A twentieth-century account of the life of the Buddha, presented in a fascinating form, with an incredible story behind it.
Chittadhar Hṛdaya (1906-1982) was one of twentieth-century Nepal's
most eminent poets. Born into a Newar family in Kathmandu, he
devoted his life to writing in his native language of Nepāl
Bhāṣā (also called "Newari"). He composed this epic poem about
the life of the Buddha while imprisoned for five years for
publishing a poem in Newari that was regarded as subversive by the
Nepalese government, smuggling it out on scraps of paper hidden in
a tin box.
Todd T. Lewis is Professor of Religious Studies at the College of
the Holy Cross.
Subarna Man Tuladhar taught at and served as the chief
administrator of the Administrative Staff College in Kathmandu. For
over four decades, he has also been a private scholar who published
articles and short stories inNepal Bhaṣa("Newari"), Nepali, and
English. Since 1979, he has also taught several dozen foreign
scholars doing research in the Kathmandu Valley. The growth in
Newar studies in western academia in fields such as linguistics,
anthropology, and religion is due, in considerable measure, to the
exceptional work of Subarna Man Tuladhar as an instructor who
pioneered the modern teaching of spokenNepal Bhaṣa.
“[This work] is not simply a window into another culture; it is an
aesthetic experience that moves the reader to an enhanced
understanding of the life of the Buddha.”—The Khyentse Foundation
Committee Awarding the Prize for Outstanding Translation
“A superb contribution to Buddhist Studies, Lewis and Tuladhar have
notonly translated from the Newari poetic vernacular an
extraordinarily profound text by an outstanding figure in
twentieth-century Nepali history, but in the process they have also
managed to introduce many of the rich textures of lay Newari
Buddhist culture. This is a perfect selection for a course on
biographies of the Buddha or for Himalayan religious studies.”—John
Clifford Holt, William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of Humanities in
Religion and Asian Studies, Bowdoin College
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