NEWARI, BUDDHIST LITERATURE IN

Beginning with Sanskrit inscriptions dating from the fifth century c.e., the large mid-montane Himalayan valley called Nepal has been a vibrant cultural center where both Hindu and Buddhist traditions have flourished. What is called "Nepal" today was formed after 1769 when the modern Shah state expanded across the region, conquering the valley city-states and making Kathmandu its capital. The first cities and religious monuments of this valley were built by the Newars, the earliest attested ethnic group of the region. Newars speak a nontonal Tibeto-Burman language called Newari in the Euro-American world, but referred to by Newars as Nep?l Bh???, using Sanskritic terminology, or New?: Bh?y in the spoken vernacular. This language has been thoroughly influenced by Sanskrit vocabulary, especially in the technical terms imported from the Indic traditions that shaped Newar culture. Newari texts have similarly been written using north Indian-derived scripts, the earliest on palm leaves (t?ra patra), and from the seventeenth century onward on paper made from the daphne plant. In the latter form, the texts were written on stacked rectangular pages, or in the format of a folded book (thy? s?phu). Many such books were illustrated with finely rendered miniature paintings, some with fifty to one hundred images.

Since this valley was from its origins a Himalayan trade and pilgrimage center, and later a refuge for Buddhist monks fleeing the destruction of north Indian monasteries in the wake of the Muslim conquests that ended in 1192 c.e., many monasteries in Kathmandu, Bhaktapur, and Patan became centers of manuscript veneration, archiving, and copying. From this era onward, Tibetan scholars visited Nepal to obtain Sanskrit manuscripts and, in some cases, to confer with Nepalese pa??itas. There have been many Newar Buddhist scholars—especially among the "householder monk" groups calling themselves ??kyabhik?us and vajr?c?ryas—who could read and utilize Sanskrit, making it an important local language for the indigenous Buddhist elite. Some notable pa??itas up through the modern era also composed works in Sanskrit.

The vast holdings of Sanskrit manuscripts in the Kathmandu Valley have remained central to the modern academic study of Buddhism, beginning with the texts sent to Calcutta and Europe by the official British resident in Nepal from 1825 to 1843, Brian Hodgson. Many ancient Sanskrit texts survived only in Nepal. Though one might include these works as a literature used by the Newar Buddhist religious elite and other literati, the remainder of this entry focuses on the religious texts composed in the Newari vernacular.

The Newar sa?gha's widespread familiarity with Sanskrit, and especially the use of Sanskrit mantras and religious terminology, explains the existence of the many hundreds of manuscripts rendered in a bilingual (Sanskrit and Newari) format. While the elite ritualists, adepts, and scholars used Sanskrit texts to guide their ritual practices, tantric meditations, and philosophical studies, they also redacted relevant Indic works into their own language and composed treatises in their own lingua franca. The Newar literati devised over ten calligraphic scripts, especially for manuscripts used for ritual "book p?j?" purposes: New? Lipi since the ninth century, and Rañjana since the fourteenth century.

Vernacular Buddhist literature in Nep?l Bh?s? mirrors the distinctive cultural traditions of Newar Buddhism, which was centered on a sa?gha of "householder monks" and their focus on intricate ritual and popular narratives more than scholasticism, with vajray?na practices important for the elite. Accordingly, no vinaya or early canonical works are extant in the bilingual collections and only fragments of any Buddhist scholastic treatises (?astra) have been identified. More common are Mah?y?na "classics" such as the Prajñ?p?ramit?-s?tra (Perfection of Wisdom S?tra), Bodhicary?vat?ra(Introduction to the Conduct That Leads to Enlightenment), and the Lotus S?tra (Saddharmapu??ar?ka-s?tra).

Especially numerous are texts devoted to the celestial bodhisattva Avalokite?vara, such as the K?randavy?ha (Description of the Basket). The most locally influential text in this genre is the Gu?akara??avy?ha (Description of the Garlanded Basket), a Sanskrit work originally composed in Nepal that has been widely translated into Newari.

Several other important works were composed by local scholars in Sanskrit and translated into numerous Newari editions. First is the Bhadrakalpa Avad?na (Glorious Stories of This Auspicious Era), a text that recounts the Buddha's return to his hometown Kapilavastu. More important in the indigenous worldview is the Svayambh? Pur??a (The Sacred Account of Svayembh?, the Self-Existent). It has a curious title for a Buddhist text, indicating the strong influence of Hindu traditions in Nepal. But this text recounts the Buddhist origins of the valley as a hierophany of the ?di-Buddha as a flaming lotus in a lake, one subsequently visited by buddhas of former ages of the world. In the current era, this lake is finally drained by the Bodhisattva Mañj??r to form the Kathmandu Valley and opened to settlement by his disciples, making the Svayambh? Pur??a a work simultaneously of Mah?y?na Buddhology and ethnic origins. This text was later expanded to include the history of tantric teachers entering the domain and to discuss the history of related sacred sites. Most important among these is the sacred hilltop now called Svayambh?Mah?caitya.

The most common manuscript genres in Newar Buddhist literature are popular narratives (j?takas and avad?nas) and ritual texts. "Folklorists" in the Newar sa?gha collected, redacted, and "trans-created" (to use Kamal Prakash Malla's term) the classical tales from the J?takam?l? (Garland of Jatakas), Avad?na?ataka (A Hundred Glorious Deeds), and Mah?vastu (Great Story). Some stand alone due to their popularity. These include the Simhalasarthab?hu Avad?na, the Ma?ic??a Avad?na, the V?rak?sa Avad?na, the Kavirakum?r Avad?na, and the Vi?vantara J?taka; such texts have been used up to the present day by pa??it-storytellers who attract audiences for evening performances during the Newar Buddhist monsoon holy month, Gunla. Interestingly, several of these Newar Avad?na anthologies, such as the Vicitrakar?ika Avad?na, have no known classical source.

Given the embedding of story recitations into many ritual texts, it is difficult to separate the genres. Newar panditas have typically labeled their ritual guides as vidhi (directive) or kriy? (performance), and these span a vast repertoire from life-cycle rites and building construction rites to festival practices, temple observances, and tantric initiations. Special Mah?y?na rites called vratas have their own textual guides, including those dedicated to the beneficent T?r?, the fierce protector Mah?k?la, the Buddhist earth mother Vasundh?r?, and many others. By far the most common text in this category is that outlining the A??am?Vrata and dedicated to Avalokite?vara. Of special prominence in this Newar literature are guidebooks for making 100,000 clay st?pas, the Lak?acaitya Vidhi, and for the old-age ritual (bh?maratha kriya) for elders reaching seventy-seven years and seven months, which includes making a st?pa and reciting the U?n??avijay? dh?r??i. Also important are after-death guidebooks for utilizing the Durgatipari?odhana Tantra's salvific mantra and a sand ma??ala made by a vajr?c?rya ritualist.

Even more numerous, and variable, are the mantradh?ra?? collections. The most widespread single text is the Pañcarak?? (Five Protectors), which provides recitations and visualizations of five protectors, each with stories testifying to their pragmatic efficacies. Other works, many reflecting the compiler's own fields of ritual expertise, are simply lists of recitations for specific purposes. These span all spheres of human experience: worshiping, memorizing, singing, healing, attracting love, rainmaking, injuring. Related to this are collections of devotional songs that can be sung by priests or by worshipers playing drums and other instruments.

Modern published literature

The printing press expanded the possibilities of Newar Buddhist piety, as devotees continue to make books for merit, memorialize the dead, pen new translations, and create hundreds of new magazines that disseminate works of scholarly interpretation and Buddhist revivalism. In these forums, partisans of traditional Newar Buddhism, as well as advocates of the Therav?da movement, have sought to promote their traditions. Leading vajr?c?rya priests have continued their tradition of composing ritual guide pamphlets and anthologies for their colleagues, with such publications numbering over a thousand since 1950. Since about 1960, Therav?din scholars have published Newari translations of nearly the entire P?li canon. Traditional pa??itas and private scholars have likewise published their own new complete Newari translations of the Mah?y?na classics, including the A??as?hasrik? Prajn?p?ramit? by Jog Muni Vajr?c?rya (Kathmandu, 1968), the Lalitavistara by Nisthananda Vajr?c?rya (1978), the Bodhicary?vat?ra by Dibyabajra Bajr?c?rya (1986), and the Saddharmapu??ar?ka-vaipulyas?tra by Saddharmar?ja Vajr?c?rya (1989). Special mention should be made of Sugata Saurabha (The Sweet Fragrance of the Buddha), a book-length life of the Buddha that was written in Newari by Nepal's greatest twentieth-century poet, Chittadhar Hridaya. Newar poets have also composed songs for bhajan singing that have been widely published and used.

Finally, since 1950, a vast library of Newari scholarly publications has come into being. These works concern local epigraphy, texts, temples, and cultural traditions. Most notable among indigenous scholars is Hem R?j Sh?kya, whose monographs on the Svayambh? st?pa (1977), the Samyak festival (1980), and other monuments testify to the Newars' vigorous love of their own culture and the continuing high regard in Newar society for literary works on Buddhism. The views of a medieval copyist are still discernible at the beginning of the twenty-first century: "I have written this manuscript painstakingly. Try your best to protect and preserve this MSS from oil stains, fire, and thieves. Look after it as you would your own offspring because while writing this mss my backbone, my head, and my eyesight have all bent downward" (Vaidya and Kamsakar, p. iv).

See also:Nepal

Bibliography

Lewis, Todd T. "Mah?y?na Vratas in Newar Buddhism." Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies 12, no. 1 (1989): 109–138.

Lewis, Todd T. "The Nep?l Jana J?van Kriy? Paddhati: A Modern Newar Guide for Vajrayâna Life-Cycle Rites." Indo-Iranian Journal 37 (1994): 1–46.

Lienhard, Siegfried, ed. The Songs of Nepal: An Anthology of Nevar Folksongs and Hymns. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1984.

Locke, John. "The Uposadha Vrata of Amoghap?sha Lokeshvara." L'Ethnographie 83, nos. 100–101 (1989): 109–138.

Malla, Kamal Prakash. Classical Newari Literature. Kathmandu: Nepal Study Centre, 1981.

Tatelman, Joel. "'The Trials of Yashodhar?': The Legend of the Buddha's Wife in the Bhadrakalp?vad?na." Buddhist Literature 1 (1999): 176–261.

Vaidya, Janak Lal, and Kamsakar, Prem Bahadur. A Descriptive Catalogue of Selected Manuscripts Preserved at the A?? Saph? Kuthi. Kathmandu: Cvas?p?s?, 1990.

Todd T. Lewis