Sunday July 21st, 2 - 8PM

Pure Land Farms: 3265 Santa Maria Road, Topanga, CA 90290

A celebration of Nepali Newari culture including live music and dance performances, calligraphy workshop, Newari Buddhist ritual art exhibit, Nepali food and more!

Featuring:

Prajwal Ratna Vajracharya who will perform the sacred dances of Nepal with his Dance Mandal dancers and offer a mini workshop in the movement techniques of his unique Charya Nritya tradition.

Prajwal is a priest of one of the Vajrayana Buddhist lineages of Nepal and a ritual master both of the Charya Nritya dance tradition and other ritual forms performed by the Newar Vajracharya lineage. Prajwal began his training in Charya Nritya at eight years old, receiving formal instruction mainly from his father, the Buddhist scholar and ritual master Ratna Kaji Vajracharya. Prajwal Vajracharya is now the premier teacher, practitioner, and performer of the tradition. He is the founder of Dance Mandal: Foundation for Sacred Buddhist Arts of Nepal to preserve and expand this rare art form and its related traditions. With the survival of this sacred ritual dance threatened by modernization, Prajwal, at his father’s wishes, has dedicated his life to bringing this unique Buddhist heritage from the temples of Nepal to the world, while adhering to its original purpose as a profound spiritual practice.

Subash Prajapati who will offer a Nepali calligraphy workshop, talk and musical performance with using traditional drums of Nepal.

Subhash Ram Prajapati is a PhD in Ethnomusicology from University of Washington. His research focuses on traditional, folk and fusion music from Newar communities in a global perspective of musical changes. He has a number of publications on Nepalese music, arts and culture.