Nepal fills a long dorment gap in the literature of this spectacular region and is a product of many years of individual research by scholars of Nepal's history, religion, art and sociology. It draws on a variety of authoritative studies of Nepal's cultural history that have been published in Europeon and Nepalese languages.The guide begins with an overview of the history of Nepal. This focuses on the Kathmandu Valley, with its rich and sophisticated culture, but also outlines developments of historical importance outside the valley. This is followed by a detailed introduction to religion as it is practised in here, the focus is on Hinduism and Buddhism, and on the major deities of each tradition, their relationship to one another, and their representation in art and sculpture.There are also introductory chapters on the main forms of architecture and the principal art painting, stone sculpture, metalcasting and woodcarving.The second part of the book consists of in-depth descriptions of specific sites within the Kathmandu Valley, each written by a scholar who has a long and intimate acquaintance, with the temples, palaces, stupas and other monuments he or she describes. The book is copiously illustrated with photographs in monochrome and colour, and contains maps and line -drawings. There is a chronology and a full glossary of Nepali, Newari and Sanskrit terms.Although writtern mainly by academics, the book is intended for a general readership.
Nepal: A Guide to the Art and Architecture of the Kathmandu Valley, Michael Hutt, Adroit Publishers, Paperback (5.5x1.6x7.9 inches) 240 pages, $45.00
Michael Hutt completed a BA in South Asian Studies, majoring in Hindi literature, in 1980 and a Ph.D on the history of the Nepali language and its literature in 1984, both at SOAS. In 1987 he returned to SOAS as a British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow, and has been engaged in teaching and research relating to Nepal and the Himalayan region here ever since. At SOAS he has served as a Head of Department (1995-9), Associate Dean (2002-4) and Faculty Dean (2004-10) and most recently as the founding Director of the SOAS South Asia Institute (2014-17).
The study of modern and contemporary Nepali literature is Hutt's home ground, and he is well known as a translator. He has also published on Nepali and Bhutanese politics, the Nepali diaspora in India, the Nepali media, Nepali art and architecture, and the Bhutanese refugee issue. He has been a member of the executive committee of the Britain-Nepal Academic Council ever since its foundation in 2000, and was its Chair from 2010-13; he has also served two terms as editor of the European Bulletin of Himalayan Research. In the past he has supervised doctoral students working on topics as diverse as the emergence of the Nepali public sphere; the 1990 Constitution of Nepal; vulnerability during the Maoist civil war; and ethnic politics in the eastern Himalaya.
From 2017-20 Michael Hutt was the Principal Investigator for the project After the Earth�s Violent Sway: the tangible and intangible legacies of a natural disaster, funded by the Global Challenges Research Fund through the Arts and Humanities Research Council. For this he led a team of six researchers investigating the cultural and political impacts of the April 2015 Nepal earthquake and of earlier earthquakes in Nepal (see After Earth's Violent Sway).
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