Buddha Image: Its Origin & Development, 2nd edition



By Y. Krishan & Kaplana K. Tadikonda
June 2012
Munshiram
Distributed by
ISBN: 9788121505659
231 pages, Illustrated
$137.50 Hardcover

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This is a revised edition of the book, first published in 1995. It details with crucial though controversial questions in Buddhist art: the origin of the Buddha image-its transformation from aniconism to anthropomorphism-and the iconography of the Buddha images. The earliest Buddhist art of Sanchi and Bharhut is aniconic; the Buddha is represented in symbols only. In the later Buddhist art of Gandhara and Mathura, the Buddha is represented in human form; he is the principal subject of sculptural art. The book seeks to explore the geographical area in which the image of the Buddha first emerges and whether ideology of the Buddhist doctrines-Hinayana or Mahayana-had anything to do with this transformation and whether anthropomorphism of the Buddha image is of Greek inspiration.

 

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