Buddhism in Afghanistan and Central Asia
Author: Simone Gaulier
Publisher: BRILL
Published: 1976
Total Pages: 100
ISBN-13: 9789004047440
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Buddhism in Central Asia
Author: Baij Nath Puri
Publisher: Motilal Banarsidass Publ.
Published: 1987
Total Pages: 398
ISBN-13: 9788120803725
DOWNLOAD EBOOKBuddhism in Central Asia is a saga of peaceful pursuit by Buddhist scholars from Kashmir and Kabul to propagate the message of the Buddha. This vast region between the Tien-Shan and the Kunlun ranges was the centre of activities of these Buddhist savants. Here people of different races and professions, speaking many languages, were finally blended into a cosmopolitan culture. This created an intellectual climate of high order. In this context, the famous silk trade route was helpful in adding to the material prosperity of the people in this region. The present study, therefore, is not one of Buddhism in isolation. It equally provides an account of the political forces confronting each other during the course of history of this region for well over a thousand years. For centuries the drifting desert sand of Central Asia enveloped this civilization and the religion connected with it. The late-nineteenth and early-twentieth century explorers and archaeologists successfully uncovered it at different centres along the old Silk Route. This has been helpful for a comprehensive study of Buddhism with its literature and art. The finds of hundreds of inscriptions have added to the cultural dimensions of the study.
The Buddhas of Bamiyan
Author: Llewelyn Morgan
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Published: 2012-06-18
Total Pages: 256
ISBN-13: 0674065387
DOWNLOAD EBOOKMain description: For 1,400 years, two colossal figures of the Buddha overlooked the fertile Bamiyan Valley on the Silk Road in Afghanistan. Witness to a melting pot of passing monks, merchants, and armies, the Buddhas embodied the intersection of East and West, and their destruction by the Taliban in 2001 provoked international outrage. Llewelyn Morgan excavates the layers of meaning these vanished wonders hold for a fractured Afghanistan. Carved in the sixth and seventh centuries, the Buddhas represented a confluence of religious and artistic traditions from India, China, Central Asia, and Iran, and even an echo of Greek influence brought by Alexander the Great's armies. By the time Genghis Khan destroyed the town of Bamiyan six centuries later, Islam had replaced Buddhism as the local religion, and the Buddhas were celebrated as wonders of the Islamic world. Not until the nineteenth century did these figures come to the attention of Westerners. That is also the historical moment when the ground was laid for many of Afghanistan's current problems, including the rise of the Taliban and the oppression of the Hazara people of Bamiyan. In a strange twist, the Hazaras-descendants of the conquering Mongol hordes who stormed Bamiyan in the thirteenth century-had come to venerate the Buddhas that once dominated their valley as symbols of their very different religious identity. Incorporating the voices of the holy men, adventurers, and hostages throughout history who set eyes on the Bamiyan Buddhas, Morgan tells the history of this region of paradox and heartache.
Greek Buddha
Author: Christopher I. Beckwith
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Published: 2017-02-28
Total Pages: 299
ISBN-13: 0691176329
DOWNLOAD EBOOKPresents a history of early Buddhism based solely on dateable artefacts and archaeology rather than received tradition, much of which data is provided by studying Pyrrho's history
Buddha in Central Asia
Author: Sunita Dwivedi
Publisher: Rupa Publications India
Published: 2014-09-01
Total Pages: 452
ISBN-13: 9788129134677
DOWNLOAD EBOOKIntrepid author, traveller and researcher, Sunita Dwivedi set out on an exhaustive journey through Central Asia in search of ancient statutes of Buddha. Retracing the paths forged by great Buddhist monks over the centuries, she negotiated scorching deserts, lush meadows, dry steppe lands, snow-capped mountains and gushing river valleys to chronicle the life and times of the many Budh viharas in which these statues had been instated. Drawing upon her extensive sojourns, Sunita recreates in this volume the bygone eras in which these shrines were once great centres of learning and devotion. And, juxtaposing past grandeur with the dereliction of the present, Sunita brings back to vivid life the holy path of dharma these viharas once espoused.
The Spread of Buddhism
Author: Ann Heirman
Publisher: BRILL
Published: 2007-05-11
Total Pages: 485
ISBN-13: 9004158308
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThis book unravels some of the complex factors that allowed or hampered the presence of (certain aspects of) Buddhism in the regions to the north and the east of India, such as Central Asia, China, Tibet, Mongolia, or Korea.
Buddhism and Islam on the Silk Road
Author: Johan Elverskog
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
Published: 2011-06-06
Total Pages: 353
ISBN-13: 0812205316
DOWNLOAD EBOOKIn the contemporary world the meeting of Buddhism and Islam is most often imagined as one of violent confrontation. Indeed, the Taliban's destruction of the Bamiyan Buddhas in 2001 seemed not only to reenact the infamous Muslim destruction of Nalanda monastery in the thirteenth century but also to reaffirm the stereotypes of Buddhism as a peaceful, rational philosophy and Islam as an inherently violent and irrational religion. But if Buddhist-Muslim history was simply repeated instances of Muslim militants attacking representations of the Buddha, how had the Bamiyan Buddha statues survived thirteen hundred years of Muslim rule? Buddhism and Islam on the Silk Road demonstrates that the history of Buddhist-Muslim interaction is much richer and more complex than many assume. This groundbreaking book covers Inner Asia from the eighth century through the Mongol empire and to the end of the Qing dynasty in the late nineteenth century. By exploring the meetings between Buddhists and Muslims along the Silk Road from Iran to China over more than a millennium, Johan Elverskog reveals that this long encounter was actually one of profound cross-cultural exchange in which two religious traditions were not only enriched but transformed in many ways.
The Future of the Bamiyan Buddha Statues
Author: Masanori Nagaoka
Publisher: Springer Nature
Published: 2020-12-07
Total Pages: 368
ISBN-13: 3030513165
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThis Open Access book explores heritage conservation ethics of post conflict and provides an important historical record of the possible reconstruction of the Bamiyan Buddha statues, which was inscribed in the UNESCO World Heritage List in Danger in 2003 as “Cultural Landscape and Archaeological Remains of the Bamiyan Valley”. With the condition that most surface of the original fragments of the Buddha statues were lost due to acts of deliberate destruction, this publication explores a reference point for conservation practitioners and policy makers around the world as they consider how to respond to on-going acts of destruction of cultural heritage. Whilst there has been an emerging debate to the ethics and nature of heritage reconstruction, this volume provides a plethora of ideas and approaches concerning the future treatment of the Bamiyan Buddha statues. It also addresses a number of fundamental questions on potential heritage reconstruction: how it will be done; who will decide; and what it should be done for. Moreover when it comes to the inscribed World Heritage properties, how can reconstructed heritage using non-original materials be considered to retain authenticity? With a view to serving as a precedent for potential decisions taken elsewhere in the world for cultural properties impacted by acts of violence and destruction, this volume introduces academic researches, experiences and observations of heritage conservation theory and practice of heritage reconstruction. It also addresses the issue not merely from the point of a material conservation philosophy but within the context of holistic strategies for the protection of human rights and promotion of peace building.
Under Jerusalem
Author: Andrew Lawler
Publisher: Anchor
Published: 2021-11-02
Total Pages: 525
ISBN-13: 0385546866
DOWNLOAD EBOOKA spellbinding history of the hidden world below the Holy City—a saga of biblical treasures, intrepid explorers, and political upheaval “A sweeping tale of archaeological exploits and their cultural and political consequences told with a historian’s penchant for detail and a journalist’s flair for narration.” —Washington Post In 1863, a French senator arrived in Jerusalem hoping to unearth relics dating to biblical times. Digging deep underground, he discovered an ancient grave that, he claimed, belonged to an Old Testament queen. News of his find ricocheted around the world, evoking awe and envy alike, and inspiring others to explore Jerusalem’s storied past. In the century and a half since the Frenchman broke ground, Jerusalem has drawn a global cast of fortune seekers and missionaries, archaeologists and zealots, all of them eager to extract the biblical past from beneath the city’s streets and shrines. Their efforts have had profound effects, not only on our understanding of Jerusalem’s history, but on its hotly disputed present. The quest to retrieve ancient Jewish heritage has sparked bloody riots and thwarted international peace agreements. It has served as a cudgel, a way to stake a claim to the most contested city on the planet. Today, the earth below Jerusalem remains a battleground in the struggle to control the city above. Under Jerusalem takes readers into the tombs, tunnels, and trenches of the Holy City. It brings to life the indelible characters who have investigated this subterranean landscape. With clarity and verve, acclaimed journalist Andrew Lawler reveals how their pursuit has not only defined the conflict over modern Jerusalem, but could provide a map for two peoples and three faiths to peacefully coexist.
Buddha in Gandhara
Author: Sunita Dwivedi
Publisher:
Published: 2020
Total Pages: 0
ISBN-13: 9789389967432
DOWNLOAD EBOOKBuddha in Gandhara is the saga of ancient Buddhist cities of Gandhara--a region that extended from north-western Pakistan to eastern and north-eastern Afghanistan. It tells stories of cities that once dotted the highroad connecting India with Central Asia and China. It traces the network of Asian trade routes that nourished these cities with goods, people and ideas. It also trains the spotlight on the magnificent art of Gandhara that still clings to the ruins of these heritage cities and also those that are showcased in the museums of Asia and Europe.--Amazon.com.
