Bhairab Nach and Navadurga: Masked Rituals of Nepal
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- Catalogue identifier
- kali-0077
- Alternate titles and import identifiers
- KALI-0077; doi:10.2218/himalaya.2025.9978
- Author or attribution
- Deepsikha Chatterjee
- Record type
- Article
- Language
- English
- Date / edition
- 2025
- Source / repository
- HIMALAYA / Association for Nepal and Himalayan Studies
- Access
- Open access
- Subjects
- Kali Library Research Catalogue; Academic Research and Peer-Reviewed Articles; Art, Iconography, and Epigraphic Studies; Contemporary Worship and Living Traditions
Description and curator notes
Investigates the making and use of masks in Nepalese Bhairab Nach and Navadurga performances. Chatterjee places their material forms within ritual belonging, kinship, community life, and artistic expression. The article discusses how figures including Kali and Mahakali appear in local performance traditions and how their visual forms differ from counterparts elsewhere in South Asia. It provides an illustrated route into Nepalese goddess embodiment and the relationship between masks and divine identity. Its scope is a group of performance traditions, so Kali-related passages should be indexed without presenting every ritual figure discussed as a form of Kali.
KALI-0077 — Kali Library Research Catalogue.
Access and reliability assessments below are supplied by the curator's 4–5 November 2026 research release, not a new independent verification.
Author / attribution: Deepsikha Chatterjee
Publication: HIMALAYA / Association for Nepal and Himalayan Studies · 2025
HIMALAYA 44(1), 5–28
Format / language: Journal article · English
Identifier: doi:10.2218/himalaya.2025.9978
Kali relevance: Substantial Kali/Mahakali and related goddess material in Nepalese masked performance.
Context: Nepal; Navadurga; ritual masks and performance.
Subjects: Academic Research and Peer-Reviewed Articles; Art, Iconography, and Epigraphic Studies; Contemporary Worship and Living Traditions
Evidence / reliability: Peer-reviewed scholarly journal
Access / rights: Complete text checked 2026-11-04. CC BY-NC-ND 4.0, printed on the article.
Source and alternate access links:
Read complete text: https://journals.ed.ac.uk/himalaya/article/download/9978/13290/39825
Source access
Read or locate the original source at HIMALAYA / Association for Nepal and Himalayan Studies
Rights and reading conditions
Complete text checked 2026-11-04. CC BY-NC-ND 4.0, printed on the article. This library links to the source and does not reproduce its full text.
Citation
Deepsikha Chatterjee. Bhairab Nach and Navadurga: Masked Rituals of Nepal. HIMALAYA / Association for Nepal and Himalayan Studies · 2025.
This page supplies catalogue metadata and links. It does not reproduce the underlying source text. Historical, religious, healing and interpretive claims belong to the cited sources, not to an independent verification by this catalogue.