In the Buddhist faith of all times, the stupa is venerated as Buddha himself. It is conceived as his nirmana-kaya "created body" or dharma-kaya "body of law". In the course of history its structure has followed the evolution of the theological concept of the Buddha. When in Mahayana the supreme Buddha is endowed with multiple manifestations, such as the Five Jinas, Vairocana at the zenith, Aksobhya in the east, Ratnasambhava in the south, Amitabha in the west, Amoghasiddhi in the north, from whom emanate respectively five temporal Buddhas, there appears a new structural arrangement of the stupa with the adjunction of five pillars on projections in the cardinal points, to offer the worshippers signs of their presence around the supreme. This structure appears exclusively in the stupas of south Andhra from the 2nd century A.D., as a reflection of the rise of Mahayana in this region. When Vajrayana takes the lead and gives rise to Kalacakra in the 11th century, the style and iconography of stupas is again renewed, as observed in the Orissan centre of Ratnagiri. The present book contains many such landmarks in the history of Buddhist doctrine and art, presented on the basis of in-depth analysis of the styles and icons of stupas. It emphasizes the study of minor votive stupas and those figured in reliefs, which, undamaged and represented with complete ornamentation, are testimonies about the conception and use of this object of worship. Another emphasis of this work is on stylistics, i.e. the study of styles systematically conducted with a precise and elaborate method, constituting a full-fledge discipline, which, along with iconography, provides a solid foundation for scientific history of art. Buddhist texts relevant to the conception, building and worship of stupas, such as Kriyasamgraha, are referred to with edition and translation. 2 Vols. Contents: vol. 1. Text. xiv, 345 p. ills. ISBN: 8173052417. vol. 2. Plates. vi, 174 p. ills. maps. ISBN: 8173052425. In association with Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, New Delhi. 2-vol. Set. ISBN: 8173052433 (Set)
