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Ten easy walks among the Gods, Legends and Bazaars of Kathmandu

John Child's book of walks in the old cities of the Kathmandu Valley is much more than a description of the millennia of history and culture in Kathmandu, and much more comprehensive than a sightseeing guide. Child uses the format of a walking tour to tell the rich story of Nepal's high culture, weaving stories of the monuments and palaces together with history, myth and legend. It's as suitable for armchair travelers as for trekkers, visitors and residents of Kathmandu. Publication date: December 2006

From the review in the Nepali Times, 23 Feb. 2007:

"He stands alone, seemingly neglected at first glance, if you notice him at all. The traffic and people bustle past, the small shops conduct theirbusiness as usual. A small, crude, tiled concrete arch gives him some protection from the elements and human encroachment. The knee-high Buddha has stood there for 2,000 years. ‘There’ is now the Bangemudha Square, just in from the lively Asan Tol. 'Who quarried the stone, who carved him, who put him there, what has he witnessed?’ These are not questions we normally stop to consider as we rush about our daily lives. But it is exactly the kind of pause John Child encourages in his new book, Streets of Silver, Streets of Gold: Ten Easy Walks among the Gods, Legends and Bazaars of Kathmandu.

"This excellent guide is written by a person who clearly loves the Valley and knows a lot about its history, its people, and its places. His passion is infectious.The walks are not long grueling treks, but strolls through the past alive in the present, through the spiritual manifest in the everyday. Child alternates between the minutiae in front of you and more thorough informational digressions. It is a good balance. He does not overburden the reader with information, but does a commendable job ofgiving the average person an initial taste, or perhaps a reminder, of the political and cultural history of the Valley and of the different but intertwined religious practices." ... Read more

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Dale Gottlieb’s Story Rugs draw from a broad range of history, literature, and multicultural folklore to relate human triumphs over injustice and oppression. With transcendent colors and playfully bold compositions, the rugs celebrate human courage and conviction in the face of such tragedies as civil-rights abuses, the Holocaust, and racial discrimination. With an unswerving faith in human potential, Gottlieb gives exquisite form to these tales of freedom with skill, sensitivity, and at times, humor.

Trained as a painter, in the early 1990s Gottlieb embarked on a remarkable partnership that offered her a new medium as well as a vehicle with which to share the stories that inspire her. She creates her Story Rugs with the help of expert carpet weavers working in Nepal. The products of their cross-cultural collaboration are hand-knotted and hand-dyed wool rugs that communicate messages of diversity, compassion, and acceptance.

As shown in abundant color plates and profiled in an essay by Lisa Van Doren, Gottlieb’s Story Rugs not only delight with their colorful, exuberant designs but also present an opportunity for community dialogue and cultural healing. ... Read more

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Verse work, portion of a Hindu mythological text, with English translation, glorifying Nepal. ... Read more

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The central problem of poverty studies in Nepal isthe failure of recognising adequately the corevectors of oppressions simultaneously: class,gender and caste. The developmennt strategy ofsocial mobilisation and micro-credit has notsufficiently responded these issues, either. Utilising the case from rural Nepal, I analysepoverty from gender perspective at three levels:spaital, household and individual. The work goes onexploring meanings and dimensions of genderedpoverty; explores processes and effects of genderedpoverty by bringing informal institutions as aframework of analysis and evaluates the role ofcurrent development strategy in mitigating theseprocesses and effects. This work is, therefore, a profound fact-basedanalysis on the relations between socialstratification, assets-income-human capabilitiesand gender inequality and it is a departure fromcore economic analysis of poverty. The analysisshould be useful for professionals of Gender andDevelopment or anyone else who may be interested inSociology of Gender and (Under) Development inSouth Asia. ... Read more

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An eminent anthropologist examines the foundings of the first celibate Buddhist monasteries among the Sherpas of Nepal in the early twentieth century--a religious development that was a major departure from "folk" or "popular" Buddhism. Sherry Ortner is the first to integrate social scientific and historical modes of analysis in a study of the Sherpa monasteries and one of the very few to attempt such an account for Buddhist monasteries anywhere. Combining ethnographic and oral-historical methods, she scrutinizes the interplay of political and cultural factors in the events culminating in the foundings. Her work constitutes a major advance both in our knowledge of Sherpa Buddhism and in the integration of anthropological and historical modes of analysis.At the theoretical level, the book contributes to an emerging theory of "practice," an explanation of the relationship between human intentions and actions on the one hand, and the structures of society and culture that emerge from and feed back upon those intentions and actions on the other. It will appeal not only to the increasing number of anthropologists working on similar problems but also to historians anxious to discover what anthropology has to offer to historical analysis. In addition, it will be essential reading for those interested in Nepal, Tibet, the Sherpa, or Buddhism in general. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Deep comprehensive Sherpa history book, best available
We at the Sherpa Friendship Association recommend HIGH RELIGION first and foremost as the best Sherpa history book in English.Sherpa language itself is rarely written, but Ortner went to great lengths to locateoriginal Sherpa histories actually written by educated Sherpa lamas.Hertranslations of the Sherpa migration (from Kham, Tibet) stories intoEnglish are wonderfully detailed, and her study of Sherpa clan politics,Sherpa Buddhist beliefs, and finance in the old Sherpa Kingdoms is morethorough than any other study before or since.Most of the research forthis voume was conducted in Zhung Gompa (Junbesi) in SharKhumbu, theSouthern Kingdom of the Sherpas.Surely Lama Dorje, the magical SherpaLama who founded Zhung Gompa, smiles upon this work! ... Read more

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The broad objective of this book is to understandthe dynamics of rural change in Nepal. Theconceptualisation of social relationships in ruralsociety is built on notions of civil society andsocial capital and involves the identification ofbonding, bridging and linking as distinctive formsof interaction and solidarity. Empirically, theresearch compares and contrasts three case studiesof rural change in three locations - a remotevillage, a roadside village and a Maoist controlledvillage. The study deploys qualitative researchmethods in a grounded theory approach, and adopts asocial constructivist approach drawing on complexitytheory. It shows that building on ethnic bondingrelationships can facilitate bridging betweengroups, which in turn generates more organic socialwealth and underpins struggles against hierarchicallinking relations using the mix of participative anddirective change strategy. It also shows not justmarket relations and infrastructure, butprogressive political, social and ideologicalchanges are needed to bring about ruraltransformation that generates more equality andjustice as well as more wealth. ... Read more

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Nepal is a small mountainous country, naturally divided into three physiographic regions, mountain, hill and tarai. From development and administrative perspective, it is divided into five development regions and 75 districts. The overall development situation of Nepal is gradually improving. However, the pattern and intensity of the development is found location biased. Selected pocket areas of hill and tarai districts are growing faster than others so the regional disparity is widening in many aspects of development. The study aimed to identify and analyze the situation of regional disparity among the districts in 1991, 2001 and 2005. It also aimed to identify the contributing factors of regional disparity. Agriculture and allied, Infrastructure and manufacturing, Socio economic, and Human development sectors are the four major sectors selected for the analysis. Within these four broad sectors, sixteen individual indicators are selected for the year 1991 and 2001 likewise nineteen indicators for 2005. The study is mainly based on the secondary data from different sources. ... Read more

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The book Non-timber Forest Products (NTFPs) andDomestication provides an insight into thepotentiality of cultivation of NTFPs in cultivatedland in place of agro-crops. Based on a structuredquestionnaire survey and some secondary documentsthis book has sought to explore the perception ofsmallholder farmers whether or not the NTFPs couldbe an alternative to existing agro-crops. The bookdeals with constraints and opportunities, marketopportunities and risks with regards to promotion(domestication) of NTFPs in the cultivated land. Thebook also throws light on whether or not theexisting policies are favourable to NTFPsdomestication at farm level. Findings suggest thatfarmers are very much willing to cultivate NTFPs intheir farmland in place of agro-crops. They perceiveNTFPs more profitable and environmentally desirablethan agro-crops since NTFPs requires less inputthan agro-crops.But farmers are reluctant to adoptdomestication extensively because of market risksand Lack of direct access of farmers to the bigtrading companies is another constraint posed toexpensive cultivation of NTFPs in the farm land. ... Read more

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Nepal was engulfed in a civil war between Maoistguerillas and the state from 1996 to 2006. In 2006 abroad alliance between Maoists, parlamentarianparties and civil society organizations came togetherto bring down the royal autocracy which seizedabsolute power one year earlier. The plattform theyhad agreed upon included the main demand of theMaoists during the civil war, namely an election to aconstitutional assembly with the task of writing anew constitution. In return, the Maoists agreed tomultiparty political competition. To years later, inApril of 2008, the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist)won the elections in Nepal and became the biggestparty, much to everyone's surprise. What made thisstring of events possible?Are we witnessing an historic example of peacefulconflict transformation? Why did the Maoist guerillasjoin the peace process?This book should be of interst to peace researchers,South-Asia scholars and everyone who is interested in the politics and ideology of South-Asianrevolutionaries. ... Read more

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This book provides insights on how Payments for Environmental Services (PES) can be implemented in collaboration with local institutions to achieve environmental and developmental goals. Taking a case of hydroelectricity revenue sharing in Kulekhani watershed of Nepal, this book analyses the PES scheme using institutional analysis framework derived from the works of Ostrom, Young and Mitchell. The study shows that the PES in Kulekhani is constrained due to deficiencies in design of rules and conflict of PES with local institutions (institutional interplay). Based on the analysis, it is argued that, although the PES in Kulekhani has provided a mechanism for transferring revenue for local development, it has not transformed existing resource management structures and institutions to demonstrate the effectiveness of enhancing environmental outcomes. The lessons of this research include the politics driving the design of PES mechanisms, and conflict of PES rules with local institutions can hinder the performance. Likewise, this research also suggests that the PES schemes do not necessarily result into cooperation with local institutions to achieve both ecological and social outcomes. ... Read more

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The book contains analytical research work on gender discrimination, educational conditions and property rights issues in one of the villages (Kewalani) from Rupandehi district of Nepal. It was dominantly an agricultural village situated between two municipalities where gender role has been changing over time. The study area lies in Terai plain inhabited mainly by a mixed group of people. This is a dissertation work submitted for MSC in 'Development Studies' at the Department of International Environment and Development Studies, Norwegian University of Life Sciences. ... Read more

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The role of medicinal plants in livelihood improvement, income generation and poverty reduction have been widely realized and are therefore being promoted by government and conservation and development organizations. Despite the vital role of medicinal plants to rural development in Nepal, their potentiality and contribution remains largely unexplored. This book, therefore, examines the role of medicinal plants in livelihood, identifies the challenges facing by the medicinal plant sector and analyzes the opportunities provided by the medicinal plant sector in the Rasuwa district, Central Nepal. Introduction chapter provides a solid foundation for the reader getting concepts on trends and aspects of MAPs research, leading on to sections dealing with field level realities. The analysis should be especially helpful for the development planners, conservationists, sociologists and botanists interested in NTFPs and MAPs sector. ... Read more

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A survey of the countries of the Indian subcontinent coversgeography, demographics, agriculture, history, politics, culture, religion, arts, literature, and science. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Good Introduction with photos, illustrations and facts
I was searching for a good book on India, with a historical bent, as a gift for a friend here in the US. This book provides a very good introduction with pictures, illustrations and relevant facts. The book provides a general outline of history and more importantly also introduces the reader to the general mindset & prevailing conditions ("cultural atlas") in India. It also provides some basic information on the states and neighbouring countries like Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bhutan & Burma.

The special features sections focus on the things that people of India are most likely to be known about. Most people will not remember everything about a culture/nation. They will probably remember only the most interesting things and the special features of this book present these in a clear, understandable manner, i.e mostbly agreeable to people like me who have grown up in India.

Non-fiction books are hard to read for some people, these people are looking to escape from the ordinary. This book will interest the reader into reading & learning more about India. As for fantasy the readers might want to try tales, parables and comics like Jataka stories, Amar Chitra Katha...

Excellent reference book!
As an Indian, I'm wary when "outsiders" put together a book on my country, but this book is exceptional.It gives facts and general descriptions of anything and everything when one thinks of India.Lots ofpictures makes it an easy read.Worth every penny.This is the bookteachers in America should use when trying to give an overview on INDIA. ... Read more

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Chapters: Kukri, Nepalese Caste System, Kumari, Limbu People, Miss Nepal, Swayambhunath, Pashupatinath Temple, Bikram Samwat, Cinema of Nepal, Mystic Nepal, Culture of Nepal, Tihar, Dasain, Nepali Literature, Camling Language, Dhunge Dhara, Languages of Nepal, the Soul of the Rhino, Bagh-Chal, Women in Nepal, Chasok Tangnam, Pasni, Majipa Lakhey, Gadhimai, Chhaupadi, Miss Teen Nepal, Nwaran, Changu Narayan, Rishikesh Complex of Ruru Kshetra, Maghe Sankranti, Sinja Valley, Tongba, Yanya Punhi, Muna Madan, Nepsa, Kirat Rai Yayokkha, Rato Machhindranath, Bhujimol, Ramagrama, Deusi, Maruni, Nepali Calendar, Ehee, Sa Paru, Pauba, Damphu, Barha, Nepal National Library. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 208. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: The Nepalese caste system, like the Indian caste system, is highly complex and continues the traditional system of social stratification of Nepal. The caste system defines social classes by a number of hierarchical endogamous groups often termed as Jt. This custom is found in both the Hindu and Buddhist communities of Nepal. However, in Nepal people sometimes erroneously use word caste to mean their race or ethnicity. The ethnic groups are a different race from Khas, who are themselves distinct from Madhesi people. The caste system has traditionally existed in the latter two races (the Khas and Madhesis). The Nepalese civil code Muluki Ain (1854) was written by Jang Bahadur Rana after his European tour. It codified social codes in practice for several centuries in Nepal that was rooted in Vyavahra (traditional Hindu legal procedure), Pryacitta (avoidance and removal of sin) and cra (the customary law of different castes and communities). These three are collectively called Dharmastra. A traditional Hindu king was duty-bound to put these precepts into p...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=5007690 ... Read more

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High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Radio Nepal was established on 1 April 1951. Initially, the transmission lasted for 4 hours and 30 minutes through a 250 Watt short-wave transmitter. Over the years, Radio Nepal has strengthened its institutional capacity considerably and diversified itself in terms of programme format, technical efficiency and coverage. Radio Nepal airs programmes on short wave, Medium Wave and FM frequencies. Regular broadcasts last for sixteen hours every day, which includes two hours of regional broadcasts between 09:30 hrs. and 11:00 hrs. in the morning and 18:05 hrs 18:30 hrs in the evening. However on public holidays, there is an additional two hours, extending the total duration to eighteen hours. FM Kathmandu, the first FM-Channel covering Kathmandu valley and adjoining areas was started in 1995 from its premises at Singha Durbar, Kathmandu. ... Read more

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High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! As of the early 1990s, women in Nepal were generally subordinate to men in virtually every aspect of life. Nepal was a rigidly patriarchal society. Women's relative status, however, varied from one ethnic group to another. The status of women in Tibeto-Nepalese communities generally, was relatively better than that of Pahari and Newari women. Women from the low caste groups also enjoyed relatively more autonomy and freedom than Pahari and Newari women. ... Read more

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This digital document is an article from Emerging Infectious Diseases, published by U.S. National Center for Infectious Diseases on October 1, 2008. The length of the article is 2490 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Murine typhus and febrile illness, Nepal.(DISPATCHES)(Clinical report)
Author: Mark D. Zimmerman
Publication: Emerging Infectious Diseases (Magazine/Journal)
Date: October 1, 2008
Publisher: U.S. National Center for Infectious Diseases
Volume: 14Issue: 10Page: 1656(4)

Article Type: Clinical report

Distributed by Gale, a part of Cengage Learning ... Read more

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Newars who live in the Kathmandu Valley of Nepal are well known for their urban civilisation as well as for the social orgainisation of their territory, which they have conserved for centuries. Shows that for the Newars there exists a complex relationship between gods and men and also that their notion of territory is inextricably linked with the sanctuaries and temples, where gods have precise sites. Reprint of 1995 edition. ... Read more