Cinnabaris - Series of Oriental Studies -

Cinnabaris - Series of Oriental Studies was created in summer 2006, within the initiative Ev-K²-CNR Publications.  It is the fruit of the scientific collaboration between the Ev-K²-CNR Committee and the Italian Institute for Africa and Asia (IsIAO) of Rome. Coordinator of the series on behalf of Ev-K²-CNR is Martino Nicoletti, head of the Antrhopological Sciences sector.

The objective of the initiative is to publicize studies and research in the fields of anthropology, ethnography, visual anthropology, archaeology, history of religions, philology and art history of Himalayan civilizations in central, southern and south-eastern Asia. The series stands out for the elevated profile of the studies published.  It is further distinguished by the careful graphical layout and the significant amount of space reserved for iconography and photography. Cinnabaris is published in English by Vajra Publications of Kathmandu. So far, two works have been published and several more manuscripts have  been proposed for publication by top international investigators.

The first book, “The Ancestral Forest�, is an accurate map of the culture and daily life of the many kirati groups which live along the Hongu valley and in Eastern Nepal. 
Lost among the high hills of eastern Nepal, which has meant centuries of cultural isolation, the Kulunge Rai ethnic group have tenaciously maintained their religious tradition ever since their ancient origins. Bearing witness to a far-off past of hunting and nomadic life, their myths and legends form a plot and scenario that comprise a multitude of invisible entities: the “hunterspirits� and the “monkey spirits�, the undisputed sovereigns of the forest world; Laladum, the deity two resembles a little girl, the initiator of young shamans from the villages of the area; the Nagi, or ophidiomorphic-spirits, dwelling in the waters, the totem ancestor of the Kulunge Rai group; Molu, a mythical forefather, lost in the woods and transformed into a deity. Starting from the cults of domestic deities, the research goes on to analyse the rituals that accompany the souls of the dead and the village farming cults, as a necessary step before dealing with the hunting cults and the hidden paths beaten by Kulunge Rai shamans.

The second book, “Shamanic Solitudes�, is a trip to the extreme borders of the world, on the traces of the Kulunge Rai shamanism, a nomadic and paradoxical religion of Nepal. Enriched with never before seen images, the volume is an extraordinary “live� document of the places of the shamanic experience. The pages of the book are a testimony to an encounter with a paradoxical religion, every attempt to reach the truth of shamanism apparently being condemned to constant transformation along an endless curving surface.