Himalayan Anthropology: The Indo-Tibetan Interface

General Editor’s Preface......Page 5
Foreword......Page 9
Introduction......Page 17
SECTION ONE: GENERAL ISSUES......Page 21
Fourfold Classifications of Society in the Himalayas......Page 23
Kinship and Culture in the Himalayan Region......Page 43
Cultural Implications of Tibetan History......Page 53
Homo hierarchicus Nepalensis: A Cultural Subspecies......Page 59
Hierarchy or Stratification? Two Case Studies from Nepal and East Africa......Page 69
Himalayan Research: What, Whither, and Whether......Page 83
SECTION TWO: THE SOUTH ASIAN PERSPECTIVE......Page 91
Actual and Ideal Himalayas: Hindu Views of the Mountains......Page 93
Stratification and Religion in a Himalayan Society......Page 99
Changing Patterns of Multiethnic Interaction in the Western Himalayas......Page 119
An Additional Perspective on the Nepali Caste System......Page 127
Maiti-Ghar: The Dual Role of High Caste Women in Nepal......Page 137
Dhikurs: Rotating Credit Associations in Nepal......Page 157
The Role of the Priest in Sunuwar Society......Page 183
A New Rural Elite in Central Nepal......Page 195
Nepalis in Tibet......Page 203
Modernizing a Traditional Administrative System: Sikkim 1890–1973......Page 221
Bureaucracy and Bureaucrats: A Few Themes Drawn from the Nepal Experience......Page 243
SECTION THREE: THE CENTRAL ASIAN PERSPECTIVE......Page 247
The Retention of Pastoralism among the Kirghiz of the Afghan Pamirs......Page 249
Correlation of Contradictions: A Tibetan Semantic Device......Page 267
The White-Black Ones: The Sherpa View of Human Nature......Page 279
Tibetan Oracles......Page 303
Some Aspects of Pön......Page 315
Tibetan Bön Rites in China: A Case of Cultural Diffusion......Page 325
The Saintly Madman in Tibet......Page 343
Trans-Himalayan Traders in Transition......Page 355
Tibetan Communities of the High Valleys of Nepal: Life in an Exceptional Environment and Economy......Page 375
Tibetan Culture and Personality: Refugee Responses to a Tibetan Culture-Bound TAT......Page 381
Ethnogenesis and Resource Competition among Tibetan Refugees in South India: A New Face to the Indo-Tibetan Interface......Page 411
The “Abominable Snowman”: Himalayan Religion and Folklore from the Lepchas of Sikkim......Page 437
SECTION FOUR: PERSPECTIVES MERGED: THE NEWARS......Page 447
Notes on the Origins of the Newars of the Kathmandu Valley of Nepal......Page 449
Symbolic Fields in Nepalese Religious Iconography: A Preliminary Investigation......Page 463
Intercaste Relations in a Newar Community......Page 477
The Role of the Priest in Newar Society......Page 499
Structure and Change of a Newari Festival Organization......Page 521
A Descriptive Analysis of the Content of Nepalese Buddhist Pūjās as a Medical-Cultural System with References to Tibetan Parallels......Page 545
Biographical Notes......Page 555
Index of Names......Page 563
Index of Subjects......Page 569