Author: Albert Grünwedel

Publisher:

Published: 2016-06-13

Total Pages: 242

ISBN-13: 9781332586660

Excerpt from Buddhist Art in India The first edition of Professor Albert Grunwedel's handbook on Buddhistische Kunst in Indien appeared in 1893, and the hope was expressed in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society that the work might appear in English, as "it ought to be in the hands of all antiquarians in India." Believing that so important a publication might, by a few additions, form a useful general guide to the Buddhist sculptures in the museums alike of India and Europe, I have prepared the present edition. Miss A. C. Gibson very kindly translated for me the first edition; but by the time it was ready for the press, Prof. Grunwedel had begun his second edition containing extensive additions and alterations. This involved delay and a revision of the whole MS. Considerable additions have also been made to this translation, which have, partly at least, been indicated, and about fifty illustrations are added. The difficulties in interpreting the Gandhara Buddhist sculptures arise chiefly from their fragmentary and unconnected condition. This has been lamentably increased by the ignorance or disregard of scientific methods on the part of the excavators of these remains. Monasteries and stupas were dug into and demolished without regard to what might be learnt in the process by modern methods; the more complete fragments only were saved, without note of their relative positions or any attempt to recover smaller portions and chips by which they might have been pieced together; and the spoils were sent to various museums, often without mention of the sites from which they emanated. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works."