Institut des civilisations

The Buddhist saints, that are the subject of this article, are known from a series of inscribed reliquaries collected by Alexander Cunningham and F. C. Maisey at Sanchi and neighbouring sites in central India. The inscriptions, dating to the circa early first century BC, have been known since readings of them were first published the mid-nineteenth century. The detailed re-examination of the records presented in this article shows that the reliquary inscriptions give special prominence to five Buddhist saints. The names given correspond to the five missionaries who, according to Pali sources, were sent to the Himalayan region at the time of the Third Council in the mid-third century BC. This indicates that (a) the Hemavata school was responsible for the re-vitalization of Sanchi in the post-Mauryan period and (b) that there was a well-established tradition about the nature of the Third Council in the first century BC.

The Bhojśālā or ‘Hall of Bhoja’ is a term applied anachronistically to the centre for Sanskrit studies associated with King Bhoja, the most celebrated ruler of the Paramāra dynasty. The Bhojśālā is also linked to Sarasvatī – the goddess of learning – whose shrine is said to have stood in the hall's precinct. Since the early years of the twentieth century, the hypostyle hall adjacent to the tomb of Kamāl al-Dīn Chishtī in the town of Dhār has been identified as the Bhojśālā. This has turned the building into a focal point of religious, social and political tension. Access to the site, currently under the protection of the Archaeological Survey of India, has been marked by communal friction and disputes in the press and in the courts. Stepping back from these concerns, the ambition of this paper is to explore how the mosque at Dhār has come to be described as the Bhojśālā and, on this basis, to undertake an assessment of that identification. Along the way, the paper touches on a number of problems concerning the history, architecture and literary culture of central India.

The Archaeology of Hindu Ritual aimed to fundamentally reshape the paradigms governing in the study of early India. See review in South Asian Studies (2010) by Leslie Orr (Concordia University). PLEASE NOTE: A corrected PDF version is archived in Zenodo and can be downloaded. The quality of the scan is poor but the hard copy can still be ordered from CUP.

A comprehensive catalog of inscriptions from the Gwalior region of northern India dating from 300 BC to the First World War. Often dedicatory in nature, these inscriptions appear on stone slabs from temples, mosques, tombs and other buildings.

Although practicing Buddhists and historians of Tibet are well aware of the Ra Mo Che Temple in Lhasa, very little about the building and its history has been published. Situated a short distance north-west of the more-famous Ra Sa gTsug Lag Khang or Jo Khang, the temple received, according to the dBa' bZhed, the Buddha image brought to Tibet in the time of the Tang princess Ong Jo. Early in the reign of Khri Srong lDe bTsan, while the king was still in his minority, anti-Buddhist factions led by Zhang Ma Zham Khrom Pa sKyes circumscribed royal power and murdered the pro-Buddhist minister Zhang sNa Nam Khri Thong rJe Thang la ‘Bar. They also arranged for the image at Ra Mo Che to be removed from the temple. The plan was to return the Buddha to China, along with the head priest and his entourage. The statue's great weight, however, thwarted the scheme. After being dragged a short distance, the Buddha was left half-buried in the earth. The state of affairs in those days is indicated by dBa' bZhed which reports that the Lhasa vihāra was turned into a workshop with sheep carcasses hung from the arms of the principal holy images and entrails wound round their necks! After Buddhism was reinstated, the Ra Mo Che was returned to worship. Subject to campaigns of refurbishment and additions through the centuries, it was the centre of a number of important developments, notably becoming the seat of the upper Tantric college (rGyud sTod) established by rJe bTsun Kun dGa' Don Drub in 1474.

This article argues for a radical revision of later Gupta chronology based on a review of the primary evidence. The paucity of dated material has meant that historical reconstructions of the period have been based on late-Victorian assumptions about the nature of society and kingship. Removing this ideological framework allows not only for a revision of chronology — a traditional historical concern — but for a new understanding of Gupta kingship and the constitution of state.