The Festschrift celebrates Franz-Karl Ehrhard, Professor of Tibetan and Buddhist Studies at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich from 2003 to 2019. Offered on the occasion of his 65th birthday, it comprises 26 papers by friends and colleagues to honour his outstanding and far-reaching contributions to the field of Tibetan Studies. Mirroring Franz-Karl Ehrhard's research interests, the papers centre on the religious and literary traditions of Tibet and the Himalayas, including sacred geography, religious history, philosophy, and studies in textual production and transmission.

Collected over 25 years during his numerous discovery journeys in the different parts of the vast Himalayan territory, the collection illustrates the region's people heritage and culture. It offers the reader a comprehensive view of the jewellery and ornamental traditions from the many tribal groups living in this part of the world. More than 500 pieces of jewellery and adornments are displayed. The amazing varieties of material, from gold, silver, brass, ivory, semi-precious stones, shells, horn, and leather... demonstrates the unlimited skills of the Himalayan jewellery craftsmen. This book has been written in recognition of their talents. In addition, an authoritative introduction by prominent French scholar Françoise Pommaret, gives the reader a glance into the lifestyles and social systems of the indigenous people of the Himalaya.

A millennium of paintings, textiles, metal sculptures, ritual objects; aesthetic, religious contexts.

THE OLDEST SECRET SOCIETY OF INDIA. THE GREATEST TREASURE IN THE HISTORY OF MANKIND. THE MOST EPIC MYSTERY OF THE ANCIENT WORLD. When the richest man of India confesses to being part of a secret society in a live press conference; chaos ensues. His daughter Aanya Vashishtha takes the help of Aarav Kohrrathi, a brilliant but egoistic treasure hunter and his friend Rehann to solve the mystery of The Ring of the Seven, a society of influential men who are tasked to protect the greatest treasure in history. What starts off as a quest to uncover her father’s secret leads them to something bigger which they themselves couldn’t have fathomed. They take the help from her father’s associate, Shayna Maheshwari, a billionaire banker and someone herself involved with the secret, as they progress towards a treasure hidden somewhere in the Himalayas. They brave bullets, puzzles, deadly chases, cult of assassins, and betrayal as their quest takes them across the length and breadth of South Asia; from the bustling metropolises of Mumbai and Delhi to the ancient temples of Nepal; from the serene beaches of Sri Lanka to the towering mountains of the Himalayas. They try to uncover a set of secret books of lost arts, which are believed to reveal the map of the treasure, and strive to discover the identities of the masters of the Ring of the Seven to solve the penultimate mystery. In a tale of love and loss, logic and emotions, religion and history, action and adventure, and the trial of a few good men against the most powerful organization in the history of mankind. Will they find the secret of the Himalayan treasure?

By studying these texts within and examining the styles of the manuscript illuminations, Amy Heller was able to shed light on the lost history of this remote Tibetan enclave, the spread of Buddhism in the Himalayas and its artistic legacy. The manuscripts, sculptures and mural paintings discovered in Dolpo are the concrete expression of the complex economic, political, artistic and religious interactions between the people of Dolpo and their neighbors in India, Nepal and Tibet. --