HMML Global Operations: Nepal

Nepal



HMML's project at the Āśā Archives (Āśā Saphūkuthi), in partnership with the Centre for the Study of Manuscript Cultures (CSMC) at the University of Hamburg, digitizes and makes accessible Buddhist and Hindu manuscripts from one of the largest public archives held by a non-profit, community-based organization in Nepal. The collection includes pothi-style palm-leaf and paper manuscripts, accordion books, ritual handbooks, and codices containing a variety of important texts on Hinduism and Buddhism, poetics, astronomy, astrology, and medicine, written in Sanskrit, Newari, Nepali, and a mix of these languages. The bulk of the Āśā Archives' early collection (over 7,000 manuscripts) dates to the 15th–19th centuries. HMML's partnership currently focuses on digitizing the manuscripts of the ‘new collection’ items dating from the 17th to the 20th centuries. The cleaning, inventorying, cataloging, digitization, and archival storage that the CSMC partnership provides with local community members will allow these materials to be preserved and shared, as well as create awareness for the need of preservation of manuscripts and artefacts in Nepal. The collection is an important part of Nepalese history and culture but also, more broadly, of significance to Central Asian and South Asian culture. HMML is actively pursuing other projects in Nepal and throughout South Asia.


Latest Nepal Stories

    A Buddhist multiple-text manuscript from the Āśā Archives, Kathmandu, containing the Pañcaviṃśatikā Prajñāpāramitā Hṛdayasūtra, Saptabuddhastotra, Āryamañjuśrīpratijñā, and Abhayaṅkari, written with golden ink in Newari script in Nīlapatra (‘black paper’), dating approximately to 17th/ 18th c. (DPN 2512)
    A Buddhist multiple-text manuscript from the Āśā Archives, Kathmandu, containing the Pañcaviṃśatikā Prajñāpāramitā Hṛdayasūtra, Saptabuddhastotra, Āryamañjuśrīpratijñā, and Abhayaṅkari, written with golden ink in Newari script in Nīlapatra (‘black paper’), dating approximately to 17th/ 18th c. (DPN 2512)
    B. Giri of the Kaiser Library, Kathmandu
    B. Giri of the Kaiser Library, Kathmandu
    Palm-leaf manuscripts, Āśā Archives, Kathmandu
    Palm-leaf manuscripts, Āśā Archives, Kathmandu
    Y. Brahmanath, of the Yogi Naraharinath Memorial Library and Museum, repairing a manuscript during a workshop at the Āśā Archives, Kathmandu
    Y. Brahmanath, of the Yogi Naraharinath Memorial Library and Museum, repairing a manuscript during a workshop at the Āśā Archives, Kathmandu
    Technician T.M. Maharjan working on a pothi-style manuscript at the Āśā Archives, Kathmandu
    Technician T.M. Maharjan working on a pothi-style manuscript at the Āśā Archives, Kathmandu
    CSMC/HMML workshop, Āśā Archives, Kathmandu
    CSMC/HMML workshop, Āśā Archives, Kathmandu
    Āśā Archives (Āśā Saphūkuthi), Kathmandu
    Āśā Archives (Āśā Saphūkuthi), Kathmandu

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