The Mahávansi, the Rájá-Ratnácari, and the Rájá-Vali, Forming the Sacred and Historical Books of Ceylon
The Mahávansi, the Rájá-Ratnácari, and the Rájá-Vali, Forming the Sacred and Historical Books of Ceylon

Author: Edward Upham

Publisher: Legare Street Press

Published: 1833

Total Pages: 416

ISBN-13:

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

In this book, Upham provides a detailed and engaging look at the history and culture of Sri Lanka (Ceylon) through the lens of its Buddhist texts and literature. The Mahávansi, the Rájá-ratnácari, and the Rájá-vali are some of the most important historical texts of the island, and Upham's translation of them allows readers to gain insight into the unique religious and cultural practices of Sri Lanka. This book is essential reading for anyone interested in Buddhism, South Asian history, or Sri Lankan culture. This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

“Masters” and “Natives”
“Masters” and “Natives”

Author: Svetlana Gorshenina

Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG

Published: 2019-10-08

Total Pages: 396

ISBN-13: 3110599465

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The book focuses on the relational dynamic between “masters” and “natives” in the construction of scholarly narratives about the past, in the fields of archeology, history or the study of religions. Reconsidering the role of subaltern actors that recent postcolonial studies have tended to ignore, the present book emphasizes the complex relations between representatives of the imperial power and local actors, and analyzes how masters and natives (and their respective cultures) have shaped each other in the course of the interaction. Through various vectors of intercultural transfer and knowledge exchange, through the circulation of ideas, techniques and human beings, new visions of the past of extra-European regions emerged, as did collective memories resulting from various kinds of appropriations. In this framework, the most important question is how these dynamic processes determined collective memories of the past in plural (post-)colonial – in particular, Asian – worlds, participating to the construction of national/imperial/local identities and to the reinvention of traditions.

Placing the Origins of the Buddha
Placing the Origins of the Buddha

Author: Bhadrajee S. Hewage

Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing

Published: 2022-08-04

Total Pages: 133

ISBN-13: 1527584712

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Our understanding that the Buddha emerged from the Middle Gangetic region of the Indian subcontinent has been largely unchallenged for the past 200 years. However, can we truly trust our existing knowledge regarding the geographical locations associated with early Buddhism? Could the Buddha’s origins, in fact, lie elsewhere? Tracking the general theory explaining the Buddha’s emergence from the Middle Ganges, this book explores the lesser-known story of colonial Sri Lanka’s connections to the wider nineteenth-century orientalist quest of placing the Buddha across the northern expanses of the subcontinent. By doing so, this book highlights the many flaws and inconsistencies that continue to inform our current understanding of the Buddha’s geographical origins and urges us to rethink the very foundation on which our knowledge of early Buddhism is based.