Mesocosm: Hinduism and the Organization of a Traditional Newar City in Nepal

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Catalogue identifier: kali-fifty4-002
Alternate titles and import identifiers: KALI-50B4-002
Author or attribution: Robert I. Levy; Kedar Raj Rajopadhyaya (collaborator)
Record type: Book
Language: English
Date / edition: 1990; digital edition copyright notice 1991
Source / repository: University of California Press — official digital edition
Access: Open access
Subjects: 50 Full-Text Sources — Batch 4, November 2026; Scholarship and historical studies

Description and curator notes

This large ethnographic study explains how Bhaktapur’s social order, urban space, priesthood and festival cycles are organized through Hindu religious symbolism. Mahakali and Bhadrakali appear as territorially and ritually differentiated goddesses within the city’s protective system. The discussion of the pantheon distinguishes names, manifestations and ritual roles instead of assuming that one name has an identical meaning in every context. Chapters on Tantric worship and annual festivals provide extensive material on dangerous deities, Bhairava and Bhadrakali, and the Nine Durgas. Kali’s place in the Devī Māhātmya is also discussed as part of interpreting this local religious world. The book offers substantial Nepalese context for a Kali library, but remains a study of an entire Newar city rather than a Kali-only monograph.

Curator source KALI-50B4-002. Scholarship and historical studies. Research supplement dated 5 November 2026.
Except where specific checks are described below, source access, completeness and scholarly or devotional assessments are supplied by the curator document, not a new independent verification by this library. Comparative goddess identities, healing claims and devotional interpretations are attributed, not established universal or clinical facts. Full source content is linked, not reproduced.

02. Mesocosm: Hinduism and the Organization of a Traditional Newar City in Nepal
Author/editor: Robert I. Levy, with the collaboration of Kedar Raj Rajopadhyaya | 1990; digital edition copyright notice 1991
Type / language: Complete scholarly ethnographic monograph | English
This large ethnographic study explains how Bhaktapur’s social order, urban space, priesthood and festival cycles are organized through Hindu religious symbolism. Mahakali and Bhadrakali appear as territorially and ritually differentiated goddesses within the city’s protective system. The discussion of the pantheon distinguishes names, manifestations and ritual roles instead of assuming that one name has an identical meaning in every context. Chapters on Tantric worship and annual festivals provide extensive material on dangerous deities, Bhairava and Bhadrakali, and the Nine Durgas. Kali’s place in the Devī Māhātmya is also discussed as part of interpreting this local religious world. The book offers substantial Nepalese context for a Kali library, but remains a study of an entire Newar city rather than a Kali-only monograph.
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Access check: Complete official full text freely accessible without payment or registration, checked 2026-11-05.

Source links:
https://publishing.cdlib.org/ucpressebooks/public/book/mesocosm-hinduism-and-the-organization-of-a-traditional-newar-city-in-nepal.html

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Citation

Robert I. Levy; Kedar Raj Rajopadhyaya (collaborator). Mesocosm: Hinduism and the Organization of a Traditional Newar City in Nepal. University of California Press — official digital edition. 1990; digital edition copyright notice 1991. https://publishing.cdlib.org/ucpressebooks/public/book/mesocosm-hinduism-and-the-organization-of-a-traditional-newar-city-in-nepal.html

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.