Rituals and archaeological preservation: the Pashupatinath temple in

Heritage politics at the Pashupatinatha Temple in Kathmandu, Nepal
Axel Michaels
(Professor of Classical Indology, South Asia Institute, Heidelberg University)
Abstract
Since the seventh century or earlier Pashupati, a form of Shiva, has been
addressed as a tutelary deity by the Nepalese Licchavi, Malla and Shaha kings.
His popular temple, about 3 km west of Kathmandu, is a national monument and
symbol. The temple surrounded by numerous other religious and profan
buildungs has changed markedly over the past few decades, i.e. during a period
when Nepal also changed politically, socially, and economically. The very
question of Nepaliness parallels the debates on the Pashupatinatha temple: What
is the (religious) centre of Nepal? With whom one is to identify? Are federalism
and democracy, decentralization and local autonomous forms of governance the
best answer to Nepal’s religious and social diversity? Or are centralized and
unitary models of governance to be favoured? In a more general sense these
questions concern notions of hybridity and the socio‐religious imaginaries that
are generated through modernization processes, especially through the rise of
public spheres and their new media as well as through propaganda for
democratic, nationalistic and socialist ideals. The paper discusses especially the
influence of the Pashupati Area Development Trust (PADT) in restructuring the
site into an ‘Indian’ tourist and pilgrim’s place.
Further reading:
Axel Michaels: 1990. ‘Pilgrimage and Priesthood at the Pashupatinatha Temple of
Deopatan (Nepal)’, in H. T. Bakker (ed.), The History of Sacred Places as Reflected
in Traditional Literature, pp. 131–59. Leiden: E.J. Brill.
—. 1994. Die Reisen der Götter: Der nepalische Pashupatinatha­Tempel und sein
rituelles Umfeld. With supplement by A. Michaels and G. Tandan, drawings by
Harald Fritzenkötter, Pashupatikshetra, and maps of Deopatan. 2 Vols. Bonn:
VGH Wissenschaftsverlag.
—. 2008. Shiva in Trouble. Festivals and Rituals at the Pashupatinatha Temple of
Deopatan (Nepal). New York, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Curriculum Vitae
since 2007 Co-Director of the Excellence Cluster „Asia and Europe in a Global Context“
since 2002 Speaker of the Collaborative Research Centre “The Dynamics of Ritual”
since 1998 Professor of Classical Indology, South Asia Institute, University of
Heidelberg
1992 Professor of Religious Studies, University of Berne
1986 Visiting Fellow at Wolfson College, Oxford; Ademischer Rat, Dept. of
Indology, University of Kiel
1991 Habilitation
1983–1991 Assistant Professor, Dept. of Indology, University of Kiel
1981–1983 Director of the Nepal Research Centre and the Nepal-German
Preservation Projects in Kathmandu
1971–1981 Benares Hindu University: Post-graduate Course in Indian Religion and
Philosophy; Researcher at the Hamburgische Völkerkundemuesum; Assistant
Professor at the Universities of Muenster and Kiel
1968–1971 Studies of Law, Sociology and Philosophy, University of Munich and
Freiburg
Honours
Full Member of the Heidelberger Academy of Sciences (since 2006); State
Teaching Award Baden-Württemberg (2005) ; Heisenberg Fellowship (1990); Spalding
Visiting Fellow at Wolfson College, Oxford (1986)
Fields of Interest
Ethno-Indology; Social and Legal History of Hinduism; Cultural History of Nepal;
Ritual studies
Current Research Projects
“Lyfe-cycle rituals in Nepal” (within DFG-SFB 619, 2002–2012); „Religion on stage“
(with Excellence Cluster Asia and Europe in a Global Context
Book Publications (selection)
(with Niels Gutschow): Growing up.Hindu and Buddhist Initiation Rituals among
Newar Children in Bhaktapur, Nepal, Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2008.
Price and Purity: The Religious Judge in 19th Century Nepal. Containing the
edition and translation of the chapters on the Dharmadhikarin in two Ains,
Torino: CESMEO, 2006.
(with Niels Gutschow): Handling Death. The dynamics of Death and Ancestor
Rituals among the Newars of Bhaktapur, Nepal, Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz,
2005.
Hinduism. Past and Present. Transl. by Barbara Harshaw. Princeton: Princeton
University Press 2004 (German Original: Der Hinduismus: Geschichte und
Gegenwart, München 1998, 2nd ed. 2006).
Reisen der Götter. Der nepalische Pashupatinatha-Tempel und sein rituelles
Umfeld, 2 parts, Bonn: VGH Wissenschaftsverlag, 1994.
Beweisverfahren in der vedischen Sakralgeometrie. Ein Beitrag zur
Entstehungsgeschichte von Wissenschaft, Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner Verlag,
1978.
Edited books (selection)
Die neue Kraft der Rituale, Heidelberg: Winter 2007, 2nd. ed. 2008.
(with Jan Assmann and Franz Maciejewski): Der Abschied von den Toten.
Trauerrituale im Kulturvergleich, Göttingen: Wallstein, 2nd. ed. 2007.
Klassiker der Religionswissenschaft, München: Beck, 2nd ed. 2004.