From Bactria to Taprobane : Selected Works of Osmund Bopearachchi. Volume I: Central Asian and Indian Numismatics /
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The first volume comprises Osmund Bopearachchi's most important articles on the numismatics of Central Asia and India, particularly of pre-Bactrian, Graeco-Bactrian, Indo-Greek, Indo-Parthian and Kushan coins. There are 36 articles on numismatics and 3 on the destruction of Afghanistan's cultural heritage during the period of Civil War. It is well known that from the time of Theodore Bayer, the reconstruction of the history of Greek settlers of Alexander the Great in Bactria and India and their nomadic successors, Scythians, Parthians, and Kushans, has depended mainly on coins. It is only in the light of these coins that the rare ancient texts and the limited archaeological evidence can be used for writing their history. Since the publication of Bopearachchi's first book, Monnaies grécobactriennes et indo-grecques, Catalogue raisonné (1991), nearly half a million coins have surfaced in Afghanistan and Pakistan as a result of accidental finds and illegal excavations. His research is mainly based on these new discoveries. Through his work he has brought to light new kings, coin types, monograms, overstrikes and coin hoards. Bopearachchi has also shown that the history of Greeks and their successors in Central Asia and India can no longer be written based solely on numismatics. He has taken into consideration other forms of human activities such as architecture, sculpture, epigraphy, ceramics and artefacts and shows it amply in his writings based on his own investigations and the contributions of eminent archaeologists, historians, numismatists, epigraphists and art historians of Central Asia and India.
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1 online resource (716 pages) : illustrations. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004752139
When West Met East : Gandharan Art Revisited /
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When West Met East: Gandhāran Art Revisited is based on hitherto unpublished or partly published sculptures and artefacts from Gandhāra and Greater Gandhāra dispersed in public and private collections across Asia, Europe, and the United States. Its subject is a form of figurative sculpture that emerged in the Gandhāran region between the second and fifth centuries ce and reflects regional cross-cultural elements arising from its direct relationship with Buddhism and to some extent Hinduism, as both flourished in India at the time of the Ku]sā]n Empire. The author's 'Introduction' presents the historical foundation of the innovative artistic expressions that characterize the singularity of Gandhāran art. The first chapter covers the cross-fertilized nature of the art and examines how Western artistic inspirations were transformed into new forms of art to narrate stories of Indian origin. The second chapter argues that Gandhāran artists followed the chronological sequence established in the Sanskrit Lalitavistara, or pre-existing texts which may have inspired this sacred book, when depicting the scenes of the life of the Blessed One starting with the descent of the future Buddha from Tu]sita Heaven up to the first sermon in the deer park. Singling out one particular episode in the Buddha's life, the descent from the Trāyastri`mśa Heaven to Sā`mkāśya, the third chapter focuses on the literary sources that inspired Gandhāran artists. The fourth chapter addresses the question of the first depictions of the Bodhisattvas Maitreya and Avalokiteśvara in Gandhāran art. And, finally, the fifth chapter looks at the symbolism behind the presence of Hindu gods in Gandhāran art.
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1 online resource (452 pages) : illustrations. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004752153
Seven Weeks after the Buddha's Enlightenment : Contradictions in Text, Confusions in Art /
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This groundbreaking volume explores a revelatory Andharan style relief recently discovered in Sri Lanka. It adds to the growing body of archaeological evidence of important exchanges between the Buddhists of Sri Lanka and their co-religionists in the Krishna Valley. This relief is the most ancient document attested to date depicting the events that took place during the first seven weeks following the enlightenment of the Buddha. Its unique iconography leads the author to closely examine contradictions between literary evidence and visual representations of what is known as the sambodhi, or 'perfect awakening', of the Buddha. According to the classic Buddhist texts, the Mahāvastu and the Lalitavistara, the Buddha spent seven weeks after his enlightenment near the Bodhi tree. By contrast, the Buddhist canonical text the Vinaya-Pitaka describes this period as only four weeks long. Sri Lankan and Burmese artists have preferred to depict the seven-week account. Furthermore, the 'seven-week' motif depicted in this Andharan relief follows the chronological order given in the important Pāli texts, the Nidānakathā and the Mahābodhi-Vamsa. The textual confusions and artistic contradictions uncovered by this volume present a bigger picture of the complex ways in which the story of the Buddha's life was imagined in the earliest period of recorded Buddhist history. The present study is the first in a series of books by this author on Buddhist art.
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1 online resource (76 pages) : illustrations. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004752061
From Bactria to Taprobane : Selected Works of Osmund Bopearachchi. Volume II: Art History and Maritime Trade /
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The second volume of Osmund Bopearachchi has articles and monographs on Central Asian and Indian art, South Indian and Sri Lankan art and finally maritime trade in the Indian Ocean. While documenting thousands of coins in the Pakistani markets from 1992 onwards, Bopearachchi realised that one has to go beyond the traditional approach of simply cataloguing coins, and as a result he has made an attempt to link numismatics with sculptural and pictorial iconography. His studies on Utpalavarnā, the courtesan who later became a bhiksunī (Buddhist nun) and on the earliest iconography of Hindu gods like Śiva, Brahmā, Vi]s]nu and Varāha have revolutionised our knowledge of these domains. His writings giving the results of the archaeological excavations and explorations carried out by the Department of Archaeology and the French Archaeological Mission in Sri Lanka along the estuaries and rivers provide substantial evidence to indicate that in ancient times large ships could cast anchor in the sea close to river mouths and commodities were taken to inland markets using the rivers and waterways. His work also shows how the movements caused by these human activities have amalgamated local traditions with foreign identities and created new forms of art and belief. His research on sculptures imported to the island from Amarāvatī-Nāgārjunakonda deals with the inspiration of these schools of art over the early forms of Buddhist sculpture in Sri Lanka. The different architectural aspects of the royal palace complex of Sigiriya, built by King Kassapa (477-95 CE) clearly demonstrate that various external ideas and concepts were used to convert this huge lofty rock into a more elaborate harmonious whole, in another words, a paradise or an Alakmanda.
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1 online resource (480 pages) : illustrations. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004752146