi s current research IS on bours.! was pUblished last year by the R• .i ritual tellS and oral tradition. Societe d'EtnolOlie (Klinckslecl.;) CorneiUe Jest IS doyen of IlIm alayan stUdies, specialising in the anthropology The Editors wish to thank Anna Marga­ of the Tibetan-speaking population rete Cole and Bflgitte Merz for their groups and the humin ecoloiY or the assiSlance in publishing the Bulletin and Nepal Hlmalaya. His monograph Do/po, the South Asia Institute tor bearing the comm unaufes de IIJngue libetIJine du costs oC this issue. Nepal, came oul in 1975. He was Direc ­ tor or the Centre d 'Etudes Him alayennes and the "GRECO Hi malaya-Ka rakorum " project oC the Centre National de la Recherche ScientiCique in Paris, At pre­ sent he is a([lliued with the Equlpe de Recherche ~ MilieuJ , Societe. Culture en