Newar Traditional Motifs and Designs

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Artist Ram Prakash Shrestha was born in 1982 A.D. The second child of Mr. Om Prakash and Mrs. Belly Shrestha, Ram had keen interest in arts since childhood. He got an entry to the art field with a talent of drawing exact pictures printed in the comics and the books during school days.

Only just because of his true passion towards art he was connected with senior Thanka [ Pauva ] artist late Prem Man Chitrakar.

But as a formal art education he got a training of professional Pauva Art from CTEVT. Despite influence of arts of the other senior artists he has been successful to attain his own original art styles today.

His arts have been exhibited and awarded several times in National Arts Exhibition held by Nepal Lalitkala Pragya Pratisthan.

Similarly his creations have been exhibited in Buddhist Arts And Culture Exhibition [ Patan ] in 2008 , in Pauva Arts Exhibition [ Nepal Bhasa Academy ] in 2008 and in a joint Arts Exhibiton of Nepal Heritage Society [ Nepal Sampada Samaj ] respectively. He was successful to win the hearts of audience in Fokuoka Art Museum, Japan in 2011, in the fifth Traditional Arts Exhibition [ Bhaktapur ] in 2012 , in Bhodhisatwa Arts Gallery [ Bhaktapur ] and SARC Summit 2018 with his outstanding creations.

He had participated in Art Workshop in Gorakhpur, India in 2012 and in Budhanilkantha World Peace Art etc. His arts have got a top preference on the wall of Lumbini's Tara Foundation and he got opportunities to decorate Singhal Buddha Bihar [ Monastery ] , Chovar Bihar [ Monastery ] and in many monasteries and Chiatyas with his traditional arts.

He had been awarded many times even in school life. In B.S. 2061 he won the third prize in National Arts Competition organized by Lalitkala Sanstha NAFA. He stood first in National Arts Exhibition in 2062. Likewise he was awarded a special prize in the competition of 2068.

Apart from these honors he stood second in the Seventh Handicraft Competition in 2011 and he was honored many times including in Tulsilal Amatya Memorial Arts Competition in 2060.

His artwork was well appreciated and honoured at Smila, India.

Gerard Toffin

This book which I have the pleasure to introduce was originally published in Germany in 2002, nearly 20 years ago, under the same title as the present one. It is the result of first-hand, long-term research which started in the mid-1980s and early 1990s, and is still under way among the Mewahang, a Rai sub-group numbering about 4,000 persons who live in eastern Nepal (upper Arun Valley). Martin Gaenszle, Professor at the University of Vienna, is a widely recognized and influential expert on this ethnic group. He has learnt the local language and has already written a book (Mandala Book Point, 2000) as well as several articles about this community. His research spans a period of nearly 40 years. Over time he has accumulated a huge number of documents and observations, forever deepening and extending his scope. This work therefore provides solid ground for examining indigenous religious matters and the oral ritual texts used by local people.

Ancestral Voices, in the author's own words, 'explores the properties of the oral tradition as well as its role in Mewahang social life' (p. 2). The Rai give the name muddum (sometimes pronounced mukdum) to the corpus of beliefs, rituals and oral ritual texts which constitutes their oral tradition. For the Mewahang, this word is synonymous with 'lifestyle' and 'custom'. The concept intricately combines social and religious issues; the boundaries between the two realms seem to be ever-shifting and almost impossible to demarcate. Remarkably, anthropomorphic deities, as in Hinduism and Buddhism, are virtually absent from these oral recitations. Supernatural beings mostly take the form of ancestors. Ancestrality, in fact, constitutes the backbone of the religion. This living tradition keeps alive the memory of ancestors' deeds. It condenses the knowledge that originated from these initiators and was handed down orally from one generation to the next. What's more, muddum is the basis of Mewahang cultural identity: it sustains the social bonds within the ethnic community. It upholds the specificity of the group and has succeeded over time in resisting the influence of Hinduism channelled by Hindu castes after the unification of Nepal. The memory of the group depends on muddum.