CONTENTS: Acknowledgements, Orthography and Transliteration, Conventions, Introduction: Part I: HISTORY, PROFILE, CONCEPTS: 1. The Key Features of Newar Dance Theatre, 2. Religious and Royal Dimension of Traditional Newar Dance Theatre, 3. From Ritual to Theatre: Religious Drama of the Kathmandu Valley, 4. Living Masks of the Newars, PART II: WILD GODDESSES AND VAISNAVA HEROES: 5. A Wild Goddess Cult in Nepal: The Navadurga of Theco Village, 6. Religious Drama in Nepal, The White Kali Goddess Tantric, 7. Temple of Kathmandu and its Divine Gana pyakha Dance , A Vaisnava Theatrical Performance: The Katti-pyakha of Lalitpur City, PART III: BALAMI SACRED THEATRE: 8. Theatre of Emotion: A Nepalese Dramatic Art Form, 9. An Ancient Natak in Nepal: The Balami Katti-pyakha (Kartik-nac) of Pharping, PART IV: FESTIVAL AND THEATRE: 10. Ritual as Theatre: The Theatrical Dimension of the Indrajatra Festival, 11. Acrobatics and stilts in Old Kathmandu City, Followed by a Critical Account on the "Performance Studies" Movement, PART V: BUFFOONS, PRANKS AND MASQUERADES: 12. The Trickster in Himalayan Theatre and Folklore: Newar Bathahs, 13. Three studies on Newar Carnivals, Satire and Masquerades, 14. Rituals Clowns and Laughter in the Religions of the Nepalese Himalayas, Conclusion: Traditional Theatre versus Modern Theatre, Origins of the Chapters, Bibliography, Index of Indic and Himalayan words related to theatrical performances.