Literary sources relating to the Svayambhūcaitya of Kathmandu
Key information
- Date
- Time
-
10:00 am to 1:00 pm
- Venue
- TBA
- Event type
- Seminar
About this event
We will be reading select passages featuring the nāga deities from different versions of the Svayambhūpurāṇa, including the convoluted narrative of coercing the nāga deities to grant rain.
In addition to the Sanskrit original, we can consider the two Tibetan translations of the short version of the Purāna. Supplementing these readings, I would like us to consider visual depictions of the narratives we will read.
Attendance
This event is free to attend and held in person only.
Sponsor and organiser
The Buddhist Forum series is kindly sponsored by the Khyentse Foundation. It has been organised by the SOAS Centre of Buddhist Studies.
About the speaker
Alexander von Rospatt is Professor for Buddhist and South Asian Studies at the University of California, Berkeley, where he directs the Group in Buddhist Studies. He specialises in the doctrinal history of Indian Buddhism and in the indigenous Buddhist tradition of the Kathmandu Valley. His forthcoming book, The Svayambhu Caitya and its Renovations, complements numerous essays he has authored on various aspects of the Nepalese tradition, including its narrative literature, its art historical heritage, and its rituals, along with their origins and evolution.
Von Rospatt studied at SOAS and at the University of Hamburg. Before joining UC Berkeley in 2003, he served as assistant professor at the University of Leipzig and taught as visiting professor at the universities of Oxford and Vienna.
