Buddhist Art and Architecture Ebook

BUDDHIST ART AND ARCHITECTURE PDF, EPUB, EBOOK Robert E Fisher | 216 pages | 24 May 1993 | Thames & Hudson Ltd | 9780500202654 | English | London, United Kingdom GS Art and Culture | Buddhist Architecture | UPSC Prep | NeoStencil Mahabodhi Temple is an example of one of the oldest brick structures in eastern India. It is considered to be the finest example of Indian brickwork and was highly influential in the development of later architectural traditions. Bodhgaya is a pilgrimage site since Siddhartha achieved enlightenment here and became Gautama Buddha. While the bodhi tree is of immense importance, the Mahabodhi Temple at Bodhgaya is an important reminder of the brickwork of that time. The Mahabodhi Temple is surrounded by stone ralling on all four sides. The design of the temple is unusual. It is, strictly speaking, neither Dravida nor Nagara. It is narrow like a Nagara temple, but it rises without curving, like a Dravida one. The monastic university of Nalanda is a mahavihara as it is a complex of several monasteries of various sizes. Till date, only a small portion of this ancient learning centre has been excavated as most of it lies buried under contemporary civilisation, making further excavations almost impossible. Most of the information about Nalanda is based on the records of Xuan Zang which states that the foundation of a monastery was laid by Kumargupta I in the fifth century CE. Vedika - Vedika is a stone- walled fence that surrounds a Buddhist stupa and symbolically separates the inner sacral from the surrounding secular sphere. Talk to us for. UPSC preparation support! Talk to us for UPSC preparation support! Please wait Free Prep. Enquire WhatsApp. Course by Engineers Career Group. Study Online at. Select Exam s you are interested in. Enter you OTP. You will receive a call from our Counsellor soon. Meanwhile, explore our array of courses. Need more help? Talk to us on Oops something went wrong. Around the circular platforms are 72 openwork stupas, each containing a statue of the Buddha. A lot of the Buddhist temples in Hawaii have an architecture that is very specific to the islands. This comes from the fact that the Japanese immigrants who migrated to Hawaii didn't have all the materials they would in Japan, and also the land structure was different and called for different building techniques. Because these Japanese immigrants had all the knowledge of Buddhism and were exceptional craftsmen, these temples ended up being a good personification of their religion. There are 5 styles of architecture that can be found in the Buddhist temples of Hawaii. The styles vary because of the time periods they were used in. This was the earliest form of Buddhist temples in Hawaii. They took a larger plantation house and converted them into places of worship by adding things like an altar or shrines. This style offered an inexpensive way to build temples, and using residential space made the worshipers feel more connected. The most noteworthy difference is that the homes were not built with the intention of being turned into temples, they were originally built as a place for families to live. This style dropped in popularity during the 20th century. This style originated when Japanese immigrants with the existing skill of building temples and shrines moved to Hawaii. These were made to be as similar to the original Japanese temples, but certain aspects had to be changed because of lesser access to materials and tools. Notable characteristics of this style are beam and post structure, elevated floors, and hip-and-gable roofs. The interiors held the same structure as its original counterparts in Japan. This style originated with Japanese immigrants who did not have the greatest shrine and temple building skills. These immigrants still wanted the temples to have their original feel, but lack the skill to do it, so the building techniques they used were simplified. Some characteristics of this style are straight hip-and-gable roofs, as opposed to the long, sloping ones, separate social hall, and covered entryway. These temples doubled as community centers, and these temples were similar in style to western churches. This style only is unique to Hawaii and came about due to racial and religious movements. When the first temple of this style was built, the architects that were hired had no previous experience in Buddhist architecture. This style was popular up until the s. This was probably one of the most popular styles of Buddhist architecture in Hawaii; smaller temples that couldn't afford to hire architects to do this to their temple would take certain aspects of this style and apply it to their temple. The interiors of these temples are very similar to the original temples in Japan. This style is also very similar to western churches. This style became popular in the s. These temples are usually made of concrete, and the roof styles vary unlike the other styles of temples. The subcategories of this style are residential, warehouse, church, and Japanesque. Like the other styles, while the exterior is dramatically different, the interior mostly remained similar to the temples in Japan. Prior to the expansion of Buddhism, the indigenous population of Sri Lanka lived in an animistic world full of superstition. The assimilation and conversion of the various pre-Buddhist beliefs was a slow process. In order to gain a foothold among the rural population, Buddhism needed to assimilate the various categories of spirits and other supernatural beliefs. This was the result in the deviations in the disciplinary rules vinaya and doctrinal disputes. All the other monasteries of Sri Lanka owed ecclesiastical allegiance to one of the three. Sri Lanka is famous for its creations of Buddhist sculptures made of stone and cast in bronze alloy. A neighbor of India, Myanmar Burma was naturally strongly influenced by the eastern part of Indian territory. Early Buddhist temples are found, such as Beikthano in central Myanmar, with dates between the 1st and the 5th centuries. The Buddhist art of the Mons was especially influenced by the Indian art of the Gupta and post-Gupta periods, and their mannerist style spread widely in Southeast Asia following the expansion of the Mon Empire between the 5th and 8th centuries. Later, thousands of Buddhist temples were built at Bagan , the capital, between the 11th and 13th centuries, and around 2, of them are still standing. Beautiful jeweled statues of the Buddha are remaining from that period. Creation managed to continue despite the seizure of the city by the Mongols in During the Ava period , from the 14th to 16th centuries, the Ava Innwa style of the Buddha image was popular. In this style, the Buddha has large protruding ears, exaggerated eyebrows that curve upward, half-closed eyes, thin lips and a hair bun that is pointed at the top, usually depicted in the bhumisparsa mudra. During the Konbaung dynasty , at the end of the 18th century, the Mandalay style of the Buddha image emerged, a style that remains popular to this day. Buddha images in this style can be found reclining, standing or sitting. Another common style of Buddha images is the Shan style, from the Shan people , who inhabit the highlands of Myanmar. In this style, the Buddha is depicted with angular features, a large and prominently pointed nose, a hair bun tied similar to Thai styles, and a small, thin mouth. Cambodia was the center of the Funan kingdom, which expanded into Burma and as far south as Malaysia between the 3rd and 6th centuries. Its influence seems to have been essentially political, most of the cultural influence coming directly from India. Later, from the 9th to 13th centuries, the Mahayana Buddhist and Hindu Khmer Empire dominated vast parts of the Southeast Asian peninsula, and its influence was foremost in the development of Buddhist art in the region. Under the Khmer, more than temples were built in Cambodia and in neighboring Thailand and Laos. The royal patronage for Khmer Buddhist art reached its new height with the patronage of Jayavarman VII , a Buddhist king that built Angkor Thom walled city, adorned with the smiling face of Lokeshvara in Angkor Thom dvaras gates and prasat towers Bayon. A great deal of Cambodian Buddhist sculpture is preserved at Angkor; however, organized looting has had a heavy impact on many sites around the country. Often, Khmer art manages to express intense spirituality through divinely beaming expressions, in spite of spare features and slender lines. The Thai Buddhist art encompasses period for more than a millennia, from pre Thai culture of Dvaravati and Srivijaya, to the first Thai capital of Thai 13th century Sukhothai, all the way to succeeding Thai kingdoms of Ayutthaya and Rattanakosin. From the 1st to the 7th centuries, Buddhist art in Thailand was first influenced by direct contact with Indian traders and the expansion of the Mon kingdom, leading to the creation of Hindu and Buddhist art inspired from the Gupta tradition, with numerous monumental statues of great virtuosity. From the 9th century, the various schools of Thai art then became strongly influenced by Cambodian Khmer art in the north and Sri Vijaya art in the south, both of Mahayana faith. Up to the end of that period, Buddhist art is characterized by a clear fluidness in the expression, and the subject matter is characteristic of the Mahayana pantheon with multiple creations of Bodhisattvas. From the 13th century, Theravada Buddhism was introduced from Sri Lanka around the same time as the ethnic Thai kingdom of Sukhothai was established. During the Ayutthaya period 14thth centuries , the Buddha came to be represented in a more stylistic manner with sumptuous garments and jeweled ornamentations.

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