Dharma and Punya: Buddhist Ritual Art of Nepal explores the centrality of ritual practices and the agency of people - patrons, ritual specialists, devotees - in creating and amplifying the efficacy of Buddhist art. Jinah Kim and Todd Lewis highlight the unparalleled contributions of Nepal's artisans, patrons, and ritualists in engendering artistic heritage that is an endearing continuation of Indic Buddhist traditions. The publication presents paintings, illuminated texts, statues, and ritual implements from the Newar tradition in the Kathmandu Valley. Richly illustrated with photographs of contemporary rituals, religious observances, and historical examples, the essays provide cultural, historical and ritual contexts in which objects collected in art museums were used, and animate them. By recentering the historical imagination on communities, their rituals, and popular narrative traditions, Dharma and Punya challenges prevailing misconceptions about Buddhism in the West and expand our understanding of Buddhism as a lived world religion. Contributors include: Naresh Bajracharya, Louis Coppleston, Sonali Dhingra, James Giambrone, Jinah Kim, Todd Lewis, Bruce McCoy Owens, Alexander von Rospatt and Sumon Tuladhar.
Dharma and Punya: Buddhist Ritual Art of Nepal, Jinah Kim and Todd Lewis, Hotei Publishing, Paperback, 256 pp, $67.00

Jinah Kim, Ph.D. (2006), UC Berkeley, is Gardner Colwes Professor of History of Art & Architecture at Harvard University. Her list of publications includes Receptacle of the Sacred: Illustrated Manuscripts and the Buddhist Book Cult in South Asia (2013).

Todd Lewis, Ph.D. (1984), Columbia University, is Distinguished Professor of Asian Religions at the College of the Holy Cross. He has published monographs, translations, textbooks, and studies of Newar Buddhism in the Kathmandu Valley, including The Epic of the Buddha by Chittadhar Hridaya (2019).

Acknowledgments	viii
Notes on Transliteration	x
1. Introduction Jinah Kim and Todd Lewis	2
Catalog Section
1. Vasudhara Mandala	6
PART I FOUNDATIONS
2. Buddhism, Ritual, and the History of Buddhist Ritualism Todd Lewis	10
3. Overview of Newar Buddhism and Its Art: History and Community in the Kathmandu Valley Louis Copplestone	18
PART II BUDDHIST RITUALS AND NEWAR TRADITION
4. Understanding Newar Buddhism through Ritual Todd Lewis	26
Catalog Section
2. Vajra	36
3. Vajracarya crown	38
4. Ritual Skull cup	40
5. Ritual dagger	42
6. Ritual dagger	42
7. Measuring vessel (Nw. Phan, Nep. Pathi)	44
8. Sukunda wick lamp	46
5. Notes on Rituals Depicted in Newar Art Todd Lewis and Naresh bajracharya	48
Catalog Section
9. Usnisavijaya paubha	62
10. Usnisavijaya paubha	64
11. Stupa	66
12. Usnisavijaya stupa	68
13. Model Svayambhu stupa	70
14. Sketch of Boudhanath stupa	72
15. Donor lamp	74
6. Popular Images of Bunga-dyah, Compassionate Localized Bodhisattva Bruce McCoy Owens	76
Catalog Section
16. Bunga-dyah	84
17. Padmapani Avalokitesvara	85
PART III PICTURING RITUALS
7. Performing Texts, Engendering Merits: Manuscripts and Paubhas as Ritual Objects Jinah Kim	88
Catalog Section
18. Folios (62v-63r) and painted book covers from a Prajnaparamita manuscript	100
19. Four folios (fols. 4r, 11r, 19r, 102r) from a dispersed Gandavyuha sutra manuscript	102
20. Three folios (fols. 133r, 172r, 260r) from a dispersed Gandavyuha sutra manuscript	104
21. Pancaraksa manuscript	106
22. Dharani Sangraha manuscript	112
23. Pancaraksa manuscript	118
24. Pancaraksa manuscript	124
PART IV KATHMANDU VALLEY TRADITIONS IN THE NEWAR CONTEXT
8. Hindu Buddhist Intersections in the Art of Newpal: Images of Avalokitesvara Somnali Dhingra	128
Catalog Section
25. Karanavyuha manuscript	142
26. Sukhavati Lokesvara with Tara	144
27. Wooden image of Indra	146
28.. Kala Bhairava	148
29. Bhairava mask	150
30. Buddhist sacred thread	152
31. Horoscope	153
32. Votive stupa	154
9. Traditions of Vajracarya Storytellers Todd Lewis and Naresh Bajracharya	156
Catalog Section
33. Sakyamuni Buddha with avadanas and worshipping donors	162
34. Sakyamuni with scenes from the Kinnari Jataka	164
10. On the Monumental Scroll of the Svayambhupurana Now Kept in the VMFA Collection Alexander von Rospatt	166
Catalog Section
35. Colossal bilampau of the Svayambhupurana	188
36. Illustrations from the Svayambhupurana	190
37. Five folios and painted wooden covers of a Prajnaparamita manuscript	192
38. Laksacaitya Vrata	196
PART V THE NEWAR ARTIST
Catalog Section
39. Buddha Amitabha and Eight Bodhisattvas	200
11. Notes on the Contemporary Practices of the Newar Artisan Traditions James A. Giambrone	202
Catalog Section
40. Modern copies of a set of wooden struts and a blind window	208
Catalog Section of Some Contemporary Ritual Objects
41. Buddhist entry paintings	210
42. Pikha lakhu stone for preta offerings	212
43. Sun God and Navagraha ritual stone	213
44. Girl's symbolic marriage mandala	214
45. Usnisavijaya caitya plaque for Bura/Buri Jamko ritual	215
46. Commissioned Vasundhara Sand Mandala template	216
47. Wooden Monastery gong (Gambha Sim)	217
PART VI APPENDICES
Appendix I Nepal: Period Overviews and the Time Line of the Kathmandu Valley History Louis Copplestone	218
Appendix II The Art of Newar Ritual Vessels, an Inventory of Specialized Objects and Offerings Suman Kamal Tuladhar and Todd Lewis	220
Bibliography	231
List of Contributors	238
Photo Credits	240
Lenders	240
Index	241