10/29/2025
Please join the South Asia Center UW and Asian Languages and Literature - University of Washington for this Thursday’s event:
A Paradigmatic Case? The Unpredicted Revitalization of Newar Buddhist Traditions in the Kathmandu Valley
Todd Lewis
Thursday, October 30, 3:30-5
Allen Auditorium
Many scholars have predicted the withering away of Newar Buddhism in the Kathmandu Valley. What has emerged over the last decade, however, is a hitherto unimagined revival among traditional Newar Buddhists and their venerable tradition centered on Mahāyāna-Vajrayāna teachings and practices. The talk will recount the history of denigration of Newar Buddhism, sketch the confluence of reconfigurations and revivals, and devote special focus on how these factors converged in the nearly-completed construction of a Newar Vajrayāna monastery in Lumbini.
Todd Lewis has taught in the Religious Studies Department at the College of the Holy Cross since 1990 and is holder of the Murray Distinguished Professorship in the Arts and Humanities; he is also a Research Associate at Harvard University. His research and teaching links anthropology, the history of religions, and Indology. His area of special expertise is Newar Buddhism in the Kathmandu Valley, Nepal, and he has written extensively about Buddhist narratives, their depiction in popular art, and the role of merchants in Buddhist history. Among his many publications are more than forty articles, two books on Newar Buddhism, and the textbook, Buddhists Understanding Buddhism Through the Lives of Practitioners.
