Nachrichten und Veranstaltungen

- Montag, 04.05.2026: Dr. Jürgen Malley: “Sri Lanka and its Gems - from generic to specific.” - Montag, 18.05.2026: Prof. Dr. Lewis Doney: “Tibetan Buddhist Art in a Leisure Context: A Case Study from a Newly Constructed ‘Sacred’ Site in Kathmandu.” - Montag, 01.06.2026: Martina Stoye und Dr. Peera Panarut: “In the Serenity of the Himavanta Forest – what the Berlin Traiphum (a Thai illuminated manuscript on Buddhist cosmology) discloses.” - Montag, 08.06.2026, 16:15 Uhr: Prof. Dr. Indranil Acharya: “Sexual Slavery and Economic Dependency: A Critical Study of the Nachni Performers of Eastern India in the context of the Devadasi Tradition.” - Montag, 22.06.2026: Dr. Petra Rösch: “Treasury and Library: The Relic Deposit of the Sculpture of Jizō Bosatsu of the Museum of East Asian Art Cologne.” - Montag, 06.07.2026: Prof. Dr. Lara Perason: “Adjusting to the Other: Gesture in Karnatak Vocal Performance and Lessons in South India.”

Sri Lanka and its Gems - See the Visible, Quest the Invisible: The island of Sri Lanka, also known as Ratna Dipa (Island of Gems), boasts a legacy as a premier source of precious stones for quite a number of millennia, with roughly 25% of its landmass potentially gem-bearing. The colourful and most durable stones feature a visible, bustling artisanal mining sector as well as high-stakes trading, however, with increasing shares of internationally sourced material. The "invisible" involves deep mysteries, complex geological and gemmological features, and last but not least the emotional attraction of these materials, including the dark sides of wealth and power, some as old as humanity, others with notable changes over time. Insights into human aspects of gemstones are provided, as well as into chemical and physical characteristics of the genesis and the presence of gemstones in a unique spot on earth.

Tibetan Buddhist historiography tends towards a “borderland complex” that fueled fascination with, and pilgrimage to, holy sites in South Asia. Yet, focusing on central Nepal—as both a destination for devotees and a periphery from the perspective of the major sites of the Buddha’s life—problematises applying such discourse to modern times. Kathmandu’s Boudhanath Stūpa has on its own periphery a newly created “Ghyoilisang Pond and Peace Park” devoted to the eighth-century tantric master and “second Buddha,” Padmasambhava. This site expresses Tibetan, Newar, Tamang and other Himalayan identities as part of its architecture, iconography and as used by pilgrims, tourists and locals. Yet the park is also a leisure destination funded in part by the Chinese Embassy in Kathmandu and run by Nepali municipal administrators. This presentation analyses its ecology in relation to other sites visited by followers of Tibetan Buddhism in Nepal that are both old and new.

The ‘Book of the Three Worlds’ (‘Traiphum’; inv. no. II 650, Museum für Asiatische Kunst, Berlin) is one of the most beautiful, oldest and magnificent manuscripts on Buddhist cosmology from Thailand. The thirty-three-metre long leporello manuscript was commissioned by King Taksin of Thonburi in 1776 from four royal painters and four royal scribes. In 2023, the Berlin museum programme CoMuse allowed collaborative research to be carried out of its images and texts. It focused on a six-metre-long section of the manuscript: the idyllic and secluded world of the Himavanta forest with its beautiful lakes, animals and plants, the course of the southern stream from the Himavanta forest to the human world and the many Jātakas (pre-birth stories of the Buddha) situated therein. The collaborative team not only analysed the interplay of text and image in the manuscript, but also explored the connections between what is depicted here and other textual traditions of Thailand.

Despite being declared an illegal practice, the Devadasi tradition (of female artists dedicated to the worship and service of a deity or temple) remains active in certain states of India. This lecture proposes to explore the inescapable dependency of the Devadasis on the temple priests, patrons or the influential members of their own community. It also attempts to focus on this victimological perspective in the existing legislations, policies and literary representations with reference to the Nachni tradition prevalent in three major states of Eastern India. Nachnis of Purulia district in West Bengal and some other regions of Jharkhand and Odisha are traditional Dalit performers, often compared to Devadasis due to their long, semi-religious devotion to art. Despite being committed rural artistes, Nachnis are often humiliated as social outcasts, similar to the historical treatment of courtesans, although their plight is more marginalized in the contemporary contexts.