Special collection Stache-Rosen | University of Tübingen

Partial collection of the Indologist Valentina Stache-Rosen (1925-1980)

Photographs from South India (Tübingen) and Nepal (Detmold)

Valentina Stache-Rosen, a respected scientist in Indology and Chinese studies, spent several years in southern India in the 1970s with her husband, the then director of the Goethe Institute in Bangalore.

She became increasingly interested in folk traditions, rituals and local folk arts. On her numerous trips, including to historically and art-historically important sites in the country, she was able to build up an interesting collection of different objects, such as South Indian shadow theatre figures made of leather.

Valentina Stache-Rosen was also a contact point and support for international researchers, such as Friedrich Seltmann (topic area "Shadow figures"), Anna Dallapiccola (topic area "Citrkathi painting") or Heidrun Brückner (topic area "Village deities on the West coast of South India").

The inventory of Tuebingen Indology includes

23 large-format photographs from the exhibition "Bhutas and Teyyams" (1996, University of Wuerzburg) and
the part of the slide collection related to South India with descriptions and other documents.

Both the slides and the accompanying materials can be viewed in the Indology library after prior registration.

Another part of the collection, especially the slides on Nepal, is located at the Lippisches Landesmuseum in Detmold.

Holdings of the Tuebingen collection
Photographs and slides

Exhibition "Bhutas and Teyyams" (1978/79 in Bangalore; 1996 at Univ. Würzburg)

"On the West coast of South India, villagers worship a large number of spirits. They have corners for them in their houses and small shrines in the village. They make daily offerings to these spirits and once a year a festival lasting for one night or several nights will be conducted. The spirits will be impersonated by certain people wearing gorgeous costumes, make-up or masks and high crowns or something like a halo. The whole village will participate in these festivals. The areas where these festivals take place are in South Kanara, where Tulu and Kannada are spoken, and further South, in the Northern parts of Malabar, where Malayalam is spoken.
The impersonated spirits are called Bhuta or Daiva in South Kanara and Teyyam in North Malabar; they are the subject of this exhibition. The paintings have been done by Balan Panikkar, a teyyam artist from Morazhu, Cannanore district. He paints the faces of teyyams, and he has drawn the designs of some of these teyyams on paper. The photos have been taken at various festivals in South Kanara and North Malabar […]. Mr. M. Pushpajan of Pappinisseti, Cannanore District, has collected most of the stories of teyyams represented in this exhibition.
Bangalore, August 1978"

(Quote from: Valentina Stache-Rosen: Bhutas and Teyyams. Spritworship and ritual dances in South Kanara and North Malabar, 1978, p. 3)

Accompanying issue to the exhibition English
Valentina Stache-Rosen: Bhutas and Teyyams. Spiritworship and ritual dances in South Kanara and North Malabar. An Exhibition. Bangalore 1978.

Accompanying issue to the exhibition German
Valentina Stache-Rosen: Bhutas und Teyyams. Geisterbeschwörung und rituelle Tänze an der Westküste Südindiens. Bangalore 1979.

Picture from the exhibition "Bhutas and Teyyams"

Slide collection South India

The slides, mostly from the years 1976-1979, document cultural-anthropological contexts and traditions.