Sanskrit Buddhism in Burma

Language: English
Pages: 148 (27 B/W Illustrations)


About the Book

This book attempts to explain one of the many aspects of the culture complex of early Indo-Burmese history; at the same time it seeks to initiate another chapter in the history of the expansion of Indian religions and culture outside India’s natural geographical boundaries. The subject of this book is but little k own and very little has so far been done to elucidate the vague general ideas that exist amongst scholars about it. The materials used in this work are mostly archeological and drawn from literary sources, but only so far as they are substantiated by archaeological evidence so as to cover all relevant inscriptions, sculpture, paintings and monuments known from Burma.

Preface

This monograph, like my earlier one on Brahmanical Gods in Burma (Calcutta University, 1932), attempts to explain one of the many aspects of the culture- complex of early Indo-Burmese history; at the same time it seeks to initiate another chapter in the history of the expansion of Indian religions and culture outside India’s natural geographical boundaries. It was originally conceived as a part of a more comprehensive work on the History of Buddhism in Burma: From the earliest times to the British conquest, mainly from the historical point of view; but the importance of the subject, as subsequently it appeared to me, justified an independent treatment, and when Prof. Dr. J. Ph. Vogel, Professor of Sanskrit and Indian Archaeology in the University of Leiden, approved of my choice, I decided to present it as a dissertation for the Degree of Doctor in Letters and Philosophy of the University of Leiden which with the now well-known Kern Institute as an adjunct has developed into an important centre of Oriental study and research