Société Européenne pour l'Etude des Civilisations de l'Himalaya et de l'Asie Centrale

Colloquium report

The second international Colloquium of the SEECHAC devoted to the The political and Religious expressions of sovereignty in the Himalaya and Central Asia: rituals, texts, representations institutions has been held at Museo Nazionale d'Arte Orientale “Giuseppe Tucci”, on the 10th and 11th of October 2011. The complete program of the Colloquium and summaries of the presentations will be found below. These documents are sufficient to explain the scientific context and its interest.

I would like to thank our colleagues, Professor Anna Maria Quagliotti, Professor at the University of Naples and Vice- President of SEECHAC and Dr Massimiliano A. Polichetti, Curator at Museo Nazionale d'Arte Orientale “Giuseppe Tucci” to have organized so well this Colloquium. I would also like to thank our friend Michel Colas, Secretary of SEECHAC, who helped them. The staff of the M.N.A.O. “Giuseppe Tucci” was most hospitable and mindful of our needs. Many thanks also to them.

A hundred scholars, Italians, Frenchs, Germans, Americans and Japanese, attended the Colloquium. It gave to many of them the chance to discover the very fine collections of the M.N.A.O. “Giuseppe Tucci”, which were perfectly adapted to the topic of the Colloquium. It gave also the possibility to all the participants, coming from very different countries, to meet and renew scientific and personal ties and, in many cases, to meet for the first time. That is one of the most useful aspects of this type of Colloquium. The scholars working in the Himalaya and Central Asian regions are not numerous and very often are compelled to work in isolation. The Colloquium of SEECHAC enabled many scholars, particularly the young participants, to meet with colleagues working in the same area or on the same topic and to evaluate their competence and their methodology and to exchange pieces of information and addresses. The youngest have started to make themselves known. That is exactly one of the aims of the SEECHAC. A glance at the program shows that the majority of the European research centres concerned were represented in Rome. This delights us.

The next step will consist in enlarging the European and International character of SEECHAC by inviting into the board of the Society more foreign colleagues. After two successful International Colloquiums, we have to think about the third colloquium programmed for 2013. Any suggestions concerning the future place where the Colloquium will be held (preferably outside France in order to stress the European character of the SEECHAC) as well as its theme are welcome.

We also have to thank most sincerely Dr Massimillano A. Polichetti who allowed us to meet in the following day in the Museum, which normally is closed on that day. Around fifty persons were present for the round table Avalokitesvara in India and Central Asia, organized by Professor A.M.Quagliotti. One will find the program below. New documents and new projects have been presented. Each presentation has been followed by long scientific and useful discussions. Thanks also to all the participants: we left the Museum with the feeling of having learned a lot as well as a feeling of gratitude towards our Italian colleagues.

Gérard Fussman
President of SEECHAC

Museo Nazionale d'Arte Orientale

18/11/2011 21:47

SEECHAC International Colloquium '11

Rome, Museo Nazionale d’Arte Orientale”Giuseppe Tucci”, October 10th and 11th 2011

Politics and religions in the Himalayas and Central Asia.
The political and religious expression of sovereignty in the Himalayas and Central Asia: rituals, texts, representations and institutions, from antiquity till now.

(program subject to last minute changes)

Monday October 10th 2011

9h00-9h15	Welcoming of the participants, presentation of badges and documents.
9h15- 9h 40	Opening of the colloquium. Welcoming speeches by Dr Luigi La Rocca, Superintendent of MNAO, Dr Massimiliano A. Polichetti, Prof. Gerard Fussman and Prof. Anna Maria Quagliotti.
9h40-10h	Jacques Giès (Paris): Translation, bouddhisme en Asie Centrale, IVe-IXe siècles.
10h-10h25	Deborah Klimburg-Salter (Wien): Visual Rhetoric: the Kashmiri style in Tibetan Art.
10h35-11h00	Pause
11h-11h25	Harry Falk (Berlin): The chronologies used in Indo-Scythian, Indo-Parthian and Kushan times in Greater Gandhara: a synopsis with new material.
11h35-12h00	Giovanna Lombardo (Roma): At the origins of power and sovereignty: the Late Bronze Age necropolis of Kangurttut (Southern Tadjikistan).
12h10-12h35	Zafar Paiman (Kabul and Paris): Le monastère de Tepe Narenj: un témoignage de l’art “hephthalo-bouddhique”.
12h45-14h30	Lunch pause
14h30-14h55	Katsumi Tanabe (Tokyo) : Iconographical study of a limestone Buddhist relief allegedly unearthed in Northern Afghanistan.
15h05-15h30	Erika Forte (Wien): Ensuring sovereignty: the Buddhist legitimization of the Kingdom of Khotan.
15h40-16h05	Ciro Lo Muzio (Roma): Bird symbolism in Central Asian headgears.
16h15-16h40	Pause
16h40-17h05	Arcangela Santoro (Roma): The universal sovereignty of the Buddha in Kizil.
17h15-17h40	Lore Sander (Berlin): Donors in Kizil caves.
17h50-18h15	Anna Filigenzi (Napoli, Wien): Praxis and orthopraxis in pre-medieval Buddhism: a glimpse into the relationship between lay and religious power.
18h25-18h50	Margherita Mantovani (Roma): La Religione della Luce nelle lettere ebraiche del prete Gianni.

Tuesday October 11th 2011

9h00-9h25	Bruno Genito (Napoli): Scythic kurgans and kingship.
9h35-10h10	Isabelle Charleux (Paris): Rois et reines dans les portraits des souverains mongols du XIIIe au XVIIIe siècle.
10h15-10h40	Patrizia Cannata (Roma): Religions as a tool for political control and national identity’s statement in the Uyghur empire.
10h50-11h15	Pause
11h15-11h40	Paola Mortari Vergara Caffarelli (Roma): Pelden Lhamo, The protective goddess of the Dalaï  Lamas in Tibetan architecture and art.
11h50-12h10	David Pritzker (Oxford): Rin chen bzang po and the treasures of mKha rtse.
12h10-12h35	Charles Ramble (Paris): How to be a good king: Tibetan treatises on monarchy and statecraft.
12h45-14h30	Lunch pause
14h30-14h55	Hubert Feiglstorfer (Wien): Architectural concepts, layout and structure of religio-political centres in historical Western Tibet.
15h05-15h30	Christiane Kalantari (Wien): Iconography of sovereignty and religio-political power in early Western Tibet.
15h40-16h05	Christian Jahoda (Wien): Festival and ritual tradition in key religio-political centers of historical Western Tibet (mNga’ris skor gsum).
16h15-16h40	Pause
16h40-17h05	Marialaura Di Mattia (Roma): The religious factor as a political tool in the establishment of the Western Himalayan kingdoms.
17h15-17h40	Erberto Lo Bue (Bologna): The main image in Gtsug lag khang of Rgyal rtse and its religious and political meaning.
17h50-18h10	Laura Giuliano (Roma): Oēšo and the King.
18h20-18h50	General discussion and closure of the colloquium.

26/06/2011 12:28

Round Table - October 12th, 2011

Wednesday, October 12th, 2011

Avalokiteśvara in India and Central Asia

Organized and Chaired by Prof. Anna Maria Quagliotti
Moderator: Prof. Kuo Liying

9h30	Anna Maria Quagliotti (Napoli)	Presentation
9h40	Gérard Fussman (Paris)	The beginnings of the iconography of Avalokiteśvara in India
10 h30	Monika Zin (München and Berlin)	Avalokiteśvara in India
11 h	Anne Vergati (Paris)	The cult of Red Avalokiteśvara in Nepal
11h 30	Dorothy Wong (Charlottesville, VA)	Avalokiteśvara in Central Asia and China

26/06/2011 11:32

2011 International Colloquium

Call for papers

« Politics and religions in the Himalayas and Central Asia»
Roma, 10th and 11th of October 2011

SEECHAC (Société Européenne pour l’Étude des Civilisations de l’Himalaya et de l’Asie Centrale, European Society for the Study of Himalayan and Central Asiatic Civilizations, http://seechac.org) will organize its second international colloquium in Roma, at the Museo Nazionale d’Arte Orientale, 10th and 11th of October 2011. The subject of the colloquium should be understood in the following manner:

"The political and religious expression of sovereignty
in the Himalayas and Central Asia:
rituals, texts, representations and institutions,
from antiquity till now"

Every SEECHAC member may attend the sessions. The papers may be delivered and written in any European language, preferably in English, Italian or French. The summaries should be written in English. Each speaker will get c. 25 minutes for delivering her/his paper, followed by questions and remarks.

Colleagues (willing) wishing to participate in the colloquium should inform us as early as possible at contact@seechac.org. Those (willing) who wish to submit a paper should send a few lines abstract to the same address before October 31st, 2010. A selection will be made, if necessary, by the organizing committee. The criteria for the selection will be quality, relevance to the subject and a search for balance between junior and senior speakers, countries and periods dealt with, and countries of the respective speakers.

Gérard FUSSMAN,
Président de la SEECHAC

20/10/2009 21:41

Colloquium 2009 photos

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06/09/2009 23:28

colloquium resumes

CHAIRE D’HISTOIRE DU MONDE INDIEN

Professeur Gérard FUSSMAN

COLLOQUE DE LA SOCIÉTÉ EUROPÉENNE POUR L’ÉTUDE DES CIVILISATIONS DE L’HIMALAYA ET DE L’ASIE CENTRALE (SEECHAC)

LA CRÉATION ARTISTIQUE FACE AUX CONTRAINTES POLITIQUES ET RELIGIEUSES DE L’HIMÂLAYA À L’ASIE CENTRALE DE L’ANTIQUITÉ À NOS JOURS

27-28 avril 2009

Collège de France
11, Place Marcelin Berthelot - 75005 Paris

Remerciements au Collège de France et à L'Institut de France sans qui ce colloque ne pourrait avoir lieu.

Nathalie BAZIN, conservateur au Musée Guimet

Political and religious influences in the painted representations of Shambala’s kingdom in Tibet

While representations of the Kalacakra, “The Wheel of Time” and of its mandala become more frequent in the art of Tibet during the centuries following the introduction of the tantra into the country during the “Second Diffusion” of Buddhism, the representations of the kingdom of Shambala devoted to this major tutelary divinity of the Vajrayana, as well as those of the Battle which will take place there at the end of Kali yuga by the last of its kings, flourish in Tibetan painting at a relatively late period that is to say mainly in the 18^th and 19^th centuries. After a brief summary of the Indian and Hindu origin of the myth, we intend to evoke these images of Shambala, stressing in particular the political and religious role played by the sect of Geluppas especially the Dalai lamas and Panchen lamas in the artistic development of the theme as well as the places they occupy in these representations.

Laure FEUGERE, Musée Guimet

Portraits of donors and one aspect of Ksitigarbha

The 9^th, 10^th and 12^th centuries were troubled periods at Dunhuang. After the Tibetan occupation (787-848) Zhang Yichao rose in revolt, freed the country and formed a military district reaching as far as Turfan and of which Dunhuang was the ruling centre. During more than two hundred years, two families shared the power, first the Zhang, then the Cao (from a little before 935 until 1014 at the latest). Good relations were established with the kingdom of Khotan and the Uyghur Khanate of Khocho, the capital of which was Idikut shari. Marriages were arranged between the Cao family and the Qaghan. What influence did the Uyghurs exercised on the artistic level? It seems to have been very important in the 10^th century and the paintings brought back by Stein and Pelliot bear witness to this, it is not only in the portraits of the patrons but also in the representations of Kshitigarbha, of the guardian king (Vaishravana crossing the seas) which figure on the banners and the wall paintings, as well as in the caves at Dunhuang.

Henri-Paul FRANCFORT, Directeur de Recherche au CNRS, PARIS

Imposed and freestyle figures in the arts of Central Asia during Bronze Age (and Iron Age?).

It should consist in: 1) showing in parallel the monumental art, the works of art and the rock sculptures from oasis and steppes of central Asia; 2) outlining a history and a draft of a sociology of these ancient arts in the ancient Orient context; 3) questioning, from a theoretical point of view, the influence of political and religious constraints in relation with other determining elements in the artistic production and the possible freedom of the artists.

Nathalie GAUTHARD, Maître de Conférences en Ethnoscénologie, Université de Nice Sophia Antipolis, UFR Lettres Arts et Sciences Humaines

Ritual Tibetan dances in exile under the pressure of globalization.

Certain Tibetan monasteries in exile have begun to show ritual dances in international theatres. Aimed at a wide audience their object is to demonstrate and promote their religious traditions to finance these monastic institutions and to draw public attention to the “Tibetan cause”. This form of export shows the dynamism of a new form of artistic creativity bringing together religious rituals and theatrical techniques. By analyzing the creative process motivating the export, this paper stresses the creative dynamism generated in the monasteries in exile (Nepal, India).

Frantz GRENET, , Directeur de recherches au CNRS, Directeur d’études à l’EPHE, 5^ème section, sciences religieuses

New iconographic materials concerning the royal protocol in pre-Islamic Iran.

For a long time, Iranian royal audiences were only known through the reliefs of Persepolis. During the Sassanid dynasty the rock carvings and the gold and silver dishes, products generally strictly controlled by the ruling power, are sometimes representing audience scenes, but in an elliptical way which does not allow serious comparisons with details to be found in the texts of the Islamic period.

In recent years new documents have appeared or documents already known re-interpreted : a painting on cloth, probably depicting the Kushan king Huvishka (around 150-191) donating his estate to his heir; a wall painting from Samarkand (around 660) illustrating the reception at the New Year in a context of astrological speculations; wall paintings at Kazakliyatkan, first capital of Khorezm (first century before our era) showing dignitaries waiting to be received in audiences in an architecture of concentric corridors which one is tempted to compare with certain descriptions in the old texts (symbolical descriptions of the Ecbatane walls in Herodotus, descriptions of Alexander’s Iranian protocol, then certain details of the receptions given by the Sassanid king Khosrow Anoshervan).

Nathalie GYATSO, La Réunion, post-doctorante

The art of thangkas in Tibet after 1950

It is really to religious and political constraints that Tibetan artist have submitted throughout the History. In the first part we shall briefly evoke that the sacred art of thangkas, though following iconometrical and iconographical rules, had also, beyond the timeless religious texts, to comply with the alternating supremacy of the different schools of Tibetan Buddhism.

In the second part, we shall develop more lengthily, as it is the subject of our research, and which is most unknown, how the faith of Tibetan artists has known to confront the Chinese power since the fifties. We shall question if that faith, which appears as an essential component of the Tibetan identity, is still visible in the work of contemporary artists from Lhasa, those who being born during the Cultural Revolution have never known the Tibet of the Dalai lamas.

Isabelle HENRION-DOURCY, Professeur adjoint, Département d’anthropologie, Université Laval (Québec, Canada).

The Tibetan Theatre in Peoples’ Republic of China: strategies of preservation, hybridization and heritage recognition.

On August 20^th of 2008, Olympic Games organizers invited the Nation and foreign guests to assist to a performance, covered by medias and in several respects quite symbolic, a few months after the upraise of Tibetan communities in the western part of the country: a traditional Tibetan play, renamed Wencheng Kongjo, which illustrate the wedding of a Tibetan emperor with a Chinese princess during the seventh century. The wedding, forced emblem of the so-called ancient political union between the two nations was also, this time, aesthetic: by calculated will of artistic hybridization, the show mixed Tibetan and Chinese actors with their own language and theatrical techniques.

This initiative answered many attempts by the cultural authorities in Lhasa since five years to enter the ache lhamo (traditional Tibetan theatre) as Intangible Heritage of Humanity. This strategy has, by the way, raised important debates in relation with the efficiency of such cultural preservation.

In this paper, I would like to put in relation the strategies of the different cultural actors of the contemporary ache lhamo (local, nationals and internationals; touristic and economic politics) and explore the way how folkloric and cultural heritage are each time redefined by variable interpretations of the cultural authenticity.

Matthew KAPSTEIN, Directeur d’études à l’EPHE 5^ème section, sciences religieuses

The Temple and the oracle in the 18^th century in Tibet.

The history of Lamo-tchok small temple, in the east of Lhasa, goes back to the “Second Diffusion” of Buddhism in Tibet, during the 10^th century. Its fame came late, following the installation in Lamo-tchok of one the main oracle in Central Tibet, Tsangpa Karpo, the “White Brahma”. Despite the uncertainty regarding the date of this mutation from temple to oracular site, we know that it was under the “king” of Tibet Polhané, during the first half of the 18^th century, that Lamo’s oracle started to play an important role in the religious and political balance of the Tibetan state. In this conference, we shall consider today’s Lamo temple, where 18^th century paintings can still be seen, outstanding example of the pantheon of Tibetan protective deities.

Lara MACONI, INALCO, Paris

From the “worship of poesy” to literary militancy. The spiritual and political literary journey of ‘Od zer (Woeser), young Tibetan woman writer with a Chinese mode of expression.

My paper will be about the spiritual and political literary journey of ‘Od zer (better known in the West under the name of Woeser), young Tibetan woman writer of Chinese mode of expression, born in Lhasa in 1966 from a Sino-Tibetan father, officer in the People’s Liberation Army, and a Tibetan mother belonging to the progressive and Maoist small aristocracy from central Tibet. ‘Od zer gradually imposed herself on the media-related and literary international stage starting when her first anthology of essays, Notes from Tibet, was forbidden to the sale in PRC in 2003. Starting with this event, she asserts her civic, identity-related and literary militancy, and her unique example of commitment to the Tibetan cause inside the PRC began to make the front page of international newspapers. It would be for the least simplistic to believe that the interest in ‘Od zer’s work started with her political and literary activism and its media coverage. The originality and the quality of her texts widely predate her activism and her international fame, her journey as a Tibetan woman and artist is more complex and richer than what is generally thought. My intervention aims to bring into light the whole of ‘Od zer’s works, insisting on the lesser known characteristics of her literary universe and the specificities of her non-linear artistic path which always fed itself to different sources and experiences.

Marta SERNESI, Facoltà di Studi Orientali, Università di Roma La Sapienza

Tsong kha pa’s patronage by the Phag mo gru pa and the beginning of printing in Tibet according to an illustrated text in the Tucci Collection.

The printed text wearing number 1359 in the Tucci Collection (IsIAO, Rome) is a unique copy of an otherwise unknown text. It is a teaching manual of the Naropa’s six doctrines written by the 29^th abbot of gDan sa mthil, sPyan snga Nyer gnyis pa bSod nams rgyal mtshan dpal bzang po (1386-1434). The author was the nephew of Phag mo gru Tai situ Byang chub rgyal mtshan and the brother of Grags pa rgyal mtshan (1374-1432), who reigned in Central Tibet from 1385 to 1432 and was the great patron of Tsong kha pa as well as the funding patron of the oldest prints in Tibet.

Tucci Collection’s text probably belongs to this set of printings done during this particular moment in Tibetan History. It is illustrated with a spectacular series of portraits of the masters from the author’s lineage. We find in particular, figured in folio 8a placed on each side, respectively Tsong kha pa and the fith Karma pa, both teachers of the author and representing groups linked with the ruling clan. Shortly after the death of Grags pa rgyal mthsan, a dissension arose between the followers of these two masters which will degenerate, fifty years after, in a real war between the two parties. This print represents a unique evidence of a religious and political unity decisive for Tibet’s History and Tibetan textual History.

Paola Mortari VERGARA CAFFARELLI, Professeur d’histoire de l’art de l’Asie orientale à l’Université de Gênes

Artistic creations from the Church of the East confronted with political and religious constraints in Central Asia, from the 6^th to the 14^th century.

The Church of the East, also named Chaldean or Assyrian, called Nestorian in the West and Jingiiao in China, was based in Persia and Mesopotamia, where was the seat of the Patriarchate. From its very beginning, the artistic creations of this Church use preferably ancient local models, Assyro-Babylonian, blended with a particular eclecticism to Christian symbols. The Chaldeans, persecuted in Occident and condemned as heretics at the First Council of Ephesus in 431, will spread out in a number of Asian countries, mainly Central and Eastern Asia (6^th to 14^th century), where they created works of art of a remarkable eclecticism which comes from the blending of their own traditions and the local religions and politics.

05/07/2009 17:36