Tibetan and Himalayan Library - THL

Description: Publisher’s Description: The papers in this volume all result from field work in the Indian Himalayas and the TAR conducted by the Interdisciplinary Research Unit, Austrian Science Fund. While the research goals were established within the framework of transdisciplinary research, each scholar approaches scientific problems according to the methodologies associated with their respective disciplines: philology, philosophy, history, art history, linguistics, and anthropology.
In the contribution published here, Steinkellner, Klimburg-Salter, Widorn, and Jahoda explicate the structure, methods, and advantages of transdisciplinary research. Lasic and Tauscher analyse two different philosophical questions on the basis of manuscripts from Tabo (Spiti) and Gondhla (Lahaul). Pasang Wangdu, Tropper and Ponweiser each examine a Buddhist monument from a different perspective: Keru (TAR), Wanla (Ladakh), and Tabo. Papa-Kalantari and Hein discuss respectively an iconographic problem and oral traditions from Spiti and upper Kinnaur.

Table of Contents: Preface -- Introduction: Trans-disciplinary Research in the Western Himalayas / Ernst Steinkellner -- Reflections on the Contribution of Art History to Transdisciplinary Research in Vienna: The Example of the Nako Sacred Compound / Deborah Klimburg-Salter -- The Documentation, Archiving, and Dissemination of Visual Resources: An Introduction to the Western Himalaya Archive Vienna / Verena Widorn -- Ke ru lha khang: Cultural Preservation and Interdisciplinary Research in Central Tibet / Pasang Wangdu -- Fragments of pramāṇa Texts Preserved in Tabo Monastery / Horst Lasic -- The Rnal ’byor chen po bsgom pa’i don Manuscript of the ‘Gondhla Kanjur’ / Helmut Tauscher -- The Historical Inscription in the Gsum brtsegs Temple at Wanla, Ladakh / Kurt Tropper -- A Hitherto Unidentified Narrative Composition in the Ambulatory of the Cella in the Main Temple at Tabo (Himachal Pradesh) / Renate Ponweiser -- The Art of the Court: Some Remarks on the Historical Stratigraphy of Eastern Iranian Elements in Early Buddhist Painting of Alchi, Ladakh / Christiane Papa-Kalantari -- Documenting Oral Traditions: Methodological Reflections / Christian Jahoda -- A Preliminary Analysis of Some Songs on Tibetan Language Recorded in Spiti and Upper Kinnaur / Veronika Hein.