Epic of the Buddha

“[This work] is not simply a window into another culture; it is an aesthetic experience that moves the reader to an enhanced understanding of the life of the Buddha.”—The Khyentse Foundation Committee Awarding the Prize for Outstanding Translation

“A superb contribution to Buddhist Studies, Lewis and Tuladhar have notonly translated from the Newari poetic vernacular an extraordinarily profound text by an outstanding figure in twentieth-century Nepali history, but in the process they have also managed to introduce many of the rich textures of lay Newari Buddhist culture. This is a perfect selection for a course on biographies of the Buddha or for Himalayan religious studies.”—John Clifford Holt, William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of Humanities in Religion and Asian Studies, Bowdoin College

Chittadhar Hṛdaya (1906-1982) was one of twentieth-century Nepal’s most eminent poets. Born into a Newar family in Kathmandu, he devoted his life to writing in his native language of Nepāl Bhāṣā (also called “Newari”). He composed this epic poem about the life of the Buddha while imprisoned for five years for publishing a poem in Newari that was regarded as subversive by the Nepalese government, smuggling it out on scraps of paper hidden in a tin box.

Todd T. Lewis is Professor of Religious Studies at the College of the Holy Cross.

Subarna Man Tuladhar taught at and served as the chief administrator of the Administrative Staff College in Kathmandu. For over four decades, he has also been a private scholar who published articles and short stories in Nepal Bhaṣa(“Newari”), Nepali, and English. Since 1979, he has also taught several dozen foreign scholars doing research in the Kathmandu Valley. The growth in Newar studies in western academia in fields such as linguistics, anthropology, and religion is due, in considerable measure, to the exceptional work of Subarna Man Tuladhar as an instructor who pioneered the modern teaching of spoken Nepal Bhaṣa.

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