Gunla Bajan

Kansakar Gunla Bajan players at Kathmandu Durbar Square.
Asan Gunla Bajan players
Tebaha Gunla Bajan players

Gunlā Bājan (Newar: गुंला बाजं) is Buddhist devotional music played by the Newars of Nepal.[1] "Gunla" is the name of the tenth month in the Nepal Sambat calendar, which corresponds to August in the Gregorian calendar and "bajan" means "music" and "music playing group".[2]

Gunla is a sacred month for the Newar Buddhist community[3] when they recite the Buddhist scriptures and visit places of worship playing devotional music. The practice of observing the sacred month is descended from the rains retreat dating from the Buddha's time when monks are to stay in one place and taught the Dhamma to the locals during this period.[4]

  1. ^ Lewis, Todd T. (January 1996). "Notes on the Uray and the Modernization of Newar Buddhism" (PDF). Contributions to Nepalese Studies. Retrieved 4 January 2012. Page 111.
  2. ^ Lewis, Todd T. (Winter 1993). "Contributions to the Study of Popular Buddhism: The Newar Buddhist Festival of Gumla Dharma". Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies. Retrieved 19 February 2013. Page 328.
  3. ^ Locke, John K. (2008). "Unique Features of Newar Buddhism". Nagarjuna Institute of Exact Methods. Archived from the original on 24 March 2012. Retrieved 5 January 2012.
  4. ^ LeVine, Sarah and Gellner, David N. (2005) Rebuilding Buddhism: The Theravada Movement in Twentieth-Century Nepal. Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-01908-9. Page 64. Retrieved 5 January 2012.