Mitos Markovic

A paper is dedicated to the question pertaining to the sacred space by the Buddhists in premo�dern and early modern Nepal. Medieval Nepal saw the rise of new ideas, expressed by the Svayambhu Purana that proclaimed total independence of the Nepal mandala (the Nepal valley) from the Indian sacred landscape as well as a self-sufficient character and independence of Nepa�lese Buddhist tradition. This paper studies the main narratives of the Svayambhu myth using a wide range of sources, with a particular focus on text documents and visual sources (religious art, etc.). The paper also studies, how the sacred geography of Nepal influenced the identity of the Nepalese in the context of competing for the coexistence of Buddhism and Hinduism. The Svayambhu myth (15th c.) in fact represents another (new) system of understanding the landscape of the country of Nepal (Nepal mandala/Nepal des), which almost ignores India as the Motherland of Buddhism. However, in reality, the Nepalese understanding of their country as a self-sufficient Buddhist mandala, as a blessed Buddhist land (bodhisattva bhumi and punya bhumi) was the reinvention of the local tradition, both in the vision of the space and as a tradition of Buddhist line. It

The kora sword in the Lviv Historical Museum collection is a unique and rare artefact in Uk-raine. However, the sword almost did not attract the attention of researchers. Thus, the article ana-lyzes the historical context of the use of koras in the times of the Gurkha wars and the unification of Nepal under the leadership of the Shah dynasty in the 1750s–1760s. The cultural and religious significance of the sword itself is also investigated. In particular, attention is paid to the religious symbolism of the sword in Buddhism, and in this context to the place of kora sword in the reli--gious practices and ideology of the Nepalese (as well as their neighbours) in pre-modern and ear--ly  modern  times.  Often  kora  swords  had  images  of  the  eye,  lotus,  or  other  religious  symbols, which in the case of Nepal had (or could have) both Buddhist and Hindu (tantric) connotations. The sword from the Lviv Historical Museum collection has the image of a solar sign. The broader range of parallels of sword and weapon symbolism in the Buddhist art of Nepal and the Himalayasare drawn.The article analyzes in detail the main types of kora swords and their iconography. Basing on a comparison with existing objects from the museum and private art collections around the world, the author draws conclusions about the typification of kora swords. Thus it enables to reveal the type to which the sword from Lviv belongs. The analysis of the iconography of the kora from the Lviv Historical Museum including the images on the blade, the features and texture of the metal-work etc, also helps to date this Himalayan weapon and the region of its origin.The question of history of the Himalayan weapon in the museum, the circumstances of the ar-rival of the kora sword to the collection of the Lviv Historical Museum requires further research. Museum documents only confirm the arrival of the sword in 1940 from the Museum of Jan III, where it was kept as a deposit. However, there are reasons to assume that the kora sword could be associated with a group of prominent Polish Orientalists who worked in Lviv in the interwar pe-riod. The author puts forward a hypothesis about the possible connection of the Nepalese sword, in  particular,  with  Professor  Stefan  Stasiak,  the  Indologist  and  Sanskritologist:  the  sword  could have been brought by S. Stasiak from a trip to India.

The article is dedicated to famous Nepalese author Chittadhar Hridaya, his writings and lifeline. A special attention is paid to poet's formation years and social and cultural background as well as to social and political, cultural context of Nepal in the 1910-1940s. The main work of Chittadhar Hridaya-Sugata Saurabha-is being discussed. Poet's work for revival of Nepal Bhasa and culture of the Nepal Valley in the context of Buddhist ideas and religious reformism and modernism is also studied in the paper.

In the article, on the example of Ukrainian Buddhist community “Rangjung Yeshe” (centers in
Kyiv and Lviv), the problem of identity of Ukrainian Buddhists and features of self-consciousness

is analyzed using the approaches and methods of cultural anthropology. Through in-depth inter-
views in the communities of believers in Lviv and Kyiv (2020–2021), it was possible to identify a

number of aspects of social life, worldview, social background of Ukrainian Buddhists and the

impact of all these areas on community change. A special place is given to the relationship be-
tween Ukrainian and Buddhist identities, and in principle the theme of the coexistence of the

Ukrainian and the Buddhist in different dimensions, in particular in culture, language, socio-po-
litical sphere.

The topic of adaptation of the Tibetan branch of Buddhism in the Ukrainian conditions is
raised: it was important to note how members of the community perceive these processes and
possible changes, how they would like the Ukrainian sangha to develop in the future. Almost all
interviewed believers perceive such phenomena as inevitable, necessary and quite natural. They
lend to understand other phenomena where Buddhism changes in a new context as “skillful
means”. Thus, the idea of deeper adaptation and even transformation of Tibetan Buddhism under

the influence of the Ukrainian cultural and socio-political ideological context, etc. deserves at-
tention.

The Ukrainian sangha, rather, falls under the group of “traditional”: they preserve hierarchy
and teachings within the Tibetan Vajrayana, but show considerable flexibility. At the same time,
the Ukrainian Buddhist community skillfully combines both Ukrainian and Tibetan (Buddhist)

culture and traditions. The choice of Buddhism did not change the Ukrainian identity of the ad-
herents, but on the contrary, sometimes supported it. This is considered in the context of socio-
political transformations in Ukraine.

Another aspect raised in the article is the issue of proselytism and the reasons for coming to
Buddhism. Interestingly, in addition to the expected vacuum of religious life in the post-Soviet
(post-socialist) countries, which prompted, after the collapse of the Soviet Union in the 1990s, a
religious revival, interest in religions, including Oriental, like Buddhism, Ukrainian Buddhists by
the nature of their “conversion”, for reasons why they came to dharma have much in common
with Western Buddhists. “Rangjung Yeshe” – by the nature of their activities can hardly be called
an active proselytic movement: this is due to the teachings of the Buddha and traditional Buddhist
tolerance. At the same time, tolerance in relations with other religions and religious communities
is a characteristic feature of Ukrainian followers of the Buddha’s dharma.
There are parallels between Ukrainian and Western Buddhists which are worth noticing. Their
development and the theme of adapting the teachings of the Buddha and Buddhist practices in the
Western context is the experience that is interesting to compare with the processes in Ukraine. In
particular, we can see some common features that Tibetan Buddhism has in Britain (for example,
Karma Kagyu) and in Ukraine (“Rangjung Yeshe”).

The article reveals a number of aspects of the interaction of the  Buddhist sangha and state power in Nepal during the Middle Ages and Early Modern time. Particular attention is paid to such issues as the social organization of viharas, the identity of the community of sangha during constatnt change in the state and society. The author emphasizes that such phenomena as the influence of Tantrism and sanskritiztion determined the policy of the state regarding the Nepali sangha.
These processes are analyzed on the example of a series of reforms that concerned the sangha and were introduced by the monarchs, in particular the reforms of Prince of Lalitpur Siddhi Narasimha Malla in the 17th century. Nepalese sangha went through a complex path of transformation, when it had to adapt to the Hindu cult of the Nepalese kings, while legitimizing the power of the ruler as a defender of the dharma.
Also, attention is paid to the fundamental transformations that the Nepalese society has undergone in connection with the creation of a large single kingdom by the Shah dynasty after 1769, resulting in a slight decrease in the influence of Buddhism in Nepal. But even in the most difficult period for the sangha, during the time of the Hindu conservatives Rana (1846–1951), when the state support of the monasteries was significantly reduced, Buddhism in Nepal was able to adapt and survive, preserving the ancient traditions, practices and texts of the Indian Mahayana, the heir to which the Nepalese Buddhism is.

An article deals with the religious history, iconography, art and architecture of ancient Buddhist monastery Gum Baha in Sankhu, situated in North-Eastern part of the Nepal valley. A unique Buddhist complex, which history predates the first centuries AD, lacks a deeper research, although Gum Baha, which came to be widely known as Vajrayogini and associated with this Tantric goddess, whose sanctuary is housed in vihara’s pagoda, in fact represents (in architecture and arts) a history of Buddhism in Nepal, its development, doctrine & ideas, in Nepal. Here we speak of Nepalese Buddhism, also known as Newari Buddhism. Iconography of tympanums (torana) of pagoda style temples is being analysed carefully because it helps to find out an identity of divinities depicted on this fine toranas (tympanums). That analysis tries to reveal Tantric ideas, which had different religious, philosophical, social, political connotations, through medieval religious symbolism of art. Thus the special logic of development of Buddhism in Nepal, the core evolution of it’s ideas is revealed in architectural and artistic evolution of Gum Baha: as for example, the growth of religious importance of the female sanctuary instead of traditional baha cente (stupa – chaitya), which was an indication of popularity of shakti cults in Nepal (also related with the royal ideology and political rituals) on the one head, and the strengthening of the Tantric tradition on the other. As the author argues in the paper, the main deities of the two-roofed Swayambu pagoda (Jogeswara temple) represent the 5 Buddhas (Pancha Buddhas), with Amitabha being situated on the western (main, entrance) torana of the temple. The investigation of toranas’ iconography helps to find out dan iconographical program and the textual base of the monastery and its pagodas: our assumption gives a way to state that the Svayambhu myth and Svayambu Purana text (15 century) is that religious and ideological basis. The Swayambhu Purana tells the mythical story of creation of Nepal by Manjushri, bodhisattva of wisdom. The author shows that importance of the myth on different levels. It was an argument to state the Buddhist identity, an importance of Buddhist understanding of their role in social and political spheres. At the same time the history of Gum Baha could be a marvellous example of Hindu-Buddhist coexistence and contacts, often resulting in special syncretic trends. The state favoured cult of Vajrayogini, Buddhist devi widely popular among the Hindus and associated with royal power (as protectress) was another page of this process, which was the part of more global one, century’s long process of sanscritisation in Nepal. The long period of coexisting of Buddhism and Hinduism caused the formation of unique Hindu-Buddhist complex.

Social History of Traditional Nepalese Buddhism
Summary

The book is devoted to the history of Nepalese Mahayana Vajrayana Buddhism (what is also now called Newar Buddhism) in pre-modern and early modern era. History of Tibetan Mahayana Buddhism in Nepal, its links with the Nepalese Mahayana is also another hero of the book. Investigating social organization of Buddhist sangha and laity in the Kathmandu Valley (The Valley of Nepal), the stronghold of Nepalese Buddhism and its traditions, the main theme was the question of identity, in all its compexity and divercity of forms it  happened to use. Thus analysis of the formation of the Buddhist identity reveals how this Buddhist tradition, Indian in its core, including Buddhist culture, texts, social and ritual organization  was domesticated and “Nepalisized”. The Nepalese Buddhist identity in a whole undergone a long period of adaptaion and change, and was linked with the problems of legitimation (on different levels) of  sangha, texts etc., as well as the question of ethnic and political idenities. It is better to speak about “different identities” which the Nepalese Buddhism  was able to hide: each social group and caste had an evolution of unique, shared just inside a group, system of values, legends of origin, etc. In that situation the Nepalese sangha members, for example, Sakya linage, conciderd themselves being the descendants of “the kin of the Buddha”, but not definitely Nepalese. An overlapping identities could be another feature of the Nepalese Buddhist communities being studied in the book. From another hand, the Nepalese Buddhism had common  ideology and origination myth which was unifying and spoke on behalf of all Nepalese (or at least try to do so through the hands of Buddhist pandits). The key point in the formation of the Buddhist and Nepalese (Newar) ethnic identity and perception of self was a “methageographical”  revolution of the 15 c. It was a “reinvention” of the routes of Nepalese Buddhist tradition and of a country itself (Nepal mandala or Nepal des) by the way independently from India and Indian Buddhism, from which the Nepalese tradition originates. Such texts as “Svayambhu Purana” (15 c.) ignoring India placed Nepal as a special, central and independent sacred geographical Buddhist land. The main stupa of the Nepalese Buddhism -  Svayambhu Stupa was reunderstood as “selfsufficient” and “selfarisen” onthological source of that tradition and as a symbol of buddhahood and enlightment. This ideas proclaimed selfsufficiantness of Nepal as sacred and political space. The reconstruction of the sphere of ideas was based on a wide range of Nepalese sources: Buddhist texts, chronicles, religious poetry and folk songs as well as visual arts and architecture etc.
Such important aspect of the Nepalese social history as caste system and its links with Buddhism is also discussed in the book.
  One of the unique peculiarities of the Nepalese premodern history is a specific dualism manifested in many fields of life from ideology and political issues to the symbolism of city planning, architecture and art, hierarchy and social organization, culture. It is what G. Toffin called “the moiety system” of the Nepalese and what I try to show that this system having roots deep in Nepalese religion: in the ideas of religious esoteric first and second – being rooted in a dual structure of the Nepalese caste system, which included parallel Hindu and Buddhist lines (of social groups). The socio-religious situation in medieval & early modern Nepal was affected by such phenomena as well as co existence of the Two Great Traditions.  The dualism as some kind of socio-cultural base could be seen as another “esoteric ideology” (as, a part of mandala ideology in South and South – East Asian regions) or “esoteric metaphor” (in a sense of the term used by R. Davidson) and indeed, is related in it’s roots and an archaic background of religions in South Asia.