The Kingdom Of Lo Mustang

Study based on Nepali and Tibetan sources.

In The Mardzong Manuscripts Agnieszka Helman-Ważny and Charles Ramble recount the discovery of a cache of Bön and Buddhist manuscripts, some over seven centuries old, in the remote Mardzong caves in Mustang, Nepal, and subsequent research on the collection.

Hidden in the rain shadow of the Himalaya in one of the most remote corners of Nepal lies Mustang, or the former Kingdom of Lo. Hemmed in by the world's highest mountain range to the south and an occupied and shuttered Tibet to the north, this tiny Tibetan kingdom has remained virtually unchanged since the 15th century. Today, Mustang is arguably the best-preserved example of traditional Tibetan life left in the world. Mustang, though, is poised for a change. A new highway will connect the region to Kathmandu and China for the first time, ushering in a new age of modernity and changing Mustang's desert-mountain villages forever. Given special access to the restriced area, Taylor Weidman and Nina Wegner traveled through the kindgom documenting its lives and landscapes and creating an enduring record of the Loba heritage. In-depth research and interviews complement a striking visual record of the traditions of Mustang, even as it begins to cope with the forces of modernization that will dictate its future. The Vanishing Cultures Project partners with rapidly changing traditional and indigenous cultures to safeguard cultural values and practices, collaborating to document lifestyles and traditions, compile an open digital archive, educate the public about global diversity, and fund indigenous cultural initiatives. To find out more, please visit www.vcproject.org.

During the June 2020 territorial dispute over Kalapani, India blamed tensions on a newly assertive Nepal's deepening relations with China. But beyond the accusations and grandstanding, this reflects a new reality: the power equations in South Asia have been redrawn, to make space for China. Nepal did not turn northwards overnight. Its ties with China have deep historical roots built on Buddhism, dating to the early first millennium. While India's unofficial 2015 blockade provided momentum to the rift with Delhi, Nepal has long wanted deeper ties with Beijing, to counteract India's oppressive intimacy. With China's growing South Asian and global ambitions, Nepal now has a new primary bilateral partner-and Nepalis are forging a path towards modernity with its help, both in the remote borderlands and in the cities. All Roads Lead North offers a long view of Nepal's foreign relations, today underpinned by China's world-power status. Sharing never- before-told stories about Tibetan guerrilla fighters, failed coup leaders and trans- Himalayan traders, Nepal analyst Amish Raj Mulmi examines the histories binding mountain communities together across the Sino-Nepali border. Part history, part journalistic account, Mulmi's is a complex, compelling and rigorously researched study of a small country caught between two neighbourhood giants.

"Lo", as Mustang is called by those who dwell there, is a small area in the Nepal Himalaya inhabited by people of Tibetan stock. Buddhist art flourished here, particularly between the 14th and the 16th century, in a cultural environment strongly influenced by the religious order of Sakya, the great monastic fortress in southwest Tibet. In particular, the 15th-century wall paintings in the temple of Maitreya at Montang, the traditional capital of Lo, vie with the finest in all geo-cultural Tibet, whereas the 14th-century murals in the cave temple of Luri reflect the interpretation of Indian aesthetics as transmitted to the Tibetan world by the artists of the Nepal Valley. This volume is the first monograph on the artistic heritage of Lo. It deals with the most representative features of the religious art of the region, dwelling on painting, but without neglecting sculpture and architecture. Besides recording significant as well as hitherto unpublished religious sites of artistic relevance, it illustrates the restoration work carried out in important temples at Montang. Illustrated with rare images of the paintings, sculptures, and monuments of this fascinating region, the volume will appeal to a wide audience, including scholars and students, and readers with a general interest in the arts of Asia.

Mustang was and still is an enchanted region where nature and culture intermingled to keep a very old tradition alive. Culturally, geographically, and historically Tibetan, but within the Borders of Nepal, it has become a time capsule of Tibetan Heritage and a place where the rich traditionof Tibetan Buddhism is carried on to this. People may wonder why and how communities may have chosen to settle in such unforgiving living conditions, but if you were actually living there, you would probably understand it by yourself.