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Les habitants du toit du monde.�Etudes recueillies en hommage�aAlexander W. Macdonald par les soins de Samten Karmay et PhilippeSagant(Recherches sur la Haute Asie12). Nanterre, Soci�et�e d’ethnol-ogie, 1997. 747 pp. ISBN 2-901161-49-9 ISSN 0768-164x

In the introduction to this volume in honour of Alexander MacdonaldSamten Karmay and Philippe Sagant give a detailed survey of his careerand work. After having participated in the war in Asia he studied socialanthropology in Oxford from 1946 to 1949. From 1949 he continuedhis studies in France, Kalimpong and Nepal, the fruits of which are laiddown in his many publications listed on pp. 27–30. Sandy Macdonald hasalways combined the study of texts and anthropological investigations.His work has inspired many students who have followed his examplein their studies of peoples of the roof of the world.

It is not possible even to mention the titles of the thirty-five articles inthis volume. They are arranged into four sections: Histoire tib�etaine (9articles); Tibet: soci�et�es et rituels (9 articles); Mythes et communaut�esde l’Himalaya (7 articles); Religions et soci�et�es au N�epal (10 articles).One can only mention a few articles in order to give some idea ofthe variety and importance of the contents of this publication. HeatherStoddard examines new sources on the Mi-nyag and Pe-har in her article“The nine brothers of the white high. On the ‘re-membering’ of historyand the creation of gods” (pp. 75–109). Franz-Karl Ehrhard studies amanuscript in dbu-med script describing a journey made in 1629/30 bythe Sixth Zhva-dmar-pa Chos-kyi dbang-phyug (1584–1630): “ ‘Thelands are like a wiped golden basin’: The Sixth Zhva-dmar-pa’s Journeyto Nepal” (pp. 125–138). Janet Gyatso gives interesting information onthe diary writing practices of the Tibetans: “Counting Crows’ Teeth:Tibetans and Their Diary-Writing Practices” (pp. 159–177). Anne-Maire Blondeau describes Tibetan rituals for children who died in earlychildhood and discovers in them shamanistic survivals: “Que notreenfant revienne! Un rituel m�econnu pour les enfants morts en bas-age” (pp. 193–220). Toni Huber investigates a Tibetan ritual ensemblestaged at the remote frontier district of Tsa-ri in the Eastern Himalaya:“Ritual and Politics in the Eastern Himalaya: The Staging of Proces-sions at Tsa-ri” (pp. 221–260). Franc¸oise Pommaret reports on her visitin April 1991 to the pillar/megalith of Nabji in central Bhutan: “Lepilier/m�egalithe de Nabji au Bhoutan central: essai de compr�ehensiond’un ‘lieu surd�etermin�e’ ” (pp. 391–417). Pascale Dollfus describes thehistory and the present situation of Christians in Ladakh: “Les chr�etiensdans l’ancien royaume bouddhiste du Ladakh” (pp. 461–483). Anne de

Indo-Iranian Journal42: 187–188.

188 REVIEWS

Sales studies the meaning of the closure of villages in Nepal: “Notes surla claustration villageoise au N�epal” (pp. 547–564). David N. Gellnerdescribes the ritual of the consecration of a Vajra master on the basisof two manuscripts and the verbal commentary from Pan.d. it Asha KajiVajracharya: “The Consecration of a Vajra Master in Newar Buddhism”(pp. 659–675).

This beautifully produced volume will be essential reading for allthose interested in the peoples of the roof of the world.

4 Jansz Crescent J.W. DE JONG

Manuka ACT 2603Australia

Minoru Hara and J. C. Wright, Eds.,John Brough: Collected Papers.London: School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London,1996. xxii, 533 pp.

John Brough (August 31, 1917–January 9, 1984) was undoubtedlyone of the greatest Indologists of the present century. One cannot evencausally page through this volume of his collected papers without afeeling of awe at his depth, his care, and his spectacular scholarlyrange. To call him an Indologist is, in fact, to run the risk of his beingmisunderstood as a narrow scholar. Nothing could be further from thetruth. He published on Vedic, Middle Indic, and Classical Sanskritphilology, Indo-European mythology, Sanskrit grammar and linguistics,Brahmanical society and gotras, the G�andh�ar�ı language and Kharos.t.h�ıepigraphy, Central Asian history, Sanskrit poetry and poetics, problemsof Chinese and Tibetan translations of Indian Buddhist texts, and more.And in everything he wrote he was sure and steady, while at the sametime insightful and innovative, all in a crisp and elegant English style.It is a great pleasure to be able to welcome this volume reprinting mostof his non-monographic works.

Despite the astonishingly broad range of his interests and competence,Brough was not a comparativist, at least in the sense that that term is fre-quently used today. In fact, he rather energetically, and sometimes evenrather sarcastically, critiqued a certain type of comparativism, especiallyin his comments on Dum�ezil’s ideas on the “Tripartite Ideology of theIndo-Europeans.” Having, for example, offered an elaborate complexof evidence which reduces to ashes Dum�ezil’s claim that the “TripartiteIdeology” is exclusively Indo-European, and non-Biblical, Brough

Indo-Iranian Journal42: 188–196.