Spinning the Wheel of the Dharma: Buddhist Art on the Indian Subcontinent
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20 Nov
04 Dec
2020
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Buddhist Aesthetics
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Pia Brancaccio
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This short course will examine the main artistic traditions associated with the practice of Buddhism in the ancient Indian Subcontinent. The first lecture will discuss visual materials associated with representations of the Buddha and his life, and will survey artistic evidence from the early centers of Bharhut and Sanchi, from Gandhara as well as from Mathura and Sarnath.
The second lecture will explore loci of Buddhist devotion and will focus especially on architecture. It will address how the cult of relics helped in establishing a Buddhist sacred geography on the Subcontinent and will survey the architecture of devotion in India and Sri Lanka, including stupas and chaityas.
The third lecture will examine Buddhist art in monastic contexts. Monks played key roles as custodians and transmitters of the Buddhist dharma - what was the layout of Buddhist monasteries? How were they built? How were they decorated ? Key examples of monastic art and architecture will be discussed from the regions of Gandhara, Gujarat, the Deccan plateau, and Sri Lanka.
Duration -
November 20, 27 ; December 4, 2020
Timing: 6:30 - 8:30 PM
Fees
Rs. 3,500
Registrations Closed
Pia Brancaccio
Pia Brancaccio is Professor in the Department of Art and Art History at Drexel University in Philadelphia, USA. Her research focuses on early Buddhist art and cross-cultural exchange in South Asia with a regional emphasis on the visual cultures of the Deccan Plateau and ancient Gandhara. She has published extensively on the Buddhist caves in Western Deccan, including a monograph on The Buddhist Caves at Aurangabad (2010) and the edited volume Living Rock (2013), and has recently expanded her interests to ancient Sri Lanka and the Indian Ocean exchange networks. Pia has also written on architecture, visual narratives, artistic workshops and the multicultural fabric of Buddhism in Gandhara, and co-edited the book Gandharan Buddhism: Art, Archaeology (2006). She is currently involved in a research project on Ancient Buddhism in Konkan.