Monuments and Temples of Orthodox Buddhism in India and Sri Lanka

By W. Vivian De Thabrew

This is a mainly pictorial work, featuring recent colour photographs taken in the main by the author of the many different styles and features of Buddhist images, stupas or dagobas and temples found in the two oldest Buddhist countries in Asia. Accompanying the photographs is a brief text describing the magnificent architectural heritage of Buddhism, and also explaining the origin and development of the images and stupas.
Very little has been published specifically on these subjects in a single volume and presented in an attractive manner for the serious student or the interested general reader. Older works on Buddhist iconography and temples tend to have mainly black and white photographs of sites which have now changed considerably, with development by UNESCO and governments. These photographs are current and in resplendent colour. They endeavour to exhibit the physical expression of one of the world's major religions, which now has many adherents in the West as well as in the East. These Buddhist sites now attract many thousands of visitors, both pilgrims and tourists, all year round. This book would provide a beautiful memento of visits to some of these places, as well as providing more information for those who wish to pursue the subject more deeply.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse UK
• Release date: Jul 10, 2013
• ISBN: 9781481795524

W. Vivian De Thabrew

Born in Balapitiya, Sri Lanka, Vivian De Thabrew received his formal education at Royal College, Colombo, Sri Lanka, and obtained his first and postgraduate degrees in the UK. He has travelled in many Southeast Asian countries, such as Cambodia, India, Laos, Myanmar, Nepal, Thailand, and Vietnam, and has made a special study of Buddhist history, architecture, and the iconography of Buddhism. This interest and his knowledge of Pali and Sanskrit have also led him to produce an abridged translation and adaptation of stories from the “Dhammapada.”

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© 2013 W. Vivian De Thabrew. All Rights Reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 06/27/2013

ISBN: 978-1-4817-9551-7 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4817-9552-4 (e)

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

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Contents

Acknowledgements

Glossary

Introduction

The Life Of The Buddha

The Buddha Image

Buddhist Stūpas

India

Sri Lanka

References

About The Author

About The Book

Dedication

To my parents

and

To all those interested in Buddhist civilisation and culture

Author’s other titles:

Lawns: a manual of lawn care

Lawns, sportsgrounds and playing areas

Popular tropical aquarium plants

Coldwater aquarium plants

Water plants of Sri Lanka

Water plants of Sri Lanka (2nd edition)

Acknowledgements

I acknowledge with grateful thanks the following who have supplied me with useful material for this book:

Nilantha Mahinda Jayawardene, Hiran Karunaratne,

www.dreamstime.com for Plate 55,

Lalith Athugoda, for Plate 15 and Maya De Thabrew, for Plates 38, 39, 51 and 52.

My special thanks are due to Coral De Thabrew for painstakingly editing, processing all the material physically and electronically, without whose efforts this book would not have been possible.

Special thanks are due to the staff at Author House, Bloomington, Indiana, U.S.A. for their advice, guidance and producing the book in its finished form.

Note on the pronunciation of Pāli, Sanskrit & Sinhalese words

Since pronunciation of Indic words differs somewhat from English, I have appended these notes as a guide. Where a, i or u need to be lengthened in pronunciation by a – above the vowel concerned, e.g. Pāli, Dīgha, Stūpa.

a as in cut

ā as in car,

e as in get

i as in fit

ī as in feet

o as in cot

u as in put

ū as in fool

Glossary

List of Illustrations                Plate

Introduction

This book is an attempt to give the reader an overall experience of the vast range of Buddhist monuments and institutions found in some prominent places associated with the Buddha and Buddhism. It is impossible to comprehensively deal with such an expansive subject encompassing two countries of the Indian sub-continent in one book. Therefore I have confined myself to areas and places which have grown in popularity and are also of major importance. Most of these places are to this very day fully operational, and temples, stūpas and images have received due veneration whether they came into being during the pre-Christian era or after the C.E.

From its birthplace in India, Buddhism spread to neighbouring countries and further afield due to the sole efforts of King Asoka, the Supreme Monarch of India. Of the two countries under discussion, Buddhism is most vibrant in Sri Lanka, where it is practised by nearly 70% of the population. In India it is only found in small pockets, where it thrived in the distant past. In Nepal it has always been intermingled with Hinduism, and practices of Mahāyāna Buddhism were