Introduction

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Introduction

The area of western Nepal centered on the Bheri and Rapti zones (to the east of the area where epics are performed) is home to a rich shamanic tradition, shared by different ethnic groups, both Nepali- and Magar-speaking. This tradition has been studied by anthropologists including John Hitchcock in the 1960s, and later Michael Oppitz, Anne de Sales, and Gregory Maskarinec. It is largely based on a large body of oral texts, including invocations, myths, and magical formulae (mantras).

A collection of hundreds of these texts, in Nepali with English translations and notes, has been published by Maskarinec:

Maskarinec, Gregory G. 1999. Nepalese Shaman Oral Texts. Harvard Oriental Series 55. Cambridge and London [texts from Jājarkoṭ].
Maskarinec, Gregory G. 2009. Nepalese Shaman Oral Texts II: texts of the Bhuji Valley. Harvard Oriental Series 68. Cambridge and London.

The Nepal Epic project has digitalized Maskarinec's original recordings of many of these texts and is undertaking, with his help, to archive them and to make them avaliable on this site.

The transcriptions presented here differ slightly from the published versions in that some lines have been re-divided to correspond to the rhythm of the recorded recitation, and some hesitations and temporizing lines omitted from the published version have been restored. The footnotes of the published version will be made available shortly.

BM 07.12.2012