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Books > Humanities > Religion & beliefs > Non-Christian religions > Religions of Indic & Oriental origin > Buddhism
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An Archaeological History of Indian Buddhism (Hardcover)
Loot Price: R3,357
Discovery Miles 33 570
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An Archaeological History of Indian Buddhism (Hardcover)
Expected to ship within 12 - 17 working days
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An Archaeological History of Indian Buddhism is a comprehensive
survey of Indian Buddhism from its origins in the 6th century BCE,
through its ascendance in the 1st millennium CE, and its eventual
decline in mainland South Asia by the mid-2nd millennium CE.
Weaving together studies of archaeological remains, architecture,
iconography, inscriptions, and Buddhist historical sources, this
book uncovers the quotidian concerns and practices of Buddhist
monks and nuns (the sangha), and their lay adherents-concerns and
practices often obscured in studies of Buddhism premised largely,
if not exclusively, on Buddhist texts. At the heart of Indian
Buddhism lies a persistent social contradiction between the desire
for individual asceticism versus the need to maintain a coherent
community of Buddhists. Before the early 1st millennium CE, the
sangha relied heavily on the patronage of kings, guilds, and
ordinary Buddhists to support themselves. During this period, the
sangha emphasized the communal elements of Buddhism as they sought
to establish themselves as the leaders of a coherent religious
order. By the mid-1st millennium CE, Buddhist monasteries had
become powerful political and economic institutions with extensive
landholdings and wealth. This new economic self-sufficiency allowed
the sangha to limit their day-to-day interaction with the laity and
begin to more fully satisfy their ascetic desires for the first
time. This withdrawal from regular interaction with the laity led
to the collapse of Buddhism in India in the early-to-mid 2nd
millennium CE. In contrast to the ever-changing religious practices
of the Buddhist sangha, the Buddhist laity were more
conservative-maintaining their religious practices for almost two
millennia, even as they nominally shifted their allegiances to
rival religious orders. This book also serves as an exemplar for
the archaeological study of long-term religious change through the
perspectives of practice theory, materiality, and semiotics.
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