Nepal boasts an abundance of temples, monasteries (or viharas), and other socio-cultural places where various ICH practices are performed. Here, various forms of religious and non-religious activities take place on a daily basis; but during special festivals and occasions, they are transformed into workshops of ICH practice. This article will touch upon the annual activities at the Buddhist viharas of Kathmandu Valley during the holy month of Gunla (August–September).

Documentation of heritage is one of the important tools for both tangible and intangible heritage, not only for recovery in case of loss but also for transmission of knowledge. In the case of the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH), documentation has been stressed as the starting point of safeguarding. Article 12 of the 2003 Convention clearly mentions that each state party should maintain the inventories of the Intangible Cultural present within the territory. Also, while sending the application for nominating ICH elements to the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, or to the List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding, the application file should also contain the inventories of each nominated element. From this, therefore, we can understand the significance of documentation in ICH.

Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal, is known as a city of temples dedicated to various gods and goddesses. Newārs are indigenous people who mostly reside in Kathmandu valley. They have a unique identity among Nepalese people as lovers and preservers of many Nepali cultures and traditions. Newār communities play very active roles in the preservation of unique Newāri cultural elements. Among many, Di pyākhāṁ is a traditional mask dance with a glorious history. In the Newāri language, Di means “goddess” and pyākhāṁ means “dance,” therefore the name can be translated as “Goddess Dance.”\nThe practice of Di pyākhāṁ provides an opportunity for participants to learn to work together in social harmony. To this end, various tasks are assigned according to work required. Not only does Di pyākhāṁ have religious significance but it is also culturally significant, touching on different artistic aspects.

This paper explores how intangible cultural heritage is being adapted and accredited in an autonomous Higher Academic Institution. Kathmandu University Department of Music has been taken as a case study. \n\nThis Department offers Bachelors (B.Mus.), Masters (M.Mus.) and PhD in Ethnomusicology. As part of this study, information has been collected in order to understand the factors that were perceived as the main considerations for quality assurance of the programs in the department. These challenges were explored with accreditation framework following evidence based self-assessed perception methods of the faculties, staffs and the students. The parameters for accreditation were identified after study of documented information of the Department and in-depth interviews with the concerned stakeholders. The results show that there are obvious challenges that exist while accrediting the programs such as standardized reference books, appropriate location, adequate number of youths in the program, and providing support to attract foreign students and mobilizing students in national and international concerts, etc. It is noted that these challenges, however, have minor implications and can be solved at the time being addressing the problems with the structural adjustment and collaborative efforts with the community assuring quality of ICH related courses in ethnomusicology programs.