Sonali Dhingra
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AbstractMy inter-disciplinary doctoral study of a coherent corpus of sculptures (belonging to Odisha, eastern India) examined when, how, and why sculpted images of the bodhisattvas Avalokitesvara and Tara attained centrality in Indian Buddhist practice. It demonstrates that the placement, over-human scale, iconography, and inscriptions (mantra and dharani), which are usually studied separately in scholarship, mutually reinforced the living presence, agency, and efficacy of cultic sculptures. Rather than being mere tokens of piety, these sculpted images became the means (upaya) to attain worldly benefits at monastic sites in Odisha where sculptures of Amoghapasa (lit. “Unfailing Lasso,” a popular form of Avalokitesvara) were used for death rituals, linking monastic and lay communities.
Ph.D, History of Art and Architecture, Harvard University
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Cult and Colossus: Buddhist Sculpture from Odisha in History and Memory (8th to 12th centuries)
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Ayur Zhanaev
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AbstractThe Buryat Transbaikalia (Russia) by the end of the 19th century was one of the largest centers of book-printing of Buddhist literature in Inner Asia. The Buryat monasteries produced the full range of literature of canonic character; these works were, however, not accessible to the laity, and one of the major ways of spreading Buddhism among masses was didactic literature. Lamas writing these texts had a goal to introduce the basics of Buddhist morality and “improve” the lay society according to their vision of social order. These texts could be considered an important source of social thought of the Buryat Buddhists of that period. The research project would give an insight into the ways Buddhism was spreading in Inner Asia and influenced the local forms of social reflexivity.
Adjunct Assistant Professor, Applied Social Sciences and Resocialization, University of Warsaw
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The Ideas of Social Order as Reflected in Didactic Buddhist Literature of the Buryat-Mongols (18th to early 20th century)
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