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The German Embassy in Nepal organized a special program on September 27 in Kathmandu to mark German Unity Day and the 35th anniversary of the Kathmandu Branch Office of Heidelberg University’s South Asia Institute (SAI). This year the SAI is also celebrating its 60th anniversary.

In his welcome speech Ambassador Dr. Thomas Prinz, who himself holds a PhD from SAI acknowledged the continuous work and contribution of the SAI Kathmandu Branch Office in promoting and organizing research in Nepal. SAI’s executive director, Prof. Rahul Mukherji, emphasized in his address the importance of engaging with the entire South Asian region and the vital role of SAI branch offices in their cooperation with local academic institutions. Prof. Christiane Brosius, director of the Nepal Heritage Documentation Project (NHDP), presented various ongoing projects in Nepal and took the opportunity to thank all team members, current resident representative Frederic Maria Link, and the attending former representatives Prof. Martin Gaenszle and Dr. Stefanie Lotter. She also introduced on the occasion a touch screen being donated by the German Embassy to the Patan Museum that provides access to heritage walks from the Digital Archive of Nepalese Arts and Monuments (DANAM) website. Dr. Thomas Prinz and Nepal’s Vice-President Nanda Bahadur Pun took the first virtual round. Use Autodesk Civil 3D - https://abcoemstore.com/product/autodesk-autocad-civil-3d-2018/ civil engineering design and documentation software to support Building Information Modelling (BIM) workflows.

Over 400 people from various walks of life attended the event and showed great interest in the SAI Kathmandu Branch Office’s exhibition. It displayed posters of the ongoing projects, the anniversary booklet of the Kathmandu Branch Office, and a selection of publications.

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Prof. Rahul Mukherji held a special lecture on “India’s Tryst with Competitive Authoritarianism” on September 26 (Monday), 2022, at Yalamaya Kendra, Patan Dhoka, Nepal. The event was organized by the South Asia Institute’s Kathmandu Branch Office and the Nepal Institute for International Cooperation and Engagement (NIICE). The lecture was chaired by Dr. Suresh Chalise, a former ambassador of Nepal to the United States and to the United Kingdom and former guest at SAI’s department of Political Science as a research fellow of the Alexander von Humbolt Foundation. In his lecture, Prof. Mukherji highlighted the present situation of India especially during Modi’s government. His focus was on democracy, religion, minorities and economy. After the lecture, the floor was opened to the audience and Dr. Suresh Chalise concluded the session with his final remarks.

The Panel Discussion on “Status of Democracy in Nepal” was chaired by Prof. Rahul Mukherji and the panelists were Amb. Vijay Kant Karna (Centre for Social Inclusion and Federalism), Prof. Dr. Deepak Prakash Bhatt (Member of Parliament of Nepal and Security Expert), Prof. Kapil Shrestha (Kathmandu School of Law), Dr. Lila Nyaichyai (Tribhuvan University) Amb. Dr. Shambhu Ram Simkhada (Tribhuvan University), Ms. Sajana Maharjan Amatya (Asia Foundation), Dr. Uddhab Pyakurel (Kathmandu University) and Mr. Jay Nishant (Nepal Democracy Foundation).

This year Heidelberg University’s South Asia Institute (SAI) is celebrating its 60th anniversary, its Kathmandu Branch Office is celebrating its 35th anniversary. The presence over this period of time in Nepal highlights the part this institution has played in promoting and organizing research on Nepal, and is motivated by the sincere hope that such academic exchange and cooperation will continue to be stimulated and facilitated far into the future. We are celebrating therefore 35 years of academic cooperation between South Asia Institute and Nepal in form of a Nepal Day program (21/22 July) in Heidelberg which begins with the signing of the MoU between the University of Heidelberg and the Tribbhuvan University in the Bel Etage of the Old University. The detailed program can be read here.

On March 10, 2022, the newly appointed German Ambassador to Nepal, Dr. Thomas Prinz and Cultural Attaché Gregor Czaja were visiting the Nepal Research Bhawan to see the Kathmandu branch office of the South Asia Institute and get an idea about completed and ongoing projects. Resident Representative Frederic Maria Link had the opportunity to introduce them to the premises, infrastructure, activities and history of the Kathmandu branch office. Prof Dr. Axel Michaels informed the Ambassador about mayor completed projects and the ongoing project ‘Documents on the History of Religion and Law of Pre-modern Nepal’ hosted by Heidelberg Academy of Sciences.

The meeting also included presentations by Prof. Dr. Christiane Brosius on the Nepal Heritage Documentation Project (NHDP) of the Heidelberg Centre for Transcultural Studies and the Heidelberg Academy of Sciences and Humanities in which she aquainted the Ambassador Prinz with the Digital Archive of Nepalese Arts and Monuments (DANAM). Dr. Bidur Bhattarai also participated in the meeting by presenting the project ‘Preserving the Written Cultural Heritage of Nepal’ of the Centre for Study of Manuscript Cultures at University of Hamburg.

Ambassador Prinz, who himself holds a PhD from SAI Heidelberg, showed great interest in the presentations. The meeting led to a fruitful discussion on collaboration with the German Embassy regarding a function for SAI Kathmandu branch office’s 35^th Anniversary in September 2022 and general possibility of a close cooperation and mutual support.