Buddhist Landscapes in Central India: Sanchi Hill and Archaeologies of Religious and Social Change, C. Third Century BC to Fifth Century AD

Julia Shaw

Left Coast Press, Aug 31, 2013 - Art - 360 pages

The “monumental bias” of Buddhist archaeology has hampered our understanding of the socio-religious mechanisms that enabled early Buddhist monks to establish themselves in new areas. To articulate these relationships, Shaw presents here the first integrated study of settlement archaeology and Buddhist history, carried out in the area around Sanchi, a Central Indian UNESCO World Heritage site. Her comprehensive, data-rich, and heavily illustrated work provides an archaeological basis for assessing theories regarding the dialectical relationship between Buddhism and surrounding lay populations. It also sheds light on the role of the introduction of Buddhism in changing settlement patterns.

This volume was originally published in 2007 by the British Association of South Asian Studies.

Contents

• Preface: 7
• List of Figures: 9
• List of Tables: 10
• List of Plates: 11
• Abbreviations: 14
• Select Glossary: 15
• Acknowledgements: 16
• 1 Introduction: 18
• 2 Buddhism Urbanisation and the State: 27
• 3 Physical Geography and Archaeology of Central India: 36
• The Physical Environment: 41
• 5 Political History of he Sanchi Area: 46
• 6 Religious History and Religious Change in the Sanchi Area: 50
• 7 Theory and Method of Landscape Archaeology: 60
• Research Design and Field Methodology: 67
• Plates 114: 78
• 9 Archaeology of Vidisha and Sanchi Hill: 83
• Plates 1642: 96
• Chronology: 104
• 11 Buddhist Sites and Buddhist Landscapes: 110
• Plates 43137: 146
• 12 NonBuddhist Ritual Sites: 176
• Plates 138218: 194
• 13 Habitational Settlement Sites: 215
• Color Illustrations: 232
• 14 Irrigation Systems: 233
• Plates 21931: 254
• Towards an Integrated Model of Religious Change: 259
• Notes: 263
• Appendices: 272
• Bibliography: 345
• Index: 354

About the author

Julia Shaw is Lecturer at the Institute of Archaeology, University College London. She holds a Ph.D. from Cambridge University and has held previous appointments at Oxford and Stanford. She is a specialist in ancient Buddhism, irrigation and water management, theories of change, and survey research in respect to South Asia. She has directed the Sanchi survey since 1998 and is coauthor of Buddhist Reliquaries from Ancient India and author of numerous scholarly articles.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Buddhist Landscapes in Central India: Sanchi Hill and Archaeologies of Religious and Social Change, C. Third Century BC to Fifth Century AD; Volume 58 of UCL Institute of Archaeology Publications; Volume 58 of UNIV COL LONDON INST ARCH PUB; Volume 58 of University College London Institute of Archaeology Publications
• Author: Julia Shaw
• Edition: illustrated, reprint
• Publisher: Left Coast Press, 2013
• ISBN: 1611323444, 9781611323443
• Length: 360 pages
• Subjects: Art / Asian / General; Social Science / Archaeology; Social Science / General; Travel / Museums, Tours, Points of Interest