Hindu-Buddhist Festival of Nepal  Paperback – 2020 by JHemant K. Jha ISBN: 978-8182500662 Paperback pp 204  https://www.amazon.com/dp/8182500664?ref=myi_title_dp

Hindu-Buddhist Festival of Nepal documents a vibrant spectrum of the lucent moments of festivity and fraternity in the lives of Nepalese people. The author Hemanta K. Jha is a well known Nepalese culture critic. Not a day passes in Nepal without observing some festival. Considering festivals as great unifying factor in a culturally diverse Nepal, Jha explores the origin and evolution of the festivals and points out a syncretism of Hinduism and Buddhism in the celebrations. Employing mythological tales, Nepalese folklore, historical chronicles, mythological tales, popular legends and personal experiences from the day to day involvement in the Nepalese society, Jha narrates the awe-inspiring accounts of the festivals of Nepal where gods and demons interact with humans in their daily drudge to make them aware of the celestial and ‘just’ sources of existence. The book includes not just major Nepalese festivals celebrated in the Kathmandu valley like Ghode Jatra, Machchendranath Jatra, Ghantakarna, Gai Jatra and national festivals like Nepalese New Year, Mata Tritha Day Buddha Jayanti, Nag Panchami, Janai Purnima, Teej, Vijaya Dashmi and Tihar, it also focuses on the festival like Chhatha and Shree Panchami celebrated with special reverence in the Nepal Terai. Hemanta K. Jha’s Festivals of Nepal comes at a time when the traditional ritualized mode of Nepalese life is under the lethal threat of senseless modernization and globalization.

“Dr. Hemant Jha’s book has refreshed my memories. In his simple and lucid language, Dr. Jha has briefly described nineteen main festivals of Nepal… a very valuable book on Nepalese festivals.”

 –Dr Shaphalya Amatya, Author of Art and Culture of Nepal and Rana Rule in Nepal

In this visionary and nourishing collection of poetry, grounded in Sanskrit roots and cross cultural experiences, Rajni Shankar-Brown creates juxtaposed portraits and transformative bridges. She examines the complexities of harrowing justice issues while also narrating the beauty of our shared humanity. Written with imagination and soulfulness, Shankar-Brown’s transcendent poems burst and bloom with the freshness and flavor of cardamom pods. TULUMINOUS voices layers of intersectional heartache and simultaneously replenishes our spirits. Shankar-Brown invites us to reflect on our own internal compasses, as well as the societal compasses in which they are situated. TULUMINOUS calls us to action, urging us to collectively build a more equitable and loving world.

“TULUMINOUS is a marvelous and meaningful testimony of the power of language to heal and transform.”–Richard Blanco

“A festival for the senses, the poetry of TULUMINOUS sparkles and undulates, roars and radiates, soothes but illustrates that we must never be soothed into stagnation. Rajni Shankar-Brown: poet laureate of the just society.”–Irshad Manji

“Rajni Shankar-Brown has given us not only a wonderful new word–tuluminous–but an equally inventive collection of poems. The verses glisten with the freshness and clarity of someone accustomed to swimming in two rivers, East and West. Awash with earned epiphanies, these poems are best sipped, not gulped. Better yet, sit back and them let wash over you like a cooling Monsoon rain.”–Eric Weiner