Axel Michaels

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Axel Michaels, January 2013

Axel Michaels (born May 26, 1949 in Hamburg ) is a German Indologist and religious scholar .

Live and act

Michaels interrupted his law studies in 1970 to travel to India, where he discovered his fascination for this country. He then studied Indology in Munich, Hamburg and Benares with philosophy and law as minor subjects. After receiving his doctorate in Hamburg, he worked at the Museum für Völkerkunde Hamburg and at the University of Münster . In 1980 he moved to the Christian Albrechts University in Kiel , where he completed his habilitation in 1991. In the meantime he was director of the Nepal Research Center in Kathmandu for two years and completed a stay abroad at Wolfson College in Oxford .

From 1992 to 1996 Michaels was full professor for religious studies at the University of Bern . Since 1996 he has been full professor for Classical Indology at Heidelberg University . There he took over the professorship for Classical Indology at the South Asia Institute in Heidelberg , where he headed the department “Cultural and Religious History of South Asia”.

From 2002 to 2013 Michaels was spokesman for the Collaborative Research Center “Ritual Dynamics” at the University of Heidelberg and in 2007 became Co-Director and later Director of the Cluster of Excellence “Asia and Europe in a Global Context” at Heidelberg University. In addition, together with Barbara Mittler, he is founding director of the “Heidelberg Center for Transcultural Studies” and co-director of the “Center for Asian and Transcultural Studies”.

Since 2006 he has been a full member and since 2016 Secretary (Vice President) of the Heidelberg Academy of Sciences , where he has been leading the research project "Religious and legal historical sources in premodern Nepal" since 2014. Axel Michaels has been a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of Heidelberg University since 2014. In 2015 he was awarded the Lautenschläger Research Prize , the most highly endowed research prize from a private donor in Germany, and the Höffmann Prize for intercultural communication from the University of Vechta.

After his retirement, Axel Michaels was appointed senior professor in October 2016 to continue his research at the South Asia Institute and the Cluster of Excellence “Asia and Europe in a Global Context”.

Research priorities

In his work on the cultural and religious history of South Asia, Prof. Michaels combines textual studies and ethnographic research. His work focuses on the practice and history of Hinduism in India and the religions of Nepal, especially the rituals and festivals there. In addition, he deals with the sacred topography and sacral geography of Varanasi (Banaras) as well as Hindu asceticism , ancient Indian law and legal literature in premodern Nepal.

Awards and memberships

  • Höffmann Prize for Intercultural Communication from the University of Vechta (2016)
  • Lautenschläger Research Award (2015)
  • Member of the Heidelberg Academy of Sciences (since 2006)
  • State Teaching Award Baden-Württemberg (2004)
  • Heisenberg Fellowship from the DFG (1990)
  • Spalding Visiting Fellow at Wolfson College, Oxford (1986)
  • Doctoral scholarship from the City of Hamburg (1978-79)

Fonts

In addition to the authorship of his own works, Michael is the editor or co-editor of a large number of writings. (Selection)

  • Co-editor of Heidelberg Studies in Transculturality - An Open Access Book Series (Heidelberg University Publishing)
  • Book series Ethno-Indology (Harrassowitz, 2005–)
  • Co-edited by Studia Religiosa Helvetica and the Journal of the Nepal Research Center (1994–2000)
  • Co-editor of the book series Transcultural Research - Heidelberg Studies on Asia and Europe in a Global Context ”
  • Co-editor of the European Bulletin of Himalayan Research (London, Paris, Heidelberg)

Monographs (selection)

  • 2016 Homo ritualis. Hindu Rituals and its Significance for Ritual Theory. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press.
  • 2016 (with Manik Bajracharya and Niels Gutschow), Nepālikabhūpa-Vaṃśāvalī: History of the Kings of Nepal - A Buddhist Chronicle. Kathmandu: Himal Books, 2016. - vol. 1: Manik Bajracharya and Axel Michaels, Introduction and Translation; vol. 2: Manik Bajracharya and Axel Michaels, Edition; vol. 3: Niels Gutschow, Maps and Illustrations.
  • 2012 (with Niels Gutschow ) Getting Married - Hindu and Buddhist Marriage Rituals among Newars of Bhaktapur and Patan, Nepal. With a film on DVD by Christian Bau. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag (Ethno-Indology; 12).
  • 2012 Hinduism. History and present. Munich: CH Beck Verlag, 3rd edition 2010 (1st edition 1998, 2nd edition 2006).

Published books (selection)

  • 2018 (with Simon Cubelic and Astrid Zotter): Studies in Historical Documents from Nepal and India, Heidelberg: Heidelberg University Publishing, 2018 (Documenta Nepalica - Book Series, Volume 1). DOI: 10.17885 / heiup.331.454 ( digital copy ).
  • 2014 (with Christoph Wulf): Exploring the Senses. London, New York & New Delhi: Routledge (South Asian and European Perspectives on Rituals and Performances 3)
  • 2013 (with Christiane Brosius and Paula Schrode): Ritual and ritual dynamics. Keywords, theories, discussions. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2013.
  • 2013 (with Ute Huesken): South Asian Festivals on the Move. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.
  • 2013 (Ethno-Indology. Heidelberg Studies in South Asian Rituals; 13).
  • 2012 (with Christoph Wulf): Emotions in Rituals and Performance. London, London, New York, New Delhi: Routledge (South Asian and European Perspectives on Rituals and Performances 2).
  • Buddha - life, teaching, legend. Munich: CH Beck (CH Beck - Knowledge).
  • 2010 Manus Gesetzbuch - translated from Sanskrit and edited with the collaboration of Anand Mishra. Berlin: Publishing House of World Religions.
  • 2008 (with Niels Gutschow) Growing Up - Hindu and Buddhist Initiation Rituals among Newar Children in Bhaktapur, Nepal. With a film on DVD by Christian Bau. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag (Ethno-Indology 6).
  • 2008 Śiva in Trouble - Festivals and Rituals at the Paśupatinātha Temple of Deopatan (Nepal). Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press.
  • 2006 The Price of Purity: The Religious Judge in 19th Century Nepal. Containing the Edition and Translation of the Chapters on the Dharmādhikārin in Two (Mulukī) Ains. Torino: CESMEO, 2005 [published 2006] (Comitato "Corpus Juris Sancriticum et fontes iuris Asiae Meridianae et Centralis"; vol. 6)
  • 2006 (with Ulrich Luz): Encountering Jesus & Buddha: Their Lives and Teachings. Translated by Linda M. Maloney. Minneapolis: Fortress, 2006 (Engl. Translation of 2002).
  • 2005 (with Ulrich Luz): Jesus or Buddha. Comparison of life and teaching. Soot. Transl. Moscow: St. Andrew's Biblical Theological College.
  • 2005 (with Niels Gutschow): Handling Death. The Dynamics of Death and Ancestor Rituals Among the Newars of Bhaktapur, Nepal. With Contributions by Johanna Buss and Nutan Sharma and a Film on DVD by Christian Bau. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag (Ethno-Indology; 3).
  • 2004 The art of the simple life. A cultural history of asceticism. Munich: CH Beck (reprint of Chapter VI in Elke Weeckt, Simplicity, Heidelberger Kunstverein, 2006 (catalog)), ISBN 3-406-51107-4 .
  • 2004 Hinduism. Past and Present. Transl. (1998) by Barbara Harshaw. Princeton: Princeton University Press (Reprint: New Delhi: Orient Longman, 2005), ISBN 0-691-08952-3 .
  • 2002 (with Ulrich Luz): Jesus or Buddha. Comparison of life and teaching. Munich: CH Beck (Beck series 1462). (Russ. Transl. 2005, Engl. Transl. 2006)
  • 1998 Hinduism. History and present. Munich: CH Beck Verlag (Engl. 2004, Ind. Edition 2005, new edition 2006).
  • 1994 Journeys of the Gods - The Nepalese Pashupatinatha Temple and its ritual environment. 2 pts. with: A. Michaels and G. Tandan with drawings by Harald Fritzenkötter, Pashupatikshetra - Maps of Deoptan. 424 and 104 pp. Bonn: VGH Wissenschaftsverlag (Nepalica 6), ISBN 3-88280-043-7 .
  • 1993 (with Niels Gutschow): Benares - Temple and religious life in the holy city of the Hindus. 258 p. Cologne: DuMont Buchverlag. Reprint (excerpt / extract) in: Hubertus Halbfas, Hinduismus - Glaube, Geschichte Gegenwart. 32 slides with booklet, Düsseldorf: Patmos Verlag, 1998, 67f.
  • 1988 The Making of a Statue - Lost-wax Casting in Nepal. 78 S. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Wiesbaden GmbH (Nepal Research Center Publications 6) [extended English version of C 1985b and 1986a].
  • 1988 (with Fabrizia Baldissera): The Indian dance - body language in perfection. 210 p. Cologne: DuMont Buchverlag (DuMont documents).
  • 1986 Ritual and Society in India - An Essay. 142 p. Frankfurt am Main: New Critique Verlag, ISBN 3-8015-0209-0 .
  • 1983 A Comprehensive Śulvasūtra Word Index. 60 p. Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner Verlag (Old and New Indian Studies 24).
  • 1978 Proof Procedure in Vedic Sacral Geometry - A Contribution to the History of Science. xiv, 210 p. Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner Verlag (Old and New Indian Studies 20), ISBN 3-515-02978-8 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ute von Figura: Founded through a disposition to the calling. Journal @ RupertoCarola, accessed February 9, 2016.
  2. ↑ on this Collaborative Research Center see page about the SFB Ritualdynamics in the Gepris System of the DFG and Ritualdynamik.de, homepage of the Collaborative Research Center
  3. ↑ Cluster of Excellence "Asia and Europe in a Global Context"
  4. ↑ http://www.haw.uni-heidelberg.de/forschung/forschungsstellen/nepal/projekt.de.html
  5. ↑ https://www.uni-heidelberg.de/presse/news2015/pm20151106_axel_michaels_lautenschlaeger_forschungspreis.html
  6. ↑ http://www.egon-spiegel.net/foren/forum-interkulturelle-kompetenz/hoeffmann-wissenschaftspreis-fuer-interkulturelle-kompetenz/hoeffmann-wissenschaftspreis-2015/
  7. ↑ https://www.uni-heidelberg.de/presse/news2016/pm20161028_axel-michaels-forscht-als-seniorprofessor-weiter-an-der-ruperto-carola.html
  8. ↑ http://www.sai.uni-heidelberg.de/abt/IND/mitarbeiter/michaels/michaels.php?forschung#forschung
personal data
SURNAME Michaels, Axel
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German Indologist
DATE OF BIRTH May 26, 1949
PLACE OF BIRTH Hamburg