Views From the Black Mountain: The Rock-Cut Mahavihara at Kanheri/Krishnagiri
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29 Aug
2022
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Buddhist Aesthetics
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Pia Brancaccio
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The Buddhist complex of Kanheri/Krishnagiri (Black Mountain) in Mumbai, is the largest and longest lasting cave monastery in Western Deccan. It comprises of over one hundred caves and inscriptions spanning a thousand years, from the beginning of the Common Era to the 11th century. A thorough re-examination of archaeological and artistic evidence from the site indicates that the Black Mountain monastery, often overlooked, had become in the last phase of activity a major religious center with far reaching connections across the Buddhist world. The Sri Krishnagiri Maharaja Mahavihara, as the monastery was called in the Rastrakuta epigraphs, was well connected to Buddhist esoteric circuits and entertained exchanges with the mahaviharas of North India, the Himalayan regions and possibly Southeast Asia.
Duration -
August 29, 2022
Timing: 6:30 - 7:30 pm IST
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.