This is a brief report written by VAN MANEN’s intern Dung Ly on the first workshop to be organized in the context of the project.
Thursday 12 December
The first day was opened in the IIAS conference room in Leiden University’s Herta Mohr building with the findings of Uwe Niebuhr on the work of the Tibetologist René de Nebesky-Wojkowitz. His legacy would feature in discussions throughout the day, as the Niebuhr argued for a reassessment of de Nebesky-Wojkowitz contributions to the field. He discussed his three fieldwork trips to South-Asia, his travels with Prince Peter of Greece and Denmark, an overview of his publications as well as his work for the Vienna institute of Ethnology. Ultimately zooming in on de Nebesky-Wojkowitz’s relation to items contained within the Van Manen collection, Niebuhr spoke of de Nebesky-Wojkowitz’s research on Leiden’s Lepcha manuscripts.
Following this talk, Verena Widorn presented research conducted in curating the scientific legacy of de Nebesky-Wojkowitz, based in particular on the photographic, textual and material collections preserved at the Weltmuseum in Vienna. She and Niebuhr also established contact with local communities visited by de Nebesky-Wojkowitz to investigate the scientific relations between the local reception and legacy of his work. The project, in which Uwe Niebuhr also participated, will bring forth an archival website and a digitized and annotated catalogue. Widorn further focused onde Nebesky-Wojkowitz’s development as a scholar as well as the reception of his work by Tibetans themselves.
Agnieszka Helman-Wazny asked about de Nebesky-Wojkowitz’ s botanical endeavors, as in her morning presentation on historical accounts of Tibetan paper she referred to his work as a resource for her research. Her contribution to the day’s conference focused on addressing the methodological challenges involved in formulating the analytical boundaries of Tibetan paper as research is conducted on its history. Helman-Wazny presented her approach, which involves studying living cultures of paper making with an attention to the differences between revived practices and traditionally recorded practices. Afterwards the attendees proceeded to a display of selected manuscripts contained within the Van Manen Collection at the Leiden University Library.
Having studied the memoirs van Manen’s assistant Phuntsok Lungtok (phun tshogs lung rtogs), the manuscript of which is part of the Van Manen Collection, Tenzin Tsepak demonstrated the value of the text as an ethnographic resource on Tibetan writing culture. After Tsepak recounted notable aspects of Lungtok’s experiences as a scribe, further questions followed regarding Lungtok’s family and the events recorded in the memoirs. Project-member Samten Yeshi’s talk dealt with two manuscripts from the Van Manen Collection that illustrate the development of the cheating death ritual (’chi slu; ’chi bslu) over the centuries by tracing its textual history, from India to Tibet.
Edward Garrett presented his findings on the Lepcha syllabic scheme, including demonstrations of Lepcha language instruction manuals with accompanying soundbites regarding pronunciation. Based on the Lepcha resources contained within the Van Manen collection, Garett compares modern day use of Lazaong manuals against records of their use in the past. Further questions delved deeper into the history of the Lepcha language and comparisons to the Tibetan language as a living language today. Finally, the first day was closed with a screening of Markus Viehbeck’s documentary on the performative recital of Buddhist Sutras in the Himalayas, documenting the religious customs of Tibetans surrounding the Buddhist sutras kept alive in the present day and his team’s efforts to conserve Tibetan manuscripts. The documentary can be viewed here.
Friday 13 December
On the second day the conference moved to the Worldmuseum in Leiden. Kalsang Norbu Gurung opened the day with his findings regarding a rare manuscript of the Bon religion contained within the Van Manen Collection. The manuscript possessed certain affordances for ritual use and concerned mythical narratives on the emanations of Bonpo divinities, after which Gurung hypothesized on their possible ties to Buddhist and Hindu deities and the manuscripts material provenance. He was followed by Charles Ramble who presented his findings on a manuscript in the Van Manen Collection on a Tibetan ritual for repelling demons of gossip (mi kha). Through a comparison of a manuscript from the Van Manen Collection to photographic evidence of present-day ritual practices, Ramble explored the concept of gossip in Tibetan culture and what could be learned about its conceptualization, and included a brief comparison to the notion of gossip in other cultures.
Following this, Christian Luczanits presented his research on issues of attribution in the assessment of Tibetan art and artifacts, exploring in particular the challenges reproductions pose to attribution when it comes to sculptures and the workshops that produced them. He further explored the utility of carbon dating and the differing practices in modern Tibetan workshops and traditional ones. Nils Martin then presented his findings on the provenance of Buddhist scroll paintings known as thang kas in the Van Manen collection. Concerning the connections between the items held at the Worldmuseum and the university library, Martin traced the curating history of the thang kas when they were exhibited in the Netherlands. Martin eventually explored the history of how paintings acquired and dealt with by Van Manen when he worked for the Asiatic Society of Bengal.
After lunch the attendees were given a tour of the Worldmuseum Leiden. In the conservator’s workshop above the museum itself, Martin had prepared a selection of objects from the museum’s Van Manen Collection. He gave an in-depth explanation of – among others – several thang kas, an astrology chart, and handwritten work by Van Manen’s assistants. The day was closed with the research of Berthe Jansen that dealt with Van Manen’s research on Tibetan material culture and Phuntsok Lungtok’s role in this. Prominently featured in her presentation was Van Manen’s 1916-1918 stay in Darjeeling and his connection to Ghoom monastery (yid dga’ chos gling), which raised further questions concerning Van Manen’s personal involvement in the monastery’s renovation.
