FREE & QUICK WORLDWIDE SHIPPING ON $60+

TAKE 10% OFF YOUR ORDER | USE CODE: TAKE10 

Buddhist Art and Culture: Symbols & Significance (In 2 Volumes)
Book details
  • 584p., Illustrations; 29cm.
  • Hardcover
  • English language
  • Agam Kala Prakashan
  • 02.09.2013
  • ISBN 13: 9788173201271

Buddhist Art and Culture: Symbols & Significance (In 2 Volumes)

Synopsis

Roman Diaspora in the making of India thrived on a syncrtic goddess ushered by the Greco-Buddhist reliquary cult. Lustrated by royal elephant identified with Africa, goddess Gajalakshmi on lotus of rebirth coexists with Isis-Venus and Nemesis symbolized by the Wheel of Low (Retribution), winged griffin and other rebus memory devices .Metaphors originally distilled faith in afterlife but these necromantic signs are now translated as Buddha’s external presence in a neural religion. Unprecedented cult images of goddess invoked as Maha Maya (Mega Maia) and Maha Vuhara Devi on the Great Boat (Mahayana) radically transformed the cultural landscape of South Asia. Subject to Influences, Meaning of art correlated with Mystery religions moved eastward from the Mediterranean to reach the gateway to heaven (Torana).The search for immortality demonstrates inter-connectedness of all art objects from Gandhara to Sri Lanka giving to ample scope for portraiture, Narrative techniques and symbolic Communication. Backed by new mortuary practices and esoteric rituals magic of art and new Brahmi script invented from invented from Aramaic was crucial to afterlife. Not surprisingly Tamil Brami on pot shards was found in Berenike and Oman. The two Volumes examine Late- synthesis in order to create new premises for investigating its Greco-Roman past centered on the powerful impulse to ti induces descent of the Lord (Bhagavato ukramti) through Immaculate conception and ambiguity in its cultural moorings. In the process, patrons, priest-kings and historical figures emerge as contributor to the obscure space of the funerary cult. Lasting less than four centuries in India, veneration of luminous Buddhas had far reaching consequences in Asia. Simultaneously, transcending human limitations goddess Mahalakshmi is singular witness to transformations through two millennia of Indian civilization.

Read more
Write a review
-10%
$286.20 $318.00
10.00% OFF all titles with Meritus Membership
Free delivery Gift included Secure payment
Item available. Ships in 1-2 days.

Arputharani Sengupta

About the author

Arputharani Sengupta was Professor of Art History (1996-2010) and Department Director at the National Museum Institute (Deemed University), New Delhi. She specialized in the History of Fine Arts at Stella Maris College, University of Madras, and has thirty-five years of experience teaching Ancient World Art. The author of best-selling books on early Buddhist Art and Indo-Greek transcultural exchanges uncovers the secrets of symbols intersecting art and religions through interdisciplinary investigative Research.

View books
Explore titles by the author
More Similar Titles